Yesterday was Father’s Day. Growing up, I never celebrated this day because I never had a dad around to celebrate. Being raised by my single mother and growing up without any grandfathers in my life, Father’s Day was not anything worth celebrating in my house. It wasn’t until I got married and started a family with Rich that I realized how important this day is! I am so grateful that I picked a good man to be the daddy to my children. He’s hard-working, protective, funny, playful, and he is always there when we need him.

The day started with our family going to church at the 8:30 mass. Then we came home and Rich opened the gifts we got for him.

We got him some shirts, an electric razor, a floppy Frisbee, and a few bags of peanut M&M candy (which he ended up sharing with everyone, of course).

Rich has always said how fun it is to play horse shoes, so when I was passing these in the sporting aisle the other day, I knew I had to get them for him.

Our oldest son got him this fishing hat.  Tony (25)  lives about two minutes away from us but because of his work schedule and his busy weekends of camping, rock climbing and bike riding we don’t see him as much as we’d like. It’s always a treat when he comes by and hangs out with us!  Adult children have their own lives and they keep busy. This takes some getting used to on the part of us parents.

After all the gift opening, we took the party outside. There, the kids went in the pool and Rich went to the grill. One of his favorite things to do when he is off work is to BBQ for us, and he’s pretty good at it, too!

Aiden is getting pretty brave in the pool lately, now that he has taken a liking (and a trusting) to his new life vest. He loves jumping off the rock and going down the waterslide.

He also enjoys hanging out on the Baja shelf! I’m so glad we decided to keep the Baja shelf in the pool plan. It takes a bit of space away from the shallow end, but we all spend our time lying on this shelf.  It’s perfect for when you don’t want to go all the way in but just want to cool off.

Aislynn likes to climb up and sit on top of the waterfall.

She also likes jumping off the waterfall. All the kids like jumping from this spot. They just need to make sure no one is coming down the slide at the same time! So far we haven’t had any collisions. The kids have been very careful. Plus, our rule is that they cannot jump from there unless either Rich or myself is out there watching. Pool rules are important!

Here is a cool shot of some of the kids on top of the waterfall as A.J. comes sliding down the slide. They have so much fun on this big rock!

A.J. and Alex

As the kids get older, getting us all together at the same time is becoming harder and harder. Right now we have five kids who have work schedules and/or babysitting jobs. And yesterday two of our kids had to work. Afton got off work at 4:00 and Alex had to be at work at 4:00, so those two were unable to be in a photo together which made getting a complete family photo impossible. It wasn’t a major setback or anything, but I was disappointed that I couldn’t get a photo with Rich and all the kids.

I’m glad I snapped this quick photo of Alex before he left for work.

It was about 105 degrees on Father’s Day, and we spent the entire day and into the early evening in the pool. It was awesome that Rich didn’t have to work at the fire station on Father’s Day but instead got to spend his day with the family that loves him so much.

Happy Father’s Day, honey! We love you!