Fish Family Files: Weekend Recap: Daddy! Run! Fast!

We've had a busy week thus far which has made the week fly by! We're more than half way to the weekend!

Our weekend fun started bright and early on Saturday morning when we went to cheer on Andy at his half marathon! We wanted to make sure we saw Andy at least a few times throughout the race, so we decided to bring our bikes so we could move a little faster. My dad put the carrier on the back of his bike and we pedaled around trying to hunt him down. Ben (with the help of my mom) made a "GO DADDY GO!" sign and he was quite proud of it. We actually initially forgot it and Ben was almost crying so we had to go back and get it. I did my best to keep track of Andy with an app on my phone, but it was harder to keep up with him than I thought it would be! We had soooo much fun when we did see him though! Benji got big smooches and hugs and he thought he was the coolest kid around. Andy felt pretty special himself and even said he got more energy every time he saw us. Unfortunately, Ben fell asleep before the end of the race. After all, we did have to get up before the crack of dawn, and we actually had to wake Ben up. You know it's early when that happens.

I am really not sure how it happened, but somehow we (on bikes) did not beat Andy (on foot) to the finish line so we didn't get to see him cross at the end. Boo! I was totally bumming about this, but I was still so proud of Andy because he crushed his goals. His first goal was to finish in under 2 hours and his second goal was to finish in 1 hour 50 minutes or less. He finished in 1 hour 46 minutes!!! Even more amazing is that he shaved off 24 minutes from his time last year!! (In his defense, he was running with my "I had a baby 9 months ago and he still doesn't sleep through the night and I'm still pumping all the time so I don't have much time and energy to train" self who requested him to stay nearby.) ;)

Bottom line, we are SO proud of you Andy/Daddy! You trained so hard and it paid off! **Note the sweet helmet head Ben is rocking.**

~~Everyone~~ The boys needed a nap after that busy morning, so I did a little shopping while the boys slept. They had to rest up for Hannah and Emily's 11th and 9th birthday party! He loves these girls SO MUCH. He has been asking to drive Emmy's car nearly daily since he was introduced to it a few weeks ago. I am actually shocked that we were there a good hour before he spotted it and his eyes light up with excitement. I knew there were going to be a bunch of kids there and that he would probably be the youngest, so I was a little worried that the big kids wouldn't want to play with him. I was so wrong. There had to have been at least 15 kids there and each and every one of them was amazingly wonderful with Ben. They were patient, included him, and gave him all sorts of extra attention, which he ate right up. ;)

So while Ben was doing things like this….

Andy and I were doing things like this! I seriously could have fallen asleep on the hammock.

Tears were shed by Ben when it was time to go home, but they quickly stopped after the kids lined up to give him a high-5 on the way out. (Did I mention how sweet these kids were?!) We all slept like rocks after that busy day!

I had to run in to work to see a patient on Sunday morning, so the boys kicked off their father's day by going to breakfast with Andy's parents. It sounds like Ben made friends with everyone at the restaurant and that fun was had by all. No surprise when Ben is involved! The next dad (aka grandpa) we celebrated was mine. We enjoyed a nice brunch before someone spotted that the fire trucks were out at the fire station down the street. We wandered on over and to our surprise were given a nice little tour. Ben is obsessed with driving parked cars, so you can imagine his excitement when he got to "drive" a fire truck!! ("Engine! Drive! Ben! Red! Hat! Fun!") He even got to slide down a real fireman's pole. It was quite the celebration for the child on Father's Day!

And last, but most definitely not least, we celebrated Andy! I try not to brag about him too much, but he is truly an amazing daddy. Andy had minimal experience with kids prior to becoming a dad, but you wouldn't know it because he is an absolute professional dad. He has always done more than his fair share of the parenting duties and I often joke (but mean it) that if one of us had to do it all on our own, Andy would definitely keep it together better than I would. Some of Ben's favorite Daddy-Benji activities include: making pancakes together, throwing the ball HIGH, building houses with those big legos, looking for Ben when he hides, and playing with his hoop. And then graciously obliges when Ben requests to do these things over and over and over again. Oh, and he typically managed to do all of these things while cleaning and cooking yet always giving Ben his attention. (Is that even humanly possible!?) Maybe he's just stalling, but Ben often doesn't want to go to bed unless both Andy and I have snuggled/rocked him for a bit. Ben looks up to his daddy so much and copies his every move. Andy is such a great example of a healthy, fit, fun, active, loving, and happy dad. I think Ben gets most of his sweetness from Andy. ;)

I wish I could say we had a big fancy, well-deserved celebration, but we actually had a quiet relaxing afternoon at home. A little yard work, a LOT of playing, and then we stopped by my mom's for dinner. It was a much needed relaxing, calm day, but I hope he knows how much he is loved and appreciated!