Dadnamics Live! Episode 22 Wiffle Ball World Series, Round 1: Looking Back

I’ve been looking forward to October 2016 for a long time! And here’s why…

IT’S WIFFLE BALL TIME!!!

When my oldest son Kenny was 6-years-old, we began what I thought could be a defining tradition in our relationship. Once the MLB Playoff Brackets came out in early October 2011, we began playing out each match-up. The Wild Card and Divisional Rounds were 1-and-done games. The Championship Series was a best-of-3 and the World Series was a best-of-7. It took all month to play out these games.

Once we got to the final game of the World Series, we would start recording pictures and videos. Plus, we designed uniforms and decorated the playing field. It was a big deal, even for my then 6-year-old.

I won’t get into the rules, boundaries, and scoring of our games right now. But I certainly will over the course of the month. My first goal for this week was to give you a look back at our 5 year journey together as father and son.  My second goal is to encourage you to begin your own tournament… THIS YEAR! And to answer my original thought.

[pullquote align=”normal”]Yes, this has become a defining tradition in our relationship of father and son. [/pullquote]

I hope you enjoy the next 3 weeks of Wiffle Ball as much as we do!


I wrote my first blog post 11 months ago for Uncommen. We had just completed the 2015 Wiffle Ball World Series and I was telling Dads about it. If you have more time, read the transcript of my first blog ever.

Most dads receiving this blog post have a lot to do and don’t have time to read. Thanksgiving is only a few days away and you’re likely thinking about wrapping up work for the week, getting the family ready for a visit somewhere, and which teams are playing on Turkey Day. So if you’ve tuned me out, I get it. To those dads, I say Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family time.

Now to the dads that are still extremely busy, but can spare 5 more minutes to read a cool baseball story. Allow me to paint the scenario… The weather in Upstate New York was amazing for Halloween Day. It was 11 am. and nearly sixty degrees. The sky was blue, the grass was still green, and the colors of fall speckled the trees. It was apitch perfect day for Trick or Treating and… one more game of wiffleball.

There’s two outs in the bottom of the third. The Royals trail the Dodgers 10 – 8 in the decisive and final inning of Game 7 in the D-K Wiffle Ball World Series. The previous 6 games were battles, a roller coaster of emotion for both Dad and Kenny. But it could all come down to this. The Royals have a gift runner (Dad) on first base after a fielding error on the second basemen (Kenny). But the Dodgers’ closer (Kenny again) is pitching lights out. As the closer searches for the right grip, let’s reflect on the past 25 days.

The whole thing started after the MLB playoff brackets were announced. For the fifth consecutive year, Dad and Kenny would play every game until a victor was proclaimed. The format was single-elimination for the wild card and divisional rounds, a best of three for the championship series, and a traditional best of seven for the World Series. 17 games were already in the books and the 2015 match up had Dad’s Kansas City Royals against Kenny’s Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kenny, the Dodger closer, stares down the potential tying run as he grips the wiffleball, holes away from the batter. It will be another curve ball, attempting to paint the outside corner of the plate. The wind up… the pitch… Dad swings. Crack!The ball shoots down the first base line, but Kenny was quick off the mound. He fields it and touches first base just ahead of the charging Royals runner (that’s Dad again). Out number three. Ball game over. Series over. An eruption of emotion and jubilation fills the field. Dad hoists his 10-year-old son up in the air and hugs him. “You did it! You won… again!” For the fifth consecutive year, Kenny is crowned champion.

This is Dadnamics, or the infusion of creativity, adventure, and silliness into Dad-Time. The D-K Wiffleball World Series is merely one more example of how this Dad operates. But why? The greater the risk, the greater the reward. How can we, as Dads, capture more memories in the time we are able to spend with our kids? It’s not a lecture of quality time vs. quantity time. Both are vital. But we are all stressed for time as dads, so here’s the challenge. Why not seize an opportunity this Thanksgiving weekend? It won’t take much. Just crank up the Dadnamics dial of creativity, adventure, and silliness and create a memory. I promise you that it will be worth the risk. Not only will you have a blast, but your son or daughter will never forget.

And that’s a good thing.

Dadnamics Live! Episode 27 Cars, Caves, and PVC

 

Have you ever gone to the home improvement store as a kid and played? How about as a dad with your own kids? If you answered ‘Yes’ to both questions, I am talking to the right audience.

