Summers are a busy time, in a good way, but in a very full way too. Especially here, where our summers are amazing but so short, everything is condensed into a too-short season. This past week left both Bryan and I a little bit spent but still reveling in the feel good summer atmosphere.
We had some friends over for dinner and bouncing. We went out for a date night, dual mystery shopping and belated birthday dinner. We went to the second concert in the park with Reese’s school friends. Bryan had an interview. We went blueberry picking and then attended my company’s summer party. I played soccer. We played at the spray park and then the Lake Washington beach for some time. All in a weeks time.
Georgie’s family came over for some grilled steak fajitas and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. Georgie and Reese and their younger kid Sam all played really well together throughout the night. It was a lovely evening and the margaritas had us all in a good mood.
Bryan and I got a rare date night out on Wednesday when Reese’s old teachers came over to sit for us. Bryan and I had a fantastic dinner at STK in downtown Bellevue (a place we rarely go). We started with some amazing burrata and a classic bacon-y wedge salad before Bryan moved onto to the New York strip with chimchurri sauce and I went with the miso sea bass. And they brought us out a slice of chocolate cake in celebration of Bryan’s birthday. It was a lovely night and a perfect one sitting outside in the shade.
Thursday night was the monthly park play date at Volunteer Park followed by the weekly concert at the park’s amphitheater. Reese and her friends all spent the full hour plus duration in the wading pool as it was a hot day (Brooke played in the pool as much as she could too). We then all moved over to the grass lawn for a picnic dinner and the kids ran around the fields and danced at the front of the stage to some folksy music.
I took the girls with Sarah and Lottie to a very nearby unmanned blueberry farm to harvest our own berries. We managed to get a few pounds, Brooke ate a ton before taking a nap in the Ergo, and Reese managed to pick quite a few herself. We then drove over to Jefferson Park where we met up with Bryan and my company for some lawn bowling at the local lawn bowling club. We played a few games but mostly sat, ate some delicious tacos and popsicles, and watched the kids. It was a good time but we were tired by the time we got home.
And Sunday was a pretty free day aside from Reese’s gymnastics class and my soccer game. I am sore from the game and was pretty spent afterwards but after Brooke’s second good nap of the day we packed the girls up and first headed to a park and spray park to cool off (the ice cream truck had just pulled up when we got there) and then headed down to Lake Washington to play some more in the water and sand before picking up some Chinese food to have at home for dinner.
We are expecting a hot, hot week ahead here in Seattle. Feeling fortunate that we have this second air conditioner unit in the house to keep things cool and so far it is working. Unfortunately, the nanny share family we are working with has a case of Covid so we are playing the waiting game right now to keep them at home and make sure that none of us get it (please, please, please).
In typical Seattle summer fashion, the weekends are a blur and in general just too darn short. We spent the good majority of the weekend out of the house and with friends and wouldn’t have really wanted it any other way. And of course we spent a lot of it celebrating Bryan’s birthday! We hit the weekend running on Friday and never looked back.
For Bryan’s actual birthday we had to work 🙁 but I still managed to pick him up a mocha in the morning and Thai for lunch and I made Bryan’s birthday cake at intervals throughout the day and we left home on foot to retrieve our two children from their respective places and then walked over to Mother’s Place, Reese’s old school, for their closing carnival. Reese was a bit shell shocked for nearly an hour when we first got there, without hardly a word leaving her mouth. Despite being a deaf mute, she proceeded to get her face painted in the Preschool room by her old teacher Alice, her hair painted rainbow by her old teacher Tiara, decorated a cookie in the Toddler’s room with her old teacher Karen and got an Elmo tattoo on her hand. She then finally broke out of her shell and played with her friends Georgie and Mika for a while outside by the water tables and Brooke enjoyed the water tables as well. Georgie’s family was going next door to Rhein Haus for dinner and drinks so we tagged along for about an hour for drinks and conversation, which was great fun, before walking back home to get our own dinner of homemade mole and bourbon bread pudding. We were all pretty tired at this point and had the next day to continue Bryan’s birthday celebration.
Saturday morning started like usual, Reese has been sleeping in though. Bryan made pancakes, although we did not shape them into 37, and then Lottie came over for a play date while Sarah had an appointment. Lottie left around 1 pm and we started prepping for the next portion of the day’s events, the birthday dinner and bike ride. We had five other families that were available to meet up with us at Briley’s BBQ up in Lake City and were shocked that that many could and would join us for the dinner. We wanted to take turns biking there since it’s right off the Burke Gilman Trail so Bryan set out with Reese by bike and I left a little later with Brooke to play briefly first at Matthews Beach Park, before ending at the restaurant at 4 pm to meet up with everyone. We had one giant table to ourselves and ordered family style which worked really well. The staff was great and we had 10 kids in our party who all managed to be on great behavior throughout dinner (I’m thankful the food came out so quick). We moved to their outdoor space with picnic tables so the kids could play and we sang happy birthday and had cake outdoors there. I brought the cake, a black forest cake that came out pretty darn tasty. After all our friends had left I got the turn to bike back with Reese and Bryan drove home Brooke. It took me just over an hour to bike the 12.5 miles back, I was really trying to get under the hour mark though. It was another great summer day.
