Every year I look forward to the individual Festibond dates I have with Dad and Mom. This year Dad and I decided to have dinner at Otto’s Pizza before going to a Portland Pirates’ hockey game. I read and studied the rules of hockey ahead of time so that I would be prepared.

At Otto’s I ordered a mashed potato, bacon and scallion pizza, which was better than I remembered. I enjoyed talking with Dad about what I thought of homeschool and who I thought was going to win the hockey game.

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Skye and I went to Otto’s Pizza and a Portland Pirates’ game for our Festibond date. It was her idea, and I was pretty excited about it.

During the drive to Portland we talked about Skye’s relationships with her sisters, Festibond, homeschool and what it’s like to be an adolescent girl. It was nice to get to know Skye better and have some exclusive time with her.

Otto’s was good, as usual. Skye ordered her favorite slice: mashed potato, bacon, and scallion. I got one of those and a pepperoni (the sauce is crazy delish). We continued our conversation from the drive, which was nice.

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Skye asked if we could walk around Old Port in Portland together and visit the shops in the area for our Festibond date. I hadn’t explored Old Port very much aside from some of the restaurants there, and I thought it sounded like fun. I had a wonderful time hanging out with my oldest daughter, who has recently passed me up in height. She borrowed my shirt, sweater, and shoes for our date together.

It was cold outside, so we first stopped at Starbucks to get some hot drinks to go. Skye ordered the eggnog latte, and I had a flavored espresso. In retrospect, we should have gone to Bard Coffee instead where the coffee is significantly better, but at least the beverages warmed us up as we embarked on our adventure in the chilly winter air.

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Every year for Festibond, each of us “sisters” have a separate date with our parents. This year, my mom and I chose to walk around Portland and get to know the city.

Our first stop was the Coastal Maine Popcorn Company. There were many flavors of popcorn. Some common flavors include cheddar, garlic parmesan, and caramel. I thought it was weird that there were flavors such as buffalo wing, sour apple, and red hot cinnamon. There were huge bags of popcorn which were about two gallons! I think it’s silly that they have such huge bags; Nobody should buy that much popcorn for that price at a time.

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Skye went skiing! Her school had a “BAM Day,” in which students were able to choose activities to expose them to new and fun physical activities. Although skiing was one of the more expensive of the many choices, I encouraged her to do it because I not-so-secretly want her to be my partner on the slopes. As the day approached she was nervous, but excited. I was, too.

I wasn’t going to go, as I didn’t want to be one of “those dads.” Read the rest of this entry…

As part of our Festibond traditions I take each daughter out on a date. Kirsten does the same. It has been a great way for us to strengthen the individual bonds that make our family close. Skye asked me to take her ice skating for our date. I think she got the idea from Kirsten’s date with Hayley. Regardless, I was excited to spend time with Skye. Also, it has been about twenty-five years since I’d last skated and I knew it was going to be fun. I played ice hockey as a kid in Alaska and remember those years with fondness.

The Family Skate Center in Falmouth is a wonderful facility that features both an indoor hockey rink and an outdoor skating pond. After Skye and I had our skates laced up we headed outside where Maine was experiencing unseasonably balmy 40+°F temperatures. Much like my return to snowboarding the week prior, I was a little rusty on skates. I could stay upright, cross-over in the turns and skate backwards, but none of it was pretty. Skye had been only one other time and was quite unsteady. I didn’t mind, and enjoyed holding her hand as we made our turns around the frozen pond.

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Part of our Festibond tradition includes each of us girls going on a date with Mom and Dad separately. At first I suggested to Mom that we go play pool for our date. After finding out I was too young to play pool at the billiard rooms, I decided I would like to go see a movie and go to dinner.

Dad, Hayley, and I drove up to the mall to meet Mom and Jenna after their date together. We met them at Claire’s because that was where Jenna and I were going to get our ears pierced. Jenna and I picked out the exact same earrings to get our piercings. Jenna looked very calm for a girl going to get her ears pierced for the first time. I felt like I was in Hawaii on a hot day because boy, was I nervous. I was aching to get the piercing over with. I had gotten them pierced before, but the holes had closed up. As much as I wanted to seem tough I couldn’t help remembering the painful pinch that made me wince while getting my ears pierced the first time.

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There was a lot to do to get ready for Festibond this year. There were letters to be written and booklets to be made, snacks to buy and goodies to be baked. As soon as my mom asked Hayley what treat she wanted to bake, she immediately replied, “Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies!” When mom asked Jenna, she hesitated a moment and then replied, “Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.” Finally, when mom questioned me, I replied, “Oatmeal Raisin Cookies,” but after a few days of thinking about it, I settled on baking Lemon Bread.

Writing the letters took some time and thought. As one of my paragraphs to Jenna I wrote: “You always look very fashionable, Jenna, and I think that when you grow up, you will become a model. If you don’t become a model, I’m sure that you’ll look stylish wherever you go.” I could think of thousands of things to say about my family, which is how I could easily think of things to write about each of them.

On Festibond morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Outside, a blizzard was whipping up and to me it was a beautiful sight and it was definitely going to be a white Festibond. I ordered scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, and some homemade biscuits off of the adult menu and some sweet apple cider off of the kid menu. The scrambled eggs were delicious because they were cheesy and soft.

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I love that Brent and I have included dates with each of the girls in our Festibond tradition. Skye first suggested we play pool for our date together. She loved going to Hooters and Side Pockets in Wichita where they had pool tables, but unfortunately the few places with billiards here in the Portland area have age limits. Skye’s second choice was to see the movie “Little Fockers.” She really likes Ben Stiller and has seen many of his movies.

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Today my dad and I went on a date to the Falmouth Family Ice Center. On the drive I enjoyed talking to my dad about school and things going on in my personal life. Even though I act embarrassed when he teases me, I like the attention that I get from him.

We had the greatest time ice skating. Outside there was a frozen pond and inside was a hockey rink. I enjoyed skating on the pond outside because the ice was not as slick as the hockey rink. It was also warmer outside. Wherever we were I was happy because I was with my dad. While many people were zipping past us, we were just slowly skating and having little conversations.

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