Here comes Fall :)

We enjoyed the final few weeks of summer!

At the end of summer Rose gets fresh highlights in her hair and from the evidence below you can see she's pretty happy with how they turned out ;)

Our kitten crew is growing so fast and we love seeing them hang out together

Since we had most of the yard dug up anyway, Rose decided to plant some pumpkins and we got a great crop compared to previous attempts

Speak of yard work, Rose got to drive little bobby the bobcat again as we finished up smoothing out the driveway and yard. 

After several months the firepit area and most of the backyard project is complete!!

Now we get to enjoy it :)

And football season which means marching band in our home, started!! 

Rose is loving playing with the band and we love watching our girl :)

Rose had dental surgery so we can complete the final step for her braces to come off!!

Rose was an amazing patient (it helps to have a nurse mom) and her recovery has been awesome. Rose requested no pictures, but she really didn't have much bruising or swelling. We all took it pretty easy during her recovery. She built some legos, painted pumpkins, and snuggled kittens :)

We took a day trip to Shenandoah National Park! Although this is the national park closest to us, we have never been :( We planned a quick day trip to just get a few things done. Rose doesn't love hiking, but was a good sport about it and chose a trail with a waterfall. She also completed another Jr Ranger book and received her badge. We all had lots of fun and we'll definately be back. 

And since we were kind of close to a Buc-ee's we had to stop there too ;)

We spent our last September Sunday with a short trip up to Norwalk CT. We had briefly passed through when we came back from the Boston Aquarium to stop at a brewery. We discovered they also had an aquarium and the brewery was definitely somewhere we wanted to come again, so we made it back!

We all loved the Maritime Aquarium. Justin and Rose especially loved the seals and I was fascinated with an octopus! Rose touched lots of sea creatures including some jellies and sturgeon. 

We ended the trip with another visit to Spacecat Brewery and all had some yummy beverages and food before heading home. 

August 2026

 Let's jump right into ALL the stuff we did in August...becuase it was A LOT :)

Rose had her first ever band camp because she's now in high school (more on that later)!

We also worked some more on our outside projects, Rose is an expert driver :)

We have this fun little area called the Isle of Rose and Rose planted a bush...because that's what she wanted to do!

And the yearly sunflower picture. Now they have all bloomed and next year we will hopefully have some nice new plants in their place...maybe even a tree :)

We waited all summer, really it was the last week of summer break, to take our family vacation. We originally had some other plans, but decided that going to Disney for a week was an experience we needed to do again :)

We stay at French Quarter and enjoyed beignets every day!!

We booked some fun experience meals and really enjoyed them all!!

We enjoyed trying new foods and beverages throughout the parks, some we liked more than others...but it was all fun :)

We made it to every park where we rode so many rides and enjoyed lots of shows. 

Tron was Rose's favorite this time and we made it on 4 times!!

We attended Mickey's Not so Scary for the first time and LOVED it!!

We rode lots of rides, saw characters, fireworks, and the parade :)

We attended Hollywood Afterhours 

 Rose made a lightsaber with Justin

AND we got to ride Rose's favorite ride twice, walk on, and once we had a vehicle all to ourselves!!!!

We also made it to Disney Springs for the first time and had lots of fun checking out some of the food and shopping

We did ALL the transportation:

Monorail

Bus

Boat

Skyliner

It was a fabulous week and we left tired and happy :)

AND Rose started high school!!! 

We took her out the night before to celebrate this big milestone.

Cheers to our girl and all the new adventures that are still to come!

And then it was time for the big day :)

We also were able to attend her first Friday Night Football game, we were there for the band, but the team won, so that was nice too ;)

And that's a wrap on August :)