We're moving! "Goodbye, Highland... Hello, Highland?!"

Why the crazy title post?  We sold our place on Morgan Avenue in Highland Park and are moving to Highland Avenue in S. St. Paul!

Our new digs - front yard from the street!

This is our new home - we are very excited!  It was built in 1895 and is in the Victorian style.  Here's some history on this place first...

"Offered for sale for only the 5th time in 118 years is the Arthur D.S. Clark House, featuring expansive river valley views. Extensive exterior restoration, third floor renovation, and garage addition are just some of the updates to this historic home.

"Arthur D. S. Clark moved to South St. Paul (then known as South Park) in 1886 where he operated the Clark & Co. grocery store, a thriving business that helped establish the first Post Office in 1887. The Clark store also served as a church and Sunday school. His large family first lived in a home on the Northwest corner of 15th and Thompson Avenues, when in 1897 he finally move them into the newly constructed mansion we see today.

"The home was extravagant for the area, adorned with elaborate porches and climbing vines, as well as water and power supplied by a windmill. It even had its own grass tennis court! The beautiful Victorian stayed in the Clark family until 1959, when it was sold to the Schmidt family. From that time, only two additional families have owned the home - will you be the 5th?"

Apparently, yes, we are the 5th owners!  Very cool!

Side view from the yard.

Kitchen - needs a little work, but high ceilings!

Main floor - living room.

Formal dining room off kitchen.

Main staircase - fireplace close-up; Cynthia loves the wood burning fireplace!

Main floor: study/library.

3rd floor - game/movie room?!

Full Bath recently finished on 3rd floor.

Deck built to match Victorian style of home - 3 car garage in back.

These are just a few highlights.  House has 3 bedrooms on 2nd floor and large laundry room on 2nd floor.  There are multiple ways to expand to 5+ bedrooms as our family grows.  In addition, Mike is still only about 15 mins. from work - Deo gratias!  We are excited to move on August 13th.

Here are some pics of our current place on Morgan - it's been a great home and we'll miss it.

July is here

Agatha is now 2 months!

We had another excellent 4th of July this year. Somehow, the 4th has ended up to be a very memorable and especially fun day of the year for us. It is not necessarily a holiday that I have ever really 'looked forward to', but somehow since Mike and I got married - we always end up having a fantastic day.

This year we continued our tradition of going out to Deephaven for a neighborhood parade and small carnival. It is so very cute - I feel like I am in small town South Carolina 50 years ago! Faustina had so much fun last summer, she has been looking forward to it for the previous 12 months. We were lucky to have both Kim and Joseph with us too!

One thing that was extra special was to randomly run into some acquaintances there. Our friend's parents own a home in this little neighborhood - so, as we were leaving the carnival we stopped by their house to say goodbye to them and meet his parents. We chatted for awhile and then they invited us in. Well, these folks have a gorgeous home, one of the more beautiful rose gardens I have ever seen, and it turns out they are deeply invested in their catholic faith. They gave us a quick tour of their home - but the highlight was to see their beautiful artwork and the 1st class relics of saints they had. They had an altar in their basement that was beautifully adorned and have had mass said there before. They even had a relic of the true cross - incredible!

Here is Jude with a 1st class relic of St. Jude. The tray behind Mike's hand has many more relics on it!

Here is the relic of the true cross. Benedict is trying to confiscate it.

Anyway, the rest of the day was also fun, the weather was perfect. While the kids were sleeping, Mike and I looked online for homes. We found one that we are pretty interested in - time will tell what happens with that!