We are at the tail end of one hot week in Seattle and I’m not sad for the heat wave to take a break for some time. We spent nearly a full week with the highs in the low 90s and that is hot for here. Fortunately we managed to keep our house fairly cool and comfortable and it was a nice respite from the outdoors. We also have broken out all of the water toys in the past week; the baby pool, the bigger pool, the splash pad, the squirt guns for the wading pools, etc. We’ve had fun and now we can return to the typical Seattle 75 degree sunshine days.
So for our hot week we spent most evenings (three to be exact) at wading pools, once to Peppi’s Playground and twice the short walk up to Volunteer Park. We spent the remaining two nights at our house cooling off, first with Sarah and Lottie, and the second just as a family while Bryan first got drinks with a coworker and then I got a solo dinner with Polly at U Village. It was a fast and furious week, one still managing the anxiety surrounding our nanny share Covid exposure, and then our nanny took Thursday off as a safety precaution (?) so I had a day with Brooke. We spent one more night with a picnic and concert at Volunteer Park on Thursday which was fun and an ode to Earth, Wind and Fire. Then Bryan left us girls home alone for the weekend while he went to Leavenworth with the guys for their annual guys trip.
I was flying solo for two nights and Brooke and I retrieved Reese from school and immediately headed to the wading pool so all three of us could cool off. This was a successful outing and Reese’s friend Clara from school was there. We spent an hour in the pool, got a popsicle from the ice cream truck, and then picked up pastries on our way back home to take for our next day’s excursions. We spent the remaining time having dinner and watching a movie at home. I finally got Reese asleep just before 10 pm and was pooped!
Then Brooke woke up extra early at 5:30 in the morning. Reese was not too much after her, so all three of us bummed around the house until we were ready to head out to the Seattle Center, via bus, to meet up with our friends for the day. We had a day planned with the other abandoned ladies and met first at the Seattle Center playground to play, eat pastries and catch up. We then headed indoors to the AC-cooled Seattle Children’s Museum where we spent the next 1.5 hours exploring everything they had to offer while catching up with one another and keeping cool. We got lunch upstairs at the Armory, at this point Reese and her friend Eliana were going a bit crazy and so we headed outside to the fountain to play, get wet and burn off some more energy. It was so hot and we all just got barely wet that after about 1.5 hours at the fountain we decided to make use of our full day ticket to head back to the children’s museum just to cool off. But the girls were enjoying the museum and each other so much that we were here for about another hour and a half before we headed back home via the bus. By this point it was nearly 4 pm and both girls fell asleep on the bus! The rest of the day at home was dinner on the back deck, all three of us taking a bath together because we had all gotten so sweaty, and then both girls were asleep by 9 pm and I fell asleep at 10! We were tuckered.
Sunday morning we woke more at a normal hour, 6:30 am. We had another bus adventure to take so around the same time we headed south for gymnastics, via the bus and then the light rail. We made it with plenty of time to spare, Reese got to enjoy her class while Brooke fell asleep in the stroller on a walk around the block, and then we headed back towards Capitol Hill via the light rail. We stopped for snacks and a cold drink at the store, walked part of the way home, stopped for a snack break and some shade, and then were home just after noon. Lottie and Sarah came over a little later and the two girls played for a long time in the splash pad in the backyard while Sarah and I sat back to relax, although Brooke was trying everything she could to play in the splash pad too. We made some nachos and margaritas and Bryan returned from his trip in the late afternoon. Reese and Lottie played so well with each other on this particular night and didn’t even stop to eat. Lottie left and Reese had dinner and then both girls were worn out and asleep fairly quickly.
August has snuck up on us. We still have to settle on plans for Reese’s birthday party, figure out our anniversary and SeaFair plans, and so many other events. It’s a crazy time of year for sure for us, but so much fun.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 