"ORNAMENTAL TURTLES!!"
(Also, 2:03. That is all.)
(Also, 2:03. That is all.)
Oh, and if you haven't seen Sunday Sweets yet today, you might like my tribute to all dads - but mostly mine - over there. In addition to the jaw-dropping cakes, I share a few of the reasons I became the geek girl I am today, thanks to my Dad.
Plus you'll learn my childhood nickname and the names of our pet miniature goats.
Not to mention the fact that we had pet miniature goats. Heh.
Happy Father's Day, everyone!
So tell me, kids: what's your favorite memory of your dad? (Or of whoever filled the role of "dad" in your life?)
I have so many favorite memories of my dad. He was a photographer and taught me how to develop pictures. He was into scouting and was the reason I earned so many girl scout merit badges. ;) And of course we'd sing camp songs in the car, which is why my kids and I sing in the car today. :D
ReplyDeleteI don't have a specific memory, just a bunch of times that we would sit and talk and laugh. He passed away last year suddenly and I miss him something awful.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part! I scared my husband when I hollered upon opening the post. On my iPhone it was just a caption under a blank box, but didn't need to watch because my church showed it in services thus weekend.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be the animal girl I am today without the trips to the zoo with Daddy when I was younger. :) Happy Fathers Day!
ReplyDeleteMy dad and I learned how to make jam & jelly together. Lots of time spent picking berries and cooking. I was also his helper on stuff around the house, he helped me learn to be self-sufficient with the fixing of things. He died in 1993, I still miss him and whenever I hear a really good pun, I think of him.
ReplyDeleteI have so many good memories as a little kid with my dad. He taught me how to play softball and took us fishing and tried to get us into playing golf. He worked at a golf course in the summer and would always bring home these HUGE bull frogs he would find around the ponds. He was at all of my softball games, even through high school. He would always go dress shopping with us for special occasions, including my wedding dress. He is a GREAT dad!
ReplyDeleteMy dad turned me into the geek girl I am today, and I'm proud of it!! Ever since I can remember, we'd have daddy-daughter outings to see sci-fi and fantasy movies, and we still do (I took him to see X-Men First Class for father's day). He also inspired the artist in me from a very young age. I was and still am definitely a daddy's girl!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad came to every single chorus concert I ever performed in from 6th grade through high school. My senior year, at the close of the All-State concert, he cheered my name loudly enough that you can hear it on the recording.
ReplyDeleteI recently bought software that converts cassette tapes to Mp3 files, and listened to that concert for the first time in YEARS. I had forgotten that moment until I heard it on the new file, and I burst into tears.
A Daddy's love and pride can lift you up - even 25 years on.
Definitely one of my favorite memories of my dad was when I decided to fix the upstairs toilet and managed to flood the garage, my dad didn't get upset - he said he knew I was trying to help. I also have him to thank for introducing me to the original Star Trek series, Ray Bradbury, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys. He passed away about two and a half years ago, but not without leaving his love fir the Packers behind . . . in my brother. ;) p.s. I loved the shout out to your dad. :)
ReplyDelete:D This is good- the biggest influences my dad had on me: teaching me to make a really good omelet when I was 7 and taking me to see Rocky Horror when I was 13. LMAO
ReplyDelete(In my late teens he taught me to make a great Bananas Foster, too!)
-Barbara Anne
There is this story of my favorite memory (that he commented on <3 my daddy) and then after I dumped my boyfriend, I was crying and he reminded me that I was the dumper and so I shouldn't be that upset, and then he got me a happy meal... while I was in college.
ReplyDeleteOh man, my dad and your dad would have got along famously. My dad was a computer/engineery/fixing-things guy (still is when he has a spare moment!) and instilled in me a love of technology and knowledge of how to do things in DOS! He also never put an age limit on his bookshelf which i have to eternally thank him for, letting me raid it from the moment i thought i was ready, meaning i got exposed to awesome sci-fi and fantasy literature from about age 9. I recently finished knitting him a Dr Who scarf (he also introduced me to Tom Baker, my first doctor) and can cook a kick-ass meal thanks to his bachelor cooking skills. This is a man who let me fill the house with 3+ teenage girls every weekend throughout highschool, all of whom call him Dad now, who took on full responsibility for my 3 older half-brothers, who ensured i never went without but always knew my limits.
