Summer Part 2

Moving took most of our time and attention at the beginning of summer, but we're mostly unpacked and we've managed to have quite a bit of fun in between the chaos.

We've enjoyed several trips to the zoo and especially love seeing the kangaroos and wallabies that are visiting for the summer.

Addy started wearing undies and is so proud of herself! (The second photo shows Dax guarding the bathroom door for her one of her first times, ha!)

We enjoyed a low-key 4th of July with Apple Valley's carnival, the Eagan parade, a party at Gma Amy's, movie night, and watching fireworks from the back yard.

Dax and Addy enjoyed creating with Legos during a library event.

We celebrated Great Grandpa Harry's 85th birthday.

We've enjoyed several play dates at home.

And just continued to settle in, relax, and play in our new indoor and outdoor spaces.

Life is so good!

Home

We're home! Really HOME! Leading up to the move, Dax was not excited to leave our old house and he was pretty vocal about it. Thankfully, he's changed his tune and we are all loving life in our new space.

The morning of our closing we had our final walk through at the new home. All went smoothly and we took the opportunity to snap a photo with our amazing realtor, Patti. She was such a blessing during the home selling and buying process. Thanks Patti!!

We also felt blessed to be working with an incredibly kind sales agent who left us a welcome basket and a thorough builder, Lennar, who surprised us with special touches for moving in.

One of the perks of this new home is having a play room separate from our main living space. Toys are already creeping out into the rest of the house, but we all LOVE having a space dedicated to play. It is pure joy and Dax and Adelaide have taken full advantage from the first moments moving in.

Day 1 - the kids were delighted to reacquaint themselves with toys that had been stored for weeks (or months for some!)

As a bonus, our house has an unfinished basement, that is basically a gym for the kids at this point. It has been such a great space to use on days where the weather is not ideal for outside play!

Dax and Addy quickly claimed their bedrooms during our first walk through while the home was being built and that excitement transferred easily to comfort as we personalized their spaces. Addy was especially happy to move to a big girl bed and has done so well in that transition!

We have also been enjoying the park in our backyard and sidewalks on all of the streets for easy family walks and bike rides. We don't have grass yet, but Dax and Addy don't mind playing in the dirt and we have enjoyed starting to make it our own with a tree in the backyard and a little bit of landscaping in preparation for sod.

Plus, the kids are enthralled with the construction that has continued in the neighborhood. There aren't a lot of homes left to complete and we will probably only experience this environment through the fall, but it's been a constant source of entertainment since moving in.

Every day we're closer to being completely unpacked and every moment of our new house confirms it was meant to be our space. Thank you, God, for leading us to this beautiful house where we will play, learn, laugh, cry, grow, and live life together.

"Vacation"

In the process of moving, we ended up with 9 days between houses. We were blessed to have several people offer their homes to us (HUGE thank you to those who were willing!) and ended up deciding to move in to my parents house. The kids were already used to it from Grandma daycare on Wednesdays and the space best fit our needs for short-term housing. We basically packed for vacation and spent the week living out of suitcases and trying to keep life both as normal and enjoyable as possible for everyone involved.

Here are a few highlights from our forced "vacation"...

Dax and Addy loved their new "bedrooms" - they technically shared a room, but had their beds on the floor in big boxes that they were able to decorate. They were totally in their element and it was sweet to see them interacting with each other at bedtime.

We spent lots of time playing outside and walking to a nearby playground.

Dax, Addy, and I went to Richardson Nature Center.

We took advantage of Bloomington living and had breakfast from Denny's 5th Avenue Bakery.

We spent most of our mornings at Dax's tennis camp. Thanks Coach Lori for an awesome week!

The library hosted an astronaut training event so we checked it out and had a blast!

And we acted like tourists (even though we were in Bloomington, which is basically home) and visited the clock tower - the kids have quickly become obsessed and excitedly point it out every time we drive past - and the airport viewing areas.

The time went by surprisingly fast and we all enjoyed our time between homes.