Kat's 1st Day of High School

Kat starts school a week before Tommy this year. Welcome to high school!

Looking cute for the first day of 9th grade. Gizmo will miss her. 

Tommy got to register for 6th grade that same day. Big changes for big kids!

Katherine's 14th Birthday!

Happy 14th Birthday, Kat! Gizmo was nice enough to help her open all her presents.

She got her favorite meal, Gnocchi Quattro Fromaggi from Buon Gusto...

And a cute little birthday cake. 

Hope all your birthday wishes come true!

And the next day? Braces!

We took her out for birthday dinner part 2 that weekend...

And she had birthday part 3 with her friends at an Escape Room!

They escaped with only 1 minute 19 seconds to spare!

Kat, Dakota, Katelyn, Adriana

Afterward there was lots of greasy pizza and giggling. 

We finished out the night watching the MTV Video Music Awards. Gizmo was a good snuggler...

And was pretty tired...

Until he woke up and started biting Mom's feet. At least it wasn't Kat's! Happy 14th Birthday, Kat, we love you!

Mall of America 2022

Last stop before getting on the airplane home: The Mall of America! Strap in for another indoor amusement part!

That's Tommy all by himself on the Mutant Masher. We went with him the first time, then he and Kat went again, then he went two more time in a row. Mom and Kat felt like their brains would be scrambled, but he seemed fine!

They gave me silly poses on the swings.

And got only a little wet on the log ride.

Here's them on the Fairly Odd Coaster...

And Tommy on the SpongeBob coaster. That one's crazy!

Fun with Christa and Co.

We got to stay with Christa, Scott, Brode, and Jasper in Minneapolis. 

Mom's high school buddies all got together for a cruise around Lake Minnetonka...

Kristin, Sue, Christa, Brenda, and Stacey

And we had a fun day on the boat. Daisy is a good little snuggler and fearless boat-dog!

Time for tubing!

After Kat fell off Tommy went again. This meant "Faster!"

After a long ride and spectacular bail off the tube, it was time for some surfing. Tommy was so close to getting up on the surfboard, it'll totally happen next year! It was fun to watch Christa...

And Mom even finally got up too! But she wasn't good enough to let go of the rope and just cruise. 

You can see us all in action here: 

Fargo Fun Part 2

For more Fargo fun we went back to the Fargo zoo. We love it there!

We went with Grandma, and our aunts Janine and Becky. 

The alpacas were our favorites this time. Look how cute!

We had fun feeding them...

And patting them on their silly, fluffy heads. 

Tommy introduced Grandpa to VR...

And then we went to hear Grandpa play for jazz brunch at Jasper's. 

Never enough time, but we loved our short visit with everyone. Love you, Grandma and Grandpa!

DL & Fargo Fun 2022

The flight to Fargo was mercifully uneventful...

And you know Mom had to get Taco John's once we got there. 

If she got her favorite, so did Tommy. He says the nuggets at The Bridge in Detroit Lakes still hold the #1 rank on his Top 10 Nuggets list (yes, that's a real list). 

He also had to partake in some bridge jumping. 

Can't pass up a chance to break the law!

Mom got some cool pictures of him jumping with a bunch of the local kids...

And some video too.

Once we got to Fargo we explored downtown...

And took Grandma out for a scoop of ice cream mixed with a scoop of cookie dough. 

We had a BBQ at Mom's cousin Jim's house to see some family...

Becky, Marty, Trish, Kat, Sue, Tommy, Char, Jim, Jimmy

And had lots of laughs. Jim even let Tommy speed around driving the golf cart!

We also did a very Fargo-themed escape room with Grandma and Grandpa. 

It was tough, and we came close but didn't quite make it.