Heartwarming video of Dexter...

Hold on to your hats, everyone. Lots of videos and pictures to share. I didn't mention that before we left for Ohio, my mom (Lola) came up to visit during Dexter's summer break. Right before Lola got here, Dexter had an unfortunate accident related to his teeth. I'll spare you the details, but the last picture is the end result of the accident.

Maybe this happy video will help open up this installment of the Dex Files.



Dexter took Lola to Fairyland in Oakland. Here's Lola and Dexter posing on a sail boat.



This is a pretty cool picture of Dexter on a merry go round.



Suzie hamming it up. It's such a cute picture!



Daddy with his straight face on.



Cutest monkey EVER.



And Lola joining in the fun.



Father and son enjoying the sights.



A few more pics from Ohio. Brooke giving Dexter a bear hug.



Sitting at the park in Ohio University.



Sitting and playing with dollies.



Dexter was being a suave guy by handing out flowers to all the ladies.



Kissing cousins?



Flower pickers



We ended up having to make the heart wrenching decision to have Dexter's front upper two teeth removed. Two different pediatric dentists (and our good friend Dr. Lars) looked at the x-rays and decided it was best to remove them, lest Dexter get a very bad infection.



And lastly, here's the day after Dexter's extraction. The tooth fairy was extra kind to him by getting him a new crane. But you know, Dexter really deserved getting a big present for such a difficult time.

The Nasols of Oakland took a trip out to Ohio. Yup, we flew out there (with no problems!), had fun, and came back. That coupled with potty training, resulted in a great trip (with a few hiccups). Seeing as I had never been to Ohio, I found the state BEAUTIFUL. The Wards and the Loweys are great to have as in-laws, I mean that with all my heart. Congrats to Evan and Winter on a beautiful wedding. Here is the wedding party. Cousin Evan is the handsome groom, second guy on the left. Winter is obviously the beautiful bride in the gown. Cousin Ellen (Evan's sister) is the second beautiful woman from the right.



Before the wedding was the rehearsal dinner at Abrio's Brick Oven. I was quick to take a picture of cousin Brooke and Dexter walking to dinner.



We stayed at the Chi Omega house. Yes, a sorority. First time for me to stay at a sorority. Perhaps my last.

Dexter and Brooke were discussing the sleeping arrangements and who would sleep where. Don't worry, no one slept in the top bunk, but there was plenty of discussing by Dexter. Dexter talking with Brooke justing saying, "Ok" to everything he says.



The university is right down the street from the campus. Not even half a block away!



The last night of our Ohio visit, we stayed at cousin Ellen's house. There was a railroad track very close to her house so Dexter had to make sure that the tracks were straight and true.



We spent a lot of time at Aunt Beth and Uncle Jack's (Evan and Ellens parents, Suzie's Aunt). We loved visiting with them so much!

Before the wedding, there were quite a few festivities to enjoy. One of the festivities was Brooke and Dexter dancing for our enjoyment.





And their field. We had a great time in Ohio during this visit. We can't wait for the next occasion for a visit to Athens!

So, I took Buckaroo to the puppy park. Dexter came along with me. Dexter started talking (which isn't that unusual), but it's neat who he wanted to talk to. Listen closely and you can hear him call out names starting off with "Lola". It made my heart melt when he said, "daddy's dad" (lolo) and "Uncle Mike".



You must be this tall to ride this ride. Ha. Actually, Dexter was on a crane kick for a while so we built him one out of tinkertoys. He's actually outgrown cranes and has moved into belltower territory. Seriously. If you have anything remotely looking like a belltower, he'll go bananas over it.



Check out this kid's mug.



Here's a Buckaroo picture. He's getting there in terms of cuteness.



For Fourth of July, we had Stevie Wonder, I mean, Julian come over. Here he is hamming it up in the front yard.



We took an impromptu trip to Los Angeles to visit Lola, Tita Nini and my brother Victor. It was a lot of fun. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures. Here is Dexter with Lola.



I'm going to add this to my ever expanding list of favorite pics. Such a lovely photo of Dexter and his Lola.



And a little cuddling with Tita Nini.



Can't forget Uncle Victor!

It's quiet in the house. It's not too late, but I'm the only one awake. I put Dexter to bed earlier, Suzie's asleep in our bed and Buckaroo is cuddled up next to me. I'm crying quite a bit right now. Suzie bought a present for me for Father's Day. It's a book I wanted called, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I finished it in two days. It's about a father and his son. It's about painful decisions a father has to make in order to find a better life for his son in a difficult world.

I love Dexter. There is no ambiguity to that, nor should there ever be any question to it. I love him more than I love myself. I will do anything for him. Just like my father did for me and that's what I think makes me so sad, hopeful and loving and much more all at the same time. I miss my pop, but I know that I can talk to him whenever I want and in my heart, I can hear him. I know he is watching me continue to grow and watching Dexter grow every day. Whenever I get sad about my dad not physically being with us, I am always brought back to the day that he met Dexter and asked me, "Can I hug him?". I will always carry that moment with me because of not only the love he showed for Dexter, but for the love he had for me. I miss you pop. I really do.

