Back to School 2023

The summer flew by and it was suddenly 

time to get ready for seventh grade!

On our last summer Friday, 

we got donuts from Slivinski’s!

Harper took one last afternoon nap in the pool.

Then it was time for school!

August 22nd was the first day of school.

It was a foggy morning.

Harper had a great first day!

Harper’s 11th Adoption Anniversary

Today we celebrated that Harper has been

part of the family for 11 years!

After church, she opened a new charm for her bracelet.

This year she got the heart hands charm 

which symbolizes love and support.  

Taylor Swift uses this symbol at her concerts.

Next, we tried the new Fortune Buffet.

Harper ate all of this food and went back for more!

Next, we went to Build-A-Bear to adopt a new bear.

Harper said she might be getting too old for BAB,

but she still enjoyed making a new bear.

Ashley helped create the birth certificate

and Gracie the rainbow sparkle bear 

was ready to come home!

We finished the day at dance class and I grabbed

a picture of Harper and her friend, Stella.

Stella was adopted from China 1 day before Harper.

I love that the girls paths crossed in China

and then 10 years later and half a world away, they ended up in the same dance class.

Happy 11th Familyversary Harper!

We are so thankful that you are part of our family!

Taylor Swift Era’s Tour!

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show was beyond our wildest dreams!

We started out the night by Tayl-gating before the concert.

We traded a lot of friendship bracelets!

The stadium was packed and the weather was fantastic for a Saturday night in July!

We were so excited to see the clock that meant it was time for Taylor to take the stage!

We sang and danced all night long!

We were so excited to see that Taylor matched our outfits!

Quadruplets!

It was sooo loud, but Harper still had a good time. I’m so glad we brought ear protection for her.

But I know I had the best time with you today!

So thankful for these memories!

July 4, 2023

This year we continued all of our Independence Day traditions.

We picked up snacks at Sonic on the way to watch the Kearney fireworks show.

We sang and danced in the car while we waited for the show to start.

Kearney had another great show this year!

On July 4, we were all ready to cool off in the pool.

We grilled burgers and made lots of sides for dinner.

We threw snappers

and did lots of smoke balls.

Harper was brave enough to light her own.

The red, white and blue one was fun!

We had lots of fun shooting fireworks in the dark too!

 

Day 6 of the PNW Adventure!

We started our day at the famous Dragon Gate in Chinatown.

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the

 largest Chinatown outside of China.

We shopped at the stores

and the markets

and found a giant wall of ramen noodles!

We even found a pharmacy.

We had a scrumptious lunch

and ate way too much!

We toured the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory
and watched the ladies hand fold the fortune cookies! They gave us warm samples right off the machine.

This tiny factory makes 10,000 fortune cookies a day!

There were lots of varieties so of course we got some to try!

Next, we rode a cable car through the hilly San Francisco streets!

At first we were standing (Harper was nervous about that)

but as people got off, we were able to sit down.

We took the cable car to Ghirardelli Square.

We checked out the shops there then headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf.  

We played on the piano stairs

and got lost in a mirror maze!

Eventually, we made our way out and laughed at our long legs and torso 😁  in the carnival mirrors.

Ashley’s arms were even longer than they usually are!

Dinner was at Boudin Bakery where they make cute animal shapes out of sourdough bread.

I think we wore Harper out on our vacation!