Tag Archives: playing

Blinded By Happiness: #MySundayPhoto – 04.12.15

I’ve fallen behind on the amount of pictures I take of Avery this week. This is both a good and bad thing, but mostly good.

Bad in the sense that I don’t have as many pictures to choose from for #MySundayPhoto, but good (if not great) because I spent more time just playing with Avery instead of sticking a camera in her face.

Sometimes I think we all forget the most important part is time, and we don’t need 100+ pics a day. I know it’s hard, but so worth it. Now if only I can do better about this from now on….

But it’s hard when you capture your kid beaming with delight and not a worry in the world, isn’t it? Here’s one I snapped of Avery being “blinded by happiness”.

#MySundayPhoto

The quality wasn’t that great to start with, as it was fairly dark and grainy. I think with the exposure adjustment and sepia combo, it turned out pretty good. Please check out the original below and let me know what you think.

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Are you a chronic picture taker or feel like you need to take more pics?

Do you like using full color or enjoy using more black & white, sepia, etc for picture formats?

OneDad3Girls

What’s in the Grass?: #MySundayPhoto – 04.05.15

As always, I have my favorite photo subject to share with you for #MySundayPhoto. We’ve already been having borderline hot weather in Texas (nothing new), so finding shade to play is a must.

There’s a small, grassy area in our neighborhood with plenty of shade from tree cover and Avery enjoys exploring the new territory. I wish I could take credit for this excellent shot of our daughter, but my wife, Going Mom, let her skill shine for this one.

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Not a clue what she was finding there, but guess we never really know what our kids find most of the time. As long as she doesn’t eat it, it’s okay. Right? Right?

Since it’s hard to just share one, here’s a pic I snapped on my phone. The quality is not as great, obviously, but that smile turns it into a priceless work of art.

Avery Smiling in Grass

How is the spring-time weather coming along where you live?

Do you have any low quality pics of your smiling kid(s) that you are simply in love with?


OneDad3Girls

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.

04-01-15 Jump For Fun Meet-up (2)

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?