We're New, Our Daughter's Two

[drcopp]

We're the proud, happy dads of a daughter who is about to turn two. It would mean a lot to us to meet up with other gay dads (singles or couples) who have kids who are two-ish. We have great friends and family, however we know absolutely NO other gay dads with young kids! It seems many of this year's cruisers are returning veterans who already know each other. Anyone out there, either new or veteran, with toddlers willing to meet up on the cruise with a couple of newbies and their kid?
Darrell & Robert

[markandkeith]

Darrell and Robert,

We have 3 & 4 year old girls and would love to meet you! There will be lots of Dads like us on the ship!

Mark & Keith :D

[our3kids]

we have twins that turn 3 next week- Michael and Emma. We also have a son that just turned 8. Would love to talk and meet. We live in the burbs of Los Angeles

[Dad&Pop]

D & R

Hi

This is our first cruise as well and our son Blake turns 2 tomorrow - May 23. Look forward to meeting you.

Terry & Chris from Dallas

[avibear]

Hi guys. Avi and Will here and we'll be traveling with our sons, Shai and Boaz. Shai is 2-1/2 and Bo will be 7 months when we set sail. We look forward to meeting all of you. Shai loves to play, dance, sing, and just be goofy with other kids his age. :D

[drcopp]

Dear Avibear, Dad&Pop, Ourthreekids & MarkandKeith:
Thanks very much for your replies!
We'll probably write you as the cruise draws closer to see if we can pick a time/place to meet. The reason I wrote my initial (desperate?) message was because we went on an Atlantis cruise (without our daughter!) a while ago and we felt a bit shut out by all the groups of people who already knew each other. Reading the rfamily forums, I was already feeling a litttle seasick thinking that might happen on this cruise, too, so I thought I'd launch a preemptive strike. It's just really important for us to start to introduce our daughter to other kids being raised in similar circumstances so she will grow up knowing she's not the only one.
Thanks again! Only five weeks to go!

[ourtribe]

Hey GUYS!
It realy is great to hear from all these OTHER dads. Craig and I have felt a bit of an island here in Vermont. What seems like such a natural part of life isn't so with our other gay friends. Not that we lost friends but things now are different. WELL REALY, who talks about diaper changes and potty training successes at parties...WE DO...NOW! And our 2 year old son and 4 yr old daughter are thrilled with the thought of going on a BIG boat in Feburary 2007! Can't wait to get on "the Boat" to get away from "our Island", at least for a few days. :rolleyes:

[drcopp]

HI Ourtribe.
You expressed our semtiments exactly! Our experience has been that other gay men could care less about our having a kid. When we mention her their eyes just glaze over. Wish you were going on the Alaska cruise so we could meet.

[ColoradoDad]

Hey Drcopp,
We're a couple from Grand Junction, CO and our son turned two in February. We just came back from our town's gay pride picnic, and while we met many lesbian couples with kids, not one person there could think of another male couple raising kids in this area! No wonder why we've had a few odd looks since he was born :) We'll be on the cruise this July too. It will be great not only to meet other gay dads, but to have so many there that we'll meet dads with kids our son's age! Not an easy thing to do in western CO... See you guys there!

[drcopp]

Hey dads in Colorado Great to hear from you Yes, let's meet! Maybe Monday morning? That's the first full day of the cruise and we're at sea all day. What do you think?

[anneyates]

I wanted to make sure you knew about the toy/playroom on board.

It is right next to the spinniker lounge ......I am SURE you will be able to meet tons of moms and dads there....I am opening it the first day of the cruise this year, and it will be great!!!

Anne
eLearningToys.com

[ColoradoDad]

Darrell and Robert, That sounds great! It would be cool to get to know other dads with kids that are our son's age. It said on your post that you're from Phoenix - I'm surprised there aren't more gay dads around the area. Take care and see you in a few weeks! :)

Anne, Thanks for the heads up about the playroom. We'll check it out...

[drcopp]

We're also surprised there aren't more gay dads in Phoenix! Believe me, we've practically been looking under rocks. Never thought there'd be so few. We've very recently met a lovely small group of gay dads, however the youngest child among them is 10.
...and I'm sure we too will be at the toy/playroom onboard. We'll also be in Seattle the weekend prior to the cruise if you can or want to cross paths then. We're tentatively thinking of doing the aquarium, the zoo, maybe the children's museum...

[ColoradoDad]

Sounds great! But we'll be up in Vancouver that weekend tying the knot. :D We're coming back down to Seattle just in time to drop off the rental car and get to the dock. Kinda forgot to plan a little Seattle time in there too, but we may take the after-cruise excursion to check out the city before our flight.

[drcopp]

Wow! Congratulations!!! What a momentous week it will be for you. I'm glad we'll get to meet you honeymooners soon... and Vancouver is just as great as Seattle.
So, Monday morning then? We're in 8176.

[ColoradoDad]

That sounds good... I'll get a message off to you guys before we leave for the trip! :)

[drcopp]

Sounds great.
We just met another gay male couple from Phoenix with a daughter who is turning three. They're going on the cruise, too!
Any other dads of toddlers want to meet up on Monday morning?

[ColoradoDad]

Hey there drcopp... We're taking off Wed. morning and we got your info from the other post. See you next week! :)
Phil