Warm weather brings many families out for Father's Day

Whether swimming at the park or shopping in the mall, many children spent a warm Father's Day Sunday with their fathers.

Older ones said they admired their dad's job, while younger ones weren't so sure what their fathers do for a living.

Adam Branion, 9, of Sikeston, Mo., said that his dad fixes cars at the carwash.

His father, Brian Branion, said he is a mechanic at Brian's Auto Repair and Detail in Cape Girardeau.

"I want to learn how to fix cars when I get older," Adam said, which is why he likes that his father fixes cars and likes to hand him tools when working on cars.

For part of the afternoon, Adam, his parents, two brothers and a friend visited the Capaha Park swimming pool. The family planned to have a barbecue at their home, which Adam looked forward to, he said, because he likes his father's barbecue.

When it comes to meat, Tatiana Reagan, 9, of Cape Girardeau said that her father works with it daily.

"He's a meat manager and cuts meat all the time and puts boxes of meat out," she said. "Sometimes he puts frozen meat out and puts it in a freezer."

Her father, James "Bo" Reagan, works at the Jackson Wal-Mart, Tatiana said.

She hoped that they would go to the Dollar Tree later in the day so that she could buy toys for her and her brother and another gift for her father -- shaving cream -- in addition to the card and picture frame that she had painted to look like stained glass.

In the early afternoon, she and her family visited the riverfront, watching the barges and waiting for a train to pass by.

Also moving heavy loads is 11-year-old Brittany Merritt's father, who works on a forklift at a lumber company.

"He gets hurt a lot, though," said Brittany. She described in detail how her dad had hit his head when his forklift ran into a railroad spike that he did not see. Otherwise, she likes his job, she said, because he makes enough money.

Brittany and her parents spent most of the day as planned, visiting family members and going to Cape County Park South.

But not all Father's Day activities went according to plan. Max Maples, 5, of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., said his afternoon was spent doing "really nothing," even though he and his family visited Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

His father, Mark Maples, said that shopping was not his son's preference, especially because the family's plan to visit a waterpark fell through.

Max does think that his father's job at the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff's Department looks cool, he said.

"He's a police," he said, and the police "get people who are bad."

Mikey Torres, 6, of Jackson, had less of an idea about his father's job.

"He works," he said, and when he works "he builds something."

Hector Torres said he is involved in a construction project at Procter & Gamble.

jmetelski@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 127