How We Spent Our First Official Father's Day

What a weekend!!

This past weekend we celebrated our first official Father’s Day as dads after adopting our kids last August. Okay I will admit, it feels weird to type “last August” because it feels like it’s been official for forever now. At the same time, it’s hard to believe it’s about to be a year (and also, it hasn’t even been a year yet?!). Crazy how time works, or doesn’t work depending on how you look at it. The entire thing just hurt my brain, so let’s move on.

My mom wanted to do something special for our first Father’s Day as dads, so she planned a celebration at my brother’s for us. He and his wife have a really fun house on the river with a boat and a big yard for the kids to run around in, and every time we all get together there it feels so good, like home. My brother was excited to host us for the day and was getting all into it like my mom, calling me and my mom back and forth to discuss what we’d be eating, what time we should get there, etc. How sweet is that?

The kids were so excited to go to Uncle Taylor’s. Meanwhile, I was excited to not have to cook or clean for the day. I was also excited because this was the first time in a while that we would all be together with our significant others in one place (minus my older sister Amy and her husband, who we greatly missed!!). It’s fun to hang out with your siblings and their loves as adults. I can’t explain it very well, I only know how I feel when it happens, and it’s a good feeling.

We were all in the kitchen making burger patties and brats and ribs while sipping on seltzers and cocktails. The sun was shining all day but it wasn’t as hot as it’s been thanks to a storm that passed through the day before. We stayed out on the boat the entire day and the kids had a blast. We stopped by an island and got out to relax in the water and let the kids (and PJ) jump off a tightrope into the water. Allan must’ve jumped off that thing 30 times.

We took a break to come in and eat lunch, then picked up Sydney’s girlfriend Elana and went back out on the boat to tube. This was our kids’ first time tubing and they loved it as much as we thought they would. Allan was laughing so hard he started crying. Riah was playing it cool and just laughing and smiling the entire time. Anna, on the other hand, started off rough.

It was our fault, though. As soon as we were about to pull off, we forgot to lean back so that the front of the tube didn’t nosedive, but it was too late and we went straight into the water head first. As soon as we went under, PJ grabbed Anna’s life vest and pulled her up, so she was only in the water for one second, but it terrified her, rightfully so. Poor thing. She ended up riding the tube the entire time, though! We were so proud of her. When we asked if she had fun and wanted to do it again, she quickly gave a sharp “No”. Understood. That was that.

We received a few lovely mugs that had various versions of the word “dad” written on them from the kids (AKA my mom) and the sweetest cards. They all made it such a special day for us. I don’t know what I would do without family close by (a huge reason we choose to live here).

So there you have it! That was how we spent our first Father’s Day as dads. Like, legally dads. We’ve felt (and have been) dads for three years now, and I know I speak for both of us when I say we look forward to being fathers to our precious babies for the rest of our lives.