Sunday we packed up the car to head to gymnastics like normal but didn’t get back home until 5 pm. We had Rosalie’s birthday party to attend in West Seattle so after gymnastics we stopped at a West Seattle park called Highland Park to zip line, swing and slide for a while before the party was ready to start. We were the first party guests and Rosalie and Reese hit it off again, immediately getting the bounce house broke in and all of the rest of the toys. The birthday party was fun even though we didn’t really know anyone there but met a few fellow Boeing employees and another girl from Michigan. Both girls were exhausted and fell asleep on the drive home. We settled in for the night with leftover BBQ and movies and Reese didn’t wake up until nearly 8 this morning!
We have lots more summer fun planned in the near future and this week but it’s always sobering in the summer when the weekend is over!
I don’t know why exactly but both Bryan and I have been completely wiped since being back from Michigan. Neither of us felt exhausted upon our return but since being back it seems like we have been running from thing to thing or just fully occupied with kids or work at all times. It’s hard to catch ones breath at times. A lot of it has been due to rare occurrences (a multitude of appointments), starting up the full time nanny share, and random summer happenings and outings. Also throw in a nearly four year old who went without naps for over a week back to naps while at school and not the least bit tired until nearly 10 pm every night.
It all kind of kicked off with our summer release wine party at Novelty Hill the first full day we were back. We had no problem getting the girls and making it to the party in time but Reese was not in the mood for the party on this particular night (which is a shame as they had sweet corn and a live band for dancing and tons of cookies) so essentially we filled up on delicious BBQ and a few swigs of wine, caught up with some FareStart friends we haven’t seen in forever, and then headed home, tired from trying to entertain an unenthused Reese.
Friday began the first of three days of appointments. First up was Reese’s first Covid shot after her early dismissal from school. Reese did great and they gave her a popsicle, which is one of Reese’s favorites, then headed to get Brooke, and then met Bryan at Montlake Playground to play at one of her favorite parks. I’m super proud of Reese with how well she handles shots. She never flinches, cries, or gives any trouble and that makes it so, so much easier on me. Next up was Brooke’s six month well child visit on Monday morning. We dealt with the aftermath of Brooke’s vaccines for about 48 hours after. She still hasn’t been sleeping superbly at night but is not sore or tender to the shot area anymore. And finally, I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday after work which was no big deal but another thing to do and another place to be.
We had really no plans for last weekend so a lot of it was just go with the flow. But first, we had to start off with Brooke’s 7-month waffles. We played at home for a bit on Saturday morning and then packed up the stroller and headed off on foot to downtown for the day. I had snagged free tickets to the Aquarium thanks to the Seattle Public Library over a month ago and it sounded like a good idea to all of us. We hadn’t been for quite some time with Reese. We walked through the Market, stopping at a candy store for Reese real quick, and then found some cool air relief at the Aquarium. Reese really seemed into the exhibits on this occasion and we enjoyed ourselves there for about 90 minutes. Well worth the free tickets. We continued on foot to Pioneer Square and picked up an early dinner from Halal Guys to take up the hill the short distance to one of Reese’s favorite parks; Yesler Terrace. It initially was too hot to play but there was a nice breeze and we enjoyed our dinner first. We then found sweet relief in their great splash park and Reese found a new friend Elliot to play with and was playing so well with her that I actually had to head home with Brooke around 7 pm and Reese and Bryan didn’t leave until nearly 8 pm. Reese was at the park for nearly 4 hours! It was a great day and one that left us with sore feet and some extra sun on our faces.
Sunday morning started with gymnastics and then from there we all headed to Jefferson Park. Reese played at the park and surprisingly met up with a classmate of hers and I headed to my soccer game. The crew came to cheer me on at the end of the game and we headed home for lunch and play at home. Bryan went for a solo bike ride Sunday afternoon around Mercer Island and Reese requested to go back out to a park and so I packed the car back up to head to Volunteer Park for about an hour. We ended the night and weekend with dinner and a movie at home.
