The 8-year-old started reading the “Harry Potter” books a few months ago; she’s finishing the last installment in the 30-45 minutes of extra awake time we give her after bath time. Naturally, she wanted to dress like Hermione for Halloween this year. So, we let her. But what about the […]
Author: dadcation
The annual St. Simons Island visit as a #healthydad (hopefully)
Every year in October since passing the bar exam in 2004, I come spend a few days at St. Simons Island for a continuing legal education (“CLE”) seminar on workers’ compensation law. The first several years, when I was a 20-something, it was an exercise in seeing how much I […]
Asheville, NC
Several years ago, when I was what older paralegals call a “baby lawyer,” I worked for an insurance defense firm that had an event each summer called the “associate retreat” that meant going out of town for a weekend with the people I saw every day at work, so we […]
DisneyWorld
We didn’t tell the children they’d be spending the weekend preceding the boy’s 6th birthday at one of the 4 Disney theme parks. I unassumingly signed up for a legal conference covering veterans disability claims to be held in Orlando, booked a room at the Shades of Green resort, and […]
Miami is, in fact, nice
Growing up in Tennessee, all I knew about Miami was learned from “The Golden Girls,” since I wasn’t allowed to watch “Miami Vice.” I knew it was nice and that it was a great place to be a geriatric female. A few years later, Will Smith taught me everyone had […]
Pork U. is for you
More than a year ago, my bride read about a class called “Pork U.” offered by Sam Huff from BBQ1 in Garden and Gun magazine. She tried to enroll me as a birthday present; all classes were full. She tried again the following year, but all classes for the year […]
Dragon*Con is even better after “Clone Wars” viewings
Even before the children saw Episodes IV-VI of the original “Star Wars” trilogy (which was a mere 5 weeks ago), they had started streaming “Clone Wars” episodes via Netflix. I wasn’t sure if these shows were appropriate for small children or not, as they usually turned it on Saturday mornings […]
Lewes, Delaware
Lewes greeted us with signs declaring its status as the first town in the first state. It was our first destination for spending more than a few hours on our 2,000 mile road trip, as it’s where my late maternal grandparents-in-law lived when my mother-in-law was young, and since neither […]
Avoiding “summer learning loss”
Ever heard of “summer learning loss“? It’s what happens to children who get no mental stimulation over the summer, resulting in their falling behind their more summer enriched peers when school starts back in the fall. Its prevalence goes up the further down the socioeconomic ladder the child is. Our […]
a few hours in Washington, D.C.
We arrived at the Hall of the States building at 9:40am and parked in the garage. If you’ve ever tried to find parking in Washington, DC, you know what a chore that can be, especially if you’re seeking a monitored garage, so that your MacBooks, ipads, and cooler stay both […]