"The Apple of my Eye"

The weekends are no longer a time of rest for us (for Scott, they never were, unfortunately.) But, now our weekends are mostly jam packed with gatherings, school events, parties, etc. It's fun and wonderful that we can celebrate and see people, but whew, I think we need to take a breath every once in a while!

Last weekend, my parents and our little family visited our very good friends' new (to them) apple orchard. Fireside Orchard & Gardens in Northfield, MN, is beautiful, and the apples are fantastic! Plus, we got a great behind-the-scenes tour of how the orchard operates. It was so nice of Darren to take some time away from a very busy Sunday to show us around.

I can't wait to make this an annual tradition! 

The flower gardens are beautiful!

Look at the little froggy who was napping in this rose!

And there's a lovely pond stocked with koi

The rest of the week is a blur. School, work, birthday parties, swimming lessons, high school parent orientation, football games, marching band rehearsals, etc. I'm wondering how we're going to squeeze in taekwondo for both kids once that starts up again in a few weeks. Yikes!

Pria is going to be very sad once winter comes and she can't enjoy the sun like this every day...

Ready for the pink out game! (RHS has a "tackle cancer" football game every year and all of the kids and band members wear pink. It's a neat to see!)

Plus, RHS WON against #1 Eden Prairie, so excitement was high!

This weekend (okay, mostly Saturday) is insanely busy. Thankfully, G is spending the weekend with Grandma Deb (he was so excited to go, I barely got a hug goodbye!) so he'll be having a great time with whatever they do!

The RHS Marching Band is hosting its annual festival with 16 bands from the state (and one nearby state). Rosemount will perform as an exhibition (not competing) since they are the hosts. This resulted in an early morning drop off for Ava today...ready to go at 7am! 

I'll be up in the box (I think) managing the video downloads and helping to tally the judges scores. I'm really excited to have such a great seat for this event! (And I'll be really sad if it turns out I'm not up in the box...I guess we'll see.)

In addition to a full day festival (and Scott working), it's also our 17th wedding anniversary! I cannot believe it's been 17 years already. I mean, seriously, where has the time gone?? Last night while Ava was at rehearsal, we spent a few leisurely hours at the local Legion...we had dinner, a few drinks, and played some pull-tabs. It was a very low-key way to spend the night, and honestly, it's all we had energy for.

Happy Anniversary to us! 💕

Tonight we're going to a different restaurant in the Omni hotel by the new Vikings facility. I've only been to the restaurant once before, and thought it would be nice to try something new. And then tomorrow, we have nothing on the books and I am so excited. I need some downtime where there aren't a million commitments and things to do (ok, there are always things to do.) I know Ava's looking forward to holing up in her room so she can avoid being around people, and Scott loves having his Sundays at home. And at some point, we'll get our little guy back, too, so we can give him lots of hugs and cuddles!