Some Dad Moments...

Being a Dad is not all fun and games. But every difficult moment is more than offset by what I consider to be - "Dad Moments"

Here is a glimpse at a few of those moments.

Dad Moment #1

My son Jason won 2nd place in the riding competition a couple of weeks ago. Regular readers will know that Jason rides a horse every week with a really neat instructor/therapist named Kaitlyn. After two years, he is quite the equestrian aficionado, and has even guided Betsy (the horse, of course) all by himself for a short distance!

Dad Moment #2

After a few quite difficult travel experiences with Jason, we decided to try to make some short-hop type trips to help acclimate him to the idea and process of travelling. Last weekend, we took the boys to a small mountain town in the San Bernardino mountain range called Big Bear. Jason did well, and one of the highlights of the trip was an unexpected visit to a Fire Tower. We had gone on a short hike in the Children's Forest area, and one wise forest ranger recommended that we go a few more miles up a very windy road to the tower. It was ... breathtaking. The tower - one of several sitting along the front range of the mountains, is in place to provide bird's eye views of wildfires. It is positioned to capture views extending - literally - over 75 miles (120 km). It is hard with a photograph to convince you of scale, but here it is.

(Oh, by the way, the Dad Moment of this experience is that neither kid cared about the view - it was way too big to process. They cared about the hummingbird feeders affixed to the eaves of the tower.)

Dad Moment #3

On Monday, I came home from work and got out of my car. As we are on the tail end of a heatwave, and as I live inland in a semi-arid climate, I was expecting a blast of heat as I exited my vehicle. Instead, I immediately noticed that my world was at the perfect temperature. It was one of those extremely rare, exquisitely well-balanced moments where, given the choice and the power, you would keep the current ambient temperature absolutely the same for the rest of your life.

So I raced into the house and announced that, in light of the perfect weather outside, we need to go for a walk! The kids and the dogs were thrilled, but Lisa - though wanting to go - was regrettably in the middle of an uninterruptable task. So, since I had already let the proverbial cat out of the bag, I had to follow through and take the clan for a walk. This means that I - one man - would strap a papoose-style carrier to my chest for 7-month old Colin, take big ol' Chance and new puppy Marley on a leash in each hand, and still somehow have to guide 5-year old Jason and 4-year old Tyler on a walk. Just us 6 guys! Its a good thing we live on a quiet country road - only two cars passed during our stroll.

In the first picture I, as we are jammed up at the front gate, I am trying to convince Tyler to take responsibility for Marley and his leash. In the second picture, Tyler is drifting left with Marley, I am reaching back for Jason's hand. Let's just say it never became much less complicated than that moment. The best part of the walk, by the way, is when we passed an avocado grove and the boys got to pick fresh (not-yet-ripe) avocados, and then bring them home for the dogs to play with and eat. We live, by the way, in the Avocado Capital of the World.

And for my last "Dad" moment of this post...

Dad Moment #4

Coming home from a difficult day's work is pretty fun when you walk in the door and see these two characters. If, at this moment, you do not drop down to your knees and initiate play with your adoring audience, you might be in the wrong line of work.

Thanks, as always, for visiting my blog. Someone who reads this post will be my 5,000th visitor. Notice that I have placed a new entry on my sidebar - a place for Autism Dads. If any Autism Dads who I did not list would like to be part of this group, please let me know. Any readers who see this list, please visit these excellent blogs. And, for those guys listed there, please consider posting your own Dad Moments. A meme may find its roots right here, right now.