With Bryan turning 40 this year, my mom bringing up riding the DALMAC in the future, and plainly just needing an adventure and goal to set for ourselves, at the beginning of the year Bryan and I committed to training and signing up for the Seattle to Portland (STP) Bicycle Classic.  We’ve heard about this ride throughout the years and have known (few) people personally that have completed it.  To me, when I first heard of it I thought “why?”.  I’ve never been a cyclist really.  I like to commute by bike and I like to use my bike to get places.  But to just go out for a ride for exercise, that was never really me.  But back in 2020, Bryan got us both new Canyon Cycle road bikes that are light-weight, fast, and my first ever bike with clip-in pedals.  It immediately got more fun riding longer distances and we’ve enjoyed the past several years taking the girls out on the trailer for rides and riding ourselves.  I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when signing up for this ride though.  I compared it to a half marathon, and in terms of difficulty it is, but in terms of time commitment, it’s more.

And so, the training ensued.  Bryan was the first out the gate on his bike, starting in early February when I still believed it was too cold for me to get out there.  I was impressed.  And then of course he had his bike accident on one ride around Magnolia that set him back a few weeks while his wrists heeled.  This made us both wearier of cars while on our bike, for good or bad.  Miraculously, aside from his wrists, a gash in his ankle, and some soreness and tightness in one calf, he was okay from this accident.  I got started on my rides with my first ride coming at the beginning of March.  This was a commute ride with both girls behind me and to say it wasn’t a motivational ride is an understatement.  The girls combined in the trailer add so much weight, make your ride so much more difficult, and slow you down so much these days.  

I started at it slowly but slowly picked up steam, following the STP training schedule more or less as the months went on.  Bryan phrased that schedule better by it essentially increasing in volume by 10% each week.  For me I tried to get in most of my shorter rides (and even some longer rides) in midweek when my schedule would allow.  Bryan would get his in usually early afternoon and his longer rides on the weekend.  Of course, as the weeks tracked on and the mileage and long rides kept increasing, we both saved those longer rides for the weekend, essentially handing off the girls on weekend days.  

With my parents here for a month, this granted us some rare longer rides together and that was such a treat.  We got to ride a 65-miler towards North Bend on the Middle Fork route one weekend, a 40-miler along the Cedar River Trail from Renton, a 65-miler turned 50-miler around Camano Island another weekend.  Without them here these rides would have been pretty impossible and for me it was a good confidence boost to start riding these longer rides with Bryan.  Once I had done them with him though, well, I was seeking out new adventure rides for myself to places I had never cycled.  Solo I went north to Snohomoish and Monroe, I went way south along the Green River Trail to Auburn and back through Black Diamond, and I did another ride north to Everett and all the way back on the Interurban Trail.  We both started stopping at Jersey Mikes for mid-ride fuel stops and I found these to be almost a treat but also easy enough on my tummy to immediately keep cycling after eating.

We both could tell our body and our booty were getting in shape for this ride.  As we approached, we were both over the solo long rides and really ready to get the actual event going.  At this point I had biked over 1,500 miles since March.  We also had figured out the logistics with the girls.  We had our trusty and responsible sitter Sonja coming over early morning on Saturday to be there when the girls woke up and then Sarah and Lottie were coming over to our house to spend Saturday night before Sonja came back over Sunday afternoon to stay with them until whenever it was we made it back home.  We got our bags packed the Friday night before our ride, which required a fair amount of thought for what we needed.  We needed our water bottles and maybe a few snacks on our bike and had to secure our bibb number to our bike jersey, helmet and bike.  For our overnight bag we fit our sleeping bag and pillow, two changes of clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste, sunscreen and chargers for the night away.  We were there.  Now we needed to just get whatever sleep we could before our 4:30 am wake up call that Saturday morning.

And so Saturday morning started early and it all began.  Girls were asleep still, thankfully.  We changed into our bike gear, hydrated and had breakfast.  Sonja arrived and we caught her up to speed on the girls.  I was all packed, clothed, helmet and bike cleats on, and sunscreened up.  We forgot one thing in the kitchen and as I turned around in the dining room to go get it I suddenly felt myself flying and then THUD!  Down with a very hard bang I went straight on my bum.  I sat there for what felt like a few minutes.  Figuring out if I could get up, making sure I was breathing normally, assessing the damage, knowing full well Bryan was probably trying not to laugh behind me and Sonja was speechless in not knowing what to do or say in this moment.  After a few minutes, I was still in considerable pain but knew I could get up to standing and needed to do this bike ride.  What I realized happened was there was a layer of sunscreen spray film on the dining room floors that made it insanely slippery with my bike cleats and I had zero traction at all.  I really wasn’t sure at this point if I had a broken tailbone or what but it sure felt like it.  I had difficulty getting my leg up and over the bike (which would be a common issue getting on and off the bike over the next two days) but with how far forward I sit on the bike; biking wasn’t when I was in pain.  I was definitely shaken up at this point and not myself though.  

Off we were, riding the three miles to the start line at Husky Stadium with everything we needed for the next two days and night on our backs and the girls asleep at home.  We were on schedule, got to the staging area around 5:20 am, found the truck to throw our bags on so that we’d get them later that day, had to get a new bus ticket for Bryan for our return trip on Sunday because his packet came without one even though we had purchased one and then we got in the front of the next wave of bikers to set out on our 207-mile adventure south.  They said go and we clipped in and off we were.  The first 12 miles or so were very familiar terrain for us as we were biking through Montlake and then the Arboretum and then onto Lake Washington Boulevard with views of the sun just starting to come up and Mt Rainier crystal clear.  I’d heard of bike collisions in these first early miles when people start out eager and reckless and the guy in front of me on Lake Washington was trying to pull out his phone and all of his electronics came flying out on the road with a hundred cyclists behind him.  Bryan and I didn’t take any photos and tried to play as safe and well-paced as we could.  We got to Seward Park and headed up to Rainier Avenue, heading down to Renton and then hitting roads we’ve never cycled.  The first half of the day was a lot of passing other cyclists or being passed, slowly the crowds of bikes started to thin and the boisterousness of all the cyclists slowly mellowed.  

We had our first official stop at the IKEA in Renton and they had tons of easy to grab food, restrooms and Gatorade so we quickly recharged, refilled, and used the restroom there and then headed out again.  The weather was still pretty good at this point, granted it was only about 7:30 am.  From there we headed through Kent and Auburn then Puyallup where there was a mini stop that we stopped again briefly for more water, a banana, and to use the restrooms.  The biggest hill of the ride (which is not that big) is shortly after this stop and we headed out with that in the near future.  This hill was no problem for us and we were still feeling good and pretty fresh but the heat was definitely starting to build as we pulled into Spanaway High School for the next major stop.  I believe this stop was at about mile 52 and it was hot.  We got some delicious sandwiches, pickles and pickle juice, some fruit and cookies and took shelter in some shade.  They had a great DJ here and as Bryan said, this was a rejuvenating (and needed) rest stop.  We were back on the bike, around 10:30 am and continued west towards Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  From there we turned south and this next stretch was an interesting part because we were the only traffic on a stretch of road through the base for miles and we’d pass all of these fire arm training centers.  It was a little dystopian future like with acres of land and training centers and not a sole to be seen. 

