Splash Pad

Another check-off for our Summer Bucket List: Splash Pad!!!

We're thankful to have a little splash pad in our local community park - so convenient!   (Once upon a time, we would drive 30-75 minutes for a summer splash pad experience!) 

This park also has a playground, dog park, several miles of walking/running/biking trails, and is next to the high school - our cross country kids run through the park daily (and enjoy cooling off in the splash pad!).   

Niagara Falls

Just 4-hours away, our family thouroughly enjoyed a mini-vacation to NIAGARA FALLS!

Strawberries

Strawberry picking, check! 

 

Our trip to a local u-pick strawberry farm allowed us to check off another item from our 2021 Summer Bucket List.  As the kids have grown, it's gotten harder to plan outings around our many schedules - our time is more limited but do our best to make the most of the time we have.  This outing we missed our oldest kiddos (two slept in and two ran late from xc practice), and it started raining just as we arrived at the farm - fun!  We had a wonderful time in the summer drizzle gathering our flat of delicious strawberries.  The littles were so cute! (And we all enjoyed eating the berries!)

*Our Summer Bucket List helps us to be intentional with our time.  We've already made good progress on our list but still have many more things to look forward to: playing at a splash pad, visiting an ice cream stand, making tie-dye t-shirts, flying kites, cooking s'mores over a campfire, and more! 

Sisters

Alarie and Addison will always have a special bond.  We love seeing these two sweet sisters together!

(And we love that their older sister enjoys styling their hair  - thanks Hiwot!)

First Communion

Dabney and Maclaren celebrated their First Communion at church on the feast of Corpus Christi - the day we celebrate the extraordinary gift of the Eucharist.

St. Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Eucharist as the "source and summit of the Christian life."  It is our source of strength and a real, tangible connection to our Lord. 

 We are thrilled we have two more children that can share in this wonderful gift!

Atlanta

It has been over a year since we've last been to Atlanta to see family - not since our two weeks in Georgia following Alarie's birth.  It had been our hope to visit the girls' mama several times over the year.  Unfortunately, the Covid Pandemic prevented us from visiting during Alarie's first year (not to mention the gas station outages in Atlanta - crazy!).  

We were so very excited and so very thankful to get to visit Atlanta and our girls' family over the Memorial Weekend - this visit was long awaited!  

We are so blessed by this mama, dada, and siblings!

 I traveled with Addison, Alarie, Emory, Hiwot, and Maegli - a girls weekend road trip.  It was certainly a whirlwind weekend!  

11 hours there (broken into two days)

11 hours home (broken into two days)

three nights in hotels (with pools!)

music and snacks and coloring in the car

one carsick girl

Starbucks

a stop at our favorite pizza place in Chattanooga (Crust!)

a stop at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant in Atlanta (Desta!)

two days in Atlanta

two playground romps with family in Atlanta

(including Centennial Olympic park)

bubbles and giggles and hugs

lunch stop with Cincinnati family on our way back home

 

The girls were troopers for this special weekend. 

*A special "Thank You" to Maegli and Hiwot for their help making this weekend a success!  

It is an amazing gift to have this mama and dada in our lives.  They have been such a incredible example of love.  

We are so thankful for them.  

We are so thankful our girls have their first family as a part of their lives - ours too! 

We are so thankful for these special connections. 

 What a gift! 

There can never be too many people loving a child.  We hope our girls always know how loved they are.  We are thankful for the gift of adoption.  We are so thankful for the gift of love.