Fathers' Day

Is today! And it's been pretty good. A long lie which was very much appreciated, followed by cards and hugs from all my favourite girls.

Card from all on the left, and home-made by Miriam on the right

Naomi's on the left (that's a picture of her), and another from Miriam on the right

Naomi wrote this, it's "God loves you" - and my daughters have helped me know this so much more than I did before.

That's me on the left and Miriam on the right (Miriam's people all have that fancy hair just now)

Miriam's other card. I think one of the figures is Jay.

Naomi wrote this on everyone's behalf. 

Naomi drew me a milkshake. This was an excellent supplement to the large chocolate I was also provided with today.

Lydia did her bit too!

Miriam drew this...

... and this - obviously that's a flag on the right. The bit on the left is a dress with a heart at the top.

Miriam also drew me some faces.

Naomi drew me the whole family!

One of the best parts of the day was that Naomi told me she didn't mind what we did as long as we could spend time together. This is pretty much my thinking on family time too! So while Jay went for a reciprocal nap this afternoon, I had a couple of hours uninterrupted play with Naomi and Miriam. For the most, part we made things with the play snow, and it was really good fun. After that, Lydia got up from her nap and we played "hiding under a blanket" for a bit - then it was a mixture of TV, reading stories, play kitchen and other such things.

It's a real privilege to be father to these three girls. I love them!

Racing!

I have not blogged for ages, an in a departure from the norm thought I'd do a post about myself!

I am still running and still loving it. I've always wanted to race but really struggled to find one that fits into life (isn't too far away/too late/means missing church on a Sunday) but recently someone introduced me to a website that features a fair few wee club races that are more likely to be on a Saturday than the "big" races.  This meant that I fairly easily found a 10K (6.2 miles for those who prefer it in old money) race not *too* far from home, in Haddington :-) (East Lothian).

My wonderful friend gave me a lift (in their Jag, don't you know ;-) ) and made sure to be at the finish line round about when I expected to finish. Thanks Helen, you made a really fun day even more fun and it was lovely to have a friendly face to search for at the finish line.

I had gone to the race really hoping to finish in under an hour, perhaps I wanted it more than  I realised as I was a little disappointed with my time of 1 hour 1 minute and 0 seconds but as I reflect I realise I still beat my previous personal best and it was a *scorcher* of a day, far too hot to go and run!  I am really pleased with my run (now) and look forward to doing another, after all, I need to run one in under an hour!

Here's some pictures that Helen took on the day

Trying not to look too nervous

Girl's day out!

Trying to get to the finish line!

Well deserved medal and drink!

Did I mention that I won a medal?

Helen surprised me at the end with a wee bottle of champagne, much appreciated.

Eek, that was me!

Helen's husband even bought me flowers to congratulate me on my first race... 

Finally, there was a photographer taking official photos, this was mine. I LOVE it. There is nothing about it I don't love. I think I am going to buy the version without his email address. What a brilliant memento of a brilliant day :-)