My wife had to go grocery shopping again (see Episode 12 Playground). Coincidentally, there was a Lowe’s Build and Grow® workshop at the exact same time that I persuaded her to buy food. Yes, it was a stroke of luck that it just so happened to work out that way. Truly.

“How about if I take the older boys to Lowe’s and you take the others with you?” I asked.

“That’s fine. It will go faster anyway. I’ll pick you up an hour when I’m done.” She replied.

“I sure hope so, otherwise we’ll have to hijack a Lowe’s racecar shopping cart to drive home. And that would look awfully silly.”

The sarcasm was unnecessary and it nearly landed us in the grocery store. Mental note for next time. [Sarcasm leads to Shopping]. Got it.

After the drop, the three of us B-lined to the lumber aisle and tore open our pull-back racer kits. Immediately, I was stumped.

Paso 1, Abra el kit.

“Boys, I’m out! I can’t read this! It’s written in hieroglyphics!” As I motioned to leave.

“Dad, turn the paper over! You’re reading the Spanish side.” My wise-beyond-his-years son said.

I turned the paper over,

“Step 1, Open the kit… Oh. My bad.”

Now, we were getting somewhere. I called off the retreat and pressed into the project with the boys. My older son did his own car and I supervised my 4-year-old as he swung the miniature Lowe’s hammer like a jackhammer.

Shortly after construction, two race cars, two boys, and one dad left the lumber aisle strutting our stuff and ready to give the Tim Allen growl. We had 40 minutes left until pick-up. Crisis time. What would we do? Do we go outside and wait? Thus, I consulted the Dadnamics Manual

Section II, Article 5, Paragraph 1: “Thou shall not leave the hardware store without consulting the PVC aisle and, possibly, the underbelly of the product racks.”

Done.

The next 40 minutes were spent turning Lowe’s into a FAO Schwarz, minus the giant foot piano. We played carousel of doors in the ‘Windows & Doors‘ section, then we conducted a pull-back racer Grand Prix in the light fixtures aisle. The 4-year-old destroyed his older brother, so the older retreated into “The Cave”.

We followed him in, realizing that the underbelly of Lowe’s was a lot of fun. We crawled and sprawled and gnawed (actually scratch the gnawing part). Have you ever gone under the shelves in the hardware store? Truthfully, have you ever… wanted to? I felt like Gollum looking for ‘My Precious‘.

Our final stop was the plumbing section. Now, in full disclosure. I stink at plumbing (pun intended). Therefore, I would not be seen actually buying equipment or parts there. But playing – that’s a different story.

We quickly found the LEGO® aisle or what the signs seemed to read ‘PVC’. No way! They were giant curved LEGO® pieces. The boys made quick work with their Master Builder status that they were awarded after the 5th viewing of the LEGO® movie.

At the end of the video, Kolby had an idea to communicate via PVC. It was a rather effective landline telephone as I heard him loud and clear. It was so loud that I heard the bells ringing in the store (could have been in my head though).

“MISTER CARFAGNO AND FAMILY, PLEASE REPORT TO THE SERVICE DESK.”

This absolutely happened. We were paged. I had NEVER been paged before in a store.  We put back our PVC and found Mama waiting patiently out front. Adventure over. Dadnamics Manual… followed to a tee.

Come on! Have you ever done anything like this? Admit it!

Dadnamics Live! Episode XXVI The Force

If you are one of the 9 Americans that hates Star Wars, feel free to leave this story.

Okay, now that the Clones have left… I have the true Loyalists of the Republic remaining and perhaps a few First Order infiltrates. No matter. This is not a disclosure of the whereabouts of the Young Skywalker, but I do have this to disclose –

[pullquote align=”normal”]No Jedi apprentices were harmed, in any way, during the making of this video. [/pullquote]

There, that should appease the other 9 Americans that are so obsessed with Star Wars, for I do not want to offend their midichlorians.

Are you ready for a trip into the Star Wars Galaxy? Jump into the Millenium Falcon of my mind to get a peek…


The planet of Targetooine is under the attack of the First Order and the newly risen Sith Lord, Darth Stinkus. Targetooine is a Republic-controlled planet, which  contains the Three T’s of Life – Tuna, Toys, and Toilet Paper. This keeps the Republic and their Resistance Supporters on high-alert. But the First Order with the help of Darth Stinkus was too cunning and mounted a very successful attack of the planet. General Leia did all she could. She sent a droid with a message. “Young Skywalker, you are our only hope 🙁 .”

