Let me get this on record: The Wave At The Bus Dad is the man. Seriously. What he did to/for his son during the recently completed school year was awesome as hell and had to be absolutely mortifying for the teenager.

Here’s what Dale Price of American Fork Utah did: He stood on his front walkway and waved at his son’s school bus as it passed every morning for 170 straight school days. Oh yeah, and he wore a different costume every single day while doing it.

According to the Deseret News in Utah, 16-year-old Rain Price’s school changed their bus routes before the school year began. The new routes took young Rain right past his house, every day. To his shock and embarrassment, when Rain passed by his house on the first day of school, he saw his dad standing out front waving at the bus.

For a high school sophomore, this could not have been very pleasant.

But desperate pleas (I suspect) didn’t derail stay-at-home dad Dale Price, as he continued to wave as the bus went by. Every day of the year without fail, in fact. And every single day he sported an original costume. His wife, Rochelle, blogged about it.

Thus, the WaveAtTheBus blog was born, detailing all 170 days. The first post reads:

The high school bus route now goes down our street! Dale and I enjoyed standing on the front porch and waving at our son as the bus went by this morning. No better way to make your teenage son smile on his first day of school, right?

Right…

But he persisted, wearing a San Diego Chargers uniform on the second day, an Anakin Skywalker helmet on day three. Over the course of the school year, Dale dressed as a pimp, Mario, Gene Simmons, Mr. Incredible, a Pioneer Woman, Ariel and Harry Potter – and many many more. Must have felt like Halloween every day for Dale.

My first thought when I heard this story was about cost. Many of the costumes that Dale Price wore were relatively extensive. Add those up over 170 days and you’re looking at a costly little way to embarrass your son. But according to the most recent blog post on WaveAtTheBus, we learn that they didn’t spend much at all:

Cost: We have spent less than fifty US dollars on costumes and props for this blog. Most of these costumes were borrowed from neighbors and friends (you’d be surprised what your neighbors have in their closets!), or found in our costume boxes from years past.

Why did he do this? According to him, it was “a way of letting him know that we really care about him, but do something a little different.” A “father’s way” of saying I love you.

The final wave occurred last Thursday, with a Pirate costume.

You go, Dale. And Rain, you should be proud of your dad, not embarrassed. At least he didn’t troll your friends on Facebook. That would have been embarrassing.

[Photos Courtesy of WaveAtTheBus blog]