This year, I did it different (though I did still consume a
respectable quantity of rum; Bacardi Oakheart, for those interested). I took
Friday off of work to hang with my son; Nicole works till 1:00, so we had the
bulk of the day to ourselves.
We went to Breithaupt Park, and spent most of the morning
there. He played on the swing, the teeter totter, the bouncy whale thing (as
seen below) and the jungle gym slide. We went for a walk in the woods for about
an hour, and he collected a couple more rocks. We had a little picnic in the
shade of a tree, and he ran through the splash pad fully clothed. 
We went home and puttered in the yard till Nicole got home.
I put up a gazebo we inherited, and Kenny helped by passing me tools. He also
took the time while I was reading the instructions to perform a little
maintenance on my trusty old mower.
It was a very good day.
Friday night I hung out at a bonfire with some neighbors
after Nicole and Kenny went to bed, and they invited us to an alley party on
Sunday. Cool beans.
Saturday was grocery day, and Kenny went for his 18 month
photos for his great-grandma (a family tradition; she has one of all her
grandkids and great grandkids). We puttered around the house a bit in the
afternoon while he napped, and then puttered some more after he got up.
Sunday was spent doing yard work, while Kenny played. And
yeah. I took lots of breaks to play with him too. I got one of our weed gardens
all ripped up, and I’m almost done building a new brick perimeter. Later afternoon
and into the evening we had the alley party.
Boy, that kid can run now. Nicole and I took turns chasing
Kenny. He tore after the TONS of older kids, and had fun exploring the alley
and disappearing into the neighbors back yards. We had a great time hanging
with the neighbor’s and making some new friends, after only 6 years living here
;)
Kenny went down like an exhausted sack of potatoes at bed
time, so mommy and daddy got to go back out to the alley to drink with our new
friends. Good times. Oh, and the Veggie Chip things that Nicole’s mom gave us
to bring were not that bad, I’m told, and tasted a bit like cold McDonalds French
fries. I passed on those.
Monday Grandma Grace (my mom) came to visit and we all hung
outside for the day, and Kenny and I splashed around in his kiddie pool. When
he went down for his nap, Nicole and I crashed; we relaxed and watched a movie
(Don’t be afraid of the dark, not very exciting) and decided to order pizza.
Exhausted after a long weekend, we all stayed in for the evening and rested.
And I went to bed two hours earlier than normal (10:15) and slept like a baby.
Kenny also slept like a baby ;)
So looking back, it was one of the best weekends I can
remember. And it had nothing to do with rivers of alcohol, and everything to do
with time spent as a family, working, playing and relaxing. Our little buddy
Kenny has filled in the gaps in our life that we didn’t even know where there;
I wouldn’t trade a minute of yard work with Kenny hanging off of my leg for a
hundred long weekends spend drunk out of my skull, and any time he wants to
dash away laughing and screaming, I’ll be there to chase him down, tackle him,
and tickle him till he needs a diaper change.
