Dad Days

This past weekend brought perfect late June weather - ideal for all the outdoor fun we had planned for Father's Day. We spent Saturday morning at the beach with some friends, where the boys got all good and tuckered out. Adam fell asleep on the way home from the beach, and literally could not be roused when we transferred him to his crib. I know that this is probably the norm for most kids, but for my "I refuse to ever close my eyes in the car, even if it is 10 at night and I am whining about being tired" children, this is unheard of. After a nice long nap, we took Daddy to a Sea Dogs game to celebrate his special day. We sat in the Pavillion section (akin to the Green Monster seats at Fenway), and the boys did great. They particularly loved eating lots and lots of ballpark food, seeing the lighthouse go up and down when the Sea Dogs hit homers, and meeting some of the pitchers warming up in the bullpen. While we didn't get an up-close visit from Slugger (the Sea Dogs mascot), we did have several encounters with Oakey (the Oakhurst mascot) who was a BIG HIT.

I'm not sure who was a bigger fan of Oakey - Ethan or Grandpa. We're still hearing quite a lot about Oakey (from Ethan, not Grandpa - he apparently got over his excitement), including many questions I can't answer like "Where are Oakey's ears?". Hmmmm....good question little man.

On Sunday, I asked Ben what he'd like to do for Father's Day, and wasn't at all surprised with his answer: "Work in the garden." So that's what he did, with his mini-me of course.

Sunday afternoon, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's "garden house" (named by Ethan as such, to distinguish it from their "lake house") for dinner and more outdoor fun. The "garden house" is aptly named, as Grandpa has a very, very large vegetable garden. Here's Ethan and Grandpa checking it out:

Even in the late afternoon, it was still hot and muggy, so we set up a sprinkler for the boys.

As you can see, Adam was not a fan. But Ethan was, and pulled Grandpa back and forth through that sprinkler a bajillion times. They needed a rest in the grass after all that water fun.

I hope all the wonderful, inspiring, loving dads in my life had as much fun being celebrated as I did celebrating them (either in person or in spirit) this past weekend. What amazing dads - the boys and I are so very lucky!

As a funny aside, Ethan thought Sunday was a day to celebrate all boys, not just dads. He was very disappointed to learn that he would not be receiving a card. So he made one for himself. Happy Belated Father's Day to all you dads (and Ethan, apparently)!