Dad's Day

Chloe and Shell let me pick our Father’s day agenda.  They were kind enough to let me cook breakfast for them and Aunt Tia.  Pumpkin pie waffles and maple syrup sausage patties.  It sounds like a chore, but I really enjoy cooking and watching my family enjoy my food is awesome.   

Shell, Chloe, and Kirsten made me an awesome Dad’s Day painting.  My allergies kicked in when Chloe and Shell brought it out.  Watery eyes being the only symptom.  

The older kids in the house, Shell and I, have only recently realized that the new “Doctor Who” series is the best TV show this millennia.  Shell surprised me with another stellar gift. (See what I did there?)  It was the eleventh Dr’s sonic screwdriver.    Awesome.   And Shell had one more surprise.  My favorite cake.  Angel Food cake. 

 

We debated activities for the day and decided to try out Sedro-Woolley’s new bowling alley.  It’s not new.  It’s not even remodeled.  It’s the old bowling alley with the dust blown off and a new coat of paint.  Walking in out of the rain we came across what appeared to be a low budget game room and a dimly lit ten lane bowling alley.  I was a bit taken back by the obvious age and disrepair of the place, but it was My Day and I was going to enjoy myself.  I’ve got what Shell affectionately calls “Flintstone Feet”.  13EEE. Most bowling alleys have my size.  And they’re often in brand new condition.  This alley has one pair.  And they were on someone else’s feet.  No 14’s either.  Okay.  Let’s try the 15’s.  Clown shoes with yellow and blue argyle socks with camouflage shorts.  Seems appropriate for me and this bowling alley.  As we strolled over to our lane, I was struck again by how decrepit the entire place was.  Not dirty, but certainly not new or particularly well maintained.  My indomitable spirits were flagging.  Ever the optimist, I looked around to find something to appeal to me.  It was right behind me.  My awesome family.  Kirsten was with her bio dad, but Shell and Chloe made my day.  Once I changed my perspective many more features of this bowling alley became clear.  The ball return was so dated and old, it was cool again.  All above floor, super high speed, and it had freakin’ fins on it like an old ‘50s Chrysler.  Epic.  I was in retro kitsch heaven.  Instead of old and musty, the place now smelled original and unchanged.  The pitted hardwoods were now a testament to thousands of games played by diehards and local families.  The inconsistent pin setter was now a fun antique.

 

After bowling we headed home.  What Father’s Day isn’t complete without Dad taking a nap on the sofa while the kid watches a movie?  I’m pretty sure the Chipmunks got off the island safely, but I’m sketchy on the details.  After movie time, Aunt Tia came back and I BBQ’d some beer soaked brats and served bangers and mash for dinner.  Delish.  

We finished the day with some strawberries, angel food cake, and Reddi whip.  My favorite dessert on one awesome day. 

 It may not be the most adventurous Dad’s day ever, but it was just about perfect for this dad.

Just the Two of Us

Some intrinsic difficulties spring up when you take a single dad with a little girl and a single mom with a slightly less little girl, and you squeeze them all into one family.  What your rules are, what my rules are, how your kid works, how mine does, how I work with yours, how you work with mine, how we work together with them, etc., etc., etc.  Our family has had those struggles, and we continue to tweak our parenting techniques to be both fair and equal to both of our girls, knowing that they are both very different little people.  What works great for Kirsten doesn't always work great for Chloe and vice versa.  But we continue to be vigilant and involved, and hopefully we're not messing them up too much.  :)  It seems to be working, and they're both growing up to be such awesome people.

Anyway, one of the super cool totally awesome things that comes with the blended family smoothie we've got is that we have custody schedules that allow for plenty of time with all of us together, and some time with each person individually.  Sometimes it's Mikey, Shell, Kirsten, and Chloe.  Sometimes it's Mikey, Kirsten, and Chloe.  Sometimes it's Shell, Kirsten, and Chloe.  Sometimes it's Mikey and Chloe.  Sometimes it's Mikey and Kirsten.  Sometimes it's Shell and Chloe.  And sometimes it's Shell and Kirsten.  All of that built right in.  So cool.  Occasionally, we even get a Mikey and Shell day in there.  Sweet!

So today, we had a bit of all of those.  The day started out with all of us, then Mikey went to work, then Kirsten went to her dad's for the weekend, and that left Chloe and me with an evening for just the two of us.

We decided to take a stroll through the neighborhood to see all the flowers in bloom.  Springtime in the Pacific Northwest never ceases to amaze me.  It's so colorful!  We even saw a few bees on the way, and Chloe commented that they were being nice bees and just flying near us.  She's come a long way from where she was regarding bees, so it's really rewarding to hear her say that.

After our walk, it was time to get settled down for bed.  We read a book about baby animals, one of Chloe's current "things".

Chloe decided that my legs were perfect lumpy pillows while I read to her.

We took some pictures to send to Mikey while he was at work, too.

We had a great day together!  It's fun to get to spend some special time with each of our girls.  They're so different (and so much alike in a lot of ways, too), it's nice that we get to do things special with each of them.  Kirsten and Mikey even have a beginner's survival camping trip they're planning together this summer.  We'll let you know how that goes.  

Inaugural Post!

So we started this thing so we could keep our friends and family abreast of what's up with our little family, and to keep a bit of record of our spawns growing up.  It just happens so fast.  The girls are always amazed and excited when they're reminded of how long they've known each other.  "You mean Kirsten was only eight?"  "That means Chloe was only four!" It's true, that old cliche, time flies when you're havin' fun.  And we do a lot of that havin' fun business.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to volunteer with Everett Fire's Fill the Boot campaign.  Kirsten got to come along with us two years ago, and she loved it, even though we got rained on.  And this year we got to bring Chloe and Kirsten's friend Kyndel as well.

We all got fun matching shirts to wear while we were waving signs and collecting donations for Muscular Dystrophy.

Chloe took a quick break from all that hard work of looking cute and waving to passersby. Luckily, Mikey's knee is perfectly suited to such repose.

 

Kirsten and Kyndel had fun making up dance moves while they waved their signs.

And Ditto stayed home and made sure this produce box didn't float away.  Such a thoughtful kitty.

All in all, we had a great day together, and we got to support a worthy cause.  It's important to us that we teach our little ones the value of giving back.  We regularly sort through our clothes and toys and donate them, but this is a way of giving not only our things, but our time as well.  I hope they get it, and continue to see the value of volunteering, pitching in, and helping others as they get older.