The past week and a half has been the bittersweet farewell to summer, celebration of Reese’s birthday and annual trip to Chelan. Today, Reese started 1st grade and I felt like I caught my breath. A lot has been going on and a lot of fun (and stress) has been had and even though there are so many more upcoming events I feel like a lot of the weight of things are off my shoulders.
Reese had her last week of summer camp at the Seattle Bouldering Project with her friends Georgie and spent a few hours each afternoon with Georgie and the babysitter Tyler. You could tell that Reese enjoyed climbing camp and hanging with her friend but that the summer camp season was starting to tucker the girl out. The camp was only 4 days long and we opted to keep her home on Friday to just have a low key day with me and Georgie ended up spending the afternoon with us too. Reese and I baked her oreo birthday cake and assembled her party favors for her party the very next day.
Generally, there is not a drop of rain in Seattle until September. For some reason, this year, we got a downpour the 23rd and it trickled into the 24th, the day of her party as well. We could see it was going to be a cooler day so we had already modified party plans from a pool party to a day outing to Remlinger Farms but as the day drew nearer we also realized we would be battling rain. And we did. However, the party was a ton of fun. We ended up renting a 3-row Jeep Grand Cherokee (thanks to a mystery shopping experience) for the day and were able to take Reese and Brooke and two friends with us in one ride. We had 5 other girls, 5 parents, and 3 siblings meet us there. We were lucky with a half off discount for the day, otherwise it would have really been a spendy birthday but we were able to accommodate everyone and with the rain it was basically like we had the park to ourselves. We got to ride all of the rides with no wait and spent the end of the morning drying out under the cover of the giant bouncy mat and slide before ordering lunch and having cake in their awesome restaurant with more play areas. Most friends left at 2 but our carful (mainly Reese) wanted to continue until the park closed at 3:30 and the crowds were still absent and the skies had cleared. We drove back to Seattle (exhausted) I returned the rental car, and we vegged out for the night.
The last week of summer for Reese she had off and we tried to make the best of it. We did a fun staycation as a family in Redmond (thanks to another mystery shop) and swam in their pool Sunday afternoon, explored Redmond Town Center with the girls scooters, and ordered in room service for the night. The girls and I enjoyed the breakfast after Bryan had already head off for work and then we rode the bus back to Seattle, dropping Brooke off at school and then Reese had a half day playdate with a gymnastics buddy in the neighborhood.
Wednesday Bryan and Reese had a daddy daughter day out at the Seattle Center and they played at the playground there that Reese loves twice, they rode the elevators up to the top of the Space Needle, they had lunch in the Armory, they enjoyed the fountain and then they spent a few hours at the Children’s Museum before riding the bus back and meeting Brooke and I at the park.
Reese’s birthday on Thursday was also the start to our Chelan trip with two other families this year. Brooke’s school was also closed so we spent the morning finishing up our packing and then hit the road around 1 pm. The drive to Chelan was easy and we pulled up to our vacation unit at the Lookout in Chelan right at check-in time of 4 pm. Our friends arrived shortly after and we set out on foot to explore a little bit before it was our turn to make the group dinner; burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, asparagus and watermelon. We all played in the yard for awhile before putting the kids to bed and Bryan and I enjoyed the hot tub before turning in ourselves.
Friday was Slidewaters day, meaning from 10 am until 5 pm we were at the water park alternating between slides and the hot tub all day long. Reese of course loves the rides and both Bryan and I had turns with her going down them. Brooke really enjoyed the little kids area and small little frog slide as well as some time in the hot tub and a few laps around the lazy river. She definitely is starting to turn into a water baby as the time goes on. Our family stayed the longest, leaving after Brooke woke up from her nap on our beach blanket! We returned back to the house for a taco bar dinner, baths, and bedtime.
Saturday and Sunday were exclusively days at the resort, enjoying the house and the resort’s amenities. We spent Saturday at the larger pool and Reese and Bryan enjoyed the slip n slide that was set up from 11-2 just up from the pool. Brooke really got into swimming and started to jump into me. After lunch, Bryan and the guys set out for the waterfront to go for a long paddleboard. After Brooke’s nap I brought my two girls down to the beach until dinnertime. Getting to the beach was half the fun as you rode the trolley to a stop where you then caught an ATV down the steep road to the waterfront which had a nice protective shallow area with sand, a water trampoline with slide, and a lot of chairs and umbrellas to relax and get shade. Another family made dinner this night of roasted tomato and mozzarella pasta and salad and then the ladies got dressed up for a moms night out. We set out for a cocktail bar downtown and enjoyed great conversation along with a few rounds of drinks before the bar closed at 11 pm and they kicked us out.
And Sunday our group spent the majority of the day down at the beach. I got a paddleboard ride in and got to test out the trampoline and slide with Reese. Brooke didn’t want to leave the beach for nap but was way tired by the time we left and that afternoon the boys had the turn out on the town and went to the Chelan Ridge winery before heading downtown for dinner and another bar. I picked up pizzas for the women and kids from Local Myth Pizza which we had last year too and was really phenomenal pizza.
By the time Monday came around we were all pretty tired and had gotten our fill of water and sun. We checked out at 11 am and our car made a stop in Roslyn for some candy at a candy store, lunch and a walk around before getting back in the car to sit in horrible traffic thanks to a car fire just before the pass. Fortunately the girls did great on the drive.
The last day of summer was yesterday and I had Reese and Brooke home with me and Lottie came over too. The girls really played great together throughout the day and were excited to be reunited with one another. Reese was off to school this morning and I can’t wait to hear how it went for her. I’m hoping this year will be a great year for her!
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Chelsea