 After several miles we were back on the highway and continuing south to McKenna and the next mini stop where we just took in some shade and cooled off for the first time with our new cooling cloths.  There was only food for purchase here but they did have a local hard boiled egg stand handing out free eggs and honestly this was delicious with some salt as it was nice and cold.  Back on the bikes for the next stretch of the ride, the infamous Yelm to Tenino Trail.  This was the only portion of the ride that was on a paved trail instead of a road and it’s known for being horribly bumpy and filled with potholes.  However, I had read that just this year they sanded down many of the bumps to smooth it out.  Not even 30 seconds after telling Bryan this while on the trail, Bryan hit a hard-to-see divot in the trail that sent his bike sideways and into a blackberry infested ditch.  There were several people behind him that avoided a wreck but were there to help him get his bike and himself out of the ditch.  It took about five minutes to locate his bike computer that had also become dislodged and Bryan was covered head to toe with scratches from the blackberries.  We both were a little shaken up and got ourselves composed before getting back on the bike.  We had about 15 miles on this trail and were very careful from there on out.  Fortunately, it was pretty decent the remainder of this segment and better shaded than the road so that was a nice respite from the blaring out sun. There was another mini stop that we stopped quickly for some more water but didn’t delay too much here.  

About 10 more miles of the trail after this stop and we arrived in little Tenino to the best mini stop of the ride yet.  They had tons of homemade baked goodies, cold watermelon that was so refreshing, pickle juice shots, sunscreen to reapply, a mister and restrooms.  We needed this stop to cool off, refuel and recompose.  I think this was at about the 84-mile marker and our last pit stop before the official midpoint in Centralia.  After this stop we were feeling better and the next hour plus to Centralia were okay.  We pulled into a big gathering of people, many who were spending the night here.  There were free French fries and ice cream which were great and we took shade under the trees in the grass to cool off with our cooling rags again.  Because so many people were ending their day there it felt like we should be ending there as well and almost felt like torture that we had another 20 miles (90 minutes approximately) to go to get to our finish line for the day.  At this point, it was about 2 pm and it was fully hot.  But, knowing we weren’t too far off we got back on our bike and headed out, slowly.  

These last 20 miles were not easy miles.  With it being so hot, our speed slowed drastically.  At this point I was ready to get there but there were two mini stops on the way, just south of Chehalis and another in Napavine after one more big, very hot, climb.  We stopped at both, for more snacks (although at this point, I had had so much fruit and cookies I was full up), more water, but more importantly the misting stations.  This was all through beautiful farmland which also meant zero shade on the road.  Finally, just before 4 pm we arrived in Winlock and pulled into the gravel parking lot we were instructed to stop at and waited for a truck from the Toledo-Lewis Fire Department to come pick us up.  We waited maybe 15 minutes before the truck and a very friendly firewoman arrived who told us we were the first of about 18 to arrive.  Wow!  Into the AC truck we went with our bikes in the back, taking the 8-mile detour to the fire station for the rest of the night.

The fire station was an experience, in the best way possible.  We arrived to very friendly and hospitable hosts, had the first pick of cots in the main room with a long table running down the middle.  We each got a shower in that made us feel like a million bucks and then took seats in the only two recliners in the station, where we didn’t move as more and more cyclists arrived, until dinner was served at 6 pm.  And dinner was delicious!  You would expect nothing less from a fire station.  We had some really great lasagna, Caesar salad, garlic bread and broccoli and then there was two types of cookies and brownies for dessert.  After going back for seconds and having some great conversation with some of the other riders, Bryan and I knew we needed to stretch our legs a bit and walked around the small town, first to the Nisqually River to soak our feet in the chilly water and then to the only market in town for Bryan to find cream for all of his scrapes and scratches.  We came back to the fire station for our dessert and to get cozy in bed where I fell asleep at 9 pm to my Kindle without any problem.

At 5 am were woken not by an alarm, but by the firemen saying that the baggage truck was already there to collect our bags and we needed to get them packed.  The truck wasn’t supposed to arrive until after we had all departed at 7 am but I guess this got everyone moving and getting ready early.  We threw our bag on the truck and then at 5:30 am we had a huge breakfast made for us of coffee, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, lemon loaf and bananas.  I felt fueled, refreshed and ready to get as early of a start on these last 84 miles as possible, knowing that it was only going to be a hotter day.  We had to wait for all of the cyclist and then they took us by truck back to Winlock to reunite with our dear friend, the STP route.  Back on the road and heading straight south we were feeling good.  We were flying.  We were going at like 20 mph trying to tackle as many miles we could while it was still reasonably cool.  We bypassed the mini stop at Vader to keep chugging along.  At one point we got behind the only ebike I saw on the ride who we drafted from for several miles on some rolling hills.  We didn’t want to lose him so we also bypassed the Castle Rock mini stop, which neither of us needed anyways. 

We did stop at Lexington main stop, still feeling surprisingly good but needed a quick bathroom break and water refresh before rolling out again.  After Lexington we hit some wind through Kelso and Longview.  We then were riding up the Lewis and Clark Bridge to pass from Washington into Oregon over the Columbia River.  It was really beautiful but a fairly steep bridge.  After crossing into Oregon we entered what people call the “Dirty Thirty”.  For the next too-many miles we were on Highway 30 that fortunately had a wide shoulder and smooth surface but was blazing hot with no shade and cars go fast and loud beside you.  We kept trucking though, going as fast as we could and making good time.  This stretch seemed to go on and on and on.  We skipped the mini on this stretch and then entered St Helens where there was another very good and much needed main rest stop.  We got some frozen grapes that were about the best thing I’ve ever eaten.  More sandwiches, watermelon, pickle juice and pickles, and cookies.  A misting station and restrooms and we had about 30 miles left at this point (I think or maybe it was 40).  All I know is we had for sure several more miles on Highway 30 ahead of us.  We cranked out a bunch of still very hot miles and then stopped at the very last mini of the ride to use their cooling tents.  I know we had 20 at this point left, approximately 90 minutes again.  About 10 more miles on Highway 30 before finally turning off and going over the St Johns Bridge over the Willamette River into Portland.  We entered Portland from the northwest side and the route left us with about 8 miles east through Portland to finish at the finish line at Holladay Park.  I definitely had some strong emotions and feelings of accomplishment as I crossed that line.  Such a good feeling.

The finish line party was neat and we had our priorities set out for us; get rid of our bikes, get our bags, clean up somehow, get food and a drink, change and then head back to Seattle.  The wait for the bike bus was the longest and that’s what I had heard so we waited that out and got our bags at the same time.  With our bikes on the bus, we were free to walk around and we got our finisher t-shirt and patch and our free sunglasses and then headed to the fountain to take a fountain shower.  Cooling down and getting the sweat off was fully needed and made us both feel a million times better.  With our voucher we could get a meal at the gyro truck or Mexican truck and we both opted for a gyro with fries.  Man, those fries were the saltiest things I’ve ever had.  We made our way to the beer garden to sit and enjoy the live music and got a beer.  I then walked over for a cold brew coffee from Starbucks that I so wanted before boarding the bus back to Seattle. 

We each rinsed off and cooled off in the fountain once more before finding the changing tents to change into clean and more comfortable clothes for the bus ride back.  We got to the bus just as the first was pulling away so we were riders #4 and 5 and had to wait for like 50 more people to fill up the bus before we could leave.  This meant we were sitting on the bus for a full hour waiting but the seats were comfortable and we could chill out and the drive back to Seattle was only mildly traffic for just over a 3-hour drive.  It was interesting passing many places that we had cycled near or next to.  We got back to Husky Stadium just after 7 pm, found our bikes without hassle and took them to the nearest bus stop to catch the 48 bus up the hill because there was no way in the world either of us were cycling home.  We stopped at Safeway quickly for some chips and salsa and then got back home to the girls.