ReplyDeleteMy dad is pretty awesome, now that i think about it. :D
I have to say I have nothing but good memories of my dad. Conversations on porch swings, him jumping on the trampoline with us, acting silly together, him and mom taking in my friend who didn't have a wonderful home life and letting her spend enormous amounts of time at our house. Him *gasp* saying a cuss word when he was frustrated that a guy I was dating wasn't treating me right and I just couldn't see it (my dad never cussed around us except that one time). My dad is awesome. I'm very lucky. Thanks for giving me a place to say something nice about him.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite memory with my Dad is running through the fields to the apple trees near my Grandparent's house to climb the trees with him to find the PERFECT apples (which were, of course, near the top). We would throw most of them down but we'd keep the best ones for us and sit up top eating apples and looking out onto the orchard
ReplyDeleteFirst off, where do you FIND these videos? This one resulted in an exercise in "tomato laughter" (face turning red from trying to contain laughter).
ReplyDeleteAs far as favorite Daddy memories are concerned, I could go on and on (especially since the list keeps getting longer), but a few are: teaching me how to ride a bike, roller skate, use virtually every tool in his tool box by the time I was 10, taking me fishing, helping me put together model castles and ships, and introducing me to the hilarity of Bill Cosby and PDQ Bach. :)
My Dad has always been a family man. He read to us, put in a swingset, took us to church, camping, on trips to museums, Disneyland, and air shows. He took walks with us, rode bikes, and played catch and basketball with us. He said no when he had to, yes when he could, and always told us he loved us. And he took us to wait in a real blockbuster line for hours to see Star Wars (and the next week he took us back to do it again!).:-) He's a great dad! (Thanks for giving us space to tell about our dads on your comments, Jen.)
ReplyDeleteOh, I have so many great memories! My dad died when I was in high school, quite a while ago now so I missed out on knowing him better when I was an adult.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I always remember: my dad was born in Italy, and came to this country as a child. He used to joke that he was the exception to the stereotype that all Italians could sing--and boy, was he right! That man couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, but he loved to sing anyway. He'd just make up the words he didn't know and sing everything in sort of the same sort of tune (or, rather, tuneLESS). Somewhere on a tape I have his rendition of "Red River Valley" which was a family legend. How much I'd give to hear him sing that song again right now! "Dee dee do, dee dee do, dee dee do do!"
This video was hilarious. I loved it!!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading cake wrecks today, we seem to have lots of similar childhood memories (minus the goats). Unfortunately I lost my dad to cancer 6 years ago. Your post made me cry, but made me happy inside with my happy memories. I wouldn't be the as open to trying new things and new experiences girl I am today. Dad always said well, let's try it. And that's always been my motto. Happy falker satherhood!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of goats, have you seen the African Pygmy goats at the Affection Section at DAK? They are so cute! I love working with them :D
ReplyDeleteI remember my dad bundling me up in a quilt and carrying me outside on a cold, snowy night one winter to watch a lunar eclipse. We would also watch the original Star Trek series and challenge each other to see who could name the episode first during the teaser-- before the commercial break and the episode title.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are still around and live nearby. My dad takes my kids out each month for breakfast and the Home Depot kid's workshops. I'm glad they also get to benefit from his time and wisdom.
As much as I HATED it at the time, (only child, 2 day car ride, camping when friends were going to Disney world etc.). I asked my step dad if he would be willing to show my kids the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower the way he showed me.
ReplyDeleteI swear I saw a faint bit of a tear in his eye.
Now, to find a way to rent a camper for all of us because the adults don't sleep on the ground so well any more.
One of my favorite memories of my dad is when he used to wake me up very early on a Sunday. The two of us would go to IHOP for breakfast and then he'd take me to Hebrew School. It was great because he worked so hard during the week that sometimes he didn't get home until my bedtime. It was nice to have him all to myself. No mom and no sister.
ReplyDeleteOther favorite memories include him teaching me to use power tools and how to fix a toilet. :)
My dad and I are both Leos, so we had some seriously stormy meetings, and we get along famously now that we live on opposite coasts. (: But for happy memories, nothing beats playing "horsey" when he's put me on his shoulders, and bounce me through the entire apartment 3 or 4 times. <3 Every time we came to a doorway, he's yell, "Low bridge!" and I'd drop backwards, hanging upside down, and then sit back up.
ReplyDeleteOh, and, he's an avid reader, and my first experiences with books were from his collection, the entire Tarzan series, and about a million sci-fi books that no one remembers, or probably ever read. (:
ReplyDeleteMy favorite memory of my dad thus far would be him reading to me as a small child. The way he brought aslan, puddleglum, and reepicheep to life was incredible and it definately instilled in me my love for the written word and my geekyness. My dad grew up with books as his best friends and he has definately passed that along, and he always makes sure I have enough books when I'm sick and can't do anything but read. He's taught me lots of other things but that is definately what stands out the most.
