As it always is this time of year, with all of the holidays, sporting games, and fall festivities, the time just flies at rapid speed. It seems like yesterday my parents left from their visit yet that was already almost a month ago and so much has happened since. It seems a bit ridiculous that Thanksgiving is already almost here, but as I’m sitting on the airport without work to do or kids to take care of, I was reflecting on the past month of our lives.
- Fall was in full swing. Leaves changing, football on, dark mornings and early evenings. We took our annual fall trip to Remlinger Farms. Lottie wasn’t available to go this year with their schedule so it was just the four of us and we had a great time. We got in all of the rides, Brooke rode her first pony “Raspberry”, and we filled up on a ton of those little pumpkin donuts we love so, so much. Bryan was starting to feel under the weather and rain started to fall at the end of our day which made our exit from the park easier. We had a family dinner at Red Robin on our way back to Seattle and were all tuckered by the time we got home.
- Bryan spent nearly a full week at home fighting off a bug, I think the same bug that I had had since Labor Day that was lingering far too long. Fortunately, both Bryan and I got antibiotics that ended up clearing it up for us and neither girl appeared to come down with it.
- We finally got Reese’s new glasses after quite the ordeal. Same Ray Ban pink frames she had before but a different, lessened, prescription. They still look great on her and I think it is hilarious that her two besties at school are now wearing fake glasses every day because they want to. I guess Reese is a trend setter.
- We had our last soccer practice, party and soccer game to complete our third season. The girls won their last game handedly which brings their record to 6-1-1. They were a very fun teach to coach and watch. Our party after the last practice was a good time with all of the kids having great fun with each other barefoot on the playground and pizzas and brownies to fill us up.
- We drove up to our friend’s Luis and Carina’s for their annual pumpkin carving party. There was a lot of food and friends and Reese immediately set out to carve our pumpkin but it was Brooke who saw it through and got really into scooping out seeds and even helping out other adults with their pumpkins.
- Bryan and I took advantage of the combined Halloween party and parents night out at the nearby Epiphany Church for a second time. The girls had no complaints getting their costumes on and heading out in the rain to the party. They had a piñata and I wrapped Brooke up like a mummy. The girls painted pumpkins and then we said our goodbyes to them to get out for the two hours where friends Georgie and Sam joined them for the Parents Night Out part. They were fed pizza, played games and read stories while we enjoyed the counter seats at Harvest Vine for the first time in a while. It was a great, needed, night out for the two of us and the girls had a great time too.
- I was the group leader for Girl Scouts for the month of October so I had to get myself prepared and ready to lead the group in a lesson on Being Responsible for What You Say, How You Act, and Your Community. The girls remained mostly engaged throughout the meeting and I was glad to be able to put in my dues for the year.
- Halloween was a highly anticipated event in our household this year as both Reese and Brooke were very excited about it. The rain held off all day long until right at 5 pm, shortly before our group was planning to head out for trick or treating. I picked up the girls at school and met Bryan and a bunch of our friends at Mira’s grandparents’ house, adjacent to the lively trick or treating neighborhood, for some pizza and drinks before setting out as a large group in the rain. Brooke did a lot better this year but it’s safe to say that she is still not a thrill seeker like her sister. She required a lot of carrying so I couldn’t juggle her and an umbrella and her bag of candy so we both got soaked. We ended up losing a lot of Reese’s group throughout the night, Brooke and I couldn’t keep up with Reese ourselves so we united with Brooke’s buddies Madison and Halle for some slower paced trick or treating to finish out the night. There was some candy sorting and inventory at home while warming up in front of the fire before bed.
- The day after Halloween we took advantage of a hotel mystery shop at the Level Hotel in South Lake Union. Our hotel room had a separate bedroom, full kitchen, and the hotel had an indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room, cold plunge, basketball court, climbing wall, game room with ping pong, pool and karaoke machines, and a kid’s room. We took advantage of everything, made dinner of steak with a bottle of wine in our room and really enjoyed 24 hours stay here.
- We took our friend’s, Aaron and Becky (Mira’s parents), with us to the Seahawks home game against the Rams. The weather was great, the company was great, the game was down to the bitter end but the Seahawks managed to lose the game in overtime. What a bummer this season has been with so many winnable games that have resulted in losses.
- While we were at the Seahawks games with our friends, Reese was at Lottie’s very belated birthday party and Brooke had her favorite teacher over to baby sit and her friend Madison came over for a little playdate. Both girls had great afternoons so at least I didn’t have any mom guilt for leaving them for a very long football game.
- Brooke has started her very first gymnastics class with her first class being a one on one session with no other kids in class with her. Reese has started Pre Team which is a twice a week program that is all business and none of the fun but she still appears to really like it.
- This past weekend we all got our vaccines and to make it acceptable to the girls we promised them that we would go to the trampoline park afterwards. They were both literally jumping for joy upon checking in at the doctor’s office which made the office assistant totally in awe. The vaccines were easy peasy and we set out for the Flying Squirrel Trampoline Park in Everett where the girls enjoyed two hours of jumping, climbing walls, bounce house structures and some snacks before Bryan and I picked up poke bowls on our way back to Seattle. By Saturday night Brooke and I were toast from the vaccine.
- Both girls had Monday off so they hung with me at home. We had Lottie and Georgie over for the morning to keep the girls entertained and then Sarah picked up Reese to take her over to continue playing with Lottie at their place. Brooke ended up passing out in the stroller on a walk with me so all in all it ended up being a pretty okay day with the girls at home and me still working.
I’m gone until Saturday night for my once a year Engineering Team social trip. This year we are in NYC to pow wow, see some sights, and take a site visit of a project that we are doing at JFK airport. I’m looking forward to the reprieve in parenting for a bit, new office for a few days, and getting together with my coworkers. I’ll come back hopefully fresh and ready to tackle the last month plus of the year.
Chelsea
