Fathers day 2005 - just a recap - nothing spectacular, kind of meandering post....

Started off this morning with a nice little wakeup for the hubby - as 3 little boys piled into our bed in the usual chaos of morning wakeups, I handed Chris his happy father's day gift. Like he needed anything besides the complete adoration of 3 shiny happy faces saying "get up daddy".

So I got the kids dressed and ready for church and we loaded 'em all up in the van and headed out on this Sunday morning - 22 degrees, and sunshine desperately trying to sneak past the cover of cloud.
after church we decided that we didn't really feel like making lunch, and buying it would be so much easier, and it was a special day after all, so Chris got himself a Quizno's sub (they really are the best) and I opted for Swiss Chalet, with extra chips and sauce for the kidlets.
Lunch was delightful as the kids chose today to get along, and not argue over who got how many, and they were content to 'share' off mummy's plate. No big deal.

The sun had emerged and Chris went off for a long run (16km today - he is training for a marathon in the fall) The boys went out to play in the backyard, Joey went down for a nap, and I had some time to sit on the swing outside with the boys and actually read a book - For a few minutes, and then they thought it was much more fun to jump on top of me (which it is, I'm sure) so we had ice cream sandwiches and waited for Chris to come back, and then we took all the kids to the local park.

What a fabulous park. We loaded up the kids in the bike trailer, pulled by Chris and the babyseat on my bike and we rode to the park through the paths that connect all the streets in our subdivision to the new park. Last year they sodded the park and built an amazing playground with slides and swings and lovely benches under a large gazebo - The whole playground area has nice cedar wood chips on the ground, so there are no grass stains, and no scuffed knees or hands if they fall. There are two playground sets, a smaller one for the wee preschooler set, and a larger one for the bigger kids. The smaller one was out of commision today as it appears some hoodlums had torched it recently - Why do people do this? What possible thrill can come from torching a preschooler playground set? Makes me so mad, because we live in a brand new subdivision - fairly upscale. We moved here to get away from this kind of behaviour - Only a few years ago we were living in a townhouse with drug dealers that hung around on the corner, in an area that while convenient, still carried a reputation for being somewhat of a suburban ghetto....which just goes to show you that even kids who have every monetary advantage can still grow up to be just as much of a hoodlum as a poor kid who lives in the slums. We didn't want our kids (just 2 at that time) to be raised with such a close proximity to the influence of drug dealers and users or potheads like our next door neighbours, and when the opportunity came up to move into this neighbourhood (which had been a bit of a fantasy since they started building it about 5 years ago), well we leapt on it.

I still love the neighbourhood - I love the neighbours, and quite honestly, there are very few problems. But the torched playground still bothers me. It means that there is really nowhere that is going to be crime free, even in the "good areas". There is nowhere that is going to be free from bad influences and people who wish to draw my kids into bad behaviour. It is tough to be a parent in this day and age. I am thankful that my kids have a loving and supportive father, one who not only provides for them, but who will model good behaviour. Who spends time to take them to the park on a sunny sunday afternoon, when I know he'd rather be curled up on the couch with a good book.
They are lucky kids. And I hope they grow up to be as decent and wonderful as their dad.
Happy Fathers day!