Grillin' With The Tobe

I don't get a whole lot of time alone with the boy. I have this darn job that keeps me occupied during the week, and I'm off to the church pretty early on Sundays. When I'm with him, Robyn typically is, too. I love just being a family together. It's fun. It's good.

The wife deserves a whole lot more days out than she gets. Saturday, Robyn went on a bus trip with a group of women from the church, so I had Tobe from waking up through dinnertime. I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do, as I typically don't get him for that many hours at a time! We managed, though.

He pretty much refused to spend any time inside. He wanted to go for a walk... he wanted to ride his "bike"... he wanted to be outside. So, being the polar bears that we are, we had a nice cold day in the yard. It was gaining on dinnertime, so I needed to figure out what we were going to eat. One problem: he vehemently refused to come inside. Threw a mega-fit.

So I did what any good American man would do... got out the charcoal and the lighter fluid and fired up the grill. While waiting for the coals to heat up, I threw him on my shoulders and we walked to the grocery store and bought hamburgers and potatoes and green beans and aluminum foil. Then we walked home, put the veggies in the foil, put burgers on the grill, and continued playing outside.

(Sidenote #1: how come everything is so much better off the grill? Even freaking green beans tasted better after opening up the foil...)

(Sidenote #2: a HUGE advantage of the urban life is the ability to walk down the street to buy what we need. How much better is it to take a walk than to hop in the car? It made the evening just that much better.)

We sat on the porch eating dinner and talking until it got too dark and cold to remain that way. It was a glorious evening that I will remember. It made me a little sad to think that he'll have no memory of it, as he's not yet 2 years old. Here's hoping there are many many more good father-son moments in our future.