I cheerfully acknowledge that mine is not Approved Behavior for men my age. Men my age are supposed to have a boat and cruise around on the lake, wearing sunglasses and radiating superiority. They bear the required goatee and mandatory debt. They do NOT dive into the lake with the dog. They do NOT swim with their children, at least not where others can see.

So what. Yahoo!

I love to go swimming with the kids. I love to go careening off the dock with the dog and plunge into the water at the same time. This time Hank was distracted by the tennis ball in the water and this is the closest we got to simultaneous impact, while Jessica had the camera. I wish I didn’t have quite so many pictures of me on this blog, but her pictures of the kids and me did not turn out, since we were cannonballing off the dock and look like squealing blurs. We splashed around for the better part of two hours, diving, jumping, yelling, splashing, and generally making nuisances of ourselves.

I am an embarrassment to the Manly Template. Sorry, guys. I’d rather spend time with my kids than money on the Template. Enjoy your boat payments!