Happy Father's Day Anthony!!

Our Little Family! :o)

Mikaelyn and her Daddy...she's SO lucky!

It was free hat day at the track! We sported them for a few minutes

Mikaelyn posing with the horses in the background

Anthony & I on Father's Day

For Father's day, I surprised Mikaelyn and Anthony and took them to Emerald Downs (horse racing track). None of us had ever been there and I had heard great things about it, so I figured it would be something fun and different for us to do. I reserved a box for us that was undercover which ended up being PERFECT! We were right in front of the finish line and ended up being in the "VIP" section with a local News anchor just in front of us as well as a few retired jockey's that now own some of the horses as well as a trainer for some other horses.

We decided when we got there that we would bet on a few of the horses...just small $5 bets here and there...and we actually did really well...until the 6th race! :o) Oh well it was fun and each of us got to pick "our horse" for each race, which made it all VERY exciting! I ended up picking the best horses over all, which made me very proud! Ha!

But there was a sad note...at the end of the 3rd race, as we were all discussing which of our horses won or not, Horse #2 (Mikaelyn's pick) had a heart attack just past the finish line and ended up dying on the track. We saw that the horse was down and because they don't want o bring a lot of attention to it, they didn't announce anything or let us know what was going on. There was a man sitting next to us that not only was very knowledgeable, but also had binoculars kind of kept us in the loop. Watching the jockey jump away from the horse and frantically work to get the saddle off was terribly sad...within seconds really, they took the bridle off, meaning the horse was gone. Once the poor thing was on the ground, it did not move, so I suppose a good thing is that it didn't suffer. This was it's first race ever and apparently, at times these horses just get so amped up, they just have a heart attack or possibly an aneurysm and that's it.

As I stated, it was the horse that Mikaelyn had chosen to win, so she was VERY upset that it was sick. She cried and we tried to console her, but it was very difficult for her. What I am very proud of though is that the first thing that came out of her mouth after she realized that the horse was very sick was, "I'm going to pray for it and ask Jesus to take care of it". She still prays for that horse every day, but feels happy that it is with Jesus now and it doesn't have to be sick anymore. It's amazing how a 4 3/4 year old little girl can teach me so much about things like this. It's so simple and yet so true. Jesus will take care of that horse in heaven, as well as us on earth. He is all powerful and I'm just thankful that I have been saved and know the truth!!

All in all, the day was wonderful and after a wonderful dinner at our favorite place, Cafe Veloce, we were all ready for bed and thankful for a wonderful day together!!

Mikaelyn and I are SO thankful for Anthony and the way he cares for us and takes care of us. Happy Father's Day to him!!!