Dads are Kinda Cool

These dads we have in our lives are pretty awesome. So awesome that they get their very own special day....every year! This particular year was pretty low key but we covered all of our daddy bases. First up was dinner with Papa Bill and the fam at the park on Saturday night. Nothin' saws "yay for dads" quite like tacos and beer!!! Papa was pretty excited to open his gift....ZZ Top tickets. Yeeeeaaaaaah buddy! 

I can't forget to mention the homemade tie and interview with Hallie.....

Riley's "Dad" Interview

Both were interesting undertakings considering Hal is not the most stable gal. Riley opened his gift that night as well......ZZ Top tickets for him too!!!! Katie rode the train with Hallie and Carmen after the girls wore themselves out running around the park while we ate....

We parted ways with the rest of the fam and spent the rest of the beautiful evening at the waterpark. Riley watched from the lounge chairs as Hallie and I went down the slide at least 2,637 times. It was getting really hard to squeal with excitement by the 2,636th time though. ;) The water felt wonderful and it was an empty park which was peaceful. We spent the evening at home watching a movie after Hallie went to bed and awoke the next morning for early church service. Riley received an actual Happy Father's Day greeting and not a "happy birthday" like I was expecting. She was looking fab in her red get-up and polka dot shades. Who's that movie star right there!?!?!

I've created a monster....

....a very, very irresistible monster.

I was all ready to get my yearly father's day picture when my lovely loved ones decided to act like this....

"What!? I didn't do a thing..."

Our best shot.....it's a framer! ;)-

After church and Sunday school Hallie and I left for Enid. We had a very important lunch date with a very special guy.....

We met Dad and Meg (the newlyweds) for lunch and Bailey and Spencer followed behind shortly after noon. Hal shared her interview with Gman and me thinks their may have been a tear or two well up in his eye. Sweet moment it was. I also thought seeing the two of them pick onions from his garden later that day was pretty precious.....

What a blessed life we've lived because of this man right here....

We spent a couple hours just relaxing at dad's house until it appeared that lil miss needed a nap so we said our goodbyes....

We got home early enough to spend the evening with Hal's special guy.....Father's Day was complete once we'd grilled out and scarfed down some yummy steaks. We both felt a tad bit old and decrepit after the race the day before so we settled on an early bedtime (Senior status).

Hallie Grace, one day you will understand just how blessed you are to have a daddy who likes to play tea party even more than you do......

Riley's Half Crazy Now

He did it, HE DID IT, he DID it!!!!!!

I always knew he was crazy. Now it's official.....

 All of those long, hot training runs in the middle of the day (this was not condoned by me) finally paid off....

During this particular training run Hallie and I went to check up on him as he ran the course one week prior to the race. It was in the mid 90's and way too hot to be out running in. He was chugging along so we drove next to him for awhile and cheered him on....until we got the stink eye from him....I suppose I'd have done the same thing too. ;)

When we heard back in April that the local Lion's club would be hosting the Lionheart Half Marathon/5K we were ecstatic. I signed up immediately and Riley half decided to do the half (how appropriate). The weather may have not been the best to train in but the timing was wonderful considering we'd just continue our training after the OKC Memorial marathon. I think this is good time to mention why I didn't end up running with my man.Ya see, he stole my long run training day. Just straight up stole Sunday afternoons away from me. It took me about two Sundays to get over it and enjoy my time sitting on the couch while he was out burning up in the heat. So I settled for the 5K. My pride for him grew each week as I watched him gear up and go out for run after run even though it was the very last thing he wanted to do. He'd ice his knees every night telling me that he didn't know if he'd actually go through with it. I'd say "yes, you are going to do it....because you stole my long run day...and because you can do it."

He was up at the crack of dawn eating a turkey sandwich in the kitchen on raceday. As always on race day, the thought of food had my stomach churning. Papa Bill and I stretched together at the start line and watched the half-marathoners start their race. In the end it was a great race and perfect weather (considering it's June)......

Riley at the start 

Uncle Tom taking off

The 5K started thirty minutes after the half-marathon at 8:00....

Hallie Grace and Nanny barely missed me at the finish but they arrived shortly after....

I placed fourth female overall and Papa Bill got first place in his age group.....

Riley's cousin Emily placed 5th overall and her momma, Michelle placed in her age group. Uncle Tom had an interesting ending to his first half-marathon that I'm sure he won't forget about anytime soon. I was pretty bummed about my time considering I'd been training at a much faster pace. It wasn't a run to write home about but it did encourage me to get some of this weight off and train harder for the next one I do! :)-

Hal sure is a good motivator and cheerleader.....

She was a patient fan waiting for over an hour for Riley to make his way to the finish line. She had plenty of friends to keep her occupied....

Hallie Grace & Gracie

Not sure what to think about this sweaty guy

It was exciting to cheer on my running buddies as they crossed the finish line. Everyone did awesome in the heat, humidity and hills. So proud!

