Father's Day and Houseboat Trip

I  know, I know..... a little late for my Father's Day Post, but things are just so busy.

We started the morning with a few pictures of the girls.  I got these dresses at the Gymboree Outlet for a really good price.  They like to all have the same dress some of the time.

The girls all gave Daddy an airplane so that he could fly it with them in the afternoon.

Daddy wowed them with his flying skills.

Meilynn posing for the picture while she waits for her sisters.  She is usually the last one ready so I think she like that on this day she was first.

Meilynn and Emma in a hug.

Everyone is ready for Church now.  Oldest to youngest.  Lily, Meilynn, and Emma

We went to for a bagel at Panera where we love to order the Cinnamon Crunch Bagel.  After bagels we went to Church and then out to lunch with Grandpa and the whole family.

We are so fortunate to have both Grandpa's alive and well and to have such a wonderful Daddy.  I must say that my girls (and that is all five of them) have been fortunate to have such great men in their lives.  These men have modeled the love of God.  They have shown their love for their families. They are strong in their beliefs, are hard working, have great sense of humors and have been great role models for the kind of husbands that they should look for.  One of our daughter's has already found such a man.  My hope is that all of them are as lucky as I have been.

Mommy giving Lily a happy face for breakfast. (yogurt, with cheerio eyes and peach lips)

Lily giving Mommy a happy face in return.

Drying off after a fun swim day with our friend Zoe and her Mommy

Meilynn getting warm

Emma

Emma on the houseboat at the top of the slide.  Our family rents a houseboat every year on Lake Mead.  This year our houseboat had a slide.  Some of the family stays on the houseboat, some stay in the little motel, and we stayed in our motorhome.  My Mom and Dad go as well as my sister Debbie and her friend Tom, my sister Julie and her two boys, Frank and Nick, my Aunt Claudia and her family Kim, Damon and their two children, and our friends Marty and Debbie and then our family.  This year we had our whole family, Kami, Meghan, Nick, Lily, Meilynn, Emma and Mike and me.  That is 22 people on the houseboat during the day. We always have a great time.

Lily with Frank and Nick.  She loves her cousins.  It amazes us how she just goes along with everything like she has always done it.  She loves each new adventure and is not afraid to try anything.  She was first off the slide and she was doing the knee board and the easy ski like she had always been doing it.  It is over 100 degrees, but Lily has no body fat and she was always cold after getting out of the water.

Meilynn's favorite thing to do is dig in the sand.  She can spend hours doing it.

There was a lot of this going on as well.

Emma playing in the water and building with Nick

Lily enjoyed the sand also

The best part of the trip?  Having ALL of my daughters together.

Emma, Meilynn, Lily, Kami, and Meghan

Emma on the knee board with her sister Kami

Watching their sisters

Emma on the knee board

Lily on the knee board.  It is hard to believe that just 5 short months ago she was living in an orphanage in China

Lily, no hands!

Blowing a kiss!

Her sisters got her to do this

Meilynn showing us how to do it

doing tricks

Emma having fun

A lot of hard work!

Daddy showing us that he still has it.

We always take the boat on a long trip to the next marina and have a popsicle and feed the carp and ducks.

The trick is to finish it before it melts.  This is almost impossible in the heat.

Meilynn was able to do it on this day!

One of the fun things that I did as a kid was to wash our hair in the Lake.  The girls got to do it on the this trip.

Meghan washing Lily's hair

Having a little fun with it!

Meilynn with Kami

Grandpa and Grandma and the girls

Do we really  have to wear these life jackets?

Lily enjoying a s'more

Yum!

Lily snuggling with Grandma

Emma likes a "vanilla s'more".  The girl cannot stand chocolate.

Lily giving Grandpa a hug

Meilynn fixing Nick's hair

We even saw some wildlife

It was a great trip.  I took so many video's of the girls doing all of their water tricks.  Lake Mead is beautiful.  It is sad that the water is getting lower every year and their are fewer places to launch your boat as the water continues to go down.  Going to the Lake and the Colorado river has been a part of my whole life.  I am glad that I have been able to share it with our daughters.