The Van Zante Family: Father's Day 2013

Here's a peek at our Father's Day this year:

Presenting Daddy with his card (mostly from me) and his gifts (from the kids). The gifts weren't wrapped, so the kids hid them behind their backs until time to surprise Daddy with them.

(By the way, this was early on Sunday morning.... so don't judge us on our attire or hair style! Since we were to get ready for church pretty soon after getting up, the kids just threw on whatever they found and the same with Josh after showering from doing chores.)

Oooooh the anticipation! They couldn't wait to give Daddy his gifts!

First, Sarah Rose....

TA DA! A new back brush! I can't adequately describe just how excited Sarah was to give him her gift! She picked it out at Kmart, held it throughout the whole store as though it was made of gold and kept her secret for three or four WHOLE DAYS!! Father's Day morning couldn't come soon enough!

And from Caleb, a pair of suspenders. Kind of a gag gift, but a fun one!

Giving Daddy the back brush wasn't enough... she had to demonstrate to him how to use it! Just look at her face! You can see how much fun she was having with all this!

Trying on the 'spenders, which was just as much fun for Sarah as trying out the back brush was!

We're a simple family. Doesn't take much to keep us happy, which means the 'spenders and back brush went over quite well. :-)

After gifts and breakfast, we got ready and headed for church. After church, we had planned a Father's Day picnic and trip to see Red Rock Dam in Pella.

Yum! Delicious picnic at Red Rock by the dam.

After eating, we headed up the hill to look into the turbulent waters the dam was letting out.

Two years ago when we last visited here, Caleb was fearless. He tried crawling all over the fence to look into the water without any hesitation. Sarah was too little to really care. This year, however, Caleb was really nervous. He looked a little bit, but then went over to the other side of the walk way to sit on the rocks while Sarah was the interested one. My how times change!

The water coming through the gates is really loud! It always amazes us just how the whole dam process works. I can't recall just how many gallons a minute Red Rock was letting out on this day, but is mind blowing once you hear the numbers just how contolled the dam and at how much the surrounding area is at the mercy of the dam. (Did that last part make sense? I hope you know what I meant!)