"I love you Daddy"

Happy Father's Day!!!

This Father's Day in our home we are thankful for a wonderful man who loves us conditionally and who works incredibly hard to provide for our family. He is always there to help someone in need and has the biggest heart of anyone I know. 

Hensley adores in him so much and looks up to him as much as any little boy could to his Dad. He wakes us every morning and asks if it's a day that Daddy has to go to work. The days he is off he spends wrestling with Hensley or playing video games. They go fishing and play pool together. I would say in our home we have a pretty good balance of "mom play time" and "dad play time". Hensley is perfectly content to play a board game with me or help me with chores but when Daddy is home he is all about playing basketball or having a Nerf gun fight!

We spent the day waking up to gifts :) We got Andy a ticket to Beerfest with his good friend Chad for Father's Day so all the other gifts were handmade :)

We made him a shadow box to put his beer tops in. I seen the idea online and once it starts to get filled up with different colored ones it looks really cool! Hensley loved doing the super hero hand print hanging and the "king of the grill" platter :) He got a really awesome card with a real koozie that acutally whistles "Don't worry, Be happy." He loved it :)

We went to church with my family and Grandpa a little early for breakfast and a great service :)

We were going to go to lunch with our friends afterwards but on a whim we all decided to pack up the kids and head to the pool! The guys work so much that they never get a chance to go so it was the perfect Sunday to hit the water slide.

 And it was totally worth skipping lunch! The guys had a great time, more fun then the kids I think. It was very relaxing and a day we will never forget for sure. It was nice just enjoying our little family and our friends.

We grabbed some Brixx Pizza on the way home and cuddled on the couch for the rest of the evening.

We did a lot of fun things for the special day but with all the "things" nothing means more then the people we spent it with and the memories we have them. I am so thankful to have such special in my life who love me and who love Hensley. I know it was hard for Andy who is missing his Dad this year but we know he is watching over us always. It's also hard for me because we love my Grandpa and spent time with him at church but I failed to take any pictures and I always wonder in the back of my mind and hope it's not our last Father's day with him. We love him so much!

Happy father's day!! You didn't have to take the role in my life that you did but you chose to and I am forever grateful to you for that. You always love me, encourage me, and are there for me any time i need you. You are not only a great dad to me but also Andy. And you are an even better pawpaw! Hensley loves you so much. He misses you badly when are gone. You always make him laugh smile emoticon thank you for loving us! We love you so much!!!!!!!!

Happy father's day andy. We love you to the moon and back. Hensley adores you. You are his hero. I love how close you are to him and I love seeing his face light up when you come home every evening from work. I couldn't ask for a better father for my son. We love you smile emoticon

Beach Bound 2015 (Memorial Day Weekend) Part 2

Part 2 of our beach vacation coming up :)  We had two days left and a lot of fun to squeeze in! 

The guy who owns the hotel we stay at while at the beach is really really awesome and over the past few years we have really got to know him! He recommended that we visit the new exhibit at the aquarium at Fort Fisher. We had been to the aquarium the past few years and felt we had really seen all it had to offer. But since there was a new exhibit we decided to go and just see that since it was a separate set and cost from the main attractions. 

The Fort Fisher aquarium is really cool and we have loved visiting it. It has so many animals and hands on learning activities for the kids. The new attraction was the Lorikeets. They were super cute birds who were suppose to be very friendly. 

This little bird was so sweet until.......

 He wasn't!!! I was scared if you can't tell!

After the exhibit we soaked up the sun and lots of family time ;) There is nothing better then an afternoon by the ocean and the pool :)

We wrapped up our last night with some dinner, ice cream and a walk on the beach :) 

Our view from the beach access!

We always try to get a family picture on the beach and I love this one from this year :)

It was our last day here and we will miss it so much since we probably will not be able to come back this summer due to Hensley's school schedule changing this year. Maybe we can get here in late September. Who knows? But we will miss it none the less!  

The next morning we hit the road and took our annual "time to head home" photo.

But....wait...there's more! One little pit stop on the way home!

 With this beauty right on our way home AND it being Memorial Day....we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit!

There is so much history here and we really learned a lot. It was amazing to see all the artifacts they had and not only learn about the ship itself but also all the men who resided and worked there.

It was really breath taking. We could not have picked a better day to be there. The pictures do not do it justice. You really have to be standing on that ramp to see how massive it is. 

The boys loved all the guns and canons found around the ship.

 We spent a lot of time down in the boat. It was really amazing just how large it was inside. There were endless rooms and hallways and it was very easy to get lost. It really had everything one could need all on the ship.

One of the objectives to complete while on the ship was to find the wishing well. Hensley was very excited to see if we could find it and was looking around every corner for it.
Just when we knew we were coming near the end of the tour, there it was!!! It was very exciting for Hensley and it was fun to toss a few quarters down a really really really deep hole and make a few wishes :)

The inside of the ship had so many small spaces. It was crazy to see how Hensley fit through the doors perfectly and in the beds while thinking that grown men had to become accustom to these small spaces for months and months at a time.  

It was a perfect way to spend Memorial day and a great way to end our beach trip this year. Yet another adventure marked off our list!

We had an amazing trip :) We made a ton of memories and we are looking forward to our Fall vacation coming up in a few months :) Stay tuned :)