Father’s Day 2016

In true Super Dad fashion, Jake kicked off Father’s Day weekend with a Daddy/Twin pizza date night while I was at a mom’s night out self defense class!

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Mom power! Our instructor was the twins’ friend, Parker’s, tae kwon do teacher and he was not only motivating, but gave us a great workout. I was late and only got there for the last half of the class, but am still sore from all the kickboxing.

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We visited the “Sprayground” in Laguna Niguel to cool off from the scorching heat this weekend.

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Love you, sis.

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We only stayed a short time because it was just too hot for Meredith.

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I booked a much-deserved massage for Jake for the afternoon and then it was back in the water to cool off, this time at Great Grandpa’s pool.

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Great Grandpa enjoyed a little brag book we made him with pictures of Meredith.

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Meredith dipped her toes in the pool for the first time and loved it, until the twins started splashing her, at which point I whisked her away to safety.

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Cowabunga! Belly flops never seem to faze Samantha.

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Meredith desperately wanted back in the pool.

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A rare cranky moment saying bye to Great Grandpa.

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Thanks to the infamous SUV pool crash, our neighborhood pool is still out of commission. Our community pool up the street has been closed since October for renovations, but just barely opened again this weekend, thankfully.

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Super Dad. IMG_3263 IMG_3260

Amelia found some kind of beetle swimming with her. While all the other kids were screaming, she just picked it up and brought it to me.

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Meredith loves to watch the girls swim, but sure wishes she could join in. Maybe in a few months!

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We barbecued ribs and after church, we called Super Grandpa and Super Great Grandpa to wish them a happy day. The girls helped wrap some gifts we bought Jake, as well as the gifts they made.

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It’s already pretty obvious that Meredith loves her Daddy more than me. Her face lights up and she starts giggling uncontrollably whenever he comes into the room. How did we get three hopelessly smitten daddy’s girls?

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Lots of fun and messes were involved in the making of these projects this week.

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Jake’s favorite gift was Amelia and Samantha’s candid responses to a Daddy Questionnaire. My favorite response was Amelia saying that Daddy’s favorite thing to do was to “get a new ring for Mommy.” ??? Honestly have no idea where that came from, unless Jake has a surprise in store for me… ha! Their responses were interesting glances into their little heads. You can tell from sweet Amelia’s responses that she’s always thinking of others (sometimes when Jake takes her on errands for a little date, they bring back drinks or snacks for the rest of us, per Amelia’s request).

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I also like that many of Samantha’s responses had something to do with her.

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Jake truly is our Super Dad hero and we don’t know what we would do without him! Hard to believe that last Father’s Day, it was just us four (although technically, Meredith was there too, since I had just found out I was pregnant with her that holiday).

2015:

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2014:

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2013:

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Daddy’s girls, through and through.

Lots of love,

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More Father’s Day Fun

I’m attempting to keep everything up to date, but our summer schedule has been so crazy that I fear it will be the end of summer before I finally catch up on everything!

After our mid-week excursion to San Diego, we stayed local for actual Father’s Day weekend.

We met up with the Wrights at Salt Creek for a picnic on the grass overlooking the ocean and some beach fun with the four girlies. IMG_3415 (1)

IMG_151199% of the time, Samantha won’t sit still, but for whatever reason, being buried in the sand has a calming effect on her!IMG_1515IMG_1525IMG_1526IMG_1509If I don’t watch her carefully, Amelia will put the seaweed in her mouth! Eek!IMG_1504We also wished Great Grandpa a Happy Father’s Day and visited him at his place to take a dive in the pool. Love Samantha’s frantic attempt to escape here. IMG_1537In between swimming, the girls Skyped briefly with Grandpa back in Utah to wish him a Happy Father’s Day too. IMG_1535 IMG_1534IMG_1555Poor Jake– it was not an incredibly relaxing Father’s Day weekend for him, but he took it all in stride. That’s what makes him such an amazing Dad!

Happy Father’s Day 2015!

Lots of love,

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Father’s Day on the Midway

When I asked Jake what he’d like to do for Father’s Day, he replied, without missing a beat,

“I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to tour the USS Midway!”  (An aircraft carrier/museum in San Diego).

 

Me: “Let me rephrase that. What would you like to do for Father’s Day that I would also like to do?”

 

Definitely not my first choice of activities, but I ended up giving in and we headed down to San Diego during the week right before Father’s Day weekend.

On the drive down, we kept promising the girls we were going on a big boat… they were pretty confused/irritated when we got there.

YOU PROMISED US A BOAT!

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Once S and A spotted all the planes, they temporarily forgot about the fact that they weren’t on a moving boat. IMG_1307

First day of fighter pilot training. IMG_1310

Step one: learn how to eject the passenger. IMG_1312

All those buttons– a toddler’s dream!IMG_1315

Um….I’m a little busy with flight training right now. IMG_1324

Do they make booster seats for these things? IMG_1329

Whoa… never attempted a barrel roll before… that was crazy!IMG_1335

Just call me Maverick.

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Feeling proud!IMG_1350

I don’t even remember the days when I could still hold both of the girls at the same time.  IMG_1355

Where can I get those glasses? IMG_1360

Making friends with the other recruits. IMG_1362

We need camo in our wardrobe!IMG_1363

Just playing with some missiles; nothing to see here. IMG_1364 IMG_1367 IMG_1373

About an hour into our tour, the girls started getting antsy, so we took a quick lunch break. With full bellies, the girls were good for another hour– especially after hitting up the souvenir shop. We told them they could each choose one item and I totally thought they were going to go for the pricey stuffed bears in aviator glasses and bomber jackets. They chose some cheap red, white and blue bracelets instead. A win-win. IMG_1380

S and A’s favorite part of the day was going inside the big helicopters, mostly because they love to run up and down ramps, in general. IMG_1383 IMG_1384

Just got back from a routine mission rescuing marines from insurgents in Afghanistan. No biggie. IMG_1385

The carrier was huge and we didn’t even get to half of it before the girls went into meltdown mode and we headed to our hotel for nap time. It was a good first tour though… maybe Jake can take the girls on a daddy-daughter date there again when they are a bit older. IMG_1390

A successful first day of fighter pilot training!IMG_1396

Now the real fun can begin!IMG_1403

Let Operation Tire Twins Out Before Bedtime begin. IMG_1406 IMG_1409

The girls obviously had zero fun in the pool. IMG_1412 IMG_1414IMG_1419

Amelia begged to stay at the pool all night! IMG_1439

We took a little break from the pool to eat dinner with Cousin Ben, who was on summer break from his first year of law school and was clerking for a judge nearby. It was fun to see Ben– even if not all of us look happy in the picture (AHEM, Samantha)!IMG_1453

After dinner it was back to the pool. IMG_8048

In a final desperate attempt to tire the girls out, we walked to Seaport Village and let the girls window shop to their heart’s content before they conked out in the stroller on the way back to the hotel. IMG_8056It was a quick Father’s Day staycation, but we made the day count!

Lots of love,

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