Father's Day Gifts

The boys and I decided to surprise Chris and Guka on Saturday (June 20) morning with their Father's Day gifts. We had very limited time at home, and I really wanted them to be able to get some use out of the gifts before we left for Orlando (which just so happened to be the very next day.) So Saturday morning, after breakfast, Luke helped me hand out the gifts...he even got one...even though he doesn't really meet the criteria of being a gift receiver on Father's Day. =)

First - two pictures from breakfast. This was the first morning Chris was home - and Luke was just beside himself to be right next to daddy...he just kept looking up at Chris and smiling! It was so cute and very touching.



Here are the boys checking out the Father's Day gift...


Fishing poles! One for Guka, Chris and Luke! Now it's off to the river...

Chris and Luke on their way to the bank of the river...

Guka makes the first cast of the day!

I did not participate in the fishing festivities...I just took pictures - but not this picture. Aunt Marge took this picture so I could actaully be in one of them! =)

Happy Fishers!

Will pondering the purpose of fishing...or just thinking about lunch maybe...

Chris helping Luke fish for the first time.

The river...

Even Will got to give it a shot!

Luke helping daddy...

Will getting a bit bored...

Chris and Luke...very focused...

Just fishing...

The view from Will's shoes...

Father and son!

The first catch of the day was on Luke's spiderman fishing pole! Chris had to reel it in...

Here he is! A big catfish!

The fish was able to wiggle out of the hook before Chris could reel him all the way up. But I thought it was a pretty good catch for Luke's first catch ever!

Later Chris caught a carp(?) - here he's showing it to Luke...Luke didn't want to touch it at all...

Will was a bit more interested...but didn't want to touch it either. After a quick glance, the fish went back in the water.

Guka fishing away!

Fun was had by all!

It started raining, so off we went to the house!

Uncle Randy and Julianne came for a visit right after that, so Chris was able to spend a little time with Julianne.

And this was all before lunchtime! =) More pictures to come!

Whirlwind and another Homecoming

Wow. What a whirlwind two weeks! Chris has come and gone and I haven't blogged once! Unfortunately, there has not been a single spare moment over the past two weeks to upload photos - until tonight! =) I promise I won't overload you on photos tonight, but I will get started and try to post somewhat regularly over the next few weeks to get caught back up again. So here's installment 1!

Chris had leave for 2 weeks - so minus travel time we had 12 jam-packed days together. I'll let the pictures tell the story from here:

Chris's flight didn't get in until early evening, so we had all day to wait...


Luke got all spruced up for the big event by getting a haircut...


After naps, Aunt Jamie and Julianne came over and helped the boys make signs:

On the way to the airport! YAY!

More waiting at the airport...

Here's the family waiting...

Julianne next to her sign!

The boys and I waiting...can you tell there is a lot of waiting on days like this!=) The funny thing about this picture is I didn't actually plan for us all to match...it just kinda happened. I had just planned for the boys to match. But I hurriedly got dressed before we left for the airport and didn't even notice until we got there!

Spotting the plane!

He's home!!!

This picture is a bit blurry, but I love it! Luke didn't even hesitate, he ran right into daddy's arms!

Reuniting...

Here I'm telling Will that this is "da-da." It took him awhile to come around, but he got used to Chris being around again eventually.

Greeting Mom:

Uncle Chris meeting Julianne for the first time:

Life is good!

Waiting for the luggage...

Daddy brought gifts!

On our way home...

We went home and enjoyed a relaxed supper with family - which I'm surprised I didn't take any pictures of. It was a nice time to catch up and enjoy being surrounded by family.

At the end of the night, the boys put on their "My daddy is my hero" PJ's, sat with daddy to read books and went to sleep happy to have daddy home for a short time.

More updates/pictures to come!