Father's Day 2014

Father’s Day weekend treated us well.

On Saturday, Mia was super-tired and was ready for her nap at 10:30AM. Jevon and Alexa went out to run a few errands. Mia and I stayed home (she really wanted to go).

They're going WITHOUT ME?

I put her down and she slept for 2.5 hours! When she got up, friends of ours were headed to the Beaches Beer and BBQ Festival, so we packed up and walked down to Woodbine Park.

Stylin'

The most hilarious game of peek-a-boo part 1

The most hilarious game of peek-a-boo part 2

Our friends, Steve and Victoria, had picked a table that was a little out-of-the-way and they brought their own patio umbrella for the table. Each of the three families who arrived had brought picnic blankets, so we had a great little set-up for six adults and four kids.

Hanging out

TACKLE!

Mums and babies

Enjoying Ruby's toys

Liam, networking on his phone 

We tried a variety of meat and beer. Mia, predictably, ate only beans and corn on the cob, but the rest of us dug into the great food.

We quickly realized that we should have invested in entire outfits of rib stain camo.

I ended up with little rib sauce face prints on my shoulders, a rib sauce handprint on my thigh, and an ice cream cone embedded in the bum pocket of my jeans. Jevon had little rib sauce finger prints and an ice cream face print on his pants. Live and learn.

The four kids had a blast running around, dancing to the music, and generally being rambunctious. The six adults did the same. Mia, Ruby, and Liam are all close in age and are almost at the point where they actually play.

Exploring

Dancing Queen

More dancing

PEEK (Ruby & Mia)

Time out to sit.

Playing ball (and Jen is chasing an escaping Liam)

Alexa was in seventh heaven following the beaver mascot (that came around doling out free sunglasses to kids) and the running back and forth from our table to the giant beer-bottle-shaped balloon. She thought it was fantastic.

New shades

We also indulged in some ice cream cones, much to her delight. Mia and Liam were happy to try ice cream, but Ruby was very hesitant.

On our way home, we went past the midway. Alexa wanted to go to it, but it was expensive and tiny, so we compromised on pizza instead of a midway ride. It wasn’t the healthiest day, but after a whole afternoon of sitting in the sun, neither Jevon nor I wanted to think about making dinner. By bed-time the girls were exhausted – and so were we!

Starting home - Mia "helped"

Stacked up shoulder rides
(Minnie Mouse got the best deal)

On Sunday, we had our Father’s Day celebrations in the morning, with fried eggs and coffee for breakfast followed by some little gifts for Jevon (namely a beer tasting dinner out with some of his dad-friends). Alexa kept saying: “Woohoo! This is the BEST Father’s Day!”

Alexa had a birthday party to go to on Sunday afternoon. It started at 1:00PM. She started asking if it was time yet at 8:30AM. She was so excited. She kept telling Jevon all of the things they would do at the party. For a 2-hour party, she sure had some big ideas! Tallulah, the birthday girl, had asked for her guests to wear princess dresses. Alexa was more than happy to oblige. She also wanted her hair in a French braid, and she wore a necklace and a ring, although Jevon convinced her to leave the ring at home so it wouldn’t get lost.

Alexa was so antsy for the party that I eventually had to put the timer on, and I told her she could leave the house as soon as the timer went off. She passed the time snuggling with her dad. The timer went off at 1:00PM exactly, and she had her sparkle shoes on, the gift in hand, and was across the street at the party by 1:03PM. She bopped in the door, and waved goodbye to me. She had NO need for Mummy to stay.

Waiting for the timer to go off, telling
Daddy about what's going to happen

On her way 

Heading over to the party

 During the party, Jevon and I started puttering around the house. Mia woke up from her nap soon after Alexa left, so we took her into the back yard and started working around there. We commented to each other that having 2 parents and 1 kid is really easy. During and after the party, Jevon started hauling the scraggly little cedars out of the yard using only his brute strength and a little camping hatchet. I helped a bit. Neither of us was wearing shoes, but Jevon did make one concession to safety: he wore gloves.

This is what water tables are for, right?

He-Man

I went to pick Alexa up at 3:00, and she was the only kid still eating cake. The rest of the girls were done and playing, but Alexa was happily, slowly, eating “brown cake with smarties”. It seems that most of her high hopes for the party came true: they wore party hats, they had a tea party, they got their faces painted, they ate cake, Tallulah liked her present, and Alexa got a treat bag.

We hung around the front yard for a few minutes with our next-door neighbour, and then wandered our way to the back yard again as Jevon polished off the cedars. I got out the hose to fill the water table and our afternoon quickly devolved.

Alexa asked for a balloon, so I blew up two and then I got the great idea to show the girls about water balloons. Mia was not engaged, but Alexa thought they were great fun. We had a hilarious time with water balloons until Mia got splashed in the face. She was unimpressed. The girls were muddy head-to-toe, so they had quick baths before dinner to get the worst off and long baths after dinner to get properly clean.

Dinner was a bit of a mess: we overcooked the steak; Alexa crashed from all the day’s excitement (I told her to sit up straight in her chair and she yelled: “This is the WORST FATHER’S DAY!”); and Mia threw her entire dinner to the dog. We redeemed the evening with cuddles, books, baths, the NBA finals, and (long after the girls were asleep) the violent Game of Thrones season finale.

Before she went to sleep, Alexa called Jevon back into her room for Father’s Day hugs, and she told him that it was actually the best Father’s Day.