Father's Day

Readers beware:  if you don’t like maple syrup stop reading now, because this post involves pancakes and a whole lot of sappy love.  Being a dad on Father’s Day, it’s hard not to reflect on the past, present and future.  I feel so incredibly lucky today, maybe more so now than ever before.

The past: My very favorite memory of my Dad is playing in the backyard in our house in Houston, Texas.  He’s chasing me around under the tree house that he built for us.  As I’m caught up against the fence, happily defenseless against his wisdom and strength, I remember a powerful thought that sticks with me to this day.

Look at Dad, being a Dad must be so fun.  I can’t wait until I get to be one.

For many more years I was lucky enough to have an amazing Dad who was my scoutmaster, baseball coach and friend.  The whole time, I couldn’t wait until it was my turn.

The present: I have two great kids.  At three and one, they’re exhausting but great.  Too many times, I look forward to them being asleep rather than them being awake.  After a date night gone wrong where I got called into work until midnight, Jenn took the kids at 5:30 and let me sleep in.  Sleeping in means 7:00.  I watched 10 minutes of uninterrupted Sportscenter (glorious!) and headed downstairs.  I had good reason not to sleep in too much, this morning we were having blueberry pancakes.  This was only the beginning of an amazing food day, but more to follow on that front.  After breakfast, I got to open my present and Jenn outdid herself.  A Playstation 3, complete with Batman – Arkham City.  I immediately turned it on and started playing...that is until one of the game’s characters said, “Hey Wayne, I’m going to make you my bitch.”  I promptly turned it off until naptime.  Such an amazing present, I wonder if Jenn loves me immensely or just doesn’t want to see much of me in the next year.  Either way, it’s awesome.

We have a low-key day at home, but nothing could be better.  We got a coupon to Dominoes pizza for half off any pizza that expires today so we cash in.  Hard to remember the last time we ordered pizza and my stomach places a vote for more often.  After putting the kids down for nap, I fire up Batman and proceed to button-mash my way to glory.  By glory I mean being one percent done after 3 hours.  It’s going to be a good/long year.

Dinner was one of my favorites: cream cheese enchiladas.  A recipe we got from our great friends the Nelsons, for some reason, they have never been better than tonight.  I’m already salivating at the thought of the leftovers tomorrow.  After watching Arrested Development on Netflix, Jenn insists that I, “Play your game!” and I oblige.  The fact that I’m not playing right now is a credit to how much I want to pay tribute to today.

The future: two moments today took me 15 years in the future.  We’re all playing downstairs following nap-time (that ended right before I got to beat Harley-Quinn!).  After chasing Jonah for a while, Brynn stopped to twirl in her skirt Mom picked out for her.  With her hair that mom did looking way too grown up and the skirt twirling, my heart seizes up as I picture her headed to a date with some jerk who’s hair is too long and who drives too fast.  I made her sit with me a read a book way beneath her age to help re-establish her role as my little girl.  Not 10 minutes later, Jonah is running around with a sharp colored pencil.  I take the pencil and tell him, “No running with pencils.”  He looks at me, actually shrugs a shoulder and says the only word he knows: “Maaa.”  I am instantly transported to my teenage years.  I did the same thing to my Dad as he tried to impart wisdom when I was being especially dangerous to myself.  While I didn’t exactly say “Maaa” (though likely not enunciated much better), it sure brought the whole day full circle.  Moms and Dads are a timeless thing, something that hasn’t changed much in the past thousand years.  I hope that even if they don’t remember it their whole life, that at one point, my kids think, “Look at Dad, he loves being a Dad.”  Because it sure it true.

One Fine Weekend

As the mercury continues to rise here on the East coast, usually our only goal for three straight days of 90+ degree heat would be survival.  But thanks to our friends and family, they pushed us to get out of the house and enjoy the DC area between the hours of 6:00 -10:00 am and 6:00-10:00 pm.  The result was a really nice weekend that included 25 miles of biking, two floatation devices, a 338 year old house, 100 different kinds of beer (surprisingly unrelated to the flotation devices) and online Mario Kart.  It’s like Lance Armstrong and George Washington went out for drinks and found themselves in the public pool after dark.  Only better, see below.

The weekend started on Friday morning.  I already had my hours in for the week, but still needed to go in to wrap up a few things.  Jenn had the great idea that I should go on a bike ride to Mount Vernon since I didn’t need to be into work too early.  It’s 12.5 miles, roughly an hour (less if you’re in shape) and it was fantastic.  Eighty percent of the ride is along the Mount Vernon trail, which follows the Potomac River.  I love finally having bikes because this was such a great ride that I’m already looking forward to the next one. 

That night, two awesomely concurrent events took place.  First, Steph and Peter came up from Charlottesville Friday evening to hang out and go to Mount Vernon in the morning.  Second, I was invited to the Savor beer and food expo also going on that night.  Before you say, “Geez Phil you’re a jerk for ditching your sister and brother-in-law to go drink beer,” 1) I was invited before Steph and Peter made plans and, 2) I am a jerk and probably would have done it anyways. 

The beer festival was fantastic (http://www.savorcraftbeer.com/).  Hosted in the National Building Museum, it featured 48 different breweries and 96 different types of beer (two per brewery).  By 7:10 when I got there, the line was around the block and for good reason.  Jim Cook was there from Sam Adams and Sam Calagione -- the founder of Dogfish Brewing Company -- showed up.  The guys I went with were great to hang out with and three and a half hours went by all too quickly.  We made nerdy satellite jokes, talked about kids (and the single guys’ fear of them) and drank a ridiculous amount of two ounce beers.  The only thing I will warn future attendees about:  they go light on the food.  My buddies ate beforehand so I looked pretty desperate for food as I pushed aside women and old people to get a slice of bread or petite cream puff.  All in all, great company + great beer = a great night.  Meanwhile, Steph, Peter and Jenn were sharing a sampler pack after putting the kids to bed.  Those four beers make it 100 beers available to us combined that night.  The fact that I account for 96% of that is slightly embarrassing.

The next morning, the kids didn’t receive the memo that I got home at 1:30 and promptly woke up at 5:30.  Feeling guilty about the fact that I went out with friends, I woke up with the kids and played as quietly as possible until everyone else started stirring.  This was Mount Vernon day and the best thing about Mount Vernon for parents is that it opens at 8:00.  So at 8:01, the six of us were strolling the grounds where George Washington made decisions that led to the amazing country that brings us 100 beers in a single evening.  Steph and Peter are two of my favorite people on planet Earth and hanging out with them all morning in one of my favorite places makes for a pretty damn good morning.  

We grab lunch from a local deli and when Peter suggests Lays potato chips, my heart seizes up with excitement and cholesterol.  Jenn and Steph do some shopping with a bunch of Ann Taylor gift/savings cards and Peter and I play Mario Kart online then chase it with a little Armageddon on TV.  The 90s didn’t seem so far away, but man that movie is awesomely old.

Steph and Peter had to head back that afternoon and after Brynn demands multiple hugs, we head to the pool, which is exactly a two minute walk from our house.  Brynn has a life vest and Jonah has a sort of a high-tech innertube and we attempt to safely navigate the public pool environment littered with leathery grandmothers, angsty teenagers and bored lifeguards.  Thankfully, the kids are mainly interested in sitting in the chairs by the pool while pouring water on other kids and making them cry.  We left early.

The weekend was polished off with a free upgrade on our rental car, a delicious dinner after the kids went to bed, some Arrested Development and me getting to catch up on my blog posting.  One weekend I won’t soon forget….except for a small portion at the beer festival.