the perfect ending.

The birthday festivities didn't end when I blew out my candles on Sunday night. Adelie, Kennedi, and I were lucky to have Nate home with us on Monday too! He took the day off so we could have an extra long weekend together - and we loved having him home! We spent the afternoon walking around Excelsior (our favorite!). We went to a yummy bakery, walked out on the docks, did a little window shopping, and stopped at the pet store & tried to convince Nate to buy Adelie a pet bunny (with no luck!). It was such a fun afternoon! As we were getting ready to leave Excelsior, I asked Nate to pop into a little bakery to grab Adelie some shortbread cookies for the drive home.  As I was sitting in the front seat of the car, waiting, holding Kennedi & chatting with Adelie, I saw my (trying-to-be) sneaky husband, running down the sidewalk....and into...the floral shop! It's the best floral shop in the area. They have the coolest flowers...and it's a darling shop.  It was hilarious seeing him running inside, trying to be sneaky!! He surprised me with one last birthday gift: an amaryllis flower/plant. It is awesome! So pretty (and the lady at the floral shop said it'll continue to bloom!). I love it.  When we got home, we bundled up the girls & headed outside for some lantern fun (second to Nate's surprise birthday-sleigh-ride in northern MN for my 28th birthday, these lanterns were the coolest surprise celebration!!!!).  We will never forget the floating lanterns. Funny story: Nate got the first lantern lit...it started floating...and it got higher, and higher, and higher, and then it landed right IN the huge tree in our backyard!!!! I was TERRIFIED! There we were...the 4 of us, just looking up at this beautifully lit (on fire!) yellow lantern, that was stuck in the tree! I thought the tree was going to light up in flames. It was so scary!!!!!!! Luckily, the flame inside the lantern eventually blew out....but, I was certain something terrible was about to happen. After that *minor* setback, we headed out to the big open (tree-less) field behind our backyard, and lit the rest (with much more success!). They were beautiful! It was so cool watching them float higher & higher away....they really stay lit for a long time. So cool. We loved it! Such a perfect ending to a wonderful weekend. I love my husband! Thank you, Nate, for making me feel special. Thank you for making me feel loved.

(check out Adelie's darling scarf! My grandma made it for her!! I just adore it.)