Father's Day Q&A with Ramsey

 HAPPY FATHER's DAY to our special Daddy!  We love you!

So... the day was very uneventful.   Connor had taken a road trip with his friends to Minnesota, so the three of us chilled at home!  

Sooo... on to the Father's Day Q&A with Ramsey!

1) What is something Daddy always says to you?
"He calls me a mouse".

2) What makes Daddy happy?

"Me listening because whenever I don't listen, he gets real angry... like 'Baldy'. Baldy slaps his ruler if you get a question wrong."  (Daddy doesn't slap btw!)

3) What makes Daddy sad?

"I don't really know.... but definitely if one of his parents died."

4) How does Daddy make you laugh?

"He just....does! He calls me nicnames."

5) What was Daddy like as a little boy?

"He played Space Invaders, just like I do!"

6) How old is Daddy?
"He says he's 50.  He is.... in like a month."

7) How tall is Daddy?

"I should just measure him because I really don't know!"

8) What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?

"Call me nicnames, I think."

9) What does Daddy do when you're not around?

"I don't know because I don't see him doing it!!  I would guess he sits in his chair and watches how to 'get that money' all the time."

10) What is Daddy really good at?

"Making up nicnames for me."

11) What is Daddy not very good at?

"He's not very good at avoiding getting bitten by horseflies while swimming."

12) What does Daddy do for a job?

"Easy!  Polygraphs."

13) What is Daddy's favorite food?

"Uhhhhh.... whacky wafers?!?"

14) What makes you proud of Daddy?

"When he gives me an opportunity to swim."

15) If Daddy was a movie or cartoon character, who would he be?

"Han Solo."

16) What do you and Daddy do together?

"When you are gone, we go swimming."

17) How do you know Daddy loves you?

"Because he's in my family.  I'm his son.  He tells me he loves me."

18) What does Daddy like most about Mommy?

"He calls Mommy a 'sexy lady'."

19) Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?

"The police department because he has a lot of friends there."

20) How old was Daddy when you were born?

"7-49 = 42.   Daddy was 42!  I mean 49-7!"

21) If Daddy would become famous, what would he be famous for?

"For making everyone laugh because that's what he does to me."

22) How are you and Daddy the same?

"We both have the same hair and we're both the same gender."

23) How are you and Daddy different?

"I'm 7 and he's 49.  When I was a baby, our hair color was different."

24) What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

"Swim!"

25) What's your favorite thing about Daddy?

"He helps me reel in fish."

Happy Father's Day!

On Sunday, we thought about (and called) our awesome fathers/grandfathers and celebrated our awesome Dad, Eric.

Eric opened his gifts and card.  He got a "Dad-alorian" t-shirt; a parody of Star Wars' Mandalorian.

And, I had ordered a "thin blue line" wooden art piece that a local military vet made.  The oak flag also has small "shelves" so Eric can display all of his law enforcement challenge coins on it.   It is HEAVY, so mounting it properly will be a challenge.  ;-)     (He tried to hide from the pictures, but I wouldn't allow it!) 

The rest of the day was rather lax.  Since the water was calm (it was a bit chilly and cloudy so the water was peaceful), Ramsey and I went kayaking.  This was Ramsey's first kayak ride.  He was obsessed with hanging over the edge and splashing the water!  Eh, no!

 Supper was honey soy glazed salmon with garlic and Parmesan roasted veggies.

 I picked some our bed of lilies to color-up the kitchen.

 That evening, Ramsey had found a new potential pet while he was playing outside; a small grey bunny rabbit, hopping around the yard.   We think it lives under the new shed.

 Ramsey came inside the house and asked me for some carrots.  He doesn't like carrots, so I knew what he was up to.   He left a small pile of carrots on a block, then left a trail of carrots to where the bunny was hanging out at the time (near the culvert).

 Bless his little heart, he was trying to "make friends" with the bunny.  I watched from afar, his little actions and hand gestures (and "nice talk") to coerce the scared little rabbit out of his hiding place.  He later told Bumpa on the phone, "I tried to feed my baby rabbit.  I had a more difficult chance to catch him because Connor scared him away!"

Snack/picnic time

Eric and Connor had gone out fishing that evening.  There wasn't a lot of action with the fish (Connor caught a Northern), but they spent good quality Dad/Kid time together. 