And this week has still felt like a lot going on. I’m usually at work Mondays and Wednesdays but we had a CPR training on Tuesday morning that I wanted to attend and glad that I did. Then our nanny called out sick on Wednesday so I spent a rare solo day at home with Brooke. We dropped off Reese at school by foot. I got caught up with a bunch of laundry and made the mole sauce for Bryan’s birthday dinner at home for tomorrow. We played outside in the backyard and took a long bath together and then took the long, detoured way to Reese’s school to pick her up.
We spent Wednesday night at Volunteer Park for awhile until Bryan could meet us after his work day and then we all headed to Redhook Brewlab in Capitol Hill for a mystery shop dinner. To our surprise Top Chef Shota was working their pop-up menu and we had a fantastic meal of smash burgers, tempura fried broccoli, the most interesting cabbage salad, tator tots and a delicious blooming onion, all with a hint of Asian flavor. It was a nice night out at the restaurant and the girls did alright. And tonight we were back at Volunteer Park for Picnic in the Park and a piano concert at the new amphitheater. We went right after school and played at the park first for awhile before heading over to grab a spot on the lawn for our picnic blanket and Paseo-esque homemade sandwiches with some of Reese’s friends. The music was great and they even had free ice cream for the night to help seal the deal.
Tomorrow and Saturday we will be celebrating Bryan’s birthday and I’m excited to spoil him for his big day. Should be a nice weekend and I’m ready for it!
Brooke hit 7 months at the tail end of our Michigan visit and we celebrated her birthday this past weekend with 7 month waffles. And thanks to us being behind schedule (still from February’s Covid) we just visited the doctor’s office on Monday to get 6 month vaccines and have our well child visit. The doctor remarked that she looks so happy and healthy, is vocal and strong, and predicts an early walker. Brooke is usually all smiles and makes lots of cute sounds.
Brooke’s favorite activity is walking around with the assistance of our hands. She loves to explore and lead the way. This may not be our favorite activity on our backs.
She still loves water and her bath time. She beelines to the bath tub once I have her undressed and it’s so funny.
There is nothing much this girl doesn’t like at meal time. She has just discovered being able to blow or spit so sometimes the food comes right back at me but all for play and not for distaste. I am actually super impressed with her ability to pick up small objects and bring them to her mouth to eat. I feel like Reese was a full fist eater for her full first year.
Brooke still loves to watch kids and her sister at the playground and riding the scooter but she also wants in on the action. She loves the baby swing and if there is any sort of water fountain or spray she’s all in.
She is starting to reach further for things and rolls back to front and back without issue. I see crawling in her near future but just not sure how soon.
She’s still sleeping with us as we didn’t want to transition her with trips ahead of us and now her vaccines but hoping to get her in her own crib soon.
Per her doctor’s visit this week she is in the 7% for weight and 60% for height and looks super healthy.
She’s gotten quite ticklish and you can usually get some good laughs out of her.
She’s the most vocal pooper that I know.
She still gets an insane amount of comments about her eyes.
We are back from our week in Michigan for the 4th of July and are warmed by the summer weather we had there and the many memories that we made. It was a week that felt both long and short somehow and packed a punch.
We left for Michigan Tuesday morning, the 28th. Our flight was early but not too early and although the girls both kind of lost their minds with about an hour left in the flight, we landed on time just after 5 pm local time and found my parents and our bags and were all able to fit in their new ride and headed to East Lansing. Tuesday night featured a lovely takeout dinner from Aladdin’s for my middleeastern fix and even an impromptu play date for Reese with my parent’s neighbor’s little girl who has a trampoline, climbing ropes, and big wheel to play with. And this was the one and only night we struggled to get Reese to bed without much fanfare.
Wednesday morning was a beautiful sunny day and my dad had to work for part of it but my mom was able to stay home with us. We spent the first part of the day playing at home and then headed out for a walk to Pinecrest Elementary School (my old stomping grounds) to play at their playground. We made it on the local 10 news somehow which was quite a riot to see the next morning. Reese found a few playmates but by about 5 pm we were all super hot and headed back to the house to break out the splash pad and had a lovely dinner of Dad’s salmon grilled on planks at home. We proceeded with the rest of the week with no naps for Reese which helped soooo much for a reduced bedtime each night.
On Thursday my mom had to work while my dad got to stay home. Bryan and I each took turns going for a run before the true heat of the day set in. This was also the warmest day of the trip so after playing at home in the morning and picking up subs from Jersey Giant for lunch, the five of us headed to Court One to go swimming. The water was chilly but refreshing and after swimming for a little over an hour we drove back home to play one more time at the neighbors and meet up with mom after her day in the office. We had another lovely dinner at home of grilled pork chops with a peach and arugula salad and had a mini dance party outdoors on the lawn.
