reminds me of the one I love: June 2013

Shouldn't he be TIRED? He either doesn't want to admit it, or he thinks he can beat the tiredness [and the rest of us into the ground] on sheer willpower.

I don't know if this is a gender thing or down to individual personalities, but your typical mom, for Mother's Day, requests things like sleeping in, a massage/pedicure, a dinner out... things generally revolving around RELAXING. Something cute from the kids and a card from her husband are also appreciated. Just a "thank you" and some sleep or peace and quiet. That'd be perfect.

Father's Day, however, doesn't seem to carry the same theme. I had the cute gifts in place and was mentally on board with the idea of making sure Sean had an easy, relaxing day. (Not exactly aided by the temper tantrum Josephine threw before church... but I figured we'd just bounce back from that... the whole day was before us.)

The whole day was before us.

Indeed.

So forget RELAXING. This is FATHER'S DAY!! And that means, "Conquer the world!!!" --at least to Sean.

Church was great.

From church we headed over to Buzz Mill, where we knew they had a flapjacks-for-fathers thing going on, with beer and bacon or something like that. (By the way, if you follow that link, you'll see a picture of the bar. That beaver head? Apparently the first time Sean brought Josephine here, he looked down to realize she was petting it lovingly, prior to exploring its eyeball with her finger. Lovely. While we were there this time, a guy came in with his dog on a leash. Dog was SUPER interested in that beaver head. Quite the beloved beaver.)

Anyway, it was already sweltering and we were out in the courtyard area, waiting, when we started to realize how drastically understaffed this production was. Did eventually get some food, and we found out that the Blue Ox BBQ trailer back there has some AMAZING brisket. Honestly, the best I've had in Austin if you want my opinion. Better than Franklin's. Maybe it was just a great chunk of meat, or an especially good day? Don't know. But I'm eager to go back and find out.

And so, with that sweaty plunge into hipsterdom tucked under out belts, we headed home. Sean opened his cutesy gifts and read the book Josephine had picked out for him from Book People (see video here). At this point, I thought we could all breathe a deep and restful sigh of relief... maybe take a nap...

But there was still so much of the day before us!!!

So back in the car we went.

wait. what's happening now?

We drove an hour out to Granger Lake to embark on another hike... one that, admittedly, sounded good. Dense hardwoods along the perimeter of the lake, wide paths, super shady, a cool bridge, etc.

Apparently the book we have on local hikes is dated.

This poor child was absolutely MISERABLE. Don't know what happened to all the hardwoods, and the path was barely a foot wide in places, with itchy weeds that came up to Josephine's neck encroaching on the walking space. We made it half a mile before caving to the intensifying soundtrack of a moaning four year old and giving up. She was covered in those fuzzy (but scratchy) burrs and seemed about on the verge of disowning her dad, Father's Day or not.

Turns out "Toughen up!" isn't a phrase that goes over well with this one.

Like a truly heroic daddy, Sean saved the day, though. He found a swimming spot (I remembered her swimsuit this time), and she got to cool off a bit.

She loved this and wanted to stay "all day" but her brother was weighing in with a different voice, having had enough character building for the day...

On the way home we graced Monument Cafe in Georgetown with our... er... rugged presence, and by the time we got back to Austin there was only a bit of time to scrub down the kids before bed.

It was a day as fully conquered as possible. Can't quite tell if that makes it a successful Father's Day or not, as his criteria are simply so foreign to me. (I do know that when next May rolls around I'll be giving explicit instructions that my Mother's Day look NOTHING like this whatsoever!)

Well, except for this part. I'll take some of this.

Josephine and Clement are truly lucky to call this man Dad.

All that character he's building in them is on a mile-deep foundation of love.

Happy Father's Day, Sean!

P.S. In other news, his birthday is this Sunday. He has already forgotten how much conquering we did last Sunday, and is asking what we'll be doing for his birthday. :-/ If a family member hasn't from me by the following weekend, please send search party!