Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

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Dear Jack: Your 1st Soccer Game as a 1st Grader

6 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

Now that the summer has come to an end, so have violin lessons. And you decided you wanted to go straight into playing soccer now that the school year has begun.  It helps that you and your best friend Duncan, from your Kindergarten class last year, were able to get on the same soccer team.

So this past Saturday, our family drove out to the YMCA field in Spring Hill and watched you place your first game. It was amazing to see the difference, compared to when you played soccer 2 years ago in Pre-K.

You actually chase and kick the ball now! Wow!

And not just you, but all the other kids actually play the game too. Two years ago, it wasn’t this way at all. Back then, it was just a bunch of almost 5 year-olds standing on the field, looking at the feet in the grass.

But now, there’s actually something for your parents to watch you and your teammates do!

You actually gave Mommy and me a reason to keep yelling, “Go Jack! Kick it!” I felt like a legitimate soccer dad.

This was your sister Holly’s first time getting to see a soccer game. Since her skin is so fair, and since there was no shade, Mommy had me stand up and block the sun, casting a shadow on Holly as she watched the game from Mommy’s chair.

I definitely saw a little bit of irony in that; as if I were a big guy, which I am not. Oh well, the plan worked anyway. By the end of the game, your sister wasn’t quite as pink she would have been otherwise.

We enjoyed watching you play your first soccer game as a 1st grader.

Plus, I love the fact you’re getting to not only burn off all that energy you have on Saturday mornings, but also you’re getting to use your brain.

The game is pretty simple, though; for a bunch of 1st graders. Really, the main thing is just knowing which way to kick the ball. That’s all you really have to worry about right now.

Love,

Daddy

 

1 Comment Posted on car reviews, fatherhood, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

We are Taking a Luxurious 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon” for Our Family’s Fall Road Trip to Boone, North Carolina

Ah, the life of a daddy blogger… to have a brand new decked-out vehicle delivered to me whenever our family goes on a road trip. It’s pretty awesome, actually. I love getting to share the stories that present themselves, as my wife and I (ambitiously) travel across the South with a now 1st grader and a 16 month-old.

This makes the first year our family will not be travelling to California. Instead, 2017 is a year of smaller road trips for us.

Back in May, we traveled to Destin, Florida in the 2017 Toyota Prius.

Then in July, we took a fun little trip to Louisville, Kentucky (and saw dinosaurs) in the 2017 Toyota 4Runner.

Our next upcoming event will be our fall road trip to Boone, North Carolina. We will be sharing a cabin with two of my wife’s siblings and their families. It’s going to be a long drive there and back, but we’ve got the right vehicle for it.

The 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon” that was delivered to me feels like a luxurious spacecraft. Our whole family is psyched!

My wife is excited because of how spacious the cabin is and how the captain’s chairs, in the 2nd row where she’ll be sitting next to our young daughter, are full recliners.

Our son is thrilled because he will be able to watch DVDs during the trip, as he loves taking up the 3rd row for himself.

I’m confident our little girl is going to love the Sienna on account of being able to be so close and accessible to her Mommy sitting next to her.

And as for me?

I like knowing that as the captain of our voyage, as I listen to Jimmy Buffet’s Radio Margaritaville on Channel 24 on SiriusXM up in the front row, my family is going to be comfortable and entertained in the middle and back rows.

Could a 36 year-old husband and father be more excited about taking his family on a 6 hour road trip to a cabin in North Carolina, in a 2017 Toyota Sienna “Swagger Wagon”?

I submit that he can not.

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Here’s What My Son Did With 4 Rolls of Sticky Brick Tape, Which is Lego-Compatible

Being a daddy blogger is fun. I have companies reach out to me and send new products for my family to try out; like Sticky Brick Tape.

While Sticky Brick Tape is not an actual Lego product, it is Lego-compatible. It is designed to enhance play with Legos.

I handed my son Jack the 4 rolls of Sticky Tape and gave him this assignment:

Just play with it and make whatever you want to. Your job is to give other kids ideas of how to use Sticky Brick Tape.

His favorite part about playing with Sticky Brick Tape is that it is “bendy”. He enjoyed making snake-like creatures and vehicles; something a kid can’t do with regular Legos. Sticky Brick Tape has refreshed Jack’s interest in making new Lego creations.

