As we are wrapping up Reese’s first year in grade school we are wrapping up in so many other areas too. I’m preparing for the chaos of the summer with camps, no school, and endless fun events but I also feel like we are offloading so many of this season’s past activities and for a moment feel like we have a little breathing room again. Although it doesn’t actually feel like that all too much. There is still so much going on.
We are entering the last week at school, and of course it isn’t even a full week with Juneteenth off for both girls and Reese has an hour early dismissal on Friday. Last week was Reese’s last swim class and this past weekend wrapped up her first ever dance class with her tap rehearsal and recital that was held at the Shorecrest Performing Arts Center. It was cute to watch, fun to get dressed up for Sunday, and a well-run rehearsal and show but also added quite a bit of events to our weekend. We headed out right after the rehearsal to our third year of the Steven’s Carnival which was again great fun and even better executed this year but also the first year that the weather wasn’t absolutely stunning so the rain added to an interesting carnival experience. We still earned enough tickets for a prize, got some delicious gourmet hot dogs and other delicious snacks, won an item at the cake walk, and didn’t lose a child. I call that a win.
And after her dance recital on Sunday we took the three-minute drive from the art center to Briley’s BBQ with Sarah and Lottie to have a Father’s Day BBQ. Briley’s never fails to impress although I feel like this is the third visit that they were out of sliced brisket for Bryan. We didn’t leave the restaurant until 8 pm but our family of four still opted to stop at Kamp in our neighborhood on the way home to share two cups of their weekly soft serve flavors of Nutella and biscoff while dancing to their playlist on their patio. It was a nice and more peaceful ending to an otherwise chaotic evening at the recital and dinner.
Father’s Day began peaceful though with breakfast in bed for the honoree and a scavenger hunt of presents that Reese helped make the clues for. After that we set out on foot to the peaceful Seattle Play Garden, where the sun came out, we explored, the girls rode their scooters, and then we stopped at Amazon Fresh on the way home for slices of pizza. This was a lovely morning and afternoon that I would do again.
Continuing to backtrack, we spent Saturday afternoon at the McMenamin’s pool for Georgie’s birthday. Georgie’s family enjoyed Brooke’s birthday there so much they opted for the same thing and it was once again a hit. Brooke swam for about an hour. I think she got a little cold this go around and so we warmed up for a while in the shower before hitting the party room with the rest of the crew. Brooke meshed right in with the older kids and there was plenty of food and cake to go around for all of the party attendees.
Reese crashed hard on the way home after all of the swimming and the party…and the Lottie sleepover the night before. We took Lottie home with us after the carnival for a sleepover. All three girls were enjoying watching a movie on the projector in the girl’s room. Reese kept delivering snacks and waters and finally at 10:30 pm we called it a night. Our two went right to sleep but Lottie struggled for another hour plus to go to bed so Bryan and I weren’t done with kids until about midnight. And we were exhausted. We all were exhausted. I know Reese had a good time with Lottie but Bryan and I were spent.
Fortunately, again moving backwards, Bryan and I were able to have had a date night on Thursday, one we hadn’t had for about a month and desperately needed. Our date night swap are back in action and we had a reservation at the wonderful speakeasy, Needle in Thread, in Capitol Hill for some delicious inventive and creative cocktails that the bartenders catered to our unique tastes and some really good food featuring steak frites, a spring salad and popcorn chicken. All of it was delicious but the time spent was the real amazing thing we needed.
So yes, the past week has been a whirlwind of events, we had Brooke’s two besties over for a happy hour last Sunday, we had Maya’s family over for dinner, Reese went swimming with Georgie’s family, park play dates, birthday parties, got out the bounce house and jumperoo, last classes, performances, celebrating dads, etc. but we are in the homestretch of kindergarten and the true start to our summers, weather included, and I think we are ready!
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Chelsea