Father's Day Q&A with Ramsey 2020

1) What is something Daddy always says to you?
"I 'mack you!"

2) What makes Daddy happy?
"When I go fishing with him."

3) What makes Daddy sad?
"Not fishing with him."

4) How does Daddy make you laugh?
"By teasing me!"

5) What was Daddy like as a little boy?
"He was nice!!"

6) How old is Daddy?
"I don't know.  40-something?  48?"

7) How tall is Daddy?
"Um, maybe like 8' tall?"

8) What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
"Go fishing."

9) What does Daddy do when you're not around?
"He just sits in his chair and watches news all day."

10) What is Daddy really good at?
"He has good throwing." 

11) What is Daddy not very good at?
"Running."

12) What does Daddy do for a job?
"I think he is retiring from the police department."

13) What is Daddy's favorite food?
"His own fish!"

14) What makes you proud of Daddy?
"I love you and I like you.  You're such a good man!"

15) If Daddy was a movie or cartoon character, who would he be?
"Only someone with the same voice as him - Han Solo!"

16) What do you and Daddy do together?
"I just sit on his lap.  We play Star Wars guys and stuff."

17) How do you know Daddy loves you?
"Cuz he's a family member.  He says nice things to me."

18) What does Daddy like most about Mommy?
"Because you're so pretty!"

19) Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?
"Fishing."

20) How old was Daddy when you were born?
"I don't know.... 42?"         (close - he was 41.5!)

21) If Daddy would become famous, what would he be famous for?
"How cool he is!"

22) How are you and Daddy the same?
"We both have the same skin."

23) How are you and Daddy different?
"He doesn't have as much energy as I do."

24) What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?
"Sit on his lap."

25) What's your favorite thing about Daddy?
"His hair!"

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful Daddy and hubby!  We love you so much!!!

We had an awesome day... the weather was beautiful and we were all in one place; home - together! 

 Most of the day was hanging out, doing some fishing and tinkering and playing in the yard.   That evening, Connor and Eric went fishing off the dock.   They caught some nice walleye, a perch, a few bluegill, a huge catfish (about 27" long), and two huge carp.    Because Eric had purchased a smoker (and smoked up some delicioso jerky the day before), I joked that we needed to keep a few carp to try (as gross as it sounds, I've heard it's quite good!). 

 Needless to say, it looked like a crime scene in the kitchen during the cleaning process.   The electric fillet knife and the regular filet knives would barely penetrate the steel-like scales and ridiculously tough rib bones.

It was quite humorous for sure (unless you were the fish cleaner) but it wasn't very fruitful.  We won't be having smoked carp anytime soon.    We WILL, however, be having a nice catfish and walleye fish fry.   😉

Father's Day Q&A w/Ramsey

1) What is something Daddy always says to you?
"Don't take huge bites!"

2) What makes Daddy happy?
"Not taking big bites."

3) What makes Daddy sad?
"Being a complete hot bull."     (???)

4) How does Daddy make you laugh?
"His jokes!"

5) What was Daddy like as a little boy?
"Like me!  Because I'm friendly and make friends where ever I go."

6) How old is Daddy?
"Um... I don't know!!"

7) How tall is Daddy?
"He is taller than us."

8) What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
"Just fish with Connor."

9) What does Daddy do when you're not around?
"He takes care of Mr. Kitty."

10) What is Daddy really good at?
"Catching bad guys!"

11) What is Daddy not very good at?
"Running.  He can't run as fast as me!"

12) What does Daddy do for a job?
"Police!!!"

13) What is Daddy's favorite food?
"Cheeseburgers!"

14) What makes you proud of Daddy?
"Daddy does all of this work for me."

15) If Daddy was a movie or cartoon character, who would he be?
"Batman!"

16) What do you and Daddy do together?
"Play inside... Star Wars light sabers."

17) How do you know Daddy loves me?
"Because he is so extra friendly?"

18) What does Daddy like most about Mommy?
"Your mole."     (*sigh*)

19) Where is Dad's favorite place to go?
"Anchors Away"  [restaurant]

20) How old was Daddy when you were born?
"Tell me first!"    Me: "42"   Ramsey: "Oooooh"

21) If Daddy would become famous, what would he be famous for?
"Catching POLICE!  That's funny!!  'Catching Police' is so funny!"

