Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day gets more fun every year, as the girls get more impressive at learning to dote on their dad and say sweet things. This morning when Steve awoke he was greeted by the girls shouting "Happy Fadder Day!" They insisted on handing him his morning paper and cappuccino themselves. And when they handed over their gifts, they even helpfully tried to pre-open them for him. What a lot of fun for dear old Dad!

After a wonderfully lazy morning at home, Steve decided we should all go for a walk to the river.

The girls ambled about with Steve, only occasionally glancing back at photographer-Christina. It's wonderful to see how trustingly they hold his hands and follow him through the world.

Another mark of maturity is the fact that the girls would sit and pose when asked, even with the enticing river at their backs, just waiting for rocks to be thrown into it.

They were thrilled to get down to the river, which was running really high after all of our months of rain.

Clara literally tests the waters.

Elena searches out the best rocks to toss.

Soon, the girls both came to depend on Steve for their rocks, as he was an expert rock finder. (Christina figured out his secret - he DIGS them up for them! No wonder he can always find such nice big ones for them!).

Silly girls by the water:

The three amigos, examining the other side of the river bank.

Clara has adopted this as a new pose- she thinks it's awfully cute (and we're biased to say that we do, too).

Sending the Clara off with a good rock for throwing:

Sending Elena off with a GIGANTIC rock!

Finally, Dad teaches them how it's REALLY done!

Then it was off to lunch at the girls' new favorite place - Noodle Express. They love to get a bowl of noodles and some chopsticks, and it's fun for all of us to watch the chopstick antics.

The three girls did a lot of things today to try to show Steve how much they love him - and to thank him for all the love he shows us every day of the year. We are so very lucky to have him, and are lucky for all of the other fathers in our lives, too. Happy Father's Day to each of you!