Dadvice Weekly #45 / Start of Summer
Dadvice Weekly - #45
We were at a friend’s 30th birthday party last weekend. We were outside at a park, had some lawn chairs, dogs were out there, and our daughter was running around the grass field.
As this was going on we were catching up with friends and the inevitable question comes up, “So what have you guys been doing lately?” Its funny that in your 20’s I think that question can genuinely yield unlimited options of answers. Depending on the weekend in my life I could have told you about one of many weddings coming up in Texas, a bachelor party where I flew somewhere for, maybe Brooke and I had a trip for the two of us to a cool place.
As I answer the question now, my answers were “well, we hung up some bookshelves yesterday. Went to the nursery and I planted a couple plants in the front yard. I ordered some new water filters for the fridge on Amazon. We got some new glass cutting boards. Have you heard of microplastics?”
I have since left the party and am writing this up. The beautiful thing about life is I love this stage. I love Summer time in Colorado. There’s no place I would rather be and its so refreshing and restoring to be outside doing whatever. Here are some of the things we have found useful in this time where we kick off Summer. -SW
Step2 Water Table & Pump
A routine we are falling into right now is after getting off of work I spend time with MK. MK and I go to the backyard, she walks around, and eventually gets to her water table.
If you have a child 10/10 get this thing. She loves playing with it. Its fun watching her play with it. And buy this $10 pump with it so there’s consistently water dripping down the little water fall feature. This is such a hit with her. -SW
National Park Hack: Every Kid Outdoors Progam
If you have a kid in fourth grade, there’s an awesome federal program called Every Kid Outdoors that gets your family into national parks completely free. We put it to the test this past weekend when we took the kids out to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Our foster daughter just wrapped up fourth grade, and using her pass saved us the $25 entrance fee at the gate.
Signing up is a really easy. Go to the website, have your kid complete a 5-minute online activity, and print out the physical paper voucher. (The park rangers need the actual printout, but you might get lucky with a screenshot on a phone like we did.)
When you roll up to the entrance gate, hand the ranger the voucher, and they’ll swap it for a plastic pass your child gets to use all summer and keep as a keepsake. The pass covers your fourth grader and everyone in your vehicle at more than 2,000 national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges nationwide. The current pass runs through August 31st. -KC
Summer Beer Recipe
When we lived in Dallas one of our favorite places to go to was the Katy Trail Ice House. Hands down the best thing on that menu was called Summer Beer. On their website they advertise it as Blue Moon, lemon vodka, and lemonade. I’ve been working on a copy cat of it and think I have something pretty close.
Pour ~8 ounces of Blue Moon into a glass. Pour about an ounce of lemon vodka. Pour 2 ounces of lemonade. Pour the rest of the Blue Moon in. Pour half an ounce of lemon vodka. Then top it off with a splash of lemonade. Give it a stir. Its a great drink that screams summertime. -SW
Just for Dad: Drip Line Hack
Over the weekend I planted two plants. I then got to the part that I have always hated on planting which is getting the drip line set up. The specific part I have hated is trying to get the tubing to connect to the plastic connector. The tubing is so stiff by design to ensure there aren’t leaks when the drip line is working, but its a pain to set up the connection.
I came across a tip online that said to use a blow dryer to warm up the tubing. Once its warm, its significantly more malleable to make the connection to the plastic connector. I gave this a try and it was so easy. I’ll be doing this every time moving forward. -SW
Dadvice Weekly is Kyle and Skyler—two friends in their thirties, living in Colorado, settling into fatherhood and trying to stay sane. Every Tuesday we share what’s working in our homes: gear we use, routines we’ve tested, ideas we’re trying. It could be a recipe, a product that solved a problem, or just what we’re thinking about as dads.
If you have a tip, tried something we mentioned, or just want to say hi, reply to this email or message us on Substack. We read everything, and we’re always looking for what works. Glad you’re here.