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!
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?!”
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.
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!
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?
That sounds like an awesome time, going mom sounds pretty awesome to rewarding her bad ass baby daddy with some beers with his buddies. To answer your question I’ll take outdoors most of the time just to enjoy the air and scenery although kids have it way better than we did with all these new indoor facilities nowadays. You might keep an eye on that boy in the right in the picture, it looks like Avery is taking a shine to him. Just one dad of a daughter to another!
Going Mom is very awesome! It was nice to relax with some beers and a friend for a while. 100% agree with you on being outdoors, and strive to keep Avery outside as much as possible. It’s really not hard to get her out though, it’s getting her back inside that’s an issue.
I’ll have to keep a really close eye on the boy as he’s our neighbor! But he supports Ninja Turtles and has a good set of parents, so he passes the test so far!
Sounds like a good time was had by all.
Indeed it was. Can’t beat play time with the kids! Thanks for stopping by, Jack!