"And Other Things Like That"

We had a great Father's Day. Just so's ya know.

It started out happily, with Kiernan uncharacteristically letting me sleep in until 8:30 in the morning. Yeah, you read that right. 8:30. And yes...around here we consider that sleeping in.

As many of you know, Wendy is out of town on a business trip, so when Kiernan gets up it's 'go time', Father's Day or not. So him sleeping until sometime after seven in the morning was a big deal.

He came in and pounced on me to wake me up and we hit the kitchen for breakfast. Kiernan's favorite cereal is Raisin Bran. Please. I beg you. Don't say anything to him about this. Don't laugh. Don't gasp, "What about Fruit Loops?!?" Even while reading this on your computer at your desk. He'll hear it over the Internet and I'll have to go out and buy Fruit Loops. I'm shocked he hasn't found out about Frosted Flakes yet. And given the fact that his favorite bathroom reading is Calvin and Hobbes, I'm flat out flabbergasted that he hasn't gone on a hunger strike until we produce a box of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.

I gave him a bowl of Raisin Bran (with extra raisins), and he gobbled it up. After this he asked to watch a video. I asked which video he'd like to watch, knowing the answer, and then started up his favorite planet dvd (Field Trip to the Planets, if you must know...Hey, something that might be fun for you, if you're looking for something to do, would be to buy that dvd and watch it every day. Every day. Every single day. Also buy the cd and listen to it, and only it, whenever you're in the car...lather, rinse and repeat). While that played I showered and made myself a coffee drink, by which time his video was over and I watched a show myself, relaxing with my latte. It being Sunday morning, I watched my second favorite sports show, "The Sports Reporters". Even though I totally respected Kiernan's time while he watched his planet video, he climbed all over me during my show. Such is Father's Day...thank goodness. We laughed ourselves silly.

Our teevee watching out of the way, we prepared for the day proper. We got into our swim suits and headed out to the beach. Kiernan loves the beach. Note that I did not say that he loves swimming, or the water. He loves the beach. He is nuts about playing in the sand. So...off to the beach did we head.

We found ourselves a nice little spot at Topanga State Beach, ate the lunch we'd packed (peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches) and then played in the sand for a few hours. Playing in the sand, incidentally, involves me digging holes and building sand castles and Kiernan jumping in said holes and on top of said castles. Over and over and over again. We also laugh a lot.

I'd love to build a whole sand castle someday, without it being pounced upon by Toddlerzilla. But really, I'm not any good at things like that. I can dig a heck of a moat, mind you, but I get to a certain point in sand castle construction and I have no idea how to make it any better. It has always been thus. So the fact that Kiernan bulldozes every attempt I make at a sand castle is really a welcome development. Really takes the pressure off.

After a few hours we made our way home and, after washing the sand off, spent the remainder of the day reading books and throwing balls. We spent some time on the phone later in the evening, making Father's Day calls and Birthday calls (Mason and Grance) and Mommy calls. Then we hit the sack.

Great Father's Day. The picture at the top of this post is a scan of the card Kiernan made for me at school. It was stapled to a little paper bag, inside of which was a palm-sized rock upon which was written, over Kiernan's awesome and ubiquitous solar system decoration, "My Dad Rocks". The second pic down is a lunch picture; the third a sand castle destruction picture with an air of contemplation. The picture below is a bonus shot of the two of us, not from this day but from the birthday party for Kiernan's friend William a few weeks ago.