Dear Ol’ Dad

As previously mentioned, my dad finally came to visit over the weekend. The weekend was a nice mix of great food, Wii entertainment, and home improvement projects.

I cooked three fantastic meals to show off my skills and impress my dad: chicken spaghetti, shrimp etoufee, and homemade spaghetti. The first two were meals my mom used to make when they were married. (I do hope he enjoyed that trip down culinary memory lane.) The last one is “old faithful” that I whip out for those I love. If you’ve yet to prepare all of these, you need to take a long, hard (that’s what she said) look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Why?” Because you’re truly missing out. Would I lie to you? Moving right along. Our other meal worth bragging about I can’t take credit for, with the exception of playing chauffeur and picking up the tab. We went out for snow crab legs and shrimp at Old Bay Steamer in Fort Walton Beach. It’s one of my favorite restaurants and it’s la-la-lame that they apparently do not have a web site. Seafood aside, their house salad is the jam. Go there if you haven’t already.

All I will say about the Wii is that Mario Kart is totally worth hunting down and purchasing. So much fun! I’m kicking butt and taking names. Well, except for one level in the Star Cup that looks like you’re driving in space. It makes me feel like I’m hallucinating and makes me dizzy, disoriented, and confused. I hate every second of it. Other than that, the game is fantastic and addicting. Amy and I are going to meet online and play each other live. We’ll be doing that while our kids are at school so they don’t make fun of us.

“Hey, dad! Want to help us with some home improvement projects? We just don’t know how to do these things.” Ah, this is the way to my dad’s heart. He loves projects where he can demonstrate how smart he is and prove that he’s the most anal retentive person this side of the Mississippi. Bless him for his skills. Weekend projects included: replacing light in foyer, replacing lights next to garage, hanging two towels rods, and refinishing our jacked up front door. Woo-hoo! I’ve already started working on the list for his next visit. Just kidding. Not really.

I brought my very Southern Baptist dad to our church yesterday morning. I’m not really sure what he thought of the subject matter, loud music, lack of hymnals, and the fact that we meet in a movie theater. I was too scared to ask for his opinion and he didn’t offer one. I will assume his opinion was positive and I will choose to rest in the “ignorance is bliss” state of mind.

I suppose I should share a few photos to offset all these words, huh?

I’m amazed there are still blooms in my yard this time of year. I love Florida. I love it long time.

If he asked me to birth more of his babies, I could probably be persuaded. I’m just keeping it real, guys.

OMG. 15 weeks and I’m already obese. Just kidding!

Taylor and her granddad. What a little lady. I can’t believe she had over 2,900 text messages on her cell last month. Dear God. Where does she find the time? How have her fingers not fallen off?

Yes, I realize my dad is a strange blend of Steve Carell and Nicholas Cage. What’s really odd is that many of his facial expressions and mannerisms are that of Carell’s character on The Office. So weird. You have to experience a conversation with him to truly understand.

Noah unfortunately whined and cried about teeth coming in most of the weekend, but last night he really came out of his shell. They had the best time and it made up for all the crying. So adorable and fun! I could eat him up.

Speaking of Noah, he’s up from his nap. See ya!