Category Archives: Parenting

Jumping Dads and Beer With a Friend

April Fools’ Day was supposed to be a fun day at a nearby park with our Dallas Dads Group, but Nature wasted no time living up to the  term “April Showers”. Just hours after midnight, it rained, and continued with storms all throughout the day.

Luckily, when scheduling this meet up, I had an indoor backup plan for the bounce house we went to for my first scheduled Dallas Dads Group event. I was looking forward to being outside with other dads and our kids since Avery and I had a good time when we went last week. Avery even ran sprints across the soccer field with me!

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Soon, that awesome playground in the background will be more than just a giant mulch pit for her to throw wood pieces! The whole mulch thing is why I decided not to be too upset about our change of plans and figured some bouncing action would suit all of us just well.

Two other dads were able to attend, one with an almost 3 year old son, and the other with a 1 1/2 year old daughter. The father-son duo were making their way through all of the bounce houses like a tornado in a trailer park. Both were jumping and playing non-stop, and I’m not sure who had more fun; kid or adult.

Meanwhile, the other dad and I had to help our girls around, but they still had plenty of play time too. Well, after the initial shell-shock phase where the look on their face is saying “Where the hell am I?!”

04-01-15 Jump For Fun Avery Looking Lost

That soon passed and Avery was in a basketball bounce house doing her best to keep on her feet. Poor girl kept tumbling as you would expect from an already unstable toddler in an inflatable house. Not that I helped by jumping all around her. Just helping to work on her stability is all!

I tried lifting her to the rim so she could make a slam dunk, but Avery refused to let the ball go. Guess we still have some work to do on teaching her the game of basketball. Not that I know much more than trying to get the ball in the other team’s hoop.

What I loved most about our dads group was that all three of us dads were getting in there and jumping around with our kids while the moms that brought their kids were either sitting on a bench or standing outside watching or on their phone. Okay, moms reading this, don’t blow up on me! I’m not saying all moms do this, I know that’s not true, just the ones that were there while we were.

We good, caring mothers? Good. 🙂

Before we parted ways, we had an employee snap a shot of us dads with our quickly expiring toddlers.

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Good times for sure.

Avery and I stopped at Sprouts on the way home to pick up a few groceries. I found a new kimchi I’ve never seen before and can’t wait to try it. Fermented food is packed full of gut healing goodness and it’s great as a topping on a variety of things.

Once home, I knocked out a quick tabata kettlebell workout with Avery and went for a walk with her and Abby (our Golden). I fed Avery lunch while making dinner for Going Mom and trying to eat something for myself. Kelley had a dentist appointment and was coming home early right after.

My wife was nice enough to let me out of the house alone so I could meet an old friend at a local pub for a few beers. I didn’t want to appear too eager to get out, but I left before nap time was over with good beer on my mind.

Don’t worry, I didn’t have a lot, and made it back just in time to sit down for dinner at our usual time; late. It’s always nice to catch up with an old friend and to have good beer while doing so, hopefully we’ll meet again sooner rather than later.

It was a long but fun-filled day, and can’t wait to go to our next meet up with our Dallas Dads Group. Maybe next time the weather will hold up and we can make it to the park!

I'm waiting on you.
I’m waiting on you.

If you had to choose, would you pick being outside or an indoor venue like a bounce house to be with your kids?

Have any long time friends you like to meet with every now and then to play catch up?

A Trip to Trader Joe’s, Soft Star Run, and Our Rain Barrel

Trader Joe’s recently opened up shop right next to us and I’ve been wanting to go check it out. I’ve been to TJ’s several times before, but it’s been awhile since my last visit. As a proclaimed foodie, I’m drawn to the less mainstream grocery stores, and decided to finally pay the new location a visit.

And what better companion than my daughter, Avery, to peruse the aisles of a new store! But not before someone decided to back into us as we were parking. A guy in front of me turned into a perfectly open parking space on the left and I turned into another on the right, then the proceeded to back up to park in the other space next to me! It ended with his rear bumper connecting with mine. Nothing too serious, but annoy nonetheless. Just one more “to-do” by needing to call the guy’s insurance to have it repaired.

