Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Tuesday, July 18th was my daddy's birthday. When Drew and Mikayla woke up Tuesday morning, the first thing they asked to do was call Papa/Poppi and sing Happy Birthday to him! He was out on the golf course and didn't get to his cell in time to answer so we all sang to him on his voice mail.

After leaving Poppi his message Drew, Mikayla, and I got ready and went to Mimi and Poppi's house to swim with Aunt Jennie. Mikayla jumped into the pool for the first time without anyone catching her!! She is not afraid to go under water anymore as she and Jennie held hands and jumped from the side of the pool several times. She still is not jumping off the diving board by herself, but I'm sure it will not be long now! After we had been swimming a little while, daddy called and said he would be home in an hour or so. He wanted to give us time to get ready for dinner so that we could leave as soon as he arrived. Drew, Mikayla, and I came home to get baths while Mimi, Jonathan, and Jennie began getting ready at their house.

The tradition in our family is that the birthday person gets to choose where they want to eat on their birthday. Daddy chose Fire Mountain. Since Craig was still at work (he was very sorry he missed it), I loaded up Drew and Mikayla and we planned to meet everyone at the restaurant. We had a wonderful dinner at Fire Mountain!!

Josh, Mama, Daddy, Drew, Jonathan, Jennie, and Mikayla enjoy their meal at Fire Mountain. Everybody seemed to think that Poppi had made a good choice.
My dad's face as he realized that we had told our waitress that it was his birthday. Several of the wait staff came over to our table clapping as they sang Fire Mountain's version of Happy Birthday! They even brought him a brownie cake complete with ice cream, hot fudge syrup, and whipped cream.

After dinner, we all went back to Mimi and Poppi's house to give Poppi his gifts and more swimming! Josh and I were having a competition to see who could recover the most rings and sinking sticks/discs from the bottom of the pool. Jennie decided to join us so she could be on my team and help! It was the most fun and we even beat him sometimes!! It was also the first time that Jonathan had been in the pool this year, and he couldn't believe all that Drew and Mikayla were doing!!

We had a wonderful day spent with family, and I hope that it was a wonderful birthday for my daddy! He is, and always has been an important part of my life. When I was young, I would get angry with him because I thought he was too strict. Now that I am an adult (with children of my own) I am very thankful for the way that both my dad and mom raised me. I am able to look by now and realize that they weren't strict, they did what they did to keep me (and Jonathan and Jennie) safe and out of trouble. I feel very blessed to have the loving parents that I have, and I hope that Craig and I do just as well in our journey of parenting Drew and Mikayla!!

Happy Birthday daddy, we love you!!!!