22) How are you and Daddy the same?
"We are both boys."

23) How are you and Daddy different?
"Because Daddy is taller than me."

24) What's your favorite thing to do with Dad?
"Let him watch me playing Minecraft."

25) What's your favorite thing about Daddy?
"I like to play with him!"

Q&A with Ramsey for Father's Day

For Father's Day, Q&A from the littlest human in the household:

1) What is something Daddy always says to you?
"He loves all of us!"

2) What makes Daddy happy?
"When I giggle, like this...."  making weird "blether blether blether" noises, sticking his tongue in and out.

3) What makes Daddy sad?
"As I run away when I'm naked." 

4) How does Daddy make you laugh?
"Cartoon Ghostbusters. He watches with me."

5) What was Daddy like as a little boy?
"He went crazy!"

6) How old is Daddy?
"He's 55."

7) How tall is Daddy?
"He's this inch," making his fingers stretch to about two inches.

8) What is Daddy's favorite thing to do?
"His favorite thing to do is catch bad guys."

9) What does Daddy do when you're not around?
"He snores. He comes down to my bed and snores as loud as he can."

10) What is  Daddy really good at?
Ramsey: "Catching bad guys!!!"
Me: "How does he catch bad guys?"
Ramsey: "He just does so good!"

11) What is Dad not very good at?
"He's not very good at fighting because he drops his light sabers sometimes."

12) What does Daddy do for a job?
"He catches bad guys."

13) What is Daddy's favorite food?
"It's whisky."
Me:  Can't.... control... the laughter!!!!!

14) What makes you proud of Daddy?
"He gets bad guys and puts them to jail."

15) If  Daddy was a movie or cartoon character, who would I be?
"He would be a cartoon Ghostbuster; Peter Venkman!"

16) What do you and Daddy do together?
"We both play with swords. Psssssshhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooo!"

17) How do you know Daddy loves you?
"Um, he kisses me."

18) What does Daddy like most about Mommy?
Ramsey: "Camping."
Me: "You think I like to camp?" 
Ramsey: "Ya."    (Maybe he's thinking "firecamping"??!?!?)

19) Where is Dad's favorite place to go?
"At home!"

20) How old was  Daddy when you were born?
"He' was 33-1.  He was 100."

21) If  Daddy would become famous, what would he be famous for?
"Because he will be a Ghostbuster!!!"   (He's really into Ghostbusters lately, thanks to a cute little blond on the playground who asked him if he'd heard of it.)

22) How are you and Daddy the same?
"Um, because we play."

23) How are you and Daddy different?
"Because I play building blocks and Daddy works at the police department."

24) What's your favorite thing to do with  Dad?
"I like say 'rar rar rar rar rar'!  Get it?!?"

25) What's your favorite thing about Daddy?
"I said I'd be surprised about him!  Get it?!?!  No more questions!!!"

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my sweetheart!  WE LOVE YOU!!

Well the days just wouldn't be complete without a little bit of chaos in the Big D household.   This weekend was really no different!   It was Father's Day weekend.  Other than being good to Eric, the only real ticket item on the docket was to get the boat in the water (finally)!  Until this point, a myriad things had kept that [seemingly] epic event from occurring.

Saturday was drizzly and a bit windy, but, between the rain, the boys completely the usual checklist to prep the boat for water-readiness.   We won't talk too much about the issues we had (plug was still in the boat, batteries were acting dumb, trailer connection issues), but we launched the boat on Sunday, late morning.  And... she wouldn't start.   Fiddling with batteries, grumbling like mad, breaking the battery connection wire, wondering why the motor was trimming fine two minutes prior,  grumbling more, the boat went back on the trailer, and we came home.  I gave up (only cuz it was Father's Day).  

Eric decided we're getting new batteries...today.  A quasi-quick trip to Walmart later, the new batteries were purchased, installed, and a few hours after that, the boat was ripping through our happy little lake.  HOO-RAH!   Too late for fishing or a tool around the lake, but at least she was IN!

Between the time of the first initial "test launch" and Connor going to the YMCA to be on Lifeguard Duty for a few hours, the boys gave Eric his gifts and card.   He got a movie and a fun t-shirt.

You're a good daddy, Eric.   Love you SO MUCH!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and outstanding Daddy!  We love you!!!