 The droid found the Young Skywalker, who was in hiding after the destruction of Dad Vader in Episode XXXIII The Fun Awakens. Young Skywalker had already sensed a disturbance in the force when the droid reached him. So when he saw the message punctuated with the sad-face emoticon, he knew General Leia was in serious trouble.

Young Skywalker lifted his eyes and spoke through the Force, “Anna. Anna. We need you.” Anna Skywalker heard her older brother calling her. She grabbed her Jedi apprentice, Obi-Dad Kenobi, to drive the fighter for she was not licensed yet.

Anna Skywalker and Obi-Dad Kenobi arrived on Targetooine amidst the screams of the Republic and blasts of Sith light sabers. Anna taught her apprentice the Way of the Force, but he was not able to penetrate the First Order’s forcefield. Anna then waived a hand and immediately disarmed it. The pair of Jedi entered Targetooine and retrieved the Three T’s of Life, saving the Republic, and forcing the First Order to retreat.

However, the Sith Lord Darth Stinkus escaped with intel on the whereabouts of the Young Skywalker. The Sith now believe that he is on the planet Dagomart and will stop at nothing to destroy him.


This was completely ridiculous, right? Yes, it is!!! And that’s why Dadnamics is so much fun! (Oh, and for those that didn’t get the reference… Dagomart is Walmart. 🙂 )

Have you ever acted out “The Force” like us? Share your results.

 

Dadnamics Live! Episode 25 Train Tag

Dadnamics does not need to be difficult to be effective. The main ingredients are creativity, adventure, and silliness. Add simplicity and spontaneity to the recipe and your dad time will jump a magnitude of quality.

We bought the Imaginarium Train Set for my son on his second birthday. He loved it. Or actually, I loved it. We built new and improved train tracks so often that I convinced my wife to buy me (I mean him) another set on his 3rd birthday. It worked. We now had double the resources to construct railways that would even make Lionel jealous. Kenny and I would build until the parts were completely gone and the current installment was better than the last.

A few years later, Kenny was strong-armed to give his beloved train tracks to his brother on his second birthday. It was hard for him to do because of all the great memories attached.  Yet, it was hardest for me because it ended a chapter in my life as a dad. However, I did not retire Kenny from Train Track Building. He was promoted to Master Builder and building mentor to his younger sister and brothers.

Kolby loved the train tracks, but in a different way. Where Kenny and I LOVED building the tracks, Kolby LOVED playing with the completed build. This should not have surprised me. It was the same with Lincoln Logs, Mega Blocks, and K’nex. Kenny and I would build. Kolby and his sister would play. And that’s totally fine.

[pullquote align=”normal”]I have learned that your impact will always be greater if you play within their interests, not yours. [/pullquote]

That’s a tough pill for many dads to swallow. You just have to trust me on this one.

“Wow, nice train track!” I said, walking into our recreation room.

My Master Builder had just finished his latest build with Kolby. I saw it immediately. Dadnamics. “What if we could race the trains on this bodacious track or if we could have the trains play tag?”

Each of us chose our train and discussed the terms of the game.

  1. Must stay on tracks, sort of like ‘line tag’.
  2. Must attach at least one car to your engine, making it more difficult to navigate the track.

“Go!”

As you can see in the video, Kolby did not adhere to either rule. This made the game…FUN! My other kids stepped into the fold and instead of my little red engine trying to catch one train, I had three. I ran the race valiantly within the rules of the game. But they were too clever for me, adapting wings and rocket boosters to their engines. How could my little red engine compete with flying trains? I jokingly called the tracks, “Mary Poppins Railways“.

The memory sealed. It would definitely last. And that’s the goal!


I challenge you to try Dadnamics this weekend. Keep it simple. Be spontaneous and let me know how it goes.

Dadnamics Live! Episode 59 Pool Day Redemption

ClarkGriswold

The Good Men Project published an article last weekend based on the 100% true story of our family’s “Pool Day“. It was a comedy of errors, no less impressive than if my name was Clark W. Griswold. Oh, yeah! I just compared a day in my life to the Griswolds’. If you didn’t read that article or watch Dadnamics Live! Episode 57 Pool Day. Start there! But the story DOESN’T end there. As Clark got his revenge on Mr. Roy Wally from Wally World, my family was vindicated with total redemption just one week later.

