Tom Drapeau

I love apple picking. It was a yearly tradition growing up in central Massachusetts–picking, drinking of mulled cider, pumpkin carving and merriment. I just had the privilege of living that feeling vicariously through KidWonder last weekend, while visiting family. We went to Doe Orchards in Harvard, MA, my childhood haunt. Here are some pics, and don’t miss the video toward the bottom!

The trees:

The tools:

The catch:

Enjoying the fruits of his labor:

Here is KidWonder in action:

And finally, walking off, stage left, with his Pa:

tdrapeau KidWonder Apple Picking, Doe Orchards, KidWonder, Nostalgia

Its been a while since we attended this event, another gem suggested to us by the Lollipop Moms meetup group. The Great Children’s Read, held at Columbia University, is in its third year and brings together books and celebrities to wow an audience largely 2 to 8 years old.

We wiggled into the crowd of parents, strollers and mayhem just in time to see DJ Lance Rock, emcee of the popular kids program Yo Gabba Gabba, come on stage and lead the crowd in song and dance. KidWonder was a bit weirded out by the crowd, but was very excited to see DJ Lance and his favorite character, Brobee.

After the Gabba set, we waited in line at the signing tent and got some pictures with both, and DJ Lance signed a poster and KidWonder’s Brobee doll. Very exciting.



We stepped out for brunch and came back to hear Peter Yarrow sing Puff the Magic Dragon. His performance seemed geared more to the parents than the kids, and KW was more interested in running underneath a flap in the tarp holding up one of the signing tents than listening to Peter talk about remembering Mary. Peter did bring kids on stage to sing Puff their way, which was nice. Too bad for us, KW started singing it himself… a week afterwards.



After listening to Puff the Magic Dragon, we left for naptime, as did Brobee. Here is KW wishing him a good nap.

tdrapeau KidWonder Brobee, DJ Lance Rock, Great Children's Read, KidWonder, Puff the Magic Dragon, Yo Gabba Gabba

Great fun was had by KidWonder and I when we visited the local mini-golf course. The proof (be sure to watch the video at the end):

tdrapeau KidWonder KidWonder, Mini-Golf

KidWonder, MomWonder and I had a really nice outing today at the Larchmont Autumn Community Day, which included a blood drive, free food, public safety presentations, and, the pièce de résistance, Truck Day. KW was in heaven (once he got over how big and loud the trucks were), and played on a small tractor, ambulance and a few others before riding in the back of a fire truck. What fun! A few pics of the boy:

Showing off his fireman’s hat:

Driving the ambulance:

After riding the fire engine:

We had some great food (hot dogs and hamburgers), listened to a local band play some tunes (yes, KW and I danced, we like to dance), and I donated a pint of blood for the first time. Great fun was had by all. Big thanks to the Lollipop Moms meetup group for telling us about this great event.

tdrapeau KidWonder KidWonder, Truck Day

MomWonder, KidWonder and I spent a nice afternoon out at the local park. We bought dinner from a local takeout restaurant and ate on picnic benches while KW ran around and played, mostly with an older girl named Natalie. What a mack.

We normally don’t take pictures since the boy is so hard to pin down, but we were determined to get some shots of him today. This is the best of the bunch:

All in all, a nice afternoon. A nice break from the hectic work week.

tdrapeau KidWonder KidWonder, Park

It seems like just yesterday I was wearing the paper hospital outfit, staring at the clock, waiting until I could go into the operating room and see KidWonder for the very first time. Now he’s all grown up! Here’s a pic of the boy and his MomWonder, at his restaurant of choice, the local Applebees:

Most of the meal consisted of KW laughing hysterically at the idea of being itchy. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a toddler crack himself up–he laughed so hard he fell off his booster seat!

A good time was had by all. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

tdrapeau KidWonder Applebee's, Birthday, French Fries, itchy, KidWonder

Posted via email from Tom’s posterous

tdrapeau Wedding KidWonder, Wedding

For those following my Twitter feed, you already knew that @ShayWade and I got married last weekend. But since it was such a Big Day in my life, I thought I would record more of it here than just “Married!“.

Everyone’s definition of a big wedding is different. For us, even though we had less than 100 people, we still went through all of the planning exercises of a wedding twice the size. And its a strange feeling, an event you have been planning for a year really ends (with the ceremony) in less than a half hour. Then once you’ve posed for photos, and you sit down at your reception table, there is this hush where you wonder what you should be worrying about next. After so many weeks and months of worry, the wedding happened perfectly and now its done.

But more on the wedding: KidWonder was amazingly well behaved. He ran up to me right as my groomsmen and I were about to walk down the aisle, breathless: “Daddy! Daddy!” “What?” “Flower!” pointing at the flower pinned to his tux. That sort of thing brings you right down to earth.

KidWonder, looking dapper and with flower:

It was great to see that so much family that could make the trip. MomWonder and I live in New York, and our families mostly live in Massachusetts and Missouri. It was really nice of so many folks to go out of their way to share our Big Day with us.

A funny moment for us came when our emcee was concluding the ceremony. He was reading from a piece of paper he had folded to be of a more discreet size, and due to the folding, skipped over the “i now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride”. (we immediately corrected that error, and kissed a few times to make sure!)

The reception went well, if a bit fast. We spent most of it getting pictures taken (most of which we haven’t seen yet), then going through some traditional reception stuff (cake cutting, bouquet throwing, garter throwing, etc). Apparently I didn’t take off the garter in an alluring fashion, so was asked to do it again, which I obliged (some people!)

All in all it was a great day. It is an amazing feeling when you look around a big room and know that everyone came because they know YOU. A parting shot from the happy couple:

We’ll be sure to post more pictures when they are available.

tdrapeau Wedding KidWonder, MomWonder, Wedding

KidWonder, MomWonder and I just returned from a trip to St. Louis, where we spent a week celebrating Christmas and our engagement with family. We didn’t get to see the sights as much as we’d hoped, but did get to spend some good quality time off the grid with loved ones.

Christmas Day was spent at the house of MomWonder’s mom and grandmother, and much food and merriment was had by all. Friday, KidWonder and a few cousins visited The Magic House, a highly recommended children’s museum in the city — the First Impressions exhibit was the favorite. Saturday MomWonder’s mom threw a great engagement party for us, where all enjoyed the DJ’s selections while eating to our hearts content. Sunday morning we spent time with one of KidWonder’s namesakes in the hip Delmar Loop section, near Washington University. Sunday night we enjoyed a house warming dinner of sorts with pasta, shrimp, wine (and wine!) and conversation. Monday came too soon for us, and we grudgingly packed up and returned to chillier New York.

Here are a few photos of the boy and one of cars at night:

Set one here is the boy interacting with a mechanized Care Bear, I call these “Dance Dance Revolution”, “Clap”, and “Goodbye”.

Set 2 is KidWonder’s executive stance — he could model for RIM!


Finally, I-70 at night, on our last night in town:

tdrapeau Travel 2008, Christmas, KidWonder, St. Louis, Travel

In honor of the new X-Men Origins movie (trailer below), KidWonder graciously agreed to pose as various X-Men in tribute. Here he is:

As Magneto:

Cyclops, missing the glasses:

KidWonderine:

KidWonder X — DON’T look too closely at his eyes:

Trailer (129 days and counting!):
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

tdrapeau KidWonder KidWonder, Movie, X-Men