Navy Lieutenant returns home to surprise his children at a Nationals game

Joey Cooper and his little sister Maddie thought they were contest winners when they got to stand on the field before Tuesday night's Nationals game. What they were actually there for was much more touching. 

Unbeknownst to them, their father, Lt. Lewis Cooper of the U.S. Navy, had just returned from a six-month tour in Afghanistan and was there to greet them.

That moment of recognition, that second where the children didn't quite believe there eyes before they rushed over to embrace their father, was more heartwarming than every holiday movie ever made. As the broadcasters said, there was not a dry eye in the house. 

(additional reporting by Brett Anker / MLB.com Real-Time Correspondent)