I'm not a perfect man/husband/father and I never claim to be. I try to do what's right and will continue to do so. I'm saying this, not to solicit anyone's input to the contrary. I'm saying this for myself, not for any validation.

I don't normally write this much, but if you're reading this, you know it's a little out of context for this blog. Don't get me wrong, it's always about Dexter, but thought I'd share how I feel right now. But I guess when it comes down to it, I did write this for my love of Dexter. So it is about Dexter...

So we're trying to get Dexter to shun the diaper and use the potty/toilet. It's difficult. We're trying to incentivize (is that a word?) Dexter by having him reach goals; for example, every time he pees in the toilet, that's 5 stickers. After 5 stickers, he gets to go to the toy store and get a toy (we're not millionaires, so we kind of guide him as to what toy he can get). Anyway, it's not going as easy as we thought, but we're trying to get Dexter to move away from the diaper and move towards the toilet.

I thought I would share that he did hit 5 and we did get him a new toy flatbed tow truck (at least it wasn't a bell tower...please, if you must know, email me). He was so happy with it. When we got back to the car with it, I asked him, "Hey Dexter, can I play with that when we get home?". He was pensive about it but then it occurred to me that it was his reward for his efforts and I shouldn't take away (borrow?) his reward. So I bent down back to him and I said, "Dexter, I'm sorry, that's your toy so you play with it all you want". He looked at me and said, "That's ok, daddy, I love you". That made me cry. There I was, a 39 year old man, crying in the parking lot with his son. He's so thoughtful and understanding. I wish I could share with everyone in the world just how neat Dexter is.

That said...

Went to the Oakland Zoo within the last week. We love to take Dexter there cause 1) we live not more than 2 miles away from it, 2) we have a membership there so there's no cost to it and 3) it's a fun way to tire Dexter out and have fun looking at the animals. But Dexter isn't the only one who has fun. Suzie finds it funny to watch the baby giraffe try and eat. It really is funny to watch.



FINALLY. There is a sign that pretty much says, "You must be this tall to ride this ride" to get on this children's ride at the zoo. For a child to ride alone, they must be at least 36 inches tall. In the past, we've gotten away with sneaking him in, but, no more. No more sneaking him in, no more pleading with ride operators, no more getting mad when shorter kids come in to try and ride. Dexter is now well over 36 inches. And by well over, I mean a fraction of an inch.



If you haven't been to our house, this pretty much sums up the amount of traffic that happens when Dexter busts out all his vehicles (not including the ones he likes to sleep with).




Dexter's uncombed hair gives him the look of a disheveled genius and curious little guy.



We've been lucky to get sun during the weekends up here in Oakland. During the week, well, that's an entirely different matter of overcast skies. Buckaroo seems to enjoy soaking up the rays.



Buckaroo is fascinated with the squirrels in our neighborhood. You can't see the squirrel in the tree, but you can see his reaction to the squirrel (the squirrel's actually taunting him by going up and down the tree).

Since we haven't been updating the blog with as much frequency as we'd like. And we haven't mentioned at all that Grandma Carolyn has been visiting the Dexter residence for a couple of months. We just said goodbye to her this past week. It was great to have her visit with us and have her spend time with her grandson.



So much love!



In the midst of Grandma Carolyn staying with us, Suzie and I sneaked away for a weekend retreat to Calistoga. We had a swell time that allowed us to spend some time together without a certain little someone. While on our little vacation, we went horseback riding!



This weekend we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Marin county (north of San Francisco and right off the Golden Gate Bridge). It was an overcast day but a fun one to do exploring the museum. Here's a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.



Dexter was talking all morning about cranes (the loading variety). And guess what? the museum had a working model of a loading dock crane.



The museum is located in an old US Army base (formerly Fort Baker). I understand Fort Baker was established back during the Civil War. You can actually stay overnight at these cool quarters in Fort Baker.



Anyway, back to Dexter's adventure at the museum He had the opportunity to put on a hardhat and get in a hard day's work down at the quarry, like his old man.



Dexter was loving racing around the dump trucks. But he wasn't the only one, the other kids were racing dump trucks around.



The museum had a cool model of the Golden Gate Bridge. The cool part is that the kids can add to it as a construction model.



I think this smile on Dexter tells you how much fun he had!



Goats! We live very close (a little over a block away) to King Estate Open Space. It's a great open space/park since it's so close to us and not a lot of people know about it other than the local yokels.



It's so cool to have these goats/sheep clearing out the hills of fire dangers. How very green of Oakland!



And lastly, Buckaroo went to the vet this weekend to get neutered. Oh no! He's gotta wear an e-collar so he looked a little awkward. Oh well, he's recovering quickly and he'll be ready to play around with Dexter very soon!