We are quickly approaching the end of summer as we know it. Summer 2024…you’ve been far too short. But also, some more routine and normalcy might be good. Who knows? August is flying and it’s got to be our busiest month of the year.
- SeaFair: We spent the full weekend in Seattle and a solid four days catching the Blue Angels and the Boeing Airshow from various places around town. Bryan got home early on Thursday and we spent Thursday and Friday watching from our back deck, which is loud. We spent Saturday watching it from a little pocket beach and on the water with friends before dropping Reese off for the night with her friend Clara. This was her first sleepover in quite some time. And we spent Sunday with three families at Seward Park which was certainly the best viewing and most enjoyable for me. Girls hated the long planes through all four days. We got a lot of time in the water and on our paddle boards and we again biked ourselves and all of our water gear, snacks and drinks to Seward Park and back in the 85 degree heat. We were beat by the end of the weekend.
- 8th Anniversary: We spent all of Tuesday celebrating our anniversary. Bryan and I both took time off of work and we spent the morning watching the US womens soccer game and then got lunch at the Madison Park Café before putting in both of our paddleboards from Madison Park Beach and paddling around the Arboretum, Husky Stadium and Laurelhurst. We enjoyed a bottle of wine that we packed with us and drank that out on the water before we had to head in to pick up the girls. We spent some time with them and then set out on foot to Kamp just the two of us thanks to our date night swap and had some delicious food and drinks at Kamp to end a wonderful day.
- Lottie’s Birthday Dinner: We spent a night with Sarah, Lottie and Lottie’s grandma at Rocket Taco and then Miller Park on Lottie’s actual birthday. It was good seeing them one more time before they headed off to New York for several weeks.
- Camping at Baker Lake: We spent two nights camping with friends at Baker Lake at the Swift Creek Campground. This campground was wonderful, spacious sites, tall trees, and beautiful lake with great beach access for swimming. Per usual, Washington is in a burn ban so no campfires but we had our camp stove and cast iron pan for cooking. Girls really enjoyed all of the swimming and hanging out with the other four kids and did really well sleeping in the tent, going to the bathroom on a vault toilet, and essentially keeping themselves entertained.
- Reese’s Overnight Camp: We are in the homestretch and last week of camps for Reese this summer and I think she’s finally ready to be done. She had her first overnight camp last week with the Kids Club crew as they took the ferry over to Vashon Island to a place called Camp Burton for two nights. She had her buddy Georgie with her and her cabin counselor was Kiki who she knows well. I wasn’t anticipating it but she did struggle with being homesick throughout her time there but mostly during quiet moments and it seems like she still really enjoyed the slip n slide, campfires and s’mores and ice cream they had, the meals in the “restaurant”, archery, the playground and more I don’t even know about it.
- Block Party: While Reese was at camp we hosted a neighborhood block party up at Plum Tree Park. I probably handed out 100 fliers but we had at least 30 people show up for it on a Wednesday night in the summer so I count that as a success. There were lots of kids and a lot of potluck dishes. Everyone seemed to have good conversation with one another, I learned some new names, and I have people offering to help in future years.
- Horse Racing at Emerald Downs: Bryan’s co-worker has a race horse and has let us use his box seats the past two years to attend one of the races. We went this last Saturday and spent the majority of the day there at the racetrack. This year I was determined to learn how to bet on the horse races and bet on two separate races. Came close on the first but then won the second. We didn’t know what to expect from it but my $15 bet yielded a return of $55 so I was happy and it made it more fun for me. They also held the National T-Rex Races which freaked Brooke out as expected but also was entertaining and meant that there were dinosaur themed bounce houses and slides for the kids to play on.
- Miscellaneous: Of course there are all of the other things that aren’t as monumental. I’ve continued to play soccer on Sundays when I can. Brooke had her first classmate’s birthday party this past weekend at Volunteer Park. Reese’s Girl Scout troop held a lemonade stand the other night at the Madrona Park concert series and we spent several hours there listening to music, getting face decorations and having a picnic. Reese continues to have gymnastics on Monday nights. We finally broke out the Solo Stove now that the weather is cooler and used it two nights in a row and love it! We’ve made a few happy hours recently, as a family and I attended Marika’s monthly one. Farestart is back in action twice a month so we take turns going to that. Dentist appointments. We went to a Seahawk’s Training Practice at Lumen Field which was fun to take the kids to.
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Chelsea