2010 Father's Day

First off I want to thank everyone that wished me a Happy Father's Day and right back at ya! Being a father is awesome and it makes me extremely happy. I am so lucky to have Isaac. He is a fantastic child and I think I am doing all right by him. Second off I am doubly thankful that this year turned out to be the complete opposite of last year. That was when you'll remember (or maybe not) that Lisa took Isaac from me and did not let me see him on Father's Day when it in fact was my time with him. That actually started the whole legal battle, custody bullcrap I think. Thank you, Lisa, good job! Anyway this year was a lot better. This time it was her time with Isaac but she decided this year that it would be a good thing for him and I to do something. (Probably something else behind that but you got to take what you can get eh) Not that it bothered me but she also generated some confusion about how Isaac was getting to and from me but that all seemed to work out just fine too. On to the good stuff!

It being a beautiful sunny day before the first day of summer I decided instead of continuing the 2010 Playgroundfest deal, we would take a break from that today and go swimming. (I did also have the idea to visit the Toonseum down Pittsburgh but swimming seemed like a much better idea. I can save that for another day.) Somehow I remembered a place that my dad took me when I was little, Ligonier Beach. I haven't been here in ages but I found out that it's still there and still open to the public. I also discovered it's the biggest pool in Pennsylvania and we had an absolute blast!!

It takes a while to get there and Isaac was getting impatient but that's okay. It was out there for sure. It's been a long time since I was that far down route 30. We made it though with no issues. We paid, got changed and went on to find a place to put our towels down. [Note to self: Bring more water/pool toys next time we go] You have to watch going in because the whole way around is just sloped and it's slippery. There are a couple of metal bars around the pool you can hold on to to assist you. They are better for getting out. There was lots of grass and bugs floating around but not so much that I was grossed out or anything. Isaac didn't give a crap about that. The water was cold but he loved it!!

We waded over to the fountain in the middle first to walk under it and get splashed. Isaac was worried about being tall enough to stay above the water but it turns out that he was. I remember there being diving boards here and they were actually still there. I thought there was big insurance issues with diving boards and you couldn't even buy them for your own pool anymore. I took a couple big dives off them and it was sweet. Isaac even jumped off too. He was not scared at all. I did have to be there for him to help him swim to the side. I was very proud of him. I thought later to get Isaac to film a clip of me jumping off it but we never got to that.

We splashed around for a good 3-4 hours. We were totally pruny and sunburnt by the time we left. He was having some stomach issues and we had to get out of the pool twice for him to go to the bathroom. What sucked was there was no door on the stall and there was a huge line so everyone kept poking their heads in to see him sitting there pooping. After the first time I couldn't believe he had to go again. You'd think your embarrassment would allow you to hold on a bit until you could get somewhere else but I guess it didn't really bother him. He also does this thing where if he sucks down some water he gags so loud you think he's throwing up everywhere. I am trying to tell him to keep his mouth closed at all times but he must have done that 3 times while we were there. I don't know what is up with that. I told him if he pukes we are so out of there because that is really embarrassing. Luckily nothing happened though.

About the last hour or so I swam off by myself and let him play with a couple little friends he made. They had found someone's abandon raft and were trying to stay on top of it and keep it from flipping and that looked like a lot of fun.

I took a bunch of pics and I think we both had a great time. I love being a father.