Warning: Teenager Ahead

We have a teenager in the house! Does that mean we're going to have snarkiness and eye rolls galore? So far, no. Granted, it's only been a very short time, but we're off to a good start. :) Scott and I are so proud of who she is, and how she is carrying herself in this world. We cannot wait to see what she accomplishes in this new year. Happy 13th Birthday, sweet Ava!

Early morning snuggles with my new teen! I love that Butterfly is in this pic...her faithful sidekick for at least a decade!

I took Friday off to spend the day with the kiddos, and had Ava make a lot of the decisions about what we were going to do to celebrate her birthday. We made a trip to Caribou for a late breakfast, hit up Cub to pick up her cake, and then G and I went to the pool while Ava took it easy at the house.

Now that she's 13, she's venturing into social media. Gotta take pics of food!

Drying off after the pool

We're going to head down for the weekend to our dear friends' house in the middle of Minnesota. This will be the first time we've seen them in almost a year, so we are SO looking forward to hanging out with them and catching up on everything! Their oldest daughter, Isabel, and Ava have known each other since birth, so spending time with Isabel is how Ava wanted to celebrate her special weekend. I love it!

(Disclaimer: I'm writing this post on Friday, before we head down there, so more to come next week on all of our adventures while there!)

In other news, on Thursday, both Ava and G earned their 2nd stripe in Taekwondo. Great job, kiddos!

This doesn't happen often, but when they snuggle together during a movie, I have to capture it!

I'm sure there will be much more to write about next weekend, so until then, enjoy the official start of summer. And Father's Day! Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads...I'm so lucky to be blessed with the best of the best in that department! I love you, Dad!

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Exploring Local Places

Last Sunday was the perfect day to explore an area that neither Arya nor I had been to before. We headed east to walk around the Vermillion Falls/River and Greenway area. The path was nicely paved, with lots of overhead shade from trees; there were so many families out on bikes and walking, and we had a nice view of the Vermillion River. Arya got some great pics, and I enjoyed spending time outdoors with my sweet girl. This weekend, G and I will be heading out to explore a creek area in a few towns just south of us. And I've already got an idea for another creek I want to walk by next month (it's a bit further away, and I'd rather put that aside until Arya is off at college) The tree leans to find the sun On the way home, we stopped at the DQ in another town (we have a love/hate relationship with the DQ in our town, so I wanted to avoid it.) The warm weather felt great, and we enjoyed some sweet treats while watching the world drive by. We're counting down the days unti...

What a Week

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, so we've been able to extend our outdoor projects just a bit. This past week Scott's been working in the garden, cleaning everything out, and repairing the back wall of our garage. Ava was such a good little helper, scooping up dirt, but still trying to keep her hands clean while doing it! I swear, a box is all she needs to make her happy. Princess Darla. Princess Darla has had enough. I personally like how she and Ava have the same expressions in this picture. Apparently Spanky was bored - check out that yawn in the background! We went down to Grand Meadow this weekend, and as always, it was so fun to see Ava and Isabel play together. They actually had several little conversations with each other - and they were so polite while doing so! We even had them share a room last night...boy, that was a challenge. I think they finally fell asleep around 10:00pm. And of course, Ava wa...

All Done!

We made it! May was extra busy this year, leading up to Arya's graduation. And now that we are a week out from the chaos, I'm happy to report that we survived and are enjoying a slightly less busy pace in our days and nights. On Friday, May 29, 2026, 601 Rosemount High School seniors graduated, with the ceremony held at the University of St Thomas campus in St Paul, MN. It was a new venue for graduation this year, and it went really well. We were allowed six tickets in total, but were provided with a link for others to stream it on YouTube. We ended up parking at St. Kate's and shuttling over to St Thomas, so the parking situation was easy peasy for us. The ceremony was so well done, focusing on the triple A philosophy: academics, arts, and athletics. We are so proud of Arya, and can't wait to cheer her on in the next phase of her life! We did a pre-graduation photo shoot with a few friends from school Last day of high school! Red Pine is a special school in the distric...

Go, Go, Goers!

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