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@cryotosensei's Parent's Corner post from today reminded me I haven't posted in this series in awhile.
On Thursday it was a beautiful late summer's day in our neck of the woods. My original plan was to go to Home Depot in the late afternoon and peruse the selection of kitchen faucets, as I am looking to replace ours in the near future. It's not an immediate need but an inexpensive thing to upgrade and a minor project for me. My wife will be pleased on both accounts.
My daughter loves to "check things out" at stores so I asked her if she wanted to join me. She enthusiastically agreed. We had to make a quick stop to drop off some recycling at the local dump (or whatever it is called these days).
We dropped off the recycling and I commented to my daughter that it was too nice a day to be walking around Home Depot, is there something else she would like to do. She replied "feed the ducks". As many of you know we live on Lake Huron (well not directly on- it's a 5 minute walk from our house) and by the Harbour in our town you can usually find many ducks, geese and even a few swans swimming around. The best place to feed the ducks is at a small boat launch a bit of a ways away from the docks where the larger boats launch from. It's just an area you can back into unhitch your boat and take off. It rarely gets used though so if you have enough tasty treats you can have it covered with ducks in no time.
I agreed that feeding the ducks would be a great way to spend a late summer afternoon/evening. We went to the store and bought some oats (I recently learned ducks shouldn't be fed bread but oats are ok) and drove to the park where we could walk to the area we feed the ducks. However, our plans got changed again when my daughter noticed the local splash park was still open. As soon as we got out of the car and she saw water spraying into the air and drenching the happy children below she had decided, what she really wanted to do was go splashing. She said "Daddy, the splash park is still open" (we thought it closed when kids went back to school), "can I go". I replied "I don't have a towel or change of clothes for you. I thought we were going to feed the ducks, how about we go to the splash park tomorrow". She begrudgingly agreed and then I thought to myself I better check the weather for tomorrow. I glanced at the weather app on my phone and it showed rain, or clouds or a mix of the two for the next few days. I put my phone away and abruptly said "let's get back in the car, we have to go back home". Shocked, she replied "awwww but we just got here". I said "don't you want to go to the splash park? I need to stop at home and get you a change of clothes and a towel". She excitedly started running towards the car. I guess that was a yes.
After a short drive home, packing a bag with a towel and change of clothes we were back at the park in less than 20 minutes. As we got out of the car I said "go have fun, please don't drink the water and when it's time to go it's time to go" and my daughter ran off towards the splash park as I walked behind with her bag and a couple bottles of water in tow.
And the splashing began!
My daughter ended up splashing around and playing with the other kids for almost two hours. A couple of time extensions were well negotiated by her along the way. She had an amazing time. I spent most of the time enjoying the weather, watching her play and chatting with the other parents/guardians. I definitely checked the price of bitcoin and stacker news at least a couple times.
Once she was done getting drenched, It was time to get changed and dried off and head home.
As we walked towards the car my daughter said "Thanks daddy, I had a lot of fun, but I know we need to go home now". I replied "do we?". She looked at me puzzled and I said "we didn't feed the ducks".
So, we dropped the bag and wet clothes off at the car and grabbed the oats we had purchased and ventured off to the aforementioned boat launch to see if we could corral some ducks to feed.
We caused quite a stir amongst the duck community. Battles were had but in the end everyone got fed.
Once our duck feeding was complete we wandered back the long way along the harbour trail to return to where we had parked. The sun was beginning to set over lake Huron and we took a moment to take one last glimpse out at the water.
As fun as it may be to shop for faucets at Home Depot, sometimes you just need to grab the little one by the hand, or let them grab you by the hand, and see where adventure takes you.
Thanks for reading.
Sats for all, GR
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That's awesome. Somehow, we didn't make it to a splash park this summer, but my daughter loves them, too.
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We had such a great time. We hadn't gone either. They had a waterslide and that bubble bath splashing area at the Ranch we went to in July. She did that. We also a have slip and slide (remember those) and used that once this year. We didn't do as many things this summer as the last couple just because the first half of summer my wife had her surgery and then she was limited for about 6 weeks and I was helping her a lot especially the first 4 weeks. I think it's the first time (aside from the covid season) I have not been to a Jays game in at least 20 years.
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I only remember the slip-and-slide ads, which looked like a ton of fun. We have a splash pad that gets a decent amount of use, but it's not the same wildly fun time that a splash park is.
Hopefully your wife is back to full strength. It's no fun being laid up like that for a long time.
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She is doing better but still some potential concerns so she has another ultrasound next week and then a follow up with her surgeon later in the month.
I guess the height of the slip and slide popularity was a bit before your formative years. It was really popular in the 80s when I was a kid.
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Slip and slides were quite popular when I was a kid (which may or may not have been the 80's). We just didn't live in a place where people had lawns or where it got super hot in the summer.
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I am also thinking of having fun in the water with the kids today.
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @BTCLNAT 7 Sep
Seeing your child's smile on their face when they are having a good time is something you will never forget. But sometimes we forget that that is the most important thing in their lives. We should not be parents from a distance even when we are close. Some people wonder why grandparents are always pleasing their grandchildren? It may be that they now do with their grandchildren what they did not do with their children. But sometimes they realize that their grandchildren don't have their parents around even when they live in their own home. Then they come to their aid and help them laugh.
The worries and pressures of life sometimes make us be absent parents even when we are present.
Your experience shows that we have to do everything possible to see our children smile, nothing produces more happiness. Let it remain that way. Success in the longest job, because it never ends, BEING A FATHER
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Well said.
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 7 Sep
It brings back memories. I had similar days with my daughter. Water in just about any setting provides endless entertainment. Is there anything more fun than watching your child have fun?
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Their joy is contagious.
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50 sats \ 5 replies \ @ek 7 Sep
I wish I was your kid.
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Ha ha, thanks but if you were my kid I would make you build me a lightning based sportsbook and not give you supper until you meet your daily objectives.
No fun for you ek!
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20 sats \ 3 replies \ @ek 7 Sep
I guess that's fair haha
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Is our chess game over? Sorry about my screw up.
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 7 Sep
No, why would it be over?
I gave you the option which board we should continue to play in #675108
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Didn't see that. Sorry. I will respond on the other feed so we aren't playing in two separate places.
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @Carresan 7 Sep
Great afternoon/evening enjoying the summer and the sights of the lake are awesome!
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Absolutely. Didn't do as much of it as I would have liked this summer but hopefully we will get in a few more adventures before the cold weather gets here.
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50 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 12 Sep
This is awesome! Great to see that both you and your daughter had a great time! The photos look amazing too!
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Thanks. It's wonderful adventuring with the little one. Especially now that she is a bit bigger.
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The lesson I learnt from this is to have foresight and check the weather app. I can imagine my son being inconsolably distraught if I have to tell him sorry kiddo, itโ€™s raining. Also a teachable moment for your daughter about the value of planning
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It all worked out in the end we just did everything in one day instead of two. But it is a good idea to know the weather a couple days ahead of schedule when planning stuff with the kids for sure.
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Wisdom leads to foresight ๐Ÿ‘
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So the reason this story was so good, and idk what this says about me, but I kept anticipating it taking a bad turn, but you thought of everything like a great parent!
I want to feed the ducks, let's use good food. It's a nice day, let's go outside. There's a splash pad but we don't have the stuff, let's wait til tomorrow let me check the weather let me get the stuff really fast what about Tony Soprano's ducks?
And ultimately the hidden reason why it's a great post isn't cuz there wasn't a pitfall twist or turn, but it shows off your decision making. I'll keep that in mind when I write a parenting post!
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Hi dm please