Hooray for dads and hooray for summer. I don’t think we could do this life without you! This past weekend was a celebration of both. It was also a celebration of friends and food and exercise, but that is more or less what summer is all about to me too.
We had a mad dash home from the airport on Saturday to get the car unpacked, get some corn and beer at the store to take over to the BBQ, prepare said corn, and get ourselves changed into more appropriate clothing before we set back out to hit our friend’s Vaccine Party up in Shoreline. Predictably, Reese fell asleep in the car ride up there but after her quick snooze and time to wake, she perked right up sharing some burger with me before settling into playing with the bubble guns, the water toys, and basically making herself at home at Luis and Carina’s. This was the first time I really saw Reese in her element with the other two girls, Eliana and Emilia, who are both about 8 months younger than her. Reese and Eliana really hit it off at the end of the party and I think quite enjoyed each other’s company. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the company of so many more friends. There were tons of babies; three that are all less than 3 months old and two that are both about 10 months old. On top of that, three ladies at the party were pregnant, in addition to myself, so its just such a different feel to the parties than say when we were pregnant or first had Reese and we were parenting solo. Being in that stage of life, I’m happy to have so many others walking through it with me. We left after 8 pm and finally got home to settle back in.
Sunday was Father’s Day and although I had offered to make breakfast in bed, Bryan requested to make breakfast and went all out, making smaller banana pancakes, bacon and eggs for all of us. After breakfast, I took Reese to soccer and I think we somehow got in an older kid’s class. Reese was not on her most cooperative behavior so it was a long hour trying to get her to follow directions. She did enjoy the bouncy balls and did enjoy the obstacle course that the coaches set up for the three kids in the class, but otherwise she wouldn’t let the coaches tell her a thing and would tell them, “Don’t talk to me!”. We went back home where Bryan had our bikes ready to go and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches packed for us and being that it was nap time, Reese immediately got into her Chariot so we hurried ourselves up and set out for our planned bike ride. Sunday was a hot one for Seattle with a high of about 85 or more but the ride we picked was the Mercer Island Loop which is a gorgeous and fortunately mostly shaded 24-mile ride. Reese promptly fell asleep for her nap as we had hoped and we were able to do the full loop without any complaints from her. Once we were back over the I-90 bridge we stopped at a park but this park was unshaded and too hot so we biked another mile to Mt. Baker Park which we knew was partially shaded, has swings and a zipline, and Reese has enjoyed in the past. Bryan had pulled Reese all of the way to the first park but was spent (reasonably so) and I asked to pull Reese to the second park and then home. The second park was a hit and we did a bit of all that was offered. Once we got our fill of the park (she hadn’t been to a true outdoor park in over a week which is forever in her mind) we headed back home.
We got home about 4 pm and all of us were tired but feeling good from such a nice and strenuous ride. We were really needing some exercise, particularly cardio, and some fresh air and this was exactly what we were looking for. We facetimed with Papa and then Grandad and More Grandad and then our homemade green chile enchiladas were ready. We spent the night relaxing and spent some time in the backyard once the temperatures dropped a bit and right before bed. It was such a great weekend and none of us were that eager to get back into the normal week’s routine that was coming up.
This week has been a bit like we’ve been thrown into a lion’s den in some ways. I’ve been at the office these first three days since our intern started on Monday and I am taking place of her supervisor for these first three days. Just getting myself ready and to the office has been a bit of a learning curve but with the help of my scooter left at Reese’s school, it hasn’t changed up my morning routine too much. Bryan had to go into the Auburn office on Tuesday and the Everett office on Wednesday and so he had early wakeup calls and commutes both days.
Socially, I was able to get a welcome lunch for the intern with some of my coworkers on Monday which was a nice change of pace and then on Tuesday the three of us met at a new to us park after work/school to play and take in the views of Seattle from the top of First Hill before getting some delicious Halal Guys (via mystery shopping) to take home and eat. And Wednesday I had my first girl’s night get together in flipping forever. Tina, Carina, Deana and myself met at the Spanish tapas restaurant Ocho in Ballard at 5:30 pm for the tail end of happy hour and to have a night out sans kids (three of us are moms). It was a great treat to have a night out myself and I told Bryan I get 66 more of them!
Thursday was Sarah’s birthday and so we had her and Lottie over for dinner for food off the grill and brownie sundaes for birthday dessert. The girls played at the park before dinner and then took nearly an hour long bath after dinner together and Reese got to bed after 10 pm.
The weather in Seattle continues to be hot and is only getting hotter this weekend with expected highs right now over 100 degrees for the next three days. Yikes!!! I’m grateful that the splash parks and wading pools are reopening in Seattle just in time and I’m pretty sure we will be hitting a spray park on Saturday and will probably break out some of our water toys as well. It’s good to be home in Seattle again, hot weather and all, especially with all three of us home!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 