Hey folks. Hope you had a great weekend. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which is kinda hard to believe.

Here’s what’s on tap today:

Let’s get into it.

And if you’re new here, welcome aboard. Glad you found us.

Mixing it up a little with today’s wisdom bit. This one came straight out of the weekend.

7 of us dads met at a trailhead in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

The plan was to hike the same 1.6-mile trail, about 600 feet of elevation, from sunrise to sunset. Somewhere around 1pm it felt like we’d signed up for 20,000 walking lunges.

People kept asking us:

“Why are you doing this?”

Our wives also wanted an answer. The hike was meant to be secondary.

A bunch of guys who were strangers that morning spent an entire day outside together. You talk about work, kids, marriage, dumb stuff, serious stuff.

Making friends as a dad can be weirdly hard. Nobody has a ton of free time, and “hey man, wanna hang out?” somehow gets tougher to say as you get older.

Turns out giving a bunch of dads a reason to be in the same place for most of a day works pretty well. In our case, it just happened to involve a steep trail and a questionable amount of crustables.

And if our kids grow up thinking their dads did hard, slightly ridiculous things with good people, we’ll take that too.

So here’s your nudge: pick something hard to do before January 1.

Pumped to hear from Mat Kearney for this week's Rad Dad. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter has been making music for over two decades, with millions of records sold and plenty of sold-out shows along the way. He's also a dad to three girls, ages four, six, and nine.

One thing he still wrestles with is knowing when to nurture his girls and when to let them struggle a little. Giving them room to build confidence without stepping in too soon is something he admits keeps him up at night.

But his favorite perspective check might be the simplest: “You can headline a show at the Ryman, come home and no one cares. It's beautiful actually.”

His advice for dads? Enjoy each age. Don't rush through the hard years waiting for the easier ones. There's something good in every season if you're paying attention.

And one thing he wishes he'd known sooner? Who you are as a husband might be even more important to your kids than who you are as a father.

Follow Mat at @matkearney and read more here.

Really stoked on this one today. We’ve had a Tin Can for a while now, and it might be the best thing we’ve bought for the kids all year. Curly cord, real handset, no screen.

Half the neighborhood has one and they’ve even memorized phone numbers. In 2026! Watching your kid call a buddy or the grandparents the way we used to is too cool.

They just dropped a see-through Technicaller Clear and a Contact Keeper for trading numbers. They sell out quickly. Can’t recommend enough.

[ Get Yours ]

You probably need less home gym equipment than you think. Strength coach Dan John told Michael Easter that if you only buy one thing, make it a kettlebell.

With one bell you can swing, goblet squat, press, row, and carry, which covers a surprising amount of ground. From there, his simple setup is a suspension trainer, ab wheel, glute loop, and mini bands.

Cheap, easy to stash, and enough to build a pretty legit workout without turning the garage into Gold’s Gym.

Watch the clip here.

Taking a break from the serious parenting questions this week to tackle something equally important.