The day was "filled" with lots of R&R, fishing, video-gaming, hanging out, plus a dandy fish fry.

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day.   A day to celebrate the special Dads in our life.  Cheers Dad, Grandpas, and Bumpa!  We love you and we are so thankful for you!

The weather couldn't have been nicer for the Father's Day weekend; sunny, warm, and not very breezy.  Too bad Mother's Day couldn't have been that nice!  It was windy, rainy, and we got SNOW the very next day - not fair! :-) 

We started the day by giving Daddy his special presents.  (We gave him other gifts earlier in the week.)  Here are the boys posing with the homemade presents; a framed piece of Daddy Art (made with Photoshop) and a tall mug with Ramsey's hand prints.   His little mitts are getting big!

The rest of the day was filled with lots of fishing, grilling out, playing with Riggs, and playing with Ramsey during his first experience in a swimming (wading) pool.   Good times!

Now the EVENING.... that was another story!  The boys came in late from fishing, had some grub, then hung out for a bit, waiting for the big storm to hit.  We brought the plants and bird feeders in and picked up toys and such from outside.  

The storm hit at about midnight with lots of lightning and thunder (I love a summer storm).  Then we started hearing big whacks, thunks, and thuds (still love? not so much)!  I turned Ramsey's white noise machine up, hoping he'd stay asleep (which, miraculously, he did).  With all of the noise, I figured that maybe branches were falling on the house.  When we looked outside, it was hailing quite substantially.   Here are some of the nasty buggers that were causing all of the ruckus:

At least it wasn't snow.

Father's Day Fun

On a [mostly] sunny and warm day at the lake, we celebrated Father's Day with Eric.  

After the rather torpid boys woke up from sleeping in on a quiet Sunday morning, we started our celebration day with Eric opening his cards and many presents.

We gave him some of his favorite foods to grill (steaks, brats, and short ribs) and also a bottle of Knob Creek.



Connor had purchased a model P-51 Mustang and then built it for him.  He picked it out especially for Eric, knowing the Mustang is his favorite WWII-Era airplane!

Before the boys went fishing for the afternoon, Ramsey entertained us a bit in his jumper, bouncing like a Wildman!

Connor and Eric fished off the dock for most of the afternoon.  Ramsey and I joined them for a little while, then went to prepare supper; grilled ribeye with fried mushrooms and onions, brats, plus fresh asparagus.

After supper, it was back out to the dock for more fishing.  There wasn't a lot of boat traffic, so the water was quite tranquil.  It was such a wonderful evening; the temperature was tepid and the mosquitoes weren't biting!

The boys caught quite a few fish throughout the day and evening; mostly bluegill (they're spawning right now), a few white bass, some crappies, a handful of perch, and small walleye (that were thrown back).  The goal was to catch enough fish to have enough for three batches of fish patties (one of the boys' favorite meals).

As a fisherman in training, Ramsey sat on Daddy's lap and helped cast a few jigs. 

Rather than the fish they were reeling in, he seemed more interested in tasting the cork rod handle!

After the sun went down, it was time for the first campfire of the year.   Connor lit his first fire here and the boys really got the fire blazing!

Ramsey was entranced by the fire and couldn't take his eyes off of it.  This was the first time Ramsey had ever seen fire.

And... what's a campfire without roasted marshmallows and S'mores?  Yum!

To Eric, we love you so much and are exceptionally grateful to have you in our lives.  You're our special Daddy, companion, best friend, and more. 

Footprints
~Unknown
"Walk a little slower Daddy,"
said a little child so small.
I'm following your footsteps
and I don't want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast
sometimes they are hard to see,
so walk a little slower Daddy,
For you are leading me.

Someday when I'm all grown up
you are what I want to be,
then I will have a little child
who will want to follow me.

I would want to lead just right
and know that I was true,
so walk a little slower daddy,
For I must follow you!

“My Dad and I”
~ Phyllis C. Michael
"My Dad and I-we think alike,
He knows just what I mean
Before I even say a word
He reads, well, in between.

My Dad and I-we like to fish
Or build a model plane,
Or fix a broken chair or two
Or just a windowpane.

My Dad and I-we know the score
Of every single game;
Sometimes he's really busy, too
But he takes me just the same.

My Dad and I-we go swimming too,
Each year and sometimes twice
My Dad and I-we do everything;
My Dad-he's really nice."