As I dropped my youngest off at daycare this morning, the teachers’ in the 18 month old ro… more
Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
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Family Reunion — DadLabs at ABC Kids Expo ’11, Day 1
By Daddy Clay Saturday, September 24th, 2011
And you were there, and you were there, and so were you…
It’s a bit of a deja vu experience for the DadLabs crew, attending the ABC Kids Expo for the sixth consecutive year. Lots of familiar faces, but something has definitely changed.
We had the uniquely internet age experience of meeting a longtime friend for the first time, when we rolled off the plane and right into Concretin Nic. The Concretin has played host, tour guide, Brad wrangler, master graphic designer, producer, role model, costume designer, Kentucky Bourbon enabler and restaurant critic. So far. Read the rest of this entry »
Raising the Next Blackbeard
By Daddy Clay Monday, August 22nd, 2011
For two-thirds of my offspring, it’s the first day of school, which has me ready to write my “How I spent my summer vacation” essay. I had the great good fortune to be able to take another extended vacation with my family this year, as I have ever year since I got married. I’m a lucky bastard.
We go to Cape Cod and stay in the town of Chatham. Because we return to the same town, the same house (my in-laws’), the same beaches year after year, certain traditions and rituals have emerged. I can find pictures of the kids in the same spot, almost the same pose, from every year of their lives. Scrolling through those images is a fascinating way to watch them grow up before your eyes — almost time-lapse. Read the rest of this entry »
Let’s Confer, Dad Bloggers
By Daddy Clay Thursday, June 30th, 2011
When founder Kelby Carr announced that the Type-A Mom conference was changing its name to Type-A Parent, I knew I’d be heading back to Asheville, and not just because it’s on my Top 5 Places to Run list. Love the city, love the #typeacon.
Lots of good folks there, even though some people bagged (for good reason, sure). Always Great to see Doug of LOD, and the guys behind MoTH.
The sessions I attended were genuinely useful. Though we’ve been at it for years, I found the web video 101 offered by Gregory Ng (of Freezerburns fame) to be useful. I’m making sure that we are following all his recommendations. I’m inspired to try and find an ebook strategy for us.
I also welcome the opportunity to reflect a bit on the dadblogger community. We’re too busy around here to do much woolgathering on the nature or significance of what we do. A bit of that is good from time to time.
I was part of one conversation on the state of the dad blogging community. (My first question: Is DadLabs a blog?) In past years, I might have winced a bit a the suggestion that there was such a thing. There were some guys in New York that knew each other. We definitely fell outside that loop. But today a genuine community does exist, and we’re proud to be part.
At the risk of sounding corny, life in the dad ecosystem has been pretty peaceful.
Sure, a number of affinity groups have sprung up. At DadLabs we like to pal around, in a purely digital and manly way, with Man of the House, Dadcentric and DadWagon — group blogs with a service journalism twist and a heavy pour of irreverence. But we can go giveaway-for-giveaway with Dad of Divas and Ben Spark, too.
And that’s all good.
I think one way to keep things rolling in that direction is to use venues like Type-A, and the upcoming Dad 2 Summit, to meet face-to-face, talk about the challenges of being male parents and digital media producers, and to drink heavily.
Cheers.
Dadventure: Passport to Dry Creek Valley 2011
By Daddy Clay Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
For my wife and me, it’s wine. It’s a passion and a hobby we share. It has a regular place at our table, and it also provides us with our preferred destination for kid-free rest and recharge getaways. On this visit, we gave our usual wandering M.O. a twist — we bought tickets to the 2011 Passport to Dry Creek Valley.
About 60 or so wineries in this Sonoma Valley region participate. Your $120 passport gets you food and wine tastings at all the participating venues for the Saturday and Sunday of the event (you can get a Sunday-only pass for $70). The ticket price is steep as an up front cost, but two days of tasting would set you back about that amount anyway these days (ah, I remember the old days of complimentary tastings). And, during the festival, every winery we visited was serving food of some kind or another, so no need to buy lunch! Read the rest of this entry »