We were 0 – 5 swimming last week, but there was one location that we kept voting down. Therefore, we loaded the van and went to that location, the local community pool. Like, duh! Why didn’t we just go there in the first place? Why did we have to get all fancy with packed historical pools, infested landmark lakes, and water slides? Ah ha! That’s the Clark W. Griswold in me.

In pool day take two, which we called “redemption”, all went perfectly. I got to swim underwater with my 5-year-old son, do dolphin laps with my daughter on my back (she’s 8). And I got to teach my 11-year-old son, finally, how to dive. My wife mostly shuttled our little guy around the shallow area. He was totally content walking up and down the pool stairs and holding the rail. Personally, I don’t see the fun in it, but he did for sure and it gave my wife an easy job basking in the 86 degree sunshine. I captured the day’s success with documentary style video. I’m guessing that doesn’t happen much at the community pool, as the lifeguards were eyeing me down suspiciously. After a few hours, we had our fill of the pool.

A wide and lively creek separates the community pool from the park, pavilion, and castle playground. We gave the kids a choice after swimming. “Do you want to go the playground with mom or walk in the creek with dad?” Three chose mom! She’s Mom-namic! My oldest chose the creek. And to be fair, this playground is pretty awesome, so I’m not surprised.

Kenny and I put on our water shoes and found a good spot to enter the creek. That took longer than it should have, simply because each of us acquired poison ivy this summer and eagerly wanted to avoid it.

Splash!

We entered the world of minnows, bugs, tadpoles, and crayfish. That’s where I went directly. I used to love turning over rocks in search for these mini lobsters. The Cajuns call them Crawdads and eat ’em. Not for us, but they are fun to find and catch. It took me some time, but I caught the biggest one I have found in over 10 years. It was a lively one, snapping at me with both claws.

Meanwhile, Kenny was way downstream doing what he loves – exploring. I called him to show him my new friend. Then we searched for one of his own. I taught him the gentle art of slowly lifting the rock, so the water stays clear. “Kenny, if you pull it up too fast, the water gets murky and the potential crayfish makes their break. Go slowly, locate, and grab him!”

Kenny procured his crayfish within 10 minutes and we immediately did a duel in the water. It was childish and immature, but so much fun.

After the creek, we joined the rest of the family in the playground where they were doing the 3-man tire swing. We helped out however we could before recruiting them to try to scale the one playground wall. It’s difficult. My daughter fell on her first attempt and cried. Then, she “tried again”… a great theme here along with redemption. She scaled it the wall with difficulty on her second attempt and succeeded.

There you have it. As a family, we had a great trip. We had our elusive pool time plus creek time and playground time. It was a perfect day. And that was after a pretty amazing morning where forgiveness flowed between me and my father. But I’ll save that for next week’s post…

 

Dadnamics Live! Episode 57 Pool Day

IMG_20160819_154418480Every one of us remembers stories from our youth. As you dwell on these stories and the loved ones they contain, it triggers certain emotions. It could be laughter, grief, anger, or just cause you to say, “Oh yeah, I remember the Pool Day!” That was last Friday for our family. But listen closely to the reactions of our kids. They could have been bitter or angry. They weren’t. We all laughed. We laughed a ton and truly connected as a family. I’m absolutely certain that any family event mixed with strong emotion will be remembered for years and years to come. Now, I invite you to join our National Lampoon, Griswold Family, comedy of errors forever known as Pool Day.

IMG_20160819_154418480An eager group of swimmers left the homestead at 12:30pm. Dad had some work to get out in the morning but had the afternoon wide open. It was mid-August in Upstate New York. The sun had zero cloud interruption, scorching the ground to nearly 88 degrees. This was a perfect day for swimming. Just perfect.

Three weeks prior, our family checked out the Peerless Pool in Saratoga Spa State Park. It only cost $8 to enter the park and then $7 more for the pool itself. We spent hours there. The pool is the size of a football field (no joke, google it). There is a separate kids pool with the umbrella drencher thing, where you stand underneath and get soaked. They also have a third pool as the basin for the side-by-side water slides. Those slides were great! Lastly, the pool has a ton of green grass and trees for the perfect lunch picnic and we took full advantage. However, this past Friday was different. Very different.

