A few Dad's I'd like to mention

So many Dads, just one day.

Today was delightful.  And Dadful.

It started with a bike ride.  His choice, so no sleep in, no breakfast in bed.  He's that kind of guy.

When he returned there were gifts.  A canvas of silly photos. Some quite spectacular craft from preschool and school.

The centre of the action.

And the gorgeous cufflinks I won from Uberkate, through a competition held by Styling You.  They are pretty fandangus.

Yeah baby. Uber cufflinks.

He loved it all.

We bought takeaway coffees and hot chocolates and went to the park.  We played 2 on 2 basketball, boys vs girls.  Having absolutely no experience of basketball beyond watching it on the Olympics didn't stop us in the slightest.

Mike is a fairly competitive player, and I, quite frankly, don't like him winning.  My enthusiasm to defend failed to account for the fact that Issy was hovering around at knee level, a bit peeved that she wasn't allowed to play, and I tripped on her.  She and I crashed to the ground, skinning my knee, bumping her head (requiring cuddles), while the other team went blithely ahead and scored about 5 goals against poor Sarah.

Note: Next time your kid grazes their knee, give them lots of sympathy, cause it really hurts.  Issy kindly rubbed my knee and said, "You'll be right Mum".

Oh, to have myself repeated back to me.

We had lunch in a top notch waterfront locale.  Nothing fancy now.  Spectacular view.  Great company.

Not a photo opportunity goes by without Issy photo bombing it.  

A beautiful view with a touch of sparkling.

We also managed to Skype Mike's Dad rather than just making a phone call.  Everyone was pleased with this development in technology. The kids kept fighting to keep their head in the main frame of the camera so there was a bit more screaming than we usually would prefer, but we could see them and they could see us and were able to walk them around the house with us.  It was excellent and Skype  makes you feel closer than a phone call.  Well, I reckon it does.

Unless seriously discouraged, I'm taking them (via ipad) to the school showcase tomorrow night and make them watch Sarah in the band and dance group.

And of course, we thought of my Dad.  The Dad who said to me when I brought Sarah to visit him when she was 8 weeks old.  "Isn't it amazing how much you love them".

It's been nine years since he said it to me, when my oldest child was so tiny and his oldest child (my brother) was already over 50.  The strength of love he felt, a father of 50 years, was just as incredible to him, as it was for me, a mum for just 8 weeks.  As it is for parents everywhere.

Being the type of guy he was, from the generation he was from, we didn't share lots.  But we shared that.

I can't send him a Father's Day card anymore, but I can send him lots of love.

Happy Father's Day Dad.  And to Dads everywhere.