But where does Sticky Tape get its name? While one side has grooves to stick to Legos, the other side can stick to virtually any flat surface: Just peel back the film to reveal the adhesive side. You can even cut the Sticky Brick Tape to the length you want it.

For example, that means you could help your child decorate their desk or bed with sideways Legos.

As for my son though, he never made it that far. He enjoyed the “snake” aspect of Sticky Brck Tape too much to cut it or stick it.

If you’re curious about Sticky Brick Tape, just click here to check out their website.

And if you’re feeling lucky, you can even click here to try to win 4 rolls of Sticky Brick Tape for your child. Make sure you sign up before the deadline, October 1, 2017.

I can definitely tell you my son has thoroughly enjoyed using Sticky Brick Tape. There’s just nothing else like it out there.

It has gotten him playing with his Legos again, that’s for sure.

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We Now Sleep on Adjustable Snuggle-Pedic Kool-Flow Pillows

Up until last week, my wife and I had been sleeping on pillows that were 9 years old. We had never bothered to replace the pillows we bought back when we got married. But then out of the blue, the folks at Snuggle- Pedic reached out to me and asked if my wife and I would be willing to try out their pillows, then keep them as a thank-you for spreading the word.

How could I say no? After all, we’ve been sleeping on 9 year-old pillows!

We’ve now had our new pillows for over a week; giving us ample time to test them out.

I can easily and absolutely confirm that I am sleeping harder with this pillow. I am sleeping deeply enough to dream again. I can’t explain why I am apparently staying in a deeper sleep by using this pillow, but I know that I am.

It reminds me of those infomercials where they show the “before” picture, which is black and white, then they compare it to the colorful “after” picture.

Something that makes this pillow special is that you can easily add or remove the stuffing inside, to suit your liking; thanks to a handy zipper on the side of the pillow. In the event you needed even more stuffing, Snuggle-Pedic will take care of that free of charge, including shipping.

I never needed to do this, but my wife did. She found that the default amount of stuffing was too much for her. So she simply took out of few handfuls, then placed the pillow in the dryer on “no heat” for a few minutes, to calibrate the consistency.

Actually, I’m glad it worked out this way; how my wife needed to adjust the stuffing but I didn’t.

That helped me see for myself what a cool feature it is, being able to personally customize the pillow’s consistency. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought much about that feature.

So if you’re looking for a new pillow, here’s a link to their website, Snuggle-Pedic.

I definitely am sleeping better since getting the Snuggle-Pedic Kool-Flow. And if I weren’t, I would just remove the extra stuffing.

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The “No Such Thing as a Crazy Baby Name” Theory

People are giving their babies weird names these days. We all know this. It is an epidemic.

Openly, we don’t acknowledge it. But privately, among friends, we talk about it.

It’s a release for us. It’s confirms that we are not the crazy ones.

Right now, you’re probably already thinking of 2 or 3 weird names you know that other people have recently named their kids.

But here’s the thing. We just have to be okay with it.

Because that peculiar baby name is an expression of that parent’s identity and their perception of their own creativity.

And sure enough, you could have this same conversation with someone who named their kid something obscure like, Cheezeburger Rex, and that parent would instantly agree with you that other parents name their kids stupid names.

That parent of Cheezeburger Rex (which let’s assume is a girl’s name just to make this scenario more believable for a crazy name) would predictably say something like this:

“I know, right!? I know this one mom who named her son Spikey Purple. I feel so sorry for that kid!”

So maybe, in theory, the rest of us “normal parents” should assume that we are the ones who named our kids strange names?

I call this the “No Such Thing as a Crazy Baby Name” theory.

It’s inspired by one time when a guy told me, “There’s no such thing as a stupid tattoo.”

I could easily argue that it might not be the best decision to get a Chester the Cheetah neck tattoo. But if that guy embraced the tattoo as part of his identity, making it a way to express himself; to him, it’s not a stupid tattoo. Instead, he’s proud of it.

Similarly, it’s this way with baby names too.

So the next time I hear a parent proudly tell me that their newborn son’s name is “Dracula Titus” or their daughter’s name is “Intelligence Martin”, I know how I’m going to respond:

“That is the perfect name! It’s so creative, too. But that makes sense, because you’ve always been such a creative person. Well congratulations! (He/she) is so adorable!”

By doing so, I am able to give that parent confirmation that they chose a name that accurately reflects their own identity as the parent.

Their identity; not mine, not yours.

And, for better or for worse, the identity of their child, as well.