When we arrived in the packed minivan to the front gate of the park, we noticed a sign.

‘Slide Pool Closed’

Was this just a sign, or another type of sign? We were disappointed and nearly turned around to go elsewhere, but the family decided that we could make the best of it. So what if the water slides were closed. At least we had the pool, the kids’ pool, and the picnic area.

Within minutes, we had sprawled the blankets, towels, swimming gear, and picnic food over a nice patch of green and began eating. It wasn’t an overly filling lunch as we were planning an early buffet dinner around 5:30 pm.

Suddenly, the whistles blew from the lifeguard stands and the entire football-sized pool cleared in minutes. My first thought and that of my family was, “Hmmm. Maybe they are changing lifeguards out or taking a break?” But after 15 minutes, nothing was changing. The pool was empty, the lifeguards were circling the pool, a few were scrubbing something off the concrete, and nobody was announcing anything. “Errrr! Back up! Did I just say scrubbing the concrete?!”

I was off the picnic blanket faster than Usain Bolt’s 100-meter start last week andbolted to the circling lifeguards.

“Excuse me. What’s going on with the pool?”

“A kid just vomited. We’ve chlorinated and shocked the pool. We should re-open in 30 minutes.”

“Did he vomit in the pool or over there where they are scrubbing?”

“Both.”

Carfagno Family OUT… like Ryan Seacrest. Our picnic was cleared and $15 refunded faster than Usain finished the 100-meters. Wait, he kind of broke a new world record with a time of 9.81 seconds. Maybe, it wasn’t that fast, but we did break a sweat! Nonetheless, we never got to swim.

As we drove out through the park gate, we noticed the sign again, ‘Slide Pool Closed’. No big deal. It was still early and we did have a great picnic with lots of entertainment. “Family vote. Do we want to go to the lake? It’s a half hour drive, but we can play in the sand and still swim. Or do we want to go check out the other pool in the park, or maybe even the sprinkler park? The sprinkler park had been heavily promoted by a friend, therefore it won.

I said to my wife. “What’s the address of the sprinkler park?”

“I was told it’s near a baseball field and you can’t miss it!” She responded.

Easy enough. I found a baseball field and drove around. Nothing obvious captured my attention. Oh wait. Right there… toward the back. I pulled around and nudged the car up to the sprinkler park. Have you ever been promoted something that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be? Has that ever happened to you? “Yup, so this is the sprinkler park.” I murmured as I compared it to my neighbor’s back yard set up. A few tiny jets of water shot from the concrete. Teresa and I looked at each other. We both turned around to the kids. Laughter erupted.

Carfagno Family OUT… again!

It was still early as the sprinklers barely consumed any afternoon. We put the remaining two choices to vote and added a third. “New family vote. Lake and sand. Other Saratoga pool. Or check out the pool in Ballston Spa?” The other Saratoga pool won on a count of 4 to 2. Me and my oldest son were the only lake votes.

By 2:00 pm, we parked at Victoria Pool. It was built in the 1930’s and was acclaimed as the first heated pool in the country, so it’s pretty famous actually. But before we unpacked the car again, my 11-year-old son Kenny and I checked it out. Our expectations were high to swim at a historical pool.

It was packed with people laying all over the concrete and stone structures, remarkably resembling the Roman Baths with its combination of soldiers and citizens. However, Kenny and I were turned off by the lack of swimming space, lack of a diving board, and lack of grass. And I was turned off by the $32 admission price for the family.

Strike three. It was getting late and the eager swimmers were losing patience. Nah, no strike three. Vote three. “Family vote. Lake and sand or Ballston Spa pool?” The lake won 6 – 0.

We had a fun drive up to the lake, cracking jokes about the lack of swimming and of course, vomit jokes. One such joke was even, and I kid you not, “Wouldn’t it be funny if somebody vomited in the lake and it was closed too?” Ha, ha, ha… ha… haaaaa.

The 3:00 pm main strip of Lake George was as beautiful as ever. Parasailers hovering overhead. Tourists flocking the boardwalk-style stores and snack shops. And beach-goers…. the beach-goers were laying out in a few places, but most must have left the beach already.

IMG_20160819_154958974
The beach is surprisingly EMPTY!!!

We pulled up to Million Dollar Beach’s entrance gate and noticed a sign. It was oddly similar to the one from earlier.

