The Boys’ Weekend

Over the weekend I had an opportunity to experience being a single dad for the first time. Even though my wife had planned a weekend trip with her family for a while, she was still not sure if she could leave a forty-four-year-old kid taking care of her precious boys, especially her four-year-old. I reassured her that they would be fine. I won’t let them die. At least I wouldn’t starve them to death.

Truth be told, I was a bit worried about my four-year-old boy since he had not been away from his mom since birth and he still wanted to be breastfed at night. To make the transition easy, I took off work on Friday to spend time with him. We checked out Luv 2 Play. It’s a decent paid indoor playground with a small arcade section. As soon as Vương spotted his favorite dinosaur-shooting game, the rest of the playground area was useless. We managed to stay for an hour and left for the skatepark. He met another boy his age and they clicked instantly. They ran around the ramps while I bladed. When it was time for us to go to pick up Đạo, I told Vương to say goodbye to the new friend. As I bent down to pick up my phone and water bottle, I heard the boy’s mother let out a shocking sound. I didn’t know what went on, but I saw the boy’s father holding Vương’s shirt. I completely missed the incident when the boy pushed Vương down the ramp. Luckily the father grabbed a hold of him. The mother let out a sigh of relief and said to me, “It’s time for us to go. When they get tired and sleepy they started acting stupid.”

We went to pick up Đạo, then Đán and Xuân. We went back to the skatepark again because Xuân wanted to scooter with his scooter buddies. We spent about an hour at the skatepark and headed straight to H-Mart for dinner before Scouting activities. After Scouting, we went over to Tea-Do for boba tea and Street Fighter. We came home around 9:30 pm, showered, and had an instant noodle party. The boys were completely exhausted by midnight. Vương kept tossed and turned. I asked him, “What’s wrong?” He replied, “I want mama back.” I held his hand and rubbed his back until he fell asleep.

I woke up around 6:30 am on Saturday to make lunch for Đạo. He had a hiking trip with his Scout Troop. I dropped him off at 7:30 am and went back home to clean up the house a bit. Đán woke up early and jumped on his computer. I made him fold all the clothes before he could play. Then I made breakfast for the three boys. Around 10 am, we left for the skatepark in Alexandra then the huge playground in Fairlington. We stopped by Bon Chon Chicken around 1:00 pm for lunch. I texted a Scout parent to see if he and his family wanted to join us for sushi dinner. He texted me back saying he was busy, but I could come by for a beer. I brought over more Bon Chon Chicken to his house. His two daughters, around Đán’s age, were great with kids. Vương loved spending time with them. We didn’t get back home until 11 pm. The boys were once again exhausted from a full day of activities. Vương cried, “I want my mama.” Five minutes later, he fell asleep.

The boys didn’t wake up until 10 am on Sunday morning. We went to Silver Diner for brunch, a skatepark to burn off our calories, an outdoor playground, and boba tea again. We went home afterward and relaxed until my wife came home around 4 pm. We survived. I had a fantastic time with the boys. Of course, it would have been much better with her, but she needs to take a break from the boys once in a while. I definitely encourage her to take more trips to spend time for herself. She deserves it.