Day 85: Standing In the Shadows Of No-Town

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The PL stands for Parental Leave, which I am currently doing for six months.

Don’t worry family and friends who look forward to the PL Daily, I am trying my best here. It is just hard to get motivated to write every day. A lot has been happening this week, so if this turns into a week wrap up, don’t get all technical on me. Charlie is growing up faster than this blog can go. Every day he is adding something new and I am taking the time to just enjoy it rather than sharing it with you. What has he been doing that is so great? Well I will get to that later. The title of this post should give away two items that involves Charlie. With August hitting, it means I have two months left on my parental leave. Where did the time go? I mean, two months is still a long time, but it already feels like it is going to end in days. Better enjoy it while I can.

Day 85 was also Coolio’s 50th birthday and I would have to say my time with Charlie to date has been a fantastic voyage to say the least.

Dude, You Are Not Helping Out Team SAHD

The best blog post topics usually come out of nowhere and occur as you are living your life. They are the experiences you notice. They are the examples other parents show. They happen right in front of you and are so good you just want to race to a computer and start typing.

Today, one of those happened.

I was at the library with our 9-month old and was sitting in the very large children’s play area. It is set up where the parents sit on the edge on these stairs and the middle is where all the play happens.

Normally when I am there, I am on of the few dads there with kids. This is not unusual on a weekday in Halifax.

Classic Post: Pulled Pork On The Big Green Egg

Updated January 26, 2026

I went into the Big Green archives and found this recipe for Pulled Pork with wood sauce. Please enjoy as we will again very soon.

Trip # 7 – Pulled pork with wood’s sauce

The latest adventure was a special one. My father in law (who loves to cook and eat) was visiting from Toronto, and he could not wait to experience the Big Green Egg.

Probably the hardest part of the whole thing was picking what to make. We decided on pulled pork.

Happy Anniversary To Mrs. Like A Dad

Three years ago today, we threw a kick ass party for our family and friends. Somewhere during that wild time, we got hitched.

Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife.

Now, I have never had another wife, but I am going to say on the record, I can’t imagine better.

She is my partner in crime and is the best Mom to our two boys.

We have been together for almost ten years but those last three, well, they were the best!?

Backyard Camping Like A Dad

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If you have young kids, you have either already started camping, or you are thinking of it. Camping is the perfect adventure for so many reasons. I grew up with camping. Our family hit most of the Provincial Parks in Ontario during my childhood and I loved it.

Now that we have two little guys, camping is on our radar. There are some areas to overcome, like my wife not liking tents, to what age should the boys be before we really start.

But thanks to my parents buying Harrison a tent last summer, we have begun the camping train – slowly.

We have done living room camping before but that does not count. So, we started with backyard camping this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. Short-lived, but fun.

Nova Scotia is full of beautiful parks and places to camp. You can’t argue with that.

But before we go deep into the woods and get our “roughing it” on, I set up Harrison’s 2-man tent up in the backyard.

Day 82: You Should Not Let Your Baby Eat Chalk

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The PL stands for Parental Leave, which I am currently doing for six months.

A new week, a new set of stories to tell from the PL. Today was Day 82 of parental leave and as I mentioned, I have been fighting a wall of some kind lately. But good news, so far things feel a lot better this week. Despite a day of rain and mundane weather, I had a lot of fun with both boys. But the one kid you would figure to sleep more did not. Yes, Charlie really was a fussy guy today and based on how easy it was to put him to bed just now, he was tired. He did not sleep much in the afternoon and Harrison did. Harrison slept for almost three hours. But I know the reason behind that. It was our late night of camping that had him ready to catch up on sleep. The day was full of crawling adventures, bike riding, new food trying and of course a little TV watching.

All in all, it was a pretty good day considering Mondays are usually tiring. I must be a parental leave expert by now.

Hitting The Parental Leave Wall

As I come up on my fourth full month of parental leave, a feeling is starting to creep in that can only be explained as a wall. Not a big wall, but just enough to get in the way.

Things are getting a little mundane, routine and to be honest a little boring.

Don’t get me wrong, I am loving all the time I am spending with my boys, but maybe, just maybe, the lack of adult interaction is getting to me.

I have worked from home for long periods of time before, but this is different. This is not work. This is parenting. A lot of it is like being a fire fighter. You do a lot for your kids, your wife and your household, but there is a lot of down time where you really have to get creative or lazy in order to spend your time.

Like A Dad’s Photos Of The Week – July 26

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I love taking pictures. Whether it is of my kids, grilled meat or anything else that catches my eye.

Every Friday, we will be wrapping up the week with the best of the photos added to Like A Dad’s Instagram page.

With July coming to an end, it does not mean summer is over. Far from it. Still a lot of time to get outside and have some fun. Even though we had a rainy week in Halifax, I still took some great photos.

Here are some of the best I posted to Instagram this week.