What a great article. It brought joy to both myself and my wife.
My son is only 5 and he has the same passion for gaming (video and boardgames and I just introduced him to D&D) that I do. I look forward to the day we can play as peers like you and your Dad. Its amazing how something as small as just playing games with your son (or anything really - basically spending time with him) can have such a long lasting impact.
I can second the motion to give Alpha Centuri a go ... if you can stand the ancient graphics the mechanics are great. I also recommend Master of Orion 2 - Civ in space.
/mm