To all those great dads out there, happy Father's Day!

Anyone do anything special?  I spent the day with my dad and my sister who just gave birth to her first little baby boy.  It was a very special day for her husband. 

Lately when I've been getting together with friends or family we tend to gravitate towards the older card games than Guitar Hero or the likes.  We can play The Great Dalmuti for hours.  A big part of the enjoyment comes from the peace and quiet.  Even though we're wrapped up in playing our cards right, we can converse with one another.  It really is a breath of fresh air to be able to just talk with people.

We also went out to Northside Nathan's on Sat. night for some pizza and wings.  Ever since Godfather's Pizza ended up pulling out of Vegas there hasn't been a decent joint around, but these guys come damned close! 

A great day overall, made especially great by my little 3-year old girl.  "Happy Father's Day Daddy!"  She spent some time playing Mario Kart Wii with me (absolutely loves Baby Peach and will get visible tears when she loses a race!) and drew me a picture in one of her classes at church on Sunday.  Really made me feel like a daddy.

I bought my dad a box of his favorite cigars. Nothing says I love you like tobacco and cancer causing carcinogens!

But seriously, the guy is next to impossible to buy for. If you put some real thought into the gift you're going to be disappointed when - years later - it's never been out of the damn box or worn. Guess that's my father, god bless him.

On a more irksome note, it would have been really nice if he'd come to me about ordering those fishing lures on-line for him a day or two earlier. I could have just got him those for his gift instead.

Man, it sounds like you had a great day, D! Happy belated Father's Day to you! And the same to Ramza and Jay, along with any other poppas that I missed.

A Happy Belated to all you pops here.  With that formality out of the way, lemme just say: my own pop can rot in hell.

I gave my grandpappy a visit, though.  We did battle against some lethal downpours in Chinatown yesterday, but we had a lovely late lunch/early dinner as a means of celebration.  At 84, the man is still spry, and I'm glad he's still around to enjoy days like these.

Ah, you've got to love dads, eh?

One of the huge motivating factors in me trying to be the best father I can be is, well, what seemed to be completely lacking in my own. You know though, having kids and feeling what I do with them, I just find it so weird and a father who doesn't connect with his kids is the one missing out because that connection is just amazing. Who wouldn't want that?

I brought my girls to the zoo. They were doing a big teddy bear's picnic and every child brought their bear. My 2 year-old adores the zoo, especially the grillillas and entants, as she calls them. So she loved the day. But she saw children with face paint and decided she wanted to get it done but there was a massive queue. After demanding she wanted to look like a tiger, I stood in line with her.

For an hour.

We got to the end of the queue and she decided it wasn't such a good idea after all and refused to have it done. I'll never get that hour back.

That aside, it was a great day out for all of us.

That's kids for ya!  We had a carnival come into town and there was a HUGE ferris wheel that Taylor would not stop talking about.  We finally go and she freaks out and doesn't want to ride the thing.  I was angry at the time, but then I remembered that I think I was the same way when I was younger.  If anything, it was a good test of my patience. 

Sorry to hear about your pop there Angie.  Goodness knows I've had several arguements with my father (and continue to) but at the end of the day, he's still my dad and I love him anyway.

Yes, children do love to test patience. Next time I'll bring my own paints so there's no waiting!

Happy (belated) Father's Day! And thanks to Zane for the personal shout out - it's easy to get lost on message boards but we've been here a long time and we're almost like a little (dysfunctional) family right here. I guess that makes Adam the daddy... now that thought is getting a little weird.

My sentiments exactly.

Edit: My biological father, that is. My step dad, bless his heart and soul, is probably golfing or some shit up in the clouds.

Edit Again: Allyourbase, that is so cute about your daughter. We had this Japanese woman come into my store with her little kid (couldn't have been much older than 3) and I was talking to her in her native language, and when it came time to leave, the little girl waved to me, smiled and said "Mata ne!". Melted my heart. Makes me reconsider my stance of never wanting a child.

I have to echo this sentiment as well. At least his amazing example convinced me to abstain from alcohol forever.

The real bummer is that the way my mother has been acting the last few years, I'll have to throw her on the same pile.

Fortunately, my grandparents picked up their slack, and I have them to thank for my life. I don't think I do it quite often enough.

EXACTLY the same case over here.

:S