Enter Fall

This past weekend we celebrated fall, watched some football, and tried to recoop and recover like we need to do every weekend since Covid (or since Reese turned 2, I’m not sure which is the leading factor). Last week we had nicer weather that allowed us to get out, walk, run and bike in beautiful fall weather. Despite the ability to exercise and be active outside, Bryan and I were feeling fatigued from work, politics, Covid, etc and needed a night out so the three of us ate on the patio at Eastlake Bar and Grill Friday night. The number of times we have eaten out somewhere still falls on one hand so this was a rare treat and a successful night with literally the quickest food delivery we have ever had there (a big plus with Reese in tow) and beautiful views of the lake and the Olympics.

Dry weather persisted through Saturday when we ventured east to Remlinger Farms with Sarah and Lottie to partake in fall carnival rides, harvest eats, and good times. We were expecting to see more farm animals but that was limited to goats, a peacock, some pheasants, and the ponies doing their pony rides. Each girl had a ticket to ride a pony but Reese utterly refused, holding onto me for dear life while her bestie had the best of times and rode a second time thanks to Reese’s unused ticket. Reese was fine with that. Reese had a ball with the carousel, the giant slide (although she’d much prefer to go down the slide by herself), the spinning cups and pumpkin rides, the old timey car ride and playing through some tunnels with Lottie. We all enjoyed some fresh hot pumpkin mini donuts, kettle corn and a giant caramel apple.

Everyone had a great time, Reese though, didn’t want to leave and literally lost it piling into the car for the ride home (that, and she was extremely tired by this point being after 1 pm). Our tickets came with U-pick pumpkins which we had to literally run to the field and throw in the car because of tired and cranky Reese. Both girls snoozed on the drive home and that was apparently all of the nap we were going to get out of Reese, surprise surprise. We spent the rest of the night watching football and recovering from a fulfilling morning.

Reese did not sleep well Saturday night and thus I did not either. Sunday morning’s plans to get takeout dim sum and watch the Seahawks game outside in our backyard with friends got cancelled thanks to some misty and drizzly weather. We decided to still pick up some dim sum for brunch for the three of us and had that while watching the Seahawks pull out their fourth win of the season and of course entertaining Reese. Little miss did not want to nap again so after trying for some time, we packed her into the stroller and set out for a long walk, which was much needed for all of us. Reese slept for at least 90 minutes in the stroller and Bryan and I got to stretch our legs, get some fresh air, and catch up with one another…

And both of us are in the vicious Covid cycle. The ups and downs through all of this is trying and tiring. Add to it the political nightmare going on right now and I feel like we are both trying to cope as best we can. Which, for the most part, I feel like we are doing alright, but there are hours, days, sometimes a week that literally just take its toll on us. We felt this way on Sunday, fortunately, the walk and conversation did us both good. Not good enough that I had the energy to make dinner though so we took advantage of the 50% off deal at Dominos and picked up a pizza to round out the weekend.

I’m feeling better this week. We’ve had a few days of sun and that always helps, although it is not going to be here for long. And I have a countdown of days until we leave for Michigan, which is what is truly keeping me sane. In other news, Seattle Parks are finally reopened as of today (since the beginning of March) so we will now be able to take Reese swinging, and will be doing so this afternoon. I’m busy reading our next book club book for our next meeting on Monday, Well Behaved Indian Woman. And I’m back to cooking with some seared scallops and corn puree with a winter squash and goat cheese salad last night and Polish cabbage rolls that will be ready post-playground tonight.

The fact that it has been seven months of this lifestyle is still so crazy to me. And the fact that I should expect another seven months is doubly crazy. It’s October and fall and I’m going to embrace it. Saturday helped me embrace the fall, hopefully I can hold onto that feeling.

Chelsea