Father's Day

Last week, Hope and her buddy N went to a paint-your-own-pottery studio to make gifts for their Daddies for Father's Day. Hope loves her new art class, so she took right to the idea of painting. She ended up with a really cute mug that is green and yellow swirls in the background, with her handprint in blue on one side and "I heart Daddy" on the other side. I helped with the letters and by reminding her to put paint all over, not just in the same spot over and over, but otherwise she did it without too much intervention.

She kept the secret all week, but was pretty excited for him to open the present on Father's Day. Here they are at lunch, him happily gobbling up her love and her happily gobbling up his salad.

It was a full morning between church, lunch, and a movie. We went to see 'Up' because it was the only cartoony movie out there, but it didn't go so well. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but suffice it to say that Hope was ~heartbroken~ by the baby birds who are separated from their mommy. She's made it through plenty of scary things unscathed, but apparently sad things are going to be what gets to her!

We were going to have dinner with Grandpa to celebrate Father's Day, but it turned out that Grandma was sick so he needed to stay home. Daddy got to choose what we did instead, and he chose dinner and ice cream by the water.

The weather was perfect for walking around the harbor, looking at boats and ducks. After dinner at a place we'd never been before, we strolled over to the gelato shop. Gelato will always make Daddy and me think of our trip to Italy! His and mine were pretty good, but Hope chose the strawberry-lemon flavor and it was incredibly delicious. Good pick, girl!

Father's Day this year was long and liesurely, and according to Daddy, "just what the doctor ordered." It's sweet to see Hope's Daddy soaking up his role. It seems like just yesterday that this cuddly pile ...

was this cuddly pile ...

Happy Father's Day!