This week’s Awesome Dad is Mike Lacey. I’ve known Mike for over 20 years. We went to high school together and have played a lot of basketball and flag football in recent years. Let’s meet Mike.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. I’m 36 with a two-year-old daughter (almost three) named Olivia. I’ve been married to my awesome wife Sara for four years. She works at Norton Suburban Hospital. We now live in J-Town after living in Middletown for a few years.
I’ve lived in Louisville pretty much my whole life. I went to Male High and graduated from University of Louisville with a Masters Degree. I own an exterior cleaning business called Green Goose Cleaning LLC which I’ve owned for several years now. I cannot picture myself doing anything else than running my own business no matter what industry or sector it may be in. My favorite sports to play are basketball, volleyball & golf.
2) How long have you been a father? Three years.
3) What’s your all-time favorite video game? Why? Grand Theft Auto: Vice City because it is a very fun game with high replay value. Although the ones that followed Vice City were probably better, I’ve always liked the setting of Vice City (Miami) and the 80’s theme.
4) Do you still play video games? What games are you playing right now? Yes, on occasion. Lately, I’ve been playing old arcade games that I purchased on the Wii such as Golden Axe, Ninja Gaiden and several Neo Geo side scroller fighting games. Also I’ll play Guitar Hero Metallica every once in a while. I also like to play my Sega Dreamcast disc that contains every 8-bit NES game ever made on it. I play lots of games on my iPad as well such as golf, pool and point & click games such as the Broken Sword series.
5) What video game systems do you currently own? XBox 360, Wii and Sega Dreamcast.
6) What’s your favorite activity to do with your kid? We enjoy doing doctor check ups on each other, playing outdoors, playing soccer in the basement, running around the house like crazy people and pretty much any other activity my daughter wants to do. I also like to watch some of her favorite TV shows that I like as well such as The Octonauts, Little Einsteins and Doc McStuffins.
7) What’s the best part about being a dad? There’s never a dull moment in life anymore. Olivia and I could be home on a Saturday night without Mommy and we will still have fun doing all kinds of things. Another great thing are moments when I just watch Olivia play without her knowing and I’m so proud that she is my daughter. The fact that I’m her Daddy is something that can never be taken away from me and that alone makes me the happiest person in the world.
8) What has been the worst part about being a dad? Not being able to have as much alone time with my wife. Spending lots of money you wouldn’t have spent if you didn’t have kids. Potty training. Having to remove those plastic outlet safety covers to use electricity because you need long fingernails to remove them and sometimes they are difficult to remove.
9) What’s your best advice for new dads? People say your life will change which is true but in a great way. It will be the best time of your life without a doubt. You’ll realize that your kids will grow quickly and time will pass by fast. You will look back at photos when your kid was younger and say to yourself “I miss when they were that small. I miss those times.”
Some other advice is do not subscribe to Disney Jr channel unless you like cartoons a lot. Don’t buy your kids crayons until they are 18 or else they will eat them. Do not buy any outfits with glitter on them. Also do not try to make your own baby food. Just go to the store and buy it because it’s much easier!
10) Anything else we should know about you? When growing up, I always told anyone who asked that I wanted to be an architect when I grew up.