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Like I said, not that bad, but also not that good. But guess it could be a lot worse and I’m thankful the guy was actually nice and apologetic. Avery didn’t even know what was going on and she kept rather calm.

We left Going Mom at home so she could have some time to work on getting her rain barrel setup and on our refreshed veggie and herb garden. Yep, I do the grocery shopping while my wife works on the yard. No shame here, plus I still do the mowing. Well, except for when Kelley wins an argument over who gets to use our EGO Power+ Lawn Mower.

But next time, it’s all mine! Unless there’s a good sale at Costco Then I’ll drink beer and grill steaks!

Back to Trader Joe’s; I was not impressed. After spending some time picking up every item and reading the ingredients, I finally remembered doing the same thing last time I went and couldn’t figure out what makes it so great. Most of what I found were packaged foods with processed vegetable oils, sugar, modified corn starch, sulfur dioxide, etc. when all I really want is some freakin’ frozen mixed veggies or a decent bag of snackworthy mixed nuts. There were some good finds, though, one of them being this bottle of cold brew coffee concentrate.

trader joe's cold brew coffee

Normally, I make my own, but this will be a lifesaver when I’m in a pinch. So I don’t plan on making many trips back there as my usual stores suit me just fine.

After Saturday’s let down of an exciting store trip, Kelley kept Avery with her as she continued yard work so I could go on a solo Sunday run in my Soft Star Shoes. I’ve been  running rather short distances with Avery in the stroller and holding the leash for our Golden, Abby, to tag along, but haven’t had the chance for a solo run in a while. Needless to say, I was excited for the bit of freedom.

I ended up running about 66 minutes and covered 7.8 hilly miles. It was wonderful, liberating, and….it kinda hurt. Stupid chafing. Just a few years ago, this distance would be an easy, laughable even, run, but now it’s my long run!

However, I did see a giant home with a Ferrari and Lamborghini parked in it’s own upscale shop. Just for a little motivation, I ran up their driveway for a closer look, waved to the owners standing outside, and turned right around to continue my run. Sorry, no pictures since I run with as little as possible, but trust me, the cars were nice!

When I returned, Going Mom had a lot done and our garden is ready to grow several organic herbs and vegetables. Waiting sucks, but hopefully it will all be worth it.

New Garden by Kelley

Avery kept busy by running wild and throwing dirt every which direction as Kelley watched her while trying to get her own dirt “thrown” around. Being the Going Mom that she is, my wife did an outstanding job on the revamped and extended garden and the rain barrel G-Ma got her for X-Mas.

Rain Barrel

Now we just wait for the next rain and see how everything holds up.

I’m not sure what it was exactly, but that evening, after her nap, Avery was a wild child the rest of the day. She was in the sun a little longer than usual, so the only reasonable thing I can think of is that there’s some strange correlation between the sun and inner demons. It might sound far-fetched, but Avery has been known to house a demon in the past.

I mean, even the cat, who usually doesn’t mind her, went into hiding….

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Or maybe it’s just being a toddler.

What do you think of the sun-demon connection? Is it a thing or just a passing phase?

Do you have a rain barrel, a garden, or other aspect in your home that you’re proud of?

Peek-A-Boo Swing: #MySundayPhoto – 03.29.15

I brought Avery to a bigger park/playground near the city we live in last week. I thought it would be a nice change from the small playground in our neighborhood, but she was still only interested in picking up mulch and peek-a-boo time.

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Guess we can just stay in our back yard and let her pick through the garden if that’s all she wants! Nevertheless, this playground had baby swings and she LOVES swings! I captured this pic after 100 blurry shots and love seeing her face peek over the rim.

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I’m sure the time will come soon when she wants to run all over the equipment, but until then, I guess it’s just swings and mulch.

Do your kids seem to find the most random thing to play with when there is something bigger (and you think better) to enjoy?


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