Kate flyin' in

Sweet Harlynn and her pretty mommy after the race

Even though we tend to fret before a race saying things like "what would happen if our alarms just accidentally didn't go off in the morning", there is really no better way to kick off a day than with a race. Hal will be joining us before long.....

It runs in the family

Welcome to the 13.1 club babe!!!

3rd in his age group!

Just a sidenote: THIS is NOT the way to prep for a race. Never again. Die sugar, die!!!

Saturday in the Sun

Hold the phone! No really. Here, hold the phone. That's what we did all morning long. We made fake phone calls to our beloved Aunt B talking about this and that and a whole lot of nonsense. Come to find out she was thinking about us too. When she texted to see what we had going on that day I was thrilled to tell her that we weren't busy and we'd love to spend the day with her. I am a planner....HOWEVER I love a good spontaneous moment!!! Especially when it involves my sis! She pulled in around 1:30 and we got right to playing! First stop: the waterpark!

Hallie had been invited to a birthday party for her friend Hannah that afternoon. I figured she wouldn't really understand the concept of sticking with the party group and I knew for sure that she would never sit still for opening presents or eating cake so we dropped of Hannah's gift, said hello to her beautiful mommy and took off for some swimming. This action shot that Aunt B snapped made me laugh....

So that part about not sitting still for cake??? So yeah, I was wrong bout that part....

Cake and popsicle face

Sunbathing is tough work y'all

I'll take cuddles anytime:anywhere:anyway

This chick will too!

All signs were pointing towards a major afternoon nap for her but me thinks she heard us girls outside having fun on this thing.....

I felt like I was ten again....

Hal loved her first slip and slide experience....

After much experimentation we concluded that a trash bag was the most slippery way to go down the hill.....

Hal didn't want the fun to end so she tried her very, very best to keep the fun going. Bless her silly little heart.....

Riley watched the girl while Bailey and I went out to dinner and did a little shopping. Much needed quiet sister time together. ;) Don't know what I'd do without my girls.

Dora Who???

Riley must've taken my "we need to be more adventurous" talk to heart. I stated my case late on a Friday evening and the very next day he informed me that we were heading out for a day of adventure. Mocking me? Maybe just a little. Did I care? Heavens no!!!

Now it's no big secret that our little town doesn't offer much in the way of adventure....buuuuuut we did our best. Riley drove straight to a small museum that I'd always known existed but never thought about stopping at. We enjoyed our time there just checking out some good ol' history.....

Cutest banker around

Mail time!

A new meaning of "timeout"

Jailbirds

She wanted to grab the fishies out so bad

A mini version of the museum exterior

She called this her "playhouse"

After doing a horrible job at avoiding the gift shop we left with a sticker book and a pinwheel and made our way to pick up some lunch to take with us to our next stop....Alabaster Caverns. The last time Riley and I had been was back in 2002 for a less than stimulating field trip day for our geography class at OSU (yes, I just publicly admitted to attending that black and orange university. Don't repeat that, please ;)). Hallie snoozed on the way there so we scarfed down our lunch so that we'd be ready to start the tour when we arrived. Hal packed her backpack for this special occasion. She brought a baby bottle and a sticker book. Definite necessities. We only had to wait about ten minutes to start our tour. Fingers were crossed for a happy hike up all of those stairs in the dark.....I just had a good feeling about it. It could've had something to do with her extreme interest in going up and down these stairs at the entrance to the park.....

Our pig-tailed cutie trotted her way down quite a few stairs (with just a bit of help from me) and handed her ticket to the tour guide. She loves tickets. And walking through dark caves it turns out.....

The girl wanted to "splore".....so splore we did!!!!

She wore her backpack the entire forty-five minute journey as she walked/ran/wandered through the inside of the cavern. I would venture to guess that she walked forty of those minutes by herself. We hung out in the back to allow her extra time to get up and down the stairs. She even had a few questions for the guide when we would stop to hear specifics about various parts of the cave. "Der nakes in here?" The girl is just as concerned about those slithery creatures as her momma is. She also chimed in as the guide shined her flashlight on the ceiling to show off the shadow from a rock that appeared to be a creature....Hal shouted "dinosaur!!!" This was of course followed by lots of laughs from the group and a big high-five from mom and dad. She had an absolute blast!

I had to remind her several times to not hang over the bars. Daredevil!

The bats were a neat sight to see all hovered together up high....

Miss Independent decided that she had mastered the cave thing by the time we'd made it to the exit so she took off up the stairs and snaked her way through the crowd and made friends with a woman who helped her up the stairs since we were stuck in the back. No stopping this adventurer!

Of course she wanted to "do it again!!" as we made our way back to the parking lot. She's still got a lot more "sploring" to do....

This silly guy does too!!

No doubt we will be returning soon for another day of adventure. Is there anything more joyful than seeing your child try or see something new? Nope. No way.