Dude Time and Daddy-Daughter Date (x2)

This past weekend was a super busy one if you happened to be a dad in the Stephens household.  There's a little thing called "Daddy-Daughter Date" which becomes a bigger deal when there are 3 daughters and one dude who all want some special time carved out - all in the same weekend.  It is an absolute blessing to spend some quality one on one time with each of the kids, and we made the most of this past weekend. 

 

Savannah's Daddy-Daughter Date was supposed to be up first but we squeezed in some Dude Time early on Saturday since the original Dude Time plans were postponed due to the snow storm.  Isaiah wanted to go with me to a Saturday morning work meeting so we loaded up in the jeep and headed out.  Once we got to the school where the meeting was supposed to be we figured out it had been cancelled because of the snow as well. So with extra time to use I asked Isaiah what he wanted to do and he said, "see new things downtown".  We got downtown and he said, "let's go to Indiana - but not too far in Indiana", which means just across the river and not the whole way to Grandma and Grandpa's.  We crossed the rising Ohio River and checked out the Fall of the Ohio State Park.  There wasn't much to see since everything was covered with water from melting snow, plus the wind was cold.  We got back in the jeep and cruised Jeffersonville until we cam across...a candy store! Isaiah's not the sweet tooth of the family but he enjoys watching things get made.  Schimpff's is no Savannah Candy Kitchen but it is a whole lot older and has a more authentic feel to it.



 

 

 

 After watching the making of their famous Red Hots and buying some for the non-dudes we headed back to Kentucky for cheeseburgers and U of L baseball.

After sitting through 9 innings of cold baseball, Sue and the girls came and met us for game two of the double header (a result of the aforementioned snow).  I traded Isaiah off for Savannah and away we went on our Daddy-Daughter Date.

 

I had heard on the radio about a concert coming to Louisville and knew Savannah would love it when I heard the whole concert lineup - especially Jamie Grace.  The one catch with the Rock & Worship Roadshow is that all the seats are general admission and first come first served.  So, knowing the issues others have had getting in to similar shows, we took a picnic dinner with us and got there 3 hours early to wait in line. Thankfully it was sunny and we dressed warm. 

 

Apparently the 3 hours were not necessary but we had a great time learning to play card games and hanging out. Plus, we got great seats.  There was a great lineup with a bunch of great, diverse Christian groups.  Savannah bounced, danced and sang pretty much to every song and it was so fun to see her enjoy it - attempting to take pictures and video of her enjoying it was not appreciated however.  She loved Group 1 Crew cause the were "fun", she squealed when Jaime Grace came on, worshipped with Matt Maher, enjoyed the David Crowder hoedown (this is Kentucky after all as Crowder pointed out), bounced with Tedashii and sang to all of MercyMe's songs.  

 

It was a great night just seeing her joy in singing and worshipping with us.  As Tedashii said, we need to elevate our music choices and ensure what goes in our head and hearts is building us up in the gospel.  I'm thankful there are amazingly talented artists in all genres that our kids can listen to.

 

 

 On Sunday we headed to church and then more baseball.  Meanwhile, Ellie had been asking about her Daddy-Daughter Date every hour on the hour for two days straight.  Note to anyone else with kids out there - take the 2 year old out first.  Anyway, we got through an exciting bottom of the 9th walk-off win for the Cardinals then Ellie and I headed out. 

 

 Ellie's idea of a Daddy-Daughter Date really only includes one thing - ice cream.  But there are only so many places with a full counter display anymore and Ellie likes to pick her ice cream by color. She always picks pink or purple. 

 I asked her what her favorite thing about Daddy-Daughter Date is and she said, "Ice creeeam".  She came back later and said, "and Daddy".  Good safe Ellie.

And after all of that, Isaiah's original Dude Time event was rescheduled. So Isaiah and I had a Dude Time redo at the UofL men's soccer friendly vs. the new Louisville City professional soccer team.

The best thing about hanging out with Isaiah is that he doesn't real care what you are doing, he just likes to spend time together. His goofy, fun side shows up more although he always tries to hide his smile and ends up with the smirk above.

 

It was a great weekend with the little people, no if only Sue and I can find a reliable, free baby sitter to take 4 kids for a few hours...

 

Oh, and Caroline said, "Wait, when's my Daddy-Daughter Date"?