Friday was our last full day in East Lansing and we started it off with a long walk to Patriarch Park to play at their large playground. On our walk back we picked up an iced coffee to cool us off and then had some Lou and Harry’s for lunch. Friday afternoon we headed over to Jennette and Terry’s house to visit and have dinner since they were not going to make it up to the cottage for the weekend and I hadn’t been to their house in over 10 years (and Bryan never has). It was a lovely evening spent at their house enjoying their wrap around porch and Detroit style pizza and salad from Jet’s Pizza. After leaving there we helped get Brooke to sleep and Bryan and I set out on foot to downtown East Lansing to get some alone time in. We went to the new Graduate Bar at the top of the Graduate Hotel and just caught the tail-end of daylight with a few drinks at the bar. We had great conversation and really enjoyed each other’s company. We left pretty tipsy after closing out the bar and were grateful to be on foot as we made our way home from the bar.
The remaining portion of the trip was spent with the entire family at the cottage and was truly the main reason we came to Michigan when we did. I think my summers aren’t complete without a trip to the cottage, especially over the biggest holiday weekend of the summer. We managed to get the car and kids ready to go fairly early in the morning and hit the road at just after 11 am. Our car left first and we ran into zero traffic and made great time, pulling into the cottage just after 1 pm. Mom and dad were shortly after us. Chad and John got there a few hours later. And Jerry, Mary, and the surprise visit of Allie all the way from Berlin got there around 5 pm. Grandma and Grandpa were there to greet us all as we all settled into for the three nights ahead.
The first order of business was to test out the new boat. My parents just purchased a brand new speed boat for the lake and it was quite a fun ride. It seats 12 and I think the most we got on the boat at one time was 10 adults with the two kids. We went for a couple joy rides on Saturday and Reese was all for the speed shouting “Faster Grammy!” often but she also enjoyed sitting on the bow with me or daddy when we were going at a slower speed. The boat has a platform with ladder on the front and back, plenty of power, and plays the radio or can be connected with bluetooth. It definitely amped up the weekend. No one skied on Saturday but we skied Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Bryan got up on two on his first try and looked so great but made several valid (and close) attempts the last two days to get up on one ski. My mom skied twice even though Reese told her at first that she was too old. Reese changed her tune half way around the lake. And even Uncle Chad tried twice to get up and did he just wasn’t able to stay up all the way around the lake. I think Bryan and Chad will have it nailed next summer. Reese and I and then Daddy and Reese even went around the lake in an inner tube. We then decided we need to buy a new tube for boating.
Aside from the water sports the group swam, rafted, kayaked a bunch, built many fires, played some euchre, walked around the lake, played in the sand and kiddie pool, and watched some baseball and tennis. We also ate of course and all of the trademark meals and snacks made their appearance; burgers, onion rings and potato salad on night one, Mom’s shrimp boil on night two, and foil dinners on night three. Farmer’s market brats before leaving on day four, lots of chips and dip, watermelon, carrot cake to celebrate John’s birthday, smores on the campfire, ice cream cones with Hudsonville chocolate fudge ice cream, and vodka tonics daily whenever someone deemed it appropriate to start.
The cottage felt so familiar and so fun and seeing it through the girls eyes made it even better. And I think it’s only going to get better (and easier) from this year on out. It required a lot of attention and holding of Brooke and her separation anxiety from me right now is at it’s highest and Reese was able to be pretty independent but she still doesn’t do so much independent play. Even still, we all had a wonderful time and a relaxing time and reminisced on that as we drove back to East Lansing on Tuesday night. We spent one last night at my parent’s house, they made a “birthday dinner” for Bryan with grilled T-bones, caprese salad, a green salad and french bread and we finished the night off with one last bowl of Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream.
Our trip back to Seattle was as easy as it could have been. Wednesday morning was a surprisingly rainy morning but both Bryan and I got out for runs on the River Trail while my parents worked the morning. We played with the girls inside and then after lunch my parents took Reese back to the big green slide that she loves and she found a playmate there that worked its magic to get her energy out before the trip back. We said goodbyes to my dad and then mom drove us back to DTW with both girls taking short naps. We got there with plenty of time to spare, said our goodbyes to mom, got through security easily, and then walked some of the wiggles out before boarding in First Class thanks to all three of us being upgraded. This was my first time flying first class and Brooke sat with me with Reese next to me and Bryan across the aisle and the girls were so well behaved the whole trip. The food was nothing to write home about but broke the time up and kept Brooke happy and two glasses of wine and two coffees with irish creme had me feeling alright! We were back home by 9 pm Seattle time and it was good to be back in our own beds.
We have the rest of the summer ahead of us and I’m ready for it all!
