Father's Day with my brother

From Portland on a Sunday morning, follow the St. Helens exits and keep on driving down Hwy 30 and you'll come up on a nice little place for coffee on the left - I did. The Coffee Bar in Scappoose was my first stop after 45 minutes of driving. It is also co-owned by my brother Dave and sister-in-law Shauna. I'm not sure if I've told them that I judge coffee places by the Americanos. I ordered the 12 oz. Americano there, and ding-ding-ding, it's a winner. Absolutely perfect.

So, with piping hot Americano in hand, continued on to their house. It was sunny, and it was Father's Day. My brother Dave was the first of my siblings to become a parent. I remember when Krista was born and suddenly I was a 5th grade aunt. My friends thought it was weird. I thought it was cool. Especially since I was getting paid to babysit, and paid well. Krista was a cool baby, too. She just patiently lay around as I awkwardly dealt with baby wipes and consulted my "Babysitting Basics" book on how to properly discard a dirty diaper and wrap on a new one. It was pretty flattering that Dave and Shauna entrusted me with that responsibility.

But even cooler than that was to hang around my brother on Father's Day and see how much his girls adore him, giving him homemade gifts and laughing together. It was great.

Two great parents.

 

Burned marshmallows.

 

Sunny faces.

 

I found a hula hoop.

 

Happy Father's Day...a week later.