Father's Day!

My girls are truly SO lucky to have such an amazing father. It's impossible to describe the love that John has for his girls ~ it runs so deep and I know he would do absolutely anything for them. I am so happy to have married John and have children with the worlds greatest father!

This year, I knew I wanted to get John a new pair of running shoes, since he's been exercising in the pair I got him for Father's Day 3 years ago and they seem shot! I wanted to surprise him, but I also wanted to spend some time with Reagan. So after yesterday's playdate at Jen's, I took Avery home for her nap and took Reagan with me to the mall. I told John I needed to get to Sephora because I was out of my all time FAVORITE product, my dry shampoo ... this was all true. For those of you who've never tried this product, order some today! I use this every other day so that I don't have to wash my hair each day. Unless you have really dark hair, I promise you'll be happy with the results! ... I seem to have gotten off track here, since this was supposed to be a post about Father's Day and I'm now talking about women's hair care products. SORRY JOHN!!

Anyway, I wanted to get John these cool sneakers by Nike and I was trying to find them at one of the stores also at Garden State Plaza, since I was already there. As I was going from store to store, I was also looking for a bathing suit for Reagan, since I hadn't gotten her one yet. Reagan was a trooper and followed me from store to store as we power shopped! When we came out of Lord & Taylor, we saw some people waiting in line (a pretty short line, actually) to get someones autograph ... when I looked down, I realized it was Justin Guarini. I took this picture with my iPhone and emailed it to John, asking if he wanted me to get him an autograph for Father's Day, since he's such a HUGE Justine Guarini fan!


Of course, I'm totally kidding about that, since John and I are always making fun of this guy and his bizarre career of milking the American Idol gravy train. I mean, it's not like he has a successful music career, right? He's certainly no Clay Aiken!

Once again, I've gotten off-track, at an attempt to be humorous. Sorry honey. I'll leave the comedy up to my better half!

The point of this very long rant is this: I spent the entire afternoon with Reagan shopping, the entire time telling her that we were getting Papa a pair of shoes for Father's Day and that she needed to keep it a surprise until the next day. The entire way home from the 2nd Sports Authority (where we finally found the desired style in his size), I argued with her about when we were going to give him the gift. She wanted to give him the shoes as soon as we got home, but I kept telling her it wasn't Father's Day yet and we had to wait until tomorrow. She was very unhappy about this but I finally got her to agree to the arrangement. She promised she wouldn't say anything about the shoes. It was going to be a surprise and she could give them to him first thing the next morning.

I pulled into the garage and even had Reagan help me get the shopping bags in order before we went inside: I put the shoes in the trunk of the car to "hide" them and we brought everything else inside.

To Reagan's credit, she did last about 60 seconds, but then the anticipation was just too great and the words came bursting out of her mouth, "Papa, we got you some new sneakers for Father's Day!!!"

John was watching TV and tried not to pay any attention to her and I used the opportunity to distract Reagan with our other purchases ... I got out her new bathing suit and told her to show John, then I even got out the dry shampoo. But Reagan was on a mission. She had to make sure John knew about his gift. Pretty soon, I gave in too, realizing it was a loosing battle and there was no way to keep the secret. John and I burst out laughing as we listened to Reagan's enthusiasm ... after she revealed the secret about 3 times, it occurred to her it was supposed to be a secret so she told John again by whispering into his ear. To be quite honest, I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard! Reagan was so excited about the gift that she was bouncing off the walls, talking about the shoes nonstop! John and I couldn't stop laughing at her and it will definitely go down as one of the funniest Mendez family moments. My words can't do it justice, so I'll stop trying to describe it now.

Anyway, I got the shoes out of the trunk and let Reagan give them to him, despite the fact that it wasn't quite Father's Day yet. Reagan certainly learned the joy of GIVING, which made me very happy.
We let John sleep in this morning, then I made a big breakfast for everyone. I suggested that we do something fun together as a family, so we all went to see the movie "Up" in the theater after Avery's nap. This was Reagan's 3rd movie and Avery's 1st. Reagan did VERY well (of course, since she's 3 1/2 and loves movies!), and I must say that Avery did quite well for a 20 month old. She got pretty antsy at the end, but that was to be expected. When the movie ended and we walked out of the theater, Reagan started crying. She kept saying, "I don't want to leave!! I want to see another movie!!" It was kind of cute at first because she'd had such a great time and we were happy we'd taken her. But the crying continued for most of the ride home and by then, it just wasn't cute anymore. Despite the crying, John said he had a wonderful Father's Day and he thought the movie idea would be a fun tradition to continue in years to come. While we were at the movie, I had ribs slow cooking in the oven, so I think the day was an overall success! I love you honey!!

Of course, I can't post about Father's Day and not give a little "shout out" to my own dad ... I was a pretty lousy daughter this year, and only sent him a measly card (I know, I suck!). I love my dad so much and appreciate all the things he does for me. He's an excellent father to me, father-in-law to John and Grandpa to my girls. Thank you, Dad, for being my wonderful father!! I love and miss you!!!