The girls weekend went alright.  They were fine upon waking up Saturday morning to Sonja and Sonja drove them up to Volunteer Park for Reese’s friend’s birthday party and the wading pool.  Once back home, Sarah and Lottie came over for the rest of Saturday and spent the night with them.  They both slept well for Sarah and enjoyed playing with the bounce house and water in the backyard to keep cool.  It was an equally hot weekend at home and the house was pretty warm when we got back.  Reese had another wave of nausea from we think the heat and dehydration at the tail end of Sarah’s time with them so she took a nap in her air-conditioned room for a bit but was feeling fine once we were back home.  It was great to see the girls and get our showers in and sleep in our bed once more.  Bryan’s cuts have now mostly fully healed and my tailbone is sore only when I sit directly on it or have unbalanced loading in one leg.  

We loved the ride and would do it again but not before doing other rides around Seattle or elsewhere.  It was quite the adventure and the experience but the training really is a lot to commit to, especially on top of work and two kids.  We are really great cycling companions though and I think have a similar cadence and speed to one another for long distances and I think we both were proud of ourselves for the speed we clocked the ride in at.  We passed many, many riders on the road and although we also got passed, it was not by many.  Now, I would never do the ride in one day, I think that is absurd.  I would 100% stay at the Toledo fire station again and Bryan was spot on about getting more than halfway the first day to have an easier ride the second day.  There are honestly few things I would have done differently now having ridden it once.  And I am very thankful that our mishaps were minor and not major like some other stories I’ve heard.  The craziest thing is that we both are thinking about going for a ride soon, sooner for sure than I thought I would.

— 
Chelsea

After our Chelan trip, which was fun for some and didn’t meet expectations for others (Reese), me getting sick coming back from my night in Spokane, and trying to will ourselves into our last final bike rides in the now-summer heat in Seattle, we were ready to rest, relax and cool off in Michigan over the 4^th of July.  Brooke was home from school on Wednesday before our trip so she helped me pack and ultimately decided that being home with Mom and Dad both working from home was far better than going to school.  Didn’t realize the trouble this would bring for the next few weeks.  But we managed to pack, I took Brooke for a bike ride along the Burke Gilman for 20 miles, and we had one last dinner at home.

Thursday, July 3^rd we set out slowly in the morning for the airport to catch our flight to Detroit.  Mom and Dad were there to pick us up from the airport, car packed, car seats installed, we set North straight to the cottage.  We stopped for the must-have Middleeastern food in Fenton, MI for a short break, which was noteworthy in and of itself, got cookies next door at Crumbl, and then continued on to the cottage.  We pulled in a little after 9 pm, it was not yet dark so we were able to be greeted by everyone at the cottage and check out the new bunkie that is being built at the cottage and where we would sleep for the first two nights.  My cousins and aunts and uncles were all there, my grandma, and Chad and Sarah.  We had a full cottage and of course always a fair amount going on.  We spent the night settling in, enjoying the campfire, and then saying goodnight to everyone.  Reese slept in Grammy and Grandad’s room the whole trip and Brooke slept with us, albeit she did try to sleep with them she’s just still a little too attached when we are there.

The 4th started with warm temps and sunshine and I was all about it to soak up as much lake fun as possible.  After breakfast, Bryan and I went for a walk around the lake while the temps were still cool and then came back to cool off with some swimming.  The water was so warm though, almost too warm at times, although I swear, I would never say that.  We did a round of water skiing and tubing.  Reese first tubed with Chad and Sarah, then myself and Grammy, and lastly with Bryan.  She had a great time and I think we found the right speed for her on the tube.  We got all of the floats and rafts out and Grandad even installed a slide for the shallow area for the girls.  He even went down it himself!  Because some were heading home this night, we did Mom’s epic shrimp boil midday and managed to get everyone around the picnic table on the deck, just barely.  The girls love ringing the dinner bell at mealtimes.  It was so hot though.  I think we were all melting eating lunch so we needed to cool off with swimming afterwards.  We spent the majority of the afternoon in the water, took the paddleboards out, and generally tried to keep cool.  We broke out the Cottage 2025 family playlist in the afternoon and Chad brought down his hefty speakers.  That night we gathered around the fire with the Tigers game on in the background and Reese maybe roasted one too many marshmallows.  The only one not around the campfire was Brooke who had gone without a nap and you would know.  Miss Crankypants was tired and opted for the inside, being fairly irritable for the remained of the night except to do some kids yoga and go out with Chad to see the fireworks.  We played a round of Tunk and More Grammy was the first out (sorry Grandma) and Reese was the winner.  She was okay with this!  She collected her earnings the next morning after she recovered from her overdose of sugar.  We all slept well, even with the 1 am fireworks show.

On Saturday we had another hot day so it was much the same, keeping cool in the water, taking the boat out for water skiing and tubing, swimming, floating, paddling, etc.  I did not walk around the lake and am in awe for those that ran around the lake.  Grammy and Grandad took the girls into Leroy to get a few cottage toys and candy.  More of the family were setting out to head back to their respective houses which left us, Grammy and Grandad and Chad and Sarah for the rest of the night.  After doing some more tubing and skiing behind the boat we took it out to the middle of the lake to cool off with a swim.  This is always so freeing and fun; was when I was a kid and still is.  That night, Mom got out her pizza oven and the girls helped Grandad roll out the crust and Reese really got into saucing, cheesing and adding on the toppings to the pizzas.  The pizzas were delicious and enjoyed on the deck and followed up with some ice cream.  

On Sunday we were actually brought a rainy and cooler day.  It wasn’t terrible as we had plenty of food to snack on, Wimbledon to enjoy, cards to play, and other ways to keep ourselves entertained.  Mom and I got a walk in around the lake before it really got raining while Grandad and Bryan made everyone waffles in the morning, and those were delicious.  Chad and Sarah were leaving this afternoon and I think both girls were sad to see them leave.  The rain broke long enough for me to get in one last ski on glassy water and to get Bryan up as well.  It started raining pretty good while we were out so we brought the boat back in.  We managed to get the fire going after the rain died down and cooked our hot dogs on the fire along with a variety of leftovers various people left up at the cottage.  We then settled into Wicked which the girls really enjoyed and have even both watched a second time since on the airplane back to Seattle.

We planned to head back to East Lansing on Monday so that the girls could enjoy some time there and to break up our return travel day back.  We enjoyed one more walk around the lake and a little paddling while also helping to put all of the toys away, pack up the food and our bags, and tidy the cottage.  We hit the road around 1 pm and the sun was just starting to break on our drive and fully out once we arrived in East Lansing around 3 pm.  The girls were immediately back in action with the toys at the house.  It felt nice to just sit outside at the table with a drink for a while.  We then walked Sophie, the girls taking turns walking her, over to Lou and Harry’s to pick up dinner, which we brought back and enjoyed at home.  

Tuesday was our only full day in East Lansing and it was gearing up to be a toasty one.  Bryan and I had wanted to get in a shorter ride just to loosen our legs and get them familiar with a bike again so we took out my parents’ bikes on the River Trail for what I think was somewhat of a figure eight loop of about 20 miles.  It was pleasant and mostly shaded and seemed to go by really pretty fast so I think we were both happy we did this.  My parents took the girls to Patriarch Park but both girls were wearing pants (their request) and found the park too hot for too long.  Bryan and I picked up subs from Jersey Giant on our bike ride home, which I carried somehow on my handlebars.  The rest of the day we spent playing in the splash pad at home, playing Clue and Yahtzee, the girls made garden stones with my mom, and my parents grilled up some steaks for an excellent last dinner.

