Happily Ever After...: A Perfect, Summer Day!

We were gifted a perfect day today and I thought I'd share it while it's still fresh in my memory! So many times I write about how hard a season is or what we're struggling through, but I want to be intentional about sharing the good stuff too! Because there are so many days that are sweet and today was one of them. God just gave us a fantastic day from start to finish, and we are grateful. We will take as many of these kinds of days as He's willing to give us!

Our perfect Friday began with our kids climbing in our bed this morning! It is SO fun to hear them giggle down the hall and into our room to greet us, especially when they've slept in at a reasonable hour! Carter's newest thing is to say, "Hi, Mommy!! Hi, Daddy!!" before he climbs all over us for hugs and kisses. He's very affectionate right now and we are eating that up! Ava is always good for some kisses and dialogue, so we enjoyed them greatly before we all had breakfast. When we woke up this morning, my weather app said it 64 outside!!! Yes, I said 64!! I wasted NO time making myself a little haven on the porch and the kids played happily for 2 hours all around us while Trav and I got to drink our coffee and read. A-mazing! Mornings like this just do not happen everyday and we know how to take full advantage of them and not waste them, ha ha! We turned the air off, opened the sliders to the porch and drank in the cool air and sunny skies.

I enjoyed every sip from my new, favorite coffee mug. My friend Lisa gave this to me before she moved to California and I use it constantly. It makes me think of her but I also just really like it. It seems like a happy mug to start my day with :) :) :)

After we drank our coffee, we took the kids to the park. It was just too nice not to be outside today! We had the whole park to ourselves which was totally fun.

The kids showed off all of their skills for us. It really is amazing what they each can do compared to the start of the summer. Carter is always going 100 miles an hour when we're at the park. I'm usually telling him to "slow down!" a million times :)

And Miss Ava does her own thing, at her own pace, in her own way. She can't be bothered by our suggestions or help, ha ha! She'll have fun the way she wants to do it!

Which involves running around and gathering sticks, always. Sticks are to Ava, what nuts are to squirrels. She's crazy about them and feels a need to gather as many as she can when we're at a park. It's so weird, but she loves it!

After we enjoyed the great outdoors together, we took the kids home for lunch and to get ready to go to some friends' of ours, home. A sweet family from our Church unexpectedly gifted us with an afternoon and evening out, while they took our kids. It was so great and very timely. We were itching to get some time together, especially considering our Anniversary is next week!

So after we dropped our babes off to have tons of fun without us, we ventured out to a spot we often talk about but rarely go. One thing we love about Minnesota are all the lakes! All 10,000 + of them! Life really does happen all year long around the lake and there are endless trails and bikes paths and things to do on or near the lake. So we went to a gorgeous neighborhood, enjoyed some treats and then found a perfect spot here...

On the lake!

Lake Harriet, to be exact.

We watched hundreds of people sail, paddle board, canoe, swim, bike, run, walk and just enjoy every second of this perfect weather! After all the humidity and heat we've had this summer, today was just Heavenly.

We watched tons of planes take off over us and kept thinking about how much the kids would have loved that! When Carter hears a plane now, he immediately stops and says "UP!!" while he points like a wild man toward the sky until we acknowledge the airplane he's laid eyes on. Definitely going to bring them back here soon!

My favorite part of the afternoon was simply hanging out with my best friend, kicked back on a blanket and talking about anything and everything. We're celebrating 9 years of marriage on Wednesday and after 10 years of being together, I can honestly say we have more to talk about than ever, more history to draw upon and a future that we love to dream about. I don't need exotic vacations or shopping sprees to feel loved. Just give us a blanket in the grass and uninterrupted time to catch up and laugh and we're good!

Not a bad way to spend a Friday afternoon!

After we got our fill of sunshine and conversation, we went Uptown to another spot we love!

We have decided this quirky and trendy restaurant is quickly becoming one of our favorite spots. It's so quirky it has no sign, although it's widely known and very popular. The people watching is FANTASTIC and yet, kind of sad too. SO many desperate and lonely people, looking for love in all the wrong places!

It's Chino Latino. We once got our credit card denied here, but not because of a cash flow problem. When I called our bank to figure out the problem, they said the name was so unusual and it seemed to be outside of our normal neighborhood and pattern, so they thought it must be a fraudulent purchase! Ha ha! It us definitely unusual, but we love it :)

We chose to eat outside, which was a given on a night like this one.

There was so much happening all around us, we were highly entertained all night!

The food is amazing, so different. It's a crazy menu of international street food, sort of an east meets west kind of place. These are Korean lettuce wraps with Kobe beef and they did not disappoint!

Chicken curry skewers with a peanut sauce and rice...Isn't this exciting??

Are you enjoying every detail of our evening so far??

I aim to please :)

Now this is worth sharing with you! It's hard to tell in this pic, but it's a flaming platter to build your own smores! Marshmallows, chocolate, caramel, macadamia nuts, toasted coconut, bananas, and cinnamon cookies.