A Day with Dad

We celebrated Father's Day a little early this year.  My dad wanted to go visit his (almost 92 year-old) dad on the Father's Day, so he and I celebrated on Saturday.

He is one of the most difficult people to shop for and really there is nothing I could get him that he couldn't buy himself.  What he seems to enjoy most is when we just spend time together.  He promised me that we wouldn't go for a 12 mile bike ride in the middle of the day this year.  Although that was fun last year, it took my body a good 4 or 5 days to recover.

He has an upcoming fishing trip to Russia (his 6th trip, and yes, he's fluent in Russian) and needed some new shoes and clothes.  He hates to shop more than anyone I know...even more than R hates to shop.  However, if my sister or I go with him it seems to help the process a little and he focuses on the fun times with us and not the frustrating parts of shopping like having to dig through racks and racks of clothes to find his size.  He's tallish and fit (very low body-fat) and has long arms - it's tough to find clothes that fit him properly. 

We hit up REI first. 

On the list: walking shoes, a hat, socks and travel pants. 

After digging through many racks, trying on many hats and making laps around the shoe area in three different pairs of shoes we were able to check everything off of our list. We even found 3 pairs of travel pants in his size, a true miracle!  (I also managed to find a pair of Chacos that I love)

Shopping worked up our appetite, so we were off to Pronto for lunch.

We both ordered their house special - lemon garlic roasted chicken with green beans, garlic mashed potatoes and a roll. 

Even though I had roast chicken the night before, this stuff is so good that I couldn't resist. 

Back to my parents' house after lunch for movie time.  Dad is a movie nut.  The man watches the same movies over and over and over and over again.  It's one of his weird, yet endearing habits. 

I had not seen Crazy Heart yet, so Dad suggested we watch it. 

(http://kylepetersen.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/crazy_heart_1.jpg)

Wow.  Great movie!  Great cinematography, great casting, great acting.  I'm so glad Dad chose that one.

We had a great day together and I consider myself so lucky to have him as my dad.  He really is one of a kind in so many ways. 

Love you, Dad!