Father's Day EXTRAVAGANZA

Since we'll be out of town next weekend, we celebrated Father's Day this weekend. Or as Gabe likes to call it, Father's Day EXTRAVAGANZA (in a deep, loud voice that makes Henry smile).


A few days ago, I decided to become adventurous with Henry and have him make a fun card for Gabe. I stripped him down to the diaper, had a bath ready to go, put out the finger paints, and let him go to town. His art turned out really well, and he was a fun mess too. I had to keep his fingers out of his mouth of course, but he was having too much fun squishing around the paint and chasing the bottles to mind. Too much.

Basically, the EXTRAVAGANZA (ok, I'll just type it regularly now, you get the idea) consisted of many delicious meals made especially for Gabe. Except, due to other commitments this weekend making a lot of cooking difficult to do in a day, we had to spread the meals out, thus creating a weekend of extravaganza. Saturday, after sleeping in - a rare treat - Gabe woke up to a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, and Henry had some too. Mom got to practice with Mickey Mouse pancakes. Henry loved them, so we'll be fixing more pancakes for special breakfasts for him too.


For as a dinner treat, I made chicken piccata and risotto, a favorite, with homemade cinnamon ice cream for dessert, using my Mother's Day present of an ice cream maker. For lunch, Gabe requested homemade macaroni and cheese since he loves baked pasta, but all that cooking was difficult to fit into one day, so we're having it tomorrow for dinner. Our Father's Day activity was using Gabe's previously given present of the bike trailer - we took a ride around St. Patrick's park. Henry fussed for a little bit, but then got really sleepy being pulled around, stairing at the wheels which he loves, and sucking fingers. He probably would have fallen asleep if we rode longer. What a life. How did we get to St. Patrick's park? Our neighbors found an old bike carrier that previous renters had left, which they gave to us! We installed it the best we could, and what didn't look right, we fixed with bungy cords. The bikes made it to the park safely though. St. Patrick's didn't really offer many places to ride, so we'll be going to a larger park in the future. After bike rides, we played on the playground, Henry's first playground experience

Henry really loved the swings. When we first put him in, and gently swung him, he didn't seem all that enthused. Turns out, he's a bit of a dare devil. High, fast swinging is definitely his speed!
When the swing kicked back, and he was looking at the ground, he kicked his arms and legs like swimming, so excited. Pretty cute to see.


Such unbridled enthusiasm. Henry, I hope you're always so happy. Maybe not always so drooly, but always so happy. I love seeing both my boys so happy.

Henry liked the slide too, but he actually liked climbing up it more. We wanted to see how far he could make it, and he actually did pretty well before gravity took over.

Being caught in the momentum of the day, I forgot that I had planned to pick up Bang Bang shrimp from Bonefish as an appetizer for our fancy dinner. So instead, we featured it as a meal last night, with chicken caesar salad it go with it. Father's day this year really has turned into the holiday that keeps on giving. Here's to EXTRAVAGANZA!