On pageslap there was a logo extracted from Yourlogomakesmebarf.com. I genuinely can’t believe this is actually real and it dives straight into my WTF chart of nonsense.

Here it is in its gory glory:

This is so hideously wrong it’s almost brilliant!

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars–all in the same day.

Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much–except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life;” Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in an Institution.”

But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,” Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.”

“Tell him a joke,” Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? “Go Bruins!” And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, “Dad, I want To do that.”

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. “Then it was me who was handicapped,” Dick says. “I was sore For two weeks.”

That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,” he typed, “when we were running, It felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!”

And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

“No way,” Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t quite a Single runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?”

How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don’t you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? “No way,” he says. Dick does it purely for “the awesome feeling” he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992–only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

“No question about it,” Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.”

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,” One doctor told him, “you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.” So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
“The thing I’d most like,” Rick types, “is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.”

They also have their own website here

I don’t think I need to say anything else, except that this, clearly, is the ultimate super dad. All fathers should aspire to be like this and although up against this guy I wouldn’t win any parenting awards, I’m sure as hell gonna try to be like him and am willing to sacrifice all that I have to make sure my kids are happy.

1/ I really hope it’s real because it’s hilarious

2/ John is my hero

3/ I would love to have gone to the block party they talk about to see what happened!

Here’s the  original links:

Part 1: http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/07/22/view-obstruction/

Part 2: http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/08/15/view-obstruction-part-deux/

I’ll tell you.. doing all that and then getting a photo of your wife sat in the pub with your father-in-law!!

Yup Jo was on her supposedly stress-filled shopping trip to town with two of our daughters and her mum & John in tow. To be honest I was quite glad I was skipping out on that one (even it was for work) as tesco’s with kids is never fun, but no it appears I was duped and it was just a jolly to the pub after all. I’m gonna be even more put out if i find out they had the chicken burger, that pub does awesome chicken burgers.

Thank you to my gorgeous but slightly-inconsiderate-on-this-occasion wife for that!! Just what I didn’t need. Hope the *ahem* “shopping trip” wasn’t too stressful for you

I’ll let you know how my “trip to the gym” (soon to be replaced with a sneaky trip to the pub) goes tonight.

Who's the birthday girl? Me!

Hiya! So I reached the ripe of old age of a whole 365 days as the youngest of the duncan-cooke brood on 27th may. I had  a great time, I flippin well love toys…and cake… and attention. So I was in severe sensory-overload when I realised that these “birthday” thingys involve all that by the bucket-load and it lasts all day! It was awesome. I wish it could be my birthday everyday.

cake!! for me ???

I haven’t stopped squealing with excitement yet, I’m pretty sure when I shout the parental units don’t know exactly what I’m saying but they do know when I’m happy. They are getting better at understanding me though. But seeing as they are taking too long to learn Summer-ish I ‘spose i should just start speaking like them. Maybe I’ll keep them waiting a little longer before I do a whole verse of row-row your boat and not just the chorus though!

why thank you, i'll have a fistful please!

weebles really do wobble without falling down - amazing!

I got a giant peppa pig from Aunty Sarah, a tea-set from Nanny & Grandad, a singing handbag from Granny & Uncle John, a ride-on pony from Grandad & Mary, some money to spend on clothes from Uncle Paul and a weebles castle from Mummy & Daddy. I sussed out pouring the tea pretty much straight away (cos I’m clever like that) and loved my weebles castle and peppa pig. I love the pony too but i prefer to push it around than ride it at the moment. .

when can i get a real one dad?

I will start practicing on it soon though, cos then I can bribe Dad that I really should have a real one when I’m older as I’ll already have riding experience. It’s all part of mine and Mummys plan cos we know that if we both try hard enough and do the puppy dog eyes thing he would pretty much give in to any of our demands no matter how ridiculous. Failing that we’d get Mummy to make him a steak dinner, that always works!

Ignore the fact I missed the cup - I'm pouring it by myself!

The parental units also finally realised that I don’t like that store bought baby juice crap they tried to get me to drink. I just want squash like the other kids have. Mummy (the clever one) made this shocking discovery, you’d have thought that all those hours of throwing my bottle on the floor when they gave me Heinz pear juice again would have made them realise but no.. they kept on trying me with different flavours. But now I’m all about the blackcurrant squash! Soon i won’t need baby milk anymore, that’s cos i’m not a baby anymore – although i do plan on making poopy nappies for a little while longer yet. It’s funny seeing Dads face when he has to change them!

I enjoyed my week away at Nanny and Grandads while Mum and Dad went and got married in Antigua. I did have a little bit of a go at the parents when I got dropped off back at home though, just to let them know I was a little peeved they left me for a whole week. I was going to cling to Nanny and not let go, but I saw how much they’d missed me so I let them off the hook. Next time they go somewhere really nice on holiday though they’d better take me or I’m going to kick off bigtime!

So life’s pretty good and birthdays are my new favourite days, although I have heard my brothers and sisters talking about another day called “Christmas” and that one sounds pretty cool too. EVERYONE gets presents, Mum gets tipsy on champagne and Dad gets stressed. Sounds hilarious, apparently I slept through the last one so I’ll have to make up for it this year. Catch ya later!!

I'm ready for my close up Mum, we all know i look good!