Halloween 2021

This past weekend was really a great weekend full of fun and friends. We were fortunate that the skies cleared by Friday afternoon and remained beautifully sunny and warm throughout the weekend as we had a lot of outdoor activities to partake in. We spent the last super rainy day on Thursday getting ramen at Morimoto’s ramen spot in the International District for Seattle Restaurant Week. It was super filling and warming and something to do on a very wet day. But Friday afternoon was clear and we got to play with one of Reese’s good friends, Mika, at the park after school before getting Lowrider’s special Halloween cookies on our way home.

Saturday was the big UM vs. MSU game which was an exciting and close game from start to finish but did not end up with the outcome I would have hoped for. Disappointing for sure but not heartbroken. Bryan and I each got a workout in while Reese napped and then headed out in the sunshine to play at Miller Park before walking the block over to her friend Lily’s house for her 3rd birthday party. All of Reese’s best friends were there (excluding Lottie) and she had a ball. There was pizza and cupcakes and hot apple cider and after the kids played in the yard for awhile we spent about 20 minutes on a German lantern walk around their neighborhood. All of the kids had a lighted lantern to carry with them and enjoyed singing, holding hands, and walking around the block. We set back for home and got back around 7 pm. We were all pretty tired but I went over to sit at our neighbor’s house for them while they went out to a concert. I didn’t get back home until 11:30 pm and Reese had already (surprise, surprise) found her way into our bed for the night. Thankfully I slept like a rock on Saturday.

We woke to another beautifully sunny day on Halloween. After breakfast we set out on foot to Reese’s new favorite park, Montlake Playfield, aka the big blue slide. We’ve been walking there just about once every weekend and is a nice long walk for us and Reese totally loves the challenging slides at this park currently. It was a great time spent at the park and we didn’t set back for home until nearly 1. Reese fell asleep in the stroller on the way back, something she did last weekend too, so we wheeled her stroller and all into the living room to finish off her nap. We prepped the rest of our costumes, Prego sauce and a chef (unfortunately I have no pictures of the two of us together) and made some mummy dogs to take over to our Halloween party at Harold’s house. Reese napped hard and I had to start slowly waking her up around 3:30 to get party ready. We got over to Harold’s about an hour later and enjoyed decorating pumpkins with stickers, a hunt for Halloween knick knacks around the yard and more pizza, candy and hot apple cider. We were the last to leave as we were planning on trick or treating with Harold and his crew around the neighborhood. We have always heard about how great Volunteer Park is to trick or treat around but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into…

The trick or treating started out pretty typical. We set out just prior to 6 pm and hit several houses either solo or maybe one other family in tow. As we made our way south through the neighborhood things got pretty intriguing. Reese had snacked on a few pieces of candy and was dying of thirst. I thought she was going to throw in the towel then because she was so thirsty but after she got herself a can of Bubly water and met up with her friend Mika just as things got busy her energy level soared. The two girls (both Elsa’s) were almost too fast to keep up with. They left Harold in the dust and nearly their parents too. They had no problem getting into the rythym of going house to house and weren’t the least bit intimidated by any of the older kids or spooky decorations. And speaking of decorations, I have never seen anything like it. There was a ton of smoking cauldrons, lights, a few live bands, projector displays, your typical witches hats, bats, spiders, etc. I don’t even remember everything we saw. The only thing that made Reese hesitate was what looked to be a 10 year old boy in a dinosaur concert that she just did not jive with. The girls had a great time and us parents did too as the whole thing was just such a spectacle and there were so many people out enjoying themselves it was just so fun to see. Reese and Mika are pretty alike in a lot of ways too. We also ran into our next door neighbors at one of the houses too. We decided to wrap up the trick or treating around 7:30 and headed home. Reese was able to snag a few more pieces of candy before calling it a night.

Back at another week, another midwife appointment, and some more rain. I had my 36 week appointment yesterday and they ran some tests and an ultrasound and baby’s heartbeat is good and strong, my fluid is good, and baby’s head is down. They want me to come in every week this time for a non-stress test, now that I am ancient at 35 years old, and I kind of don’t want to. At the end of last week I read through my blog posts from this point on through labor with Reese and it brought back some memories but also made me realize I’m feeling pretty much exactly the same as last time, including how prepared I am for baby’s arrival at this point. We’ve had some health concerns in the family that has kept our attention so far this week and a busy week of work so it’s already felt like several long days!

Chelsea