Single Dad Weekend - Saturday
Friday was a good start to the weekend. Although it was exhausting, we mostly stayed on the same page on things without any major mishaps. In fact, mentally, I was so happy with Friday that my body said it was all done with sleep at 4:00 AM. This could have been a major bummer, but luckily, the little man was excited too as he woke up at 4:15. That didn’t give me enough time to really take care of my morning routine. So I did what any Dad would do in this situation and turned on the TV so he could watch Bluey while I made browney.
With us getting an early start to our day, I decided that instead of taking the dog and boy for a walk from the house, we might as well drive down to St. Pete so we could do some sightseeing on our morning adventure. We made it to the Pier as the sun rose above the water, and it was just a very peaceful experience for the three of us (the dog is included in as much as possible)
The only downside was that only one of us remembered to go pee before we left. Luckily, the dog could pee in the grass. I was not so lucky as I was not as wise as my two-year-old who did take care of business before leaving. When it’s only 6:30 AM, every public restroom is still locked up. I ventured around and tried every door I found, but every one was locked. I thought about going to a port-a-potty, but I wasn’t sure how I would work the logistics of fitting myself along with my child and dog into one stall. There were some painful times, but I had to show my kids a good time with Mommy not around.
I did make it home without peeing myself so that’s a victory, but there really wasn’t much time for rest. We both ate a snack, had a little play time, and I squeezed in a quick shower that I had to cut short when he came barging in. Then it was off to Kapok Park to go see turtles.
This is an ideal park for the three of us in that there are long trails along the water where I can basically let the kids run wild without much concern. There’s even a wide open field where the dog, Spencer, and I can all get the zoomies and just sprint around after each other. The dog is slightly faster than me, but I’m still not the slowest. In your face, two-year-old.
We then went and saw some turtles, but they didn’t maintain his attention for very long as he just wanted to walk the dog around.
On top of that, he discovered a random playground a little bit off the trail so everything really worked out well for him. We were all in fantastic moods the entire morning.
We got home, got him his second love-you-loop which led to him finding a car under a towel in the linen closet, and ate lunch together, because I had learned from my mistake the previous day. Then, we got some swimming in and I put him off to bed. I had absolutely dominated the morning and felt as fresh as a daisy while doing it.
I was able to relax during his nap, but right around when he woke up and I was back on duty, the exhaustion finally hit me. It was much more persevering than excelling in the rest of the day. Overall though, things still ran fairly smoothly as I held onto consciousness. I’m pretty sure nothing eventful happened, or it might just mean that I was too tired to take note of it.
That’s still a victory. Overall, my first two days as a single Dad were an incredible success story. All I had to do was repeat this performance one more time before my wife safely landed back home.