Dad's Life 3D: The start of school and an epic birthday party weekend

It's certainly much easier to write a blog when you are on the the road. But, since this blog is called Dad's Life 3D, I thought I should continue it as a weekly blog. Not because I have a lot of people reading it... For me, it's more about documenting my new life as a single dad. It's different. And there's a lot of other dads, and moms, out there like me. So, for them and for anyone interested, I will attempt to give you a taste of what it's like on the other side. For what it's worth, it may, or may not make you think twice about what you've got...

I had a hard finish to our road trip. We had to be back on August 17, because I had planned the most epic birthday celebration EVER! Jaden and one of his best friends, Mylo, conceived of a 24 hour double birthday party a couple months ago. What they didn't realize (or maybe they did), is that Mylo's mom and dad, along with your's truly, actually could pull off their crazy birthday concept. After all, the three of us work in entertainment...

Fifteen boys (5 to 11) for 24 hours. Laser tag, game truck, movies, BBQ, snow cone machine, skateboarding, scootering, pancake breakfast and a kids vs. parents baseball game. The party started at 1pm on Saturday, and ended at 1pm on Sunday. For the boys, it just may have been the very best birthday party weekend ever! For Mylo's dad and I, it just may have been the most non-stop 24 hours we've experienced in a while! That said, it was worth every minute of the lack of sleep, just to see these boy's big grins!

After laser tag, skateboarding, scootering, trampolining, game truck, snow cones, ice-cream cake and Capri Sun, lots and lots of Capri Sun (without high fructose corn syrup, of course), the boys were tired. Dave and I laid out 6 blowup beds in the garage, creating a massive bed for the stinky boys and their sleeping bags. Half of my garage is set up as a movie theater, complete with a 12 foot movie screen. After watching Sandlot 1 and 2, they watched Lego Star Wars to close out the night. It's not easy to get 12 boys to go to bed... We did lose one boy. He did not like all of the taking going on in camp garage. He wanted to go home. And, I don't blame him... I wanted to go home too. Oh wait, I was already home. Sigh.

After the pancake breakfast (Homemade of course. My famous recipe), the boys started to warm up in the backyard for the kids vs. parents baseball game. Jaden and his best friend threw the ball to each other to warm up, and the other boys followed suit.

With a little help from Melanie, Dave's wife, we packed the kids into cars and drove them all up to North Venice Little Leage for the kids vs. parents baseball game. I have managed baseball teams at our beloved little league field for the last 5 years, so I have keys to the field... The kids team was strong. So much so, they upset the parents by one run in the sixth and final inning.

It was a great 24 hours of non-stop fun. I'm pretty sure these boys will remember this for a long time. At least until a couple other dads pull something like this off... Sorry, it's not likely! In fact, I have apologized to all of the parents who had kids who attended. This one is going to be hard to beat.

Three days after the birthday party weekend, school started. I was not ready for "The Summer of 2017" to end, but one thing I have learned over the years, is that the change of season is certainly not up to me... If it were up to me, I would have had it last longer, as it was the best summer I have had in years.

My son and daughter have been attending different schools for the last year-and-a-half. Kids react to the early stages of divorce in own ways. For my son, it landed him in a different school. Not entirely his fault, but that's the way it worked out.

Now, a year-and-a-half later, he made the decision to return to his sister's school. He worked hard to get back there and I am extremely proud of his growth. He has become quite a gentleman! Truth is, this has been a labor of love for me, and now it's great to see the results! What's interesting, is despite changing schools, he has remained best bros with three friends from that school throughout all of this. Now the band is back together again!

After his first day of school, JJ told me, "Dad, this was the best first day of school EVER!" Enough said.