Dads' Day(s)

This year we celebrated Father's Day for my dad a little early with my sister's family.  My brother has a "Parent's Brunch" in the spring to celebrate these days and it was a good enough idea to basically copy.  My sister and I hosted a little dinner for my mom and dad said he liked the arrangment enough for Father's Day as well.

Dad's a little hard to shop for.  We ask for lists, but they are relatively short - as in seven items for four people to split.  This year my mom was getting him a Nook because she loved hers so much and dad is possibly even more a reader than mom.  Tracy was going to be giving him a case for the Nook.  I had emailed her what we were getting so there weren't any duplicates and she reminded me of her plan.

I asked if mom would have given the Nook to dad by then.

She replied, "Crap...good point."

The Nook was the first gift dad opened that night...

 We got him floor pads for his truck.  I can't think of a more exciting gift.

Ellie had just had a birthday party that afternoon and was enamored with her newly acquired Barbie purse with cell phone and matching glasses.

My parents actually had to leave early.  They had squeezed in this dinner between times at the nursing home.  They were both pretty tired and I think it was a nice reprieve from sitting with my grandma as she continued to decline.

We continued the party in the backyard with the Runchey's.

It's nice at this stage because the kids are all capable-enough swimmers that we don't have to actually be in the water with them.

Sunday morning the kids and I woke up to finish wrapping/decorating our gifts an to get ready to make breakfast for Mike.  He hadn't specifically said what he wanted - just, "Surprise me."  Always scary.  However, I had come up with a plan for a breakfast he loves, but we rarely have.  Just as I was about to get underway cooking Mike came downstairs and said he wanted brunch at a restaurant in Jordan. But first...presents!

Doesn't he have a nice smile?  

The kids and I were pretty excited about our gifts.  We had all picked out things to go with his technology loving side.  Maddie got him an armband to wear while running that fit his new phone.  Jake got him a car holder for his truck that held his phone.  (We've loved it so much that we've actually since ordered a second one for the other car.)  I got him a new speaker/system for the garage since his radio out there died.  It is controlled by his phone under the same system as our house.  All of this we chose without guidance and over the internet.  It's amazing that it all worked out to be the right stuff because he hadn't really left any specific sites for these items!

Anyway - we headed to the OK Corral and it was really only o.k.  We decided it was severely overpriced for what we basically determined was Sam's Club frozen foods.  He decided he wanted to take the long way home so we went for a drive and returned home about 2 hours later.  We headed to the backyard where we relaxed all afternoon.  For dinner he had requested grilled steaks.  He did the work grilling while we prepared everything else...super tasty!!

I'm a lucky girl.  I have a great dad in my own life and I married a guy who is the best dad in the world to our kids.  He's fun, loving, works hard for all of us, and they know they have his support no matter what.  He deserves the best!