#1 Daddy

Hands-on. Active. Engaged. 

Loving. Encouraging. Tender.

Playful. Protective. Steadfast.

These are just a few of the scratch-the-surface words I would use to describe Michael as a dad. He is amazing. 

It's been incredible to watch him learn, grow, and embrace the fatherhood role over the last two years and I see everyday how much Katelyn simply adores him and lights up when they're together. In turn, he has taught me so much about parenting, patience, and living in the present. ♥ 

Father's Day was a great opportunity to celebrate this wonderful man (and our own dads too!)

And is there anything better than special smooches for Daddy on Father's Day? ... I didn't think so ;)

A quick disclaimer: Considering the large watermelon I'm toting around these days, it's really hard to bring myself to haul around an extra few pounds of photography gear as well (camera, lenses, flash, etc.). So lately, all of our pictures have been taken on our i-Phones. Apologies for the not-always-great quality, but the convenience factor is hands-down always great :)

On Saturday, we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul. It was a rainy morning and the museum is featuring a Curious George exhibit this summer so it was a great opportunity to check it out. Katelyn was enamored by the little statue of George himself...

We also checked out the forrest area complete with ant farm tunnels. Michael was a champ and crawled through compact passageways with Katelyn. (I most certainly would've had to be retrieved by the jaws of life in there!) And we admired a turtle, too.

There's one room that always has great hands-on activities for kids. Last time we were there, they were featuring pretend snow (made of some sort of polymer concoction) and this time the theme was outdoors so one area had grass and another had dirt with pretend worms, spiders, and bugs. Katelyn scared us with a worm!

Continuing with the family fun on Sunday, we went to church and then decided to make the trek down to Apple Valley to the Minnesota Zoo. Michael and I had been here before but it was years ago, so it was fun to experience it again with Katelyn. For a Father's Day gift, we purchased the annual family membership, so we will be making more zoo trips in the future. 

Katelyn really wanted to see some elephants, but neither of the zoos in town have them, so we settled for some other, equally impressive, animals including brown bears, tigers, sea otters, monkeys, and penguins. Oh and giant fish, as seen overhead in this picture...

A sweet image of Daddy and Daughter on Father's Day (and they're both in pink. Extra cute :)

We got up-close-and-personal with the sea otters as one swam, flipped, and seemingly flirted right in front of us in the aquarium. They sure are playful little creatures!

It really was a wonderful family weekend with lots of sights to see and plenty of good memories. Happy Father's Day to our most favorite guy! You rock!