ReplyDeleteMy dad worked nights when I was a kid, so we didn't get to spend a lot of time together. Because he had the weekends off, he didn't have to go to bed as early in the day on Mondays, so he would take those afternoons and have Daddy-Daughter dates with me. Sometimes we'd play at the park or go do something, but when we had nothing else to do, we'd watch The Great Mouse Detective while eating our favorite snack--Nacho Cheese Doritos with Salsa. :)
ReplyDeleteEvery year my dad would take me, both my brothers and three of our friends (one friend for each of us) and all of our dogs camping for a whole week at the lake. There is no running water, only four out houses and it is a six mile hike between the parking area and the spot you can put your boat in the water to row your gear to the campsite! It sounds crazy but most of my favorite memories are from those trips. We would play Parcheesi and uno and have a campfire every night and my dad would sing and tell stories. The funniest year was the year that he forgot his bag with all his clothes and toothbrush and everything in it. We teased him a ton but he was a great sport!
ReplyDeleteHold up, is that a weed in my fescue?
ReplyDeleteAw no, Roundup to the rescue!!
...too funny
My dad is fantastic and did lots of great things with me and my sister when we were younger (and he still does)! Like you and your dad, we sang On Top of Old Smokey in the truck along with There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea and the Battle of New Orleans (I was about 20 when I realized that was a real song and not one my dad had just made up). One of my favorite memories involves my bear, Francis. She was ALWAYS with me and on a road trip my dad sat her on the steering wheel and made her "wave" at people in cars that passed by. Great memories!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite childhood memories of my dad was being like 5 or six at the time, and on Saturday nights, we would listen to the old Alabama and Rickie Skaggs records, and start dancing like idiots. Then he would lift my brother and I up on his legs, and we would pretend to be superman.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 16 and finished school, my Dad took me to the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (Geeky convention theme here) in Paris as a well done for the exams. I had got him hooked on World of Warcraft just a year or so before, and him taking me to the first convention I'd ever attended was amazing :D
ReplyDeletei know you will appreciate this more than most: my dad and i used to spend *hours* lying on our stomachs on the living room floor reading "calvin and hobbes." i always got to be "calvin" and dad read the "hobbes" parts (and only as i got older did i understand why he would want to be hobbes instead). because of this, every year for christmas, father's day and his birthday i would buy him one of the many calvin and hobbes books that were published. it was awesome.
ReplyDeletenow we go to the car show every year together. it's our annual father-daughter date (because no one else in the family cares about cars as much as we do). he is awesome for so many reasons, but these two will most definitely always be top memories of mine.
My dad took me and my sister to watch Garbage Pail Kids in the movie theater... what's cooler than that? Nothing!
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I used to always ask Dad, "Hey Dad, can we get *insert a random animal here*?" It varied from chickens to lizards to rabbits, even sheep and pigs! The answer was always a forceful "No!", so we'd slinking away, contemplating our next move...
ReplyDeleteWhich was, naturally, how we were going to sneak getting said animal and hiding it from Dad.
His wood shed was the perfect place to hide animals. We could put something in there, and usually after about a week, he'd just ignore it as something 'we've always had'. Which, of course, made my sister and I happy, and Dad, well... Happy so long as he didn't have to deal with it!
Now that I'm an adult, I look back and wonder if he didn't just say no to see what creative way we'd come up with to get what we wanted. Because one thing was always true: no matter what turned up in that shed, whether it was a breeding pair of dwarf Hotot rabbits (Jen, Google them, my sister was a breeder of them and they are adorable!), or a cage of button quail, once it was there, he'd never say a word about getting rid of them.
My favorite memory of my dad was watching a daytime monster movie marathon with him in California. The show was "Seymour Presents" and they were the worst SciFi/Monster movies ever. We sat for hours to get out of the sun in the summertime. Also going to see "Jaws" at the drive-in in San Diego with my dad, brothers and stepbrothers. Awesome times.
ReplyDeleteI don't visit this blog enough. Seriously Jen, you and John are two of the coolest people I pretend that I know. Oh, and the Dad video had me rolling! 2:03 is absolute humor perfection!
ReplyDeleteAs for my Dad, we always loved fishing or golfing together, we still do now, just not nearly often enough. Now, I just enjoy any time I get to be with him.
I go to the church that made that video. Pretty funny stuff.
ReplyDeleteI read the title wrong and I was like "What is this 'Day Laugh" you speak of? " Ugh. I'm an idiot. The video was hilarious though!
ReplyDelete