Most of the fun my oldest has had this summer there is no photographic evidence for but once in a while I get lucky to have someone else take a picture or at least suggest it. The first one is so precious to me. We had a wonderful time meeting this young man and his mom by eating Menchie’s and walking around the nature trails at the Butterfly Pavilion. He is Kate's biological half brother on her dad's side and this was the first time we got to meet! Sometimes people are just so easy to love. I am grateful his mom made this all possible by creating time for us while they were visiting our state. I hope that someday these two will become great friends and be there for each other when they need someone who understands. And how neat it happened to be so close to her birthday to make that first connection.
The next picture is from one of the many times Kate went to our favorite outdoor pool with friends. This was a day time visit with E's family but K has gone a lot this summer. Our town offers a middle school night that I swear hundreds of middle schoolers show up to every week. Sometimes I wish my town had offered ‘middle school night’ back when I was in junior high because it looks straight up crazy but sounds so fun.
YW outdoor game night at the O's house was a big success. (Here they are having s'mores.)
This is also a picture I love that has a first time meeting someone special to us and easy to love. Part of K's days long birthday celebration was to eat at a nice Italian restaurant with her beautiful birth mother and her husband, whom we had never met before. I loved seeing the two of them together. C & N make a great team and will be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary next summer. Hooray! Kate was an absolute delight and loved the presents C picked out for her. The next day K was more than happy to clean and reorganize her room to display her new gifts. They both have a great eye for beauty!
According to the board on our office wall, Kate has grown and inch and a quarter in the last year. She really wants to be taller than that, especially for playing volleyball, so she is hoping to grow more at age 14. And what better to show you're growing up than getting phase two of braces put on just two days after your birthday? Her teeth really hurt and Kate only let me take a picture after I reminded her how big the check I just wrote was. Let's just say we went straight to Inta Juice for smoothies and then went back the next day because those Choco-o-nutter smoothies are the absolute best in situations like this.
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