"My daddy makes the best mac and cheese in the whole world," says 4-year-old Julian.
"The secret is whipped cream cheese. It really is the best," explains Mike McGill.
Mike cooks for his kids at every opportunity and has made food a central role in his boys' lives. They garden as a family and the kids have their very own section. Their dining spaces, inside and out, are open, warm, and inviting.
"It's an important part of family life. I always make sure to cook dinner whenever I have a night off. I think it's because I've worked in restaurants for so long. It makes me appreciate the nights that I'm home and I want to spend them with my family."
And even on the nights he is working, he sacrifices sleep to wake up with the kids. "Yeah, I don't really sleep, but I do take a nap in the afternoons. It's hard balancing the schedule because a lot of our friends of 'normal' jobs and are going out at night when I have to work. But we've made it a priority to have some sort of normal schedule," Mike explains.
His wife Andra also sees the positive side to him working odd hours: "As hard as it can be he gets to play a role in their lives that not a lot of dads get to play. We get to coparent everything. He's really involved in his kids' lives."
They are very much a partnership, in sync with each other and their boys. "Mike has always been super helpful and we've always been a team, but fatherhood has made him so much more mature, in-tune, and focused on what's really important in life. He's an even more well-rounded and amazing person than he already was," says Andra.
After Mike blushes from the compliment, he speaks about his own personal growth since having kids: "It's taught me how to care about everyone else before I care about me. You give up so much, but you gain so much more. I can't go travel to Asia for a month whenever I want now, but someday I'm going to get to go with them, and how much more fun will that be?"
McGill is a father to two boys and has an impressive resume concerning Denver's beverage scene. He has worked at places like Old Major, The Squeaky Bean, and Osteria Marco. He now serves as General Manager at Highland Tap & Burger. He spends his days with his sons and his nights behind the bar.