Beach Closed’

A joke or a misread, I’m sure. We all glanced over to the always crowded beach. It was abandoned, completely barren except for a few off-balance seagulls.

“Excuse me. I see the sign, but is the lake really closed?” I said to the gate attendant.

“Yup, the entire lake.”

COME ON!!!! Lake George is like the size of a county. Million Dollar Beach was closed. The whole lake was closed. Our dumb joke on the way was prophetic. Some guy did vomit in Lake George and his name was Coliform.

Carfagno Family OUT… no swimming… Again!!!

It was around 3:30 when we left the lake and pulled into some random water park near the exit of the town. This time I told Teresa. “I’ll take Kenny and see if we can work some magic.”

“Yes, hello. My name is Ken. This is Kenny.” I said to the girl at the counter. “Listen, we’ve been trying to swim since noon, but the pool was vomited in, the sprinklers were too small like the first bowl of porridge Goldilocks tried to eat, and now all of Lake George is closed. Can we get some kind of discount for the remaining time here?”

“I’m sorry. The water park is closing in 30 min.”

“Oh, well can you give us a good price for the last 30 minutes?”

“Sorry, it’s $30 per person.”

“WHAT!!!” Carfagno Family OUT!!! For $1 per minute, we’re better off buying lottery tickets and scratching those for 30 minutes!IMG_20160819_154418480

IMG_20160819_160007170
$1 per minute per person for this place!!!

IMG_20160819_154418480This time, we were out for good. I called a final family meeting. “Today, we failed miserably in the goal of swimming. However, we laughed a lot. I’m very proud of you guys for keeping a good attitude. I promise that we WILL go swimming this weekend somehow, somewhere. But for today, it’s over. Who’s hungry?”

Fellow Dads, in 10 and 20 years this will still be a funny memory for our kids and probably our grandkids. What will you allow to derail you this week that could be turned around for good?

Dadnamics Live! Episode 24 Bank Break

How do you know Dadnamics works? Simple. Does your child actually WANT to go with you to the bank? In my case… “Yes! Please, dad. Can I go?”

Now, you may ask. What’s your secret? How do you get your kids to want to come to the bank with you?

I’m SO glad you asked. Let me take you back in time to when I was 6-years-old. And mom, if you’re reading this, I love you but I gotta tell it the way it was!

There was a store that my mom used to take me called Clothes To You. Basically, it was T.J. Maxx and Marshalls before they were as popular. I don’t even know if this store was a chain, but all the moms went there, or so it seemed. My mom was no exception.

She would allow me the opportunity to watch her shop discount clothes racks, and then watch some more. It was dreadful. Very dreadful. It was so bad that one night my mom came running into my room. “Kenny, what’s wrong!? Why are you crying?”

“Mom, I had a nightmare.”

“I’m so sorry honey. What was it about?”

“You, you… you took me to Clothes To You!”

That story has been a family inside joke for 30 years now and we still laugh about it.  But let me take you inside my head during these dreadful visits. After 20 minutes of walking around the clothing racks and counting my times and laps, I would get bored. Thus, I climbed into the clothes rack, between the clothes where nobody could see me. I would sit in the middle while my mom slid sweaters and skirts from north to south (or east to west, not sure). Anyway, I would imagine myself inside of my favorite cartoons or TV shows to escape that dreadful store. It kept me occupied for a little while until I was forced out of my inner sanctuary and into the fitting rooms with a shopping cart full of clothes for my mom to try on. Yay!

Nevertheless, this brief mind lapse into another world taught me the first principle of Dadnamics.

[pullquote align=”normal”]You can create an adventure around anything, no matter how boring. [/pullquote]

Back to our bank deposit. “Kolby, after we finish this deposit, do you want to get some tea and play?”

“Yeah!”

There you have it. The deposit was quick. The tea line was short and the playroom was empty. What else could you ask for? Well… if you must know. How about a bigger deposit???

Next time you go to the bank, bring your kids and let me know what you added to make it more fun.

Dadnamics Live! Episode 23 Leaf Fort

I hate cutting grass, raking leaves, and shoveling snow. If I was a negative, pessimistic person, I could end this article now and say bah-humbug. But I’m not that way at all. I live by the saying, “If the world gives you lemons, make lemonade.” So let’s do that. Let’s make some lemonade.

We have a huge maple tree in our front yard that provides syrup in the winter, shade in the spring and summer, and a dead leaf bonanza in the fall. My oldest son is interested in building stuff, especially forts. This statement could probably be repeated inside the homes of millions, so I’ll say it again.

[pullquote align=”normal”]My oldest son is interested in building stuff, especially forts. [/pullquote]

Once our beloved maple was done its first leaf shedding party in October, I encouraged my fort-builder to create a leaf fort. It was quite brilliant how he put it together. He built a structured shell from a hockey net, plastic sliding board, entrance tunnel, and tarp. Then he piled the fallen leaves on top. When it was complete, it looked like a huge leaf pile that you would jump into. That’s what “normal” people do in the fall. They jump into the leaves. But we’re not “normal”. Our leaf pile was concealing a spacious lair.

Cool idea, right? Kenny worked for a while by himself as his sister and I did the raking and leaf blowing. We were his instruments as he made his rockin’ music. All in all, this was a great afternoon with the kids. But was it Dadnamics-Certified?

Did I infuse _(blank)_ into Dad time?

1) Creative – Definitely.

2) Adventure – Definitely.

3) Silliness – Questionable. That’s why I turned the leaf blower on the kids to zap them with my wind machine. They jumped and screamed, begging for more. This was the final check box. The Leaf Fort now was Dadnamics-Certified.

Now, I know what you’re saying. “How irresponsible and unsafe! You pointed a machine at your kids?!”

“Yes. I did. But it was a low power electric blower. I would never do it with the high velocity gas-powered models. That could blow their shirts right off. This would leave their skin unprotected from the cold and their shirts hanging from the power line. Very unsafe. Thus, I stuck to electric.”

In the final evaluation, we combined a fun project with a household chore. That’s all it takes perform Dadnamics with your kids. The extra effort is minimal and the extra benefit is exponential.

Would you like your kids to leap at the chance to help you cut, rake, or shovel? Let me know if you have any ideas. Maybe I’ll make a Dadnamics Live! episode out of your idea…

Dadnamics Live! Episode 21 Apple Race

I’ve heard the experts tout family traditions as an essential. Giving your kids something to look forward to every year or several times per year is a huge win in the “lasting memories” box. If you really think about it, you’ll realize that many of your fondest childhood memories were around a family tradition.

Our family didn’t necessarily have a master plan to this essential. We just found events that we all loved and locked them down as traditions. One of our favorites is the local apple orchard. Each farm contains rows and rows of seemingly endless assortments of apple trees. That’s the reason for going because we haul off 40 to 80 pounds of freshly-picked New York apples. OMG! They are succulent, especially the Jonagolds and the Fujis. They literally squirt when you bite into them! And yes, I did actually mean 40 to 80 lbs! This year, we may hit 100.

If the apple-picking and the creativity of your kids trying to find and pick the best ones isn’t enough to lock in the tradition, here’s a few more selling points:

  1. 40 to 80 lbs of “Grocery Store, U Can’t Touch ‘Dis” apples.
  2. Apple Cider Donuts – Not fair at all. They make them right there in their kitchen and sell from a side window. If you go during a weekend, the lines may literally be 45 minutes for donuts (Psssst. Do it anyway. Totally worth it.)
  3. Horse rides and hay rides
  4. Feeding farm animals – We like the goats and roosters.
  5. Gift shop and cafe – You can buy apple cider, local farm produce, raw honey, trinkets, and such.

The weather for Episode 21 was spectacular, but getting the apples was even better. If you get there early in the season, the ripe apples are just dangling right there for the plucking. But if you wait until October like we sometimes do, you have to scavenge a bit more. Inevitably, we capture the shot of one of my kids hoisted high upon my shoulders to reach the clusters of ripe apples. This is fun, tiring, and dangerous, all at the same time. The fun and the tiring are obvious. Are you wondering about the dangerous? Dads, can you picture the scene of your child hoisted high in the air, locking up both of your arms? That bundle of joy ALWAYS grabs one too many apples, causing the whole cluster to free fall. Although your child is victorious with one shiny red apple in his hand, the rest are dented, bruised, and lying on the ground after they bombed you like a B-52.

These are the types of cute stories and memories that we hang onto as we strive to make the next year better than the last. That’s the power of the tradition. Once you get there, it’s like you never left a year ago and you step right back into the stories. It’s fantastic.

At this point, I’m taking a wild guess that I’ve totally sold you on the concept of the family tradition and choosing apple-picking as one of your first. You get it. But why did we do a race? That’s where Dadnamics came in. Let me explain. We found a new apple orchard two years ago that’s literally two blocks away. The apples are phenomenal and well-priced, but they don’t have all of the bells and whistles that I mentioned earlier. You can get the donuts and visit the shop, but it’s not the same. As a family, we’ve been apple-picking every fall for 10 years. Each year has been a memorable event (as I’ve explained already). But last year, we went strictly for the apples. It was still tradition, but it wasn’t the same. I needed to jazz up the experience so we’d have something to remember.

I decided on a race like in episode 1, but a much longer distance. Each row between the trees was long and straight, approximately the length of a football field, and slightly uphill. I set the starter blocks for a fair race by placing myself at the back line. Then I put the 10-year-old at the 15 yard line, the 7-year-old at the 30, and the 4-year-old at the 45. Before dropping the flag, I admired the view. A long, straight grass race course spread a hundred yards in front of me. The outline of the bespeckled red and green trees created beautiful symmetry below the baby blue autumn sky. My three older kids were evenly-spaced in front of me with their leads. The late September air cooled my skin at the same time as the sun warmed it. The smell of apples tickled my olfactory. I lead in the race countdown. “On the count of three. One, two, … tha-rrrrreeeeeee! Go!

Immediately, every sound drowned away. Chariots of Fire amplified into my brain’s mp3 player. The racers in front of me seemed to be in slow motion as my mind “cleared the mechanism”. I passed the 4 and then 7-year-old, but ran out of real estate. My 10-year-old won and the old guy was breathless at the finish line.

It was a great race and a fine bookmark to place on this decade-long tradition. You can bet that the apple race will be a part of this year’s visit.


What traditions does your family have?

Dadnamics Live! Episode 20 Sip n’ Slide

Some of our daughters love mud and sports, while others love the “princess thing“. I don’t want to place your daughter into any stereotypical box. My daughter is a girly girl and definitely loves tea parties, dancing, and all things pink. Therefore, I take her to the world of kings, knights, and princesses more often than the world of magicians and warlocks. It’s actually a Dadnamics strategy. Let’s talk about Why.

[thrive_testimonial name=”Zig Ziglar” company=”” image=”https://dadnamics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Zig.jpg”]Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.[/thrive_testimonial]

Success in Dadnamics equals long-lasting, connecting memories with your kids. We want our kids to have total recall from our times together. Imagine this. It’s 2046 and you have your granddaughter on your lap. She asks. “Grandpa, Did you really get stuck on the sliding board and fall over when doing a cartwheel that time with mommy?” You just smirk and answer yes, knowing that your daughter never forgot because you were willing to risk looking silly.

Preparation is knowing what lights up your child’s heart.  It may be mud and adventure. It may be horses and animals. It may be wizards and fantastic creatures. Or, it may be knights and princesses. Experiment with each story type until you captivate their heart. Once you figure it out, learn all you can learn on the subject. Now you are prepared to create your own story around any event.

Opportunity is each daily event that comes and goes with your kids. This is the action step. If you will cross creativity, adventure, and silliness with the story that lights up your child’s heart, you would have the success that Zig Ziglar talks about.


Now, let me walk you through how I achieved Dadnamics success with “Sip n’ Slide“. From years of raising my daughter and connecting with her heart, I knew that the “princess thing” was her thing. She especially loves tea parties as evidenced in Episode 10 Tea Party Coloring. Originally, I planned to sit in the playground fort with her, sip tea, and talk. I knew she would love that special time with Dad. As I sipped and looked at the sliding board, the word play of Sip n’ Slide immediately came into focus. That was my creative opportunity and I seized it.

“Christianna, do you want to sip… and slide?”

You would have thought the sun peeked out from behind clouds at that very moment because her face lit up the whole fort. She nearly spilled her tea as she moved it to the corner and rushed down the slide. I followed her. Then we climbed back up, sipped, talked, and slid. Oh, what a time we had!

On one of the last tea breaks, she got the idea to add cartwheels to the process. Why not, right? You can see the result as you watch this week’s episode.


Do you know what lights up your child’s heart? Can you find out this week?