We were heading back to Seattle on Tuesday and there were more showers threatening so we decided, after showering and packing up our bags, to take the girls to one of the indoor trampoline parks.  We went back to the one Bryan took them last, which is new and clean and has a variety of cool attractions.  The girls proceeded to jump for about two hours, working up a sweat and having a good time.  Grammy and Grandad came to meet us there to watch them some in action.  The boys went to go pick up Middleeastern and Chickfila for lunch for our drive to the airport which was smooth with minimal traffic.  We said our goodbyes at the airport and then got ready for the plane.  The plane sat at the airport an hour longer than anticipated to get more fuel so we got back to Seattle an hour late but the flight was smooth.  We took the bus/train back home and got home just about 9 pm.  Bryan grabbed us Thai food before they closed and we were all eager to get some good sleep before getting back into our normal routines. 

Bryan had a goodbye lunch at the Renton office on Thursday before heading to return back to the Everett office on Friday.  Reese had her last two days at Galileo Camp and Brooke was back at school and neither girl was happy about this by any means.  I was back to work at home and trying to get some things ready for the STP bike ride.  We did manage to pack a picnic on Thursday for the first Volunteer Park Summer Concert Series which we enjoyed with a bunch of friends in the most perfect of temperatures.  Being the first one they had the free ice cream back which is always a hit.  And Reese had her very first practice for her new Xcel gymnastics team on Friday.  She’s already in love with it!

Great times in Michigan for the 4^th like usual and never enough photos since I so rarely have my phone on me at the cottage. But the fun doesn’t stop there.  We had just two short days at home and then were heading out on a new adventure:  The STP.

— 
Chelsea

Summer is going to be gone in a blink of an eye at this pace.  I have three major events to reminisce on and have had no time to do so.  So, here’s the first:  Chelan 2025.

This year we were back on our annual Chelan trip in June.  Not only in June but the day after school got out we packed up the car and headed towards Chelan early in the morning to spend a full day at Slidewaters Water Park.  This is a Reese favorite and has been four years in a row.  We are putting the last bags in the car for our four-night trip to Chelan when Reese throws up on our front porch.  Bryan and I look at each other like “Oh no!  What do we do?”  Reese is immediately like, “We must go.”  So we do, but now with our throw up big bowl in tow.  We didn’t really know what was going to happen with whatever sickness Reese had but she was adamant going and we were all ready to go.  The unfortunate thing is that we knew that Reese’s bestie, Georgie, and her family had recently been through the ringer with a terrible bug so we weren’t very optimistic that this would be a short thing but one can hope.  We are getting on the freeway when another throw up occurs in the big bowl we brought.  Reese then says she feels better and proceeds to sleep for the next three hours drive to Chelan.  We pull into Slidewaters at 10:30 am and Reese is ready to go.  

Reese willed her way through the day.  I could tell that she was clearly not feeling her best, she didn’t have the normal pep in her step and almost every single time down the slide she wanted to go to the hot tub to warm up.  It was a beautiful day though and like always Slidewaters was very enjoyable.  We got lunch, Reese didn’t eat a thing, and proceeded to stay until after 5 pm!  Our friends both joined us there throughout the day and one by one left to check into our Airbnb at the Lookout again this year.  New house, same community.  We had a spacious four bedroom with a hot tub, outdoor fire pit, large deck overlooking the grassy community lawn and a nice kitchen.  There was a nice kids bunk room and some toys and puzzles provided.  Anne and Phillip were on dinner duty the first night and made the group spiced chicken thighs and salad.  We enjoyed the fire pit while the kids enjoyed a movie in the bunk room.  

Friday came and Reese hadn’t eaten anything since Wednesday night and she was lethargic and slept in until super late and proceeded to sleep most of the day.  Anne and Phillip had breakfast duty and made the group sweet and savory crepes and bacon.  I went for a walk with Brooke down to the lake and around the complex as it was still slowly warming up and was fairly windy.  This day was cooler but the group managed to still have a bunch of fun.  Bryan and Brooke joined the group for pickleball and the playground while I hung with sleepy Reese on the porch for her to get fresh air.  They came back and changed for the pool but Reese and I kept hanging out at the house.  Once back we broke out a big puzzle to do as a group and David and Tina made the group a delicious spaghetti dinner, which was good fuel for Bryan and my ride the next morning.  Reese was awake enough to watch movies but still passed on dinner…meaning day 2 of not eating a thing.

Saturday morning Bryan and I had signed up for the Lake Chelan metric century bike ride which just so happened to be scheduled the weekend we were there so we thought it would be great prep and fun to do ahead of our Seattle to Portland bike ride.  Our friends were gracious enough to hang out with our kids for the morning so we could do it.  We woke up around 6:30, got some breakfast and got changed and then drove the high school with our bikes.  The metric century was the longest of the three rides offered and our group’s start time was at 7:30 am.  There weren’t so many people doing the metric century but we all started out as a pack together but when you are presented with a 1,000-foot hill right in the first few miles the pack things out pretty quickly.  We tackled, the first 1,000 feet, then had an excellent long downhill before another 500-foot climb.  These are big climbs and the ride had a total of 4,500 feet which is more than I have ever done, all in just 62 miles.  At just about 35 miles in on the ride we got to the lake and were able to fuel up on some snacks, refill waters, use the restroom and then we boarded pontoon boats that were to take us across the lake.  This was very cool and we really lucked out with the weather.  It wasn’t as windy as the day before, which they said they wouldn’t have been able to shuttle us by boat, but it was also cool and cloudy in the morning which helped us with cycling.  Once on the other side of the lake we had about 10 miles heading west along the lake before there was another rest stop and then about 18 miles back the other way, cycling along the lake and back to the high school for the finish line.  Bryan and I really pushed ourselves on this last stretch and made great time.  We finished the ride at 15 mph, which considering how highly this ride was, we were really proud of.  The sunshine broke out right as we crossed the line and we savored our success, some snacks, our free glass of Tsillan Cellars wine, and then got some Greek food from the food truck before we figured we needed to head back to help our friends with our kids.

We got back to the house to learn that our friends had somehow magically gotten all of the kids out for a short little hike.  I was amazed but also learned that both Reese and Brooke were pretty lethargic on the hike and sat for most of it.  LOL.  But Reese was awake and with the group when we got back home.  We showered and cleaned up and then both girls fell asleep on us; Brooke on me and Reese on Bryan.  After some time, our friends were walking to the nearby Vin Du Lac Winery.  After Brooke was out for some time, I managed to rouse her enough to get her shoes on her and carried her to the winery to meet up with them.  However, Brooke never fully woke.  She continued to sleep on me for about 90 minutes while I was at the winery but at least I had a drink in hand and great views of the lake.  Bryan managed to drive with Reese down to meet us a little while later.  After a few hours here, me literally just parked in the chair with a sleeping Brooke, we ordered some pizza from Local Myth Pizza and our family went to go pick it up with the car before heading back home.  After some really delicious pizza and more wine all four of us hit the hot tub.  Small win right there for Reese.  I slept well that night after the bike ride, wine and hot tub.

Sunday morning started with us waking up to make the house breakfast.  We did waffles and bacon and fruit and Reese was actually eating at the table eating some waffles!  This was set out to be a beautiful day so after breakfast our group got beach ready and took the shuttle to the four-wheeler down to the beach.  We got prime seats and played in the sand, splashed some in the water, Bryan and I got out on the paddleboard and took turns jumping off the dock.  We had a lovely time.  Reese was starting to feel the FOMO set in after the past few days and getting a little sad about it.  After a few hours at the beach our family headed up to the pool since Reese hadn’t really gotten to swim in the pool yet.  She dove for some reasons and used the hot tub but it was so hot at this point.  After about an hour we headed back to the house to shower and pack some snacks and headed out to Succession Wines which had a live band playing and somewhere we had been before with fond memories of good wine, stunning views and lush grass for the kids to play.  The place was packed but guests were accommodating and we managed to get enough chairs for the adults and put down a picnic blanket with toys and snacks for the kids.  We shared a few great bottles here and enjoyed and danced to the music.  Around 6 pm we headed back to the house all in good spirits and Bryan and I got the grill going to make our meal of burgers, hot dogs, sweet corn, watermelon and grilled veggies.  We enjoyed this last meal together outside and one more soak in the hot tub.

Our last morning was all about getting packed up, getting some breakfast and enjoying our last bit at the house.  We enjoyed a last trolley around just for fun and packed up and in the car.  I was setting off to Spokane for a one-night work trip so we drove to Wenatchee where the family dropped me off at the Amtrak station for a 3-hour bus ride to Spokane.  I made it to the Northern Quest Casino and Resort around 4:20 pm and Bryan and the girls stopped for lunch and the candy store in Leavenworth before they got home around the same time.  I had a work dinner with all of the branch managers and sales managers for the Mountain region that night at the resort before prepping a bit for my presentation the next morning.  The next day I had presentations from 8 am until 4:30 pm.  I presented right after lunch and was nervous about the response and interest but was pleasantly surprised and happy to have it over.  I went to the airport straight from the meeting and landed in Seattle around 7:30 pm.  As I was light railing and bussing home I started to have nausea.  I got home and was happy to see the family and so happy to see Reese feeling herself but I felt so sick.  I slept terribly that night and the next day managed to get the girls to camp and school before sleeping pretty much the entire day through. 

I had a few days of recovery but has happy to get my strength and energy back, especially with our next trip to Michigan only a week away and the Seattle to Portland bike ride fast approaching.  Between our Chelan trip and Michigan trip, Reese had seven days of camp at Galileo, an overnight with Lottie at our house, and her last days of Pre-Team for gymnastics.  Brooke had her gymnastics and a play date to swim at her buddy Madison’s kiddie pool.  Bryan got in a 70-mile bike ride and me a 65-mile bike ride.  We also had a long overdue dinner with Sarah and Lottie at our house for a belated birthday for Sarah and an early thank you for her staying with our kids for the STP.

Next summary…Michigan!

— 
Chelsea

This time really is just rushing by in the blink of an eye.  It seems like just yesterday that my parents left yet we’ve gone on a camping trip, have had all of the end of the school year activities, and are heading to Chelan tomorrow, and we’ll be back in Michigan very, very soon.  It’s all just happening so fast.

Immediately after my parents left we started gearing up the next adventure, our Memorial Day camping trip at Kachess Lake Campground.  We were leaving for that straight from gymnastics on Friday evening and were spending three full nights camping.  We were going with three other families, some who were only coming for a night or two.  Reese still wanted to go to gymnastics and it worked out getting the car packed, going to gymnastics and then heading east to the campground less than 90 minutes out.  We got there around 6:30 pm and had the tent up in no time, a fire going to heat are premade enchiladas over the fire, and got to see our friends and hang by the fire for s’mores before all going to bed. 

The first day of our camping adventure was perfect, warm, sunny, and after sleeping in late, getting a slow start to making our bacon and pancakes on the camp stove, we got beach ready and headed down to the lake where we spent the full day.  It was a lovely day of paddleboarding, the kids swimming and exploring the cold waters and weird little coves and beaches, having picnic lunches, and socializing with friends.  We didn’t leave the beach until nearly 5 pm to head back to camp to get some dinner and relax at the campsites.  We heated up another premade meal of chili before settling into more s’mores and the kids played Twister and swung in the hammock.  

Our last full day started out much the same way.  Reese slept in Rosalie’s tent this time and they slept in.  We all set out for the beach with picnic lunches again but this time it was quite a bit windier.  We still took the paddle boards out but it was a workout going against the wind.  The kids still played on land and in the water but this time we broke out our little kites to fly.  We managed to stay out until probably about 3 or 4 pm before we decided to head back to camp where it was just our family and Anne and Phillip’s family remaining.  We actually made our dinner this time and had it at their camp, did more s’mores, the kids did charades and it finally got time for bed.  We had another good sleep in the tent and woke to light drizzle.  The mist/rain was light and on and off but it did make for a quick departure.  We got everything packed, had a simple breakfast, and then hit the rode to head home, getting back to Seattle well before noon.  Bryan and I each took turns going for a shorter bike ride in the sunshine, not something I was expecting on this day but that did feel good.  We were all pretty tuckered from the weekend but it was well worth it.

Following Memorial Day weekend Reese had only 3-1/2 weeks of school remaining and in that time we still had gymnastics, dance, swim, Reese’s last team soccer game, Mayfair in Madrona, Taste of TOPS at Reese’s school, the Steven’s Carnival, a Mariner’s game with the Girl Scout troop, two birthday parties, a paella lunch at Harvest Vine, and end of school picnic at Gasworks Park yesterday and Father’s Day.  A lot!  We’ve made it through it all and every event has been a lot of fun and the girls have enjoyed it all.  Bryan and I have also managed to get in some very long rides on the weekend, each putting in one or two 60+ rides and each getting in an 80+ ride.  We are feeling pretty ready for the STP ride and I’m definitely ready to be done with the hours long bike rides.

Father’s Day was another bike ride but this one was different.  The girls and I set up a scavenger hunt for Bryan with six total stops along the way.  This was also our first family ride of the year and pulling the girls in the trailer these days is no joke.  They are extremely heavy. 

We started the day first thing in the morning once everyone was up.  We left our house just after 9 am and our first stop was just about four miles away.  Stop #1 was for breakfast, pastries and coffee and Saint Bread.  The line was long but I waited while Bryan and the girls went to the waterfront park to relax.  After a delicious breakfast and coffee we set out for Stop #2 at our favorite dock on Lake Washington.  We hung out here, caught our breath and Bryan opened his first little gift.  From here we had a big hill to climb with the girls to get ourselves west and connected to the Interurban Trail.  The route was pleasant but the hill was a beast without the girls and excruciating with them.  We did it though and we were shortly at the Bitter Lake Playground for Stop #3.  This was an enjoyable stop and the girls were able to get out, run around and have fun.  I walked next door to get an iced coffee and some food (particularly for the girls) but we also gifted Bryan some strawberries and a Yerba Mate.  After a long time here we headed out for Stop #4 at Golden Gardens.  Neither Bryan nor I had been here in ages and it was busy.  We played in the sand, got our feet wet, had some Oreos and then placed our order in for Stop #5.  Heading out on the Burke Gilman we had four miles to get to Outsider BBQ where we had our food ready and waiting for us and the girls enjoyed their kids play area while Bryan and I had so much delicious BBQ.  Reese decided she loved the ribs and Brooke whined over the pepper in the mac n cheese.  After a good while here we continued on the Burke Gilman to nearly back at our house for our last stop, Stop #6, at Kamp for their softserve ice cream.  We got two to share and the girls were over each other, being crammed in the bike trailer for the entire day.  By this time it was after 6 pm and we were all tired, dirty and ready to get home.  The ice cream was delicious though and we only had a ½ mile left of the trip.  Back home we quickly all showered and cuddled on our bed to watch a movie.  It was a good end to an eventful and good day. See our clues below:

Clue 1:

To start this adventure we must fuel up

So enter the cafe and get a plate and a cup

Clue 2:

We’ve been here before to take in the lake

Walk down the dock for a gift and a break

Clue 3:

We love to play at the park with you

On the slide we have one snack or a few

Clue 4: 

The end of our ride is almost in reach

But enjoy a sweet treat and kick back at the beach

Clue 5:

We are all starting to get hungry and our tummies are rumbling

Let’s get some BBQ inside to keep us all from grumbling

Clue 6:

Last stop is a great one for us all to enjoy together

A swirl shared as a family is the best in this weather

This week is still a lot, despite only being three days of school.  Reese had a playdate after school on Monday and then I took the girls to the end of year picnic on Tuesday.  We are in the midst of laundry and packing for Chelan and planning to head out first thing in the morning to hit the water park there tomorrow for the day.  I’m wrapping up a bunch of work projects as well as getting my presentation up to snuff to present at our regional meeting next Tuesday, which I am going straight to from Chelan for one night. 

Reese’s last day of school is today and we still have gymnastics on the calendar.  Summer is definitely in full swing!

— 
Chelsea

It’s been a little over a week since my parents left Seattle but it feels like a lifetime ago since they were here long enough this time to make it actually feel like them being here was a constant.  And it was so nice!!!!  For an entire month we had people to eat dinner with, take the girls to gymnastics, had a few sleepovers, and Bryan and I actually got to ride our bikes together.  How rare!  Saying we already miss them here is an understatement.  But there were a lot of good times that we had and the most important thing was they really got a peek into the life of the girls and the girls got some really good Grammy and Grandad time.  

With my parents here for four full weeks there is way too much that happened to give a daily report but I can give a pretty good summary.  They arrived in Seattle the day before we got back from Hawaii so their first day was spent settling in to their new digs for a bit and then brought us over dinner the night we returned.  That first week was a short one but a good introduction to all of the various extracurriculars we have with Reese and Brooke at gymnastics on Wednesdays and Reese back at gymnastics on Fridays, Reese swim on Thursdays and Brooke dance Saturday mornings.  That first week they joined us for all of the things.  We had a few nights of dinners at home and then did our rather frequent happy hour at Tutta Bella in Columbia City after gymnastics on Friday night.  Mom and I got to play soccer together after this happy hour for my first night game ever in Seattle and against a pretty darn good team but it was super fun to play and also conveniently located near our house.  On Saturday after dance my parents came over to let Bryan and I go for our first long ride together.  We packed up the bikes and headed down to Boeing in Renton to bike through Maple Valley and the Cedar River Trail.  We enjoyed a great 40 mile bike ride and then headed to Café Sabah for a delicious Turkish dinner that was huge and we easily demolished.  We headed home to do bedtime duties to allow my parents to get ready for their friends arrival the next morning.

Sunday was the start to a week for my parents to spend venturing in and around Seattle with their friends Cindy and Durv who were disembarking their very long cruise in Seattle.  They picked them up and headed to Green Lake to get coffee and take a walk to catch Reese’s soccer game before they got themselves ready to leave town.  They covered a lot of distance in a few short days.  They drove up to Bellingham and stayed in the harbor there for one night before driving the next morning to the North Cascades National Park, the Diablo Lake overlook and got in a nice hike before getting back to their car.  They stopped at the Newhalem Visitor Center and then drove west, through Whidbey Island, and caught the Clinton to Port Townsend ferry.  They spent their second night in quaint Port Townsend and enjoyed a fun cocktail speakeasy bar and playing dominos until late at night.  On Tuesday they got up and drove first to Lake Crescent for a little hike and then drove back up and around Hurricane Ridge to the top of the Olympic National Park.  The drive up was a little sketchy through some thick clouds on a steep and windy road but the views from the top were worth it.  They then drove back down and through Bainbridge Island to Tacoma where they had an Airbnb for the night that included more dominos playing.  Their last adventure day began with driving to the Paradise Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park, taking in some sights and a good meal, and then heading back to their place in Seattle, having a delicious night of tapas down the street to finish it off.  They spent all of Thursday exploring Seattle on a very beautiful weather day.  They walked down to Pike Place Market to explore and see the new waterfront.  They then walked to the Seattle Center to explore Chihuly and then took a cab up to Kerry Park in Upper Queen Anne to take in the views there.  They stopped at a pub up there for a snack and then proceeded to walk all the way down Queen Anne hill and up Capitol Hill back to their place where they picked up Thai takeout and rested their legs. We happily watched the two cats there were sitting for while they were away.

After dropping their friends off at the airport on Friday I told them to go ahead and rest up before reuniting with us, they were going to need it!  Our week had been much tamer, aside from the usual extracurriculars we had Georgie and Sam over for dinner on Monday night, Bryan did Farestart volunteering on Thursday and then I did the Sleepless in Seattle dinner on the houseboat for Farestart on Friday while Bryan took the girls over to Georgie and Sam’s house for a BBQ.  I did get to catch up with my parents on my way over to the houseboat which was nice to stop and see them solo first without the girls to really hear about their trip.

On Saturday, after dance and a quick playdate with Brooke’s friends over, Reese was off to Mira’s birthday party and my parents came over to spend the rest of the day with the girls so that Bryan and I could go on another ride and then they were going to take the girls over to their place for a sleepover.  Bryan and I got a little bit of a late start for the bike ride and didn’t end up picking up Jersey Mikes for lunch and then hitting the route at about 2 pm but this did allow for most of the light rain to pass.  This was particularly important because it was fairly chilly out.  We set out on a rather flat but really amazing 65 mile ride that Bryan had picked out and it ended up being a good one.  We only took a very short break at the turn around point 32 miles in because it then started to rain again and we didn’t want to be out there any longer than we had to.  We made good time on the way back and got back to Seattle around 8 pm, changed clothes and quickly headed to Cactus to refuel on some delicious food and one shared margarita that we sadly both felt pretty quickly.  We were so tired we basically headed back home for showers before falling fast asleep.  It was so nice waking up to a quiet house and we took our time getting breakfast before heading to Reese’s soccer game where we reunited with my parents and the girls.  Unfortunately, Reese wasn’t feeling her best and didn’t play at all in the first half.  She did get back in there for the second half, proceeded to play at Miller Park with Lottie while I played soccer after her game, but once her and Lottie were back at our house she complained of a headache, threw up once outside while laying on my lap, and then took a two-hour nap.  We decided not to do dinner with my parents and just take an easy night off.

We enjoyed a festive Cinco De Mayo dinner at our house on Monday, spent Tuesday playing at Yesler Terrace Park and then enjoying Din Tai Fung dumplings after, and then were back at the daily grind of extracurriculars.  The girls had one more sleepover at Grammy and Grandad’s on Friday night so that Bryan and I could attend the TOPS spring auction.  This year it was held at the newest Victor Tavern in Eastlake, down the street from Reese’s school.  It was a totally open bar and had a great spread for dinner and the first-grade parents were split over two large tables and it was fun enjoying each other’s company without the kids this time.  Bryan and I enjoyed ourselves but not too much so that we could wake up the next morning on the earlier side to set out on another bike ride together.  This time we had a 65-mile route planned around Camano Island, about an hour north of Seattle.  The ride started as planned and was quite enjoyable around the island.  We had a time crunch to attend a Zoom call for Reese’s gymnastics and it started to sprinkle right at the end so we decided to skip the extra 15-mile loop at the end and just push ourselves fast to end at 50 miles.  We listened to the Zoom call, grabbed a sandwich and headed back to Seattle to freshen up, pick up the girls and then Thai food for dinner.  

Mother’s Day Sunday came and Bryan made us breakfast in bed and Reese’s soccer game was later in the afternoon which was nice not to have to rush out for.  After the game, my mom and I headed to University Village to do some jean shopping at Evereve.  We had a great time shopping together and getting a bunch of items picked out for us from their associates.  This was a super fun treat and really enjoyable.  We headed back home where the boys were busy making a delicious dinner of oven roasted salmon, potatoes, salad and green beans.  Such a great way to end the day, time spent with my own mom and meals I didn’t cook!

We were now into our last week with my parents in town.  Mom and I took the girls to Madison Park on Monday.  We all headed to the Mariners vs Yankees game on Tuesday.  We lucked out with weather and stayed through the 9^th inning but left before the extra innings because it was already going to be quite late for the girls to go to bed.  We missed the light rail and the bus by a minute and ended up not getting home until 11 pm!  I was toast, as were the girls but the game was so fun and the Mariners ended up pulling it out.  I managed to rally the next day to go to my friend Marika’s happy hour thanks to my parents taking the girls to their gymnastics class.  I got to enjoy drinks with my friends and then came home to my parents grilling us delicious pork chops.  Another night of not cooking dinner!  Thursday after swim class, myself and the girls met up with my parents to dine at FareStart, where Bryan was volunteering.  The dinner was a delicious three course meal by the students and Brian Clevenger from Vendemmia in Madrona.  The girls thought it was really special seeing Daddy serving people food and I think they felt a bit like rock stars, getting private access to certain spaces and being greeted by many people they had no idea who they were.  

The last weekend brought us some rain which we really hadn’t had the entire length of their stay.  We had a cozy dinner in on Friday night and then Saturday was very rainy and we all headed to Reese’s two-hour gymnastics tryout.   My parents then took the girls to get their nails done and offered to watch them one more night so that Bryan and I could have a relaxed night out and not one spent biking.  We took them up on this and ventured to Pike Market to try the new tapas bar Lonely Siren that my parents had tried and liked.  We had a delicious meal here of wine, cocktails, octopus, steak skewers with chimichurri, patatas bravas and brussel sprouts that were amazing.  We walked around the new waterfront, in the rain, and then ventured into Shug’s Soda Fountain for a delicious brownie sundae to share.  We headed home to put the girls to bed.  Sunday was our last full day with the parents and it was fortunately a sunny one.  Mom and I got to play soccer together one more time so headed south for that and the girls played on the playground with Grandad and then we got fast food on our way north to Reese’s soccer game.  Bryan left the house really early to go get a long ride in with Chris on Bainbridge Island.  They enjoyed the hilly ride and nice weather and the ferry ride together.  Bryan met up with us for Reese’s game.  We headed back home after the game with Lottie in tow for a short play date and then walked down the street to try Hanuman Thai, next to Brooke’s school, for the first time.  The food did not come out fast but it was very delicious and was huge portions for us to share.  It was a nice walk back home where my parents were spending one night with us before flying back the next morning.

Monday morning came and none of us were thrilled about it.  It was also a rainy start to the day as I walked Reese to the bus stop.  I then took Brooke to school after we said goodbye to Grammy and Grandad.  I’ve told so many people how wonderful their stay was and how it truly made us realize what the life would be like with family close to help with the kids.  In one word:  amazing!  We really enjoyed all of the time spent with them and fun activities that we had.  We lucked out with the weather and it really just felt like a special trip!

— 
Chelsea

It’s about time I write about our adventures in Hawaii, before I forget them all entirely.  We’ve now been back two weeks and a lot has already happened that makes the trip feel like a lifetime ago.  Ahh, but it was such a good trip.  I think we all really fell in love with Kona.  We loved the laid-back feel to it, the expansive topography and killer views from the steady slopes of the volcanoes.  We enjoyed exploring a new beach every day and also had some really good food.  The girls were pretty easy throughout the trip.  Brooke took a nap pretty much every day without issue or struggle because she was tiring quickly from all of the sun, swimming and fresh air.  This meant she was in a stellar mood.  Reese would fall asleep quick each night for the very same reason.  And I think we were all enjoying just time spent together without too much stress or worry so we were all in vacation mode.  Our trips with the girls these days do feel like vacations and not just parenting in a new location.  Having 8 nights there was also a really great length of stay for truly getting into full relaxation and having the time to explore many things the island had to offer. 

We left Seattle on Monday, April 14^th.  Our flight was around noon so we didn’t have to wake up in the early morning hours like usual, and like I guess Reese is accustomed to and still wanted (?), so we were able to take the bus and light rail to the airport, had time for the girls to burn off a little energy at the kids play area, everyone got to pick up some food for lunch and then we were boarding our very long 6-hour flight to Kona.  The flight was smooth, the girls were great, and Brooke got a nap in.  But it is still a very long flight!  Once we landed it was so nice to enter into the small outdoor airport, feel the warm air, and we very quickly got our bags, got our rental car for the trip, and changed into shorts and sandals, saying goodbye to all pants until our return flight home.

Our drive to our rental was only about 30 minutes and we managed to do an advanced pick-up order from Safeway that we picked up on our way.  In no time we were at the Keauhou-Kona Surf and Raquet Club and seeing our rental for the first time.  We were all thrilled.  The place was perfect for our family of four.  The living area and kitchen had everything we needed, the lanai was amazing and looked out feet from the coast and had breathtaking views of the sunset that we enjoyed most nights at, and the girls liked their twin beds upstairs adjacent to our king bed which faced and sat directly above those magnificent views again.  We ended up pushing the twin beds together for the girls, at bequest of Brooke, and set out on foot to walk to the semi-private beach we could see from our unit.  It was already getting a little late so the girls walked with Bryan to check out the complex’s pool while I headed up the hill to the nearby shopping plaza to get dinner from L&L Hawaiian BBQ and a spaghetti dinner for Brooke.  Our dinner was fantastic of the BBQ mixed plate, the garlic shrimp and pork katsu.  We demolished it all!

The first morning we woke up before 5 am (thanks time change) and the sun wasn’t even up.  The pool doesn’t open until 8 am so by the time the sun had risen we were in need of some more groceries so Reese and I walked up the hill to the KTA Superstore and Bryan and Brooke explored the beach next door some more.  Reese and I got a little more than we were expecting so the walk home was a little bit more of a struggle than we thought it would be but I was thankful Reese was with me and we made it back without breaking our arms.  We had breakfast overlooking the water and then were in the pool right at 8 am where we had it all to ourselves for nearly three hours.  After we managed to get the girls out of the pool we got some lunch at our place and then walked to the beach near us to try our hands at snorkeling.  Reese really thought this was cool and we spent a few hours here taking turns snorkeling and burying ourselves in the sand.  That night we walked back, showered, and then drove up to Sunset Terrace for their happy hour, sweet tiki drinks, sunset views and live music.  We were all pretty tired and ready for an early bedtime.

Wednesday woke up and the day started much the same.  Bryan and I took turns going for a very hot 4-mile run and swimming with the girls.  After a few hours again in the pool we headed back to the house for lunch and to regroup before an afternoon outing.  We set north and up the mountain a bit until we reached Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation, somewhere above 3,000 feet.  We went on their 15-minute free coffee farm tour which taught us a fair amount about what makes Kona coffee special and just the coffee growing and roasting process in general.  The girls actually seemed to be interested and Reese even sampled a wee taste of coffee.  We purchased a very expensive but what ended up being a very delicious bag of espresso roast Kona coffee before we got back in the car to find lunch.  We knew we were going to stop at a poke place near here for lunch and managed to find a place with a burger for Reese.  Brooke fell asleep so we got both items plus stopped a cookies place before driving to Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park to eat our lunches in the car.  Brooke woke up and we also shared the delicious cookies before changing into our swimsuits in the car.  We walked to the beach here where the sand was nice, the views were great, there was a good little swimming cove and there were many sea turtles near the shore, one we almost didn’t even see and almost ran into unexpectedly.  We spent several hours here and Bryan and Reese did some more snorkeling but Reese fell on a sharp rock and cut her hand open pretty good too.  She handled it very well.  Brooke and I played a ton in the sand, building castles and burying everyone.  From there we stopped at the Kona Fish Market and got the freshest Ono and Walu fish to take home to prepare ourselves.  Brooke got to see the huge Ono before it was even filleted.  We got back to the house and I cooked the Ono with some delicious Hawaiian sweet potato and ate it on the deck and really enjoyed our meal.

Thursday was the one day that we really had planned in advance.  I had purchased a family day pass reservation on Resort Pass for the Hilton at Waikoloa Village.  I knew the Hilton had a few pools, waterslides, a lazy river and a lagoon and thought it would be a fun change of pace to spend the day here.  It was a great day and nice to explore the water park but one of the bigger slides wasn’t open, the lagoon was a little too cold for Reese to snorkel in, and everything was insanely expensive.  We did enjoy ourselves nonetheless.  We started at the lazy river with the smaller waterslides and the girls were doing laps on the little slide once Brooke warmed up to the slide and being caught by one of us at the bottom.  We then walked over to the large pool that had a shallow sandy kids area, two hot tubs and a big slide for Reese.  We spent a lot of time playing here before getting lunch at their Lagoon Grill, eating lunch of fish and chips, burgers and an ahi tuna burger overlooking the dolphins.  This was pretty cool.  Brooke was so tuckered she fell asleep in her chair after eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and proceeded to nap almost two hours.  Almost a full hour of that nap was with me in the hammock while Bryan and Reese snorkeled and swam.  Then it was Reese and my turn to go swim and hot tub together before Brooke woke up and enjoyed one more swim.  At about 5 pm we called it quits with the pools, changed into clothes and walked over to the Nui Italian restaurant for a mystery shop of drinks and a pizza.  We sat outside which was next to a big grassy area that the girls immediately played at with other kids while we waited for our food and drinks.  Reese was managing to keep up with everyone and Brooke had her restored energy from her nap and was going at 100 mph.  They were having a great time though and loved their virgin pina coladas.  At about 7 pm we finally set back for home and were spent from a very full day.

After this busy day we knew we wanted to keep it a little more local for the next day.  Reese and Bryan tried snorkeling at the beach next to our complex first thing in the morning and Brooke and I went to lock down a spot at the seemingly busy Magic Sands Beach just a little further down the Ali’I Dr.  We got a spot in the shade and the sand was great and the little rock pools made for a safer spot that the girls could play.  We left our stuff and went back to pick up Reese and Bryan for them to join us at this beach.  We spent a long time here.  Reese enjoyed the huge waves and was brave enough to go in them with Bryan.  Bryan and I each went out for a turn snorkeling past the break and actually got to see some great fish.  After packing up here we tried to go get Reese a coconut at the place just down the street but we found out they were closed for Good Friday when we got there.  We picked up another massive platter of poke to share back at the condo and made the girls a lunch of their own to enjoy on the lanai.  Post lunch we got the toys that we had shipped via Amazon and delivered to our rental.  We broke out the pool rings, sand art, punch art and rocket launcher.  The pool rings were a big hit at the pool that afternoon, which is where we spent the rest of the afternoon, right up until dinnertime when we had the buttery Walu we had picked up earlier and the girls had a good amount of spaghetti. 

Saturday we wanted to try to see if the paddle board rental place was open just south of us near Captain Cook monument so we set out early to get a breakfast before going to do that.  We drove south and up the mountain a bit to a place called the Coffee Shack which was magical.  Fantastic menu, welcoming staff and the cutest and coolest views of the beach from way up above.  We even were visiting by geckos while we were eating our breakfasts.  I had the papaya platter that was so unique, coming with a half papaya filled with mango yogurt, more fresh fruit and toasted coconut and macademia nuts, plus scrambled eggs and a coconut cake slice.  Bryan got the benny and the girls shared the French toast that came with strawberries, cream, and macademia nuts.  After enjoying breakfast, and taking one of their giant cinnamon rolls to go, we headed down to the beach only to find out that all of the outfitters are closed on the weekends?!?  We quickly made the decisions to keep heading south around the island to go to the Volcano National Park.  The drive was about 90 minutes and both girls fell asleep.  We were hoping the volcano was going to erupt while we were there but no such luck.  We did luck out for some reason there was no fee to visit the park on this day.  We walked the trails to the various lookout points and saw a few of the steam vents which were super cool and super warm.  We monitored the activity on webpage but decided it would not erupt while we were there and so decided to go ahead and leave.  

We picked up some lunch on our continued loop around the island.  I had noted that there was a free rainforest zoo in the town of Hilo that also do a free petting zoo on Saturdays only from 1:30-2:30 pm and it so happened to be that time so we stopped there while in town and the girls got to pet a variety of animals.  Brooke liked brushing the goat but would not touch the miniature pig.  The girls played at the playground there for a bit but it was hot so we got back in the car to continue driving up over the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.  The drive was cool and offered all sorts of views and weather.  We stopped to use the restroom just after the pass and there happened to be another playground there that the girls played at, this time the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler.  We broke out that saved cinnamon roll when we were about 30 minutes from the condo and once back home it was immediately to the pool the girls went.  I went to go get tacos for Bryan and I to share from the food truck we had seen down the road that was only open until 6 pm.  I brought those back and kept them warm in the oven until we were ready for dinner.  The girls wanted to swim and then there just happened to be a free magic show for this guy on a magic show tour happening next to the pool so we all caught a bit of that show.  We finally got the girls back to the house after sunset.  The birria beef tacos and ono fish tacos were amazing.  And off to sleep we were for another night in paradise.

Easter Sunday came and the girls were treated with a few Easter gifts that they found in their bed.  We didn’t really have any solid plans for this holiday.  We swam in the pool for hours on this morning, had lunch at our place, and then changed and headed north to a new beach called Manini’owali Beach in Kua Bay.  This beach had good sand, crystal blue water, pretty rough surf that Reese found fun, and the perfect windy weather for the girls to fly their new little kites they got for Easter.  Honestly didn’t have an occasion in mind for them to do this but this worked perfectly.  After a few hours here, and a very cranky Brooke needing a nap, we got ourselves changed into our finest of the trip and headed a little further north to the Mauna Lani shopping area.  Reese and Bryan picked out a fancy Hawaiian shirt for Bryan for Boeing Fridays while Brooked continued napping in the car.  Then I went to start on a mystery shop for bar and dinner at the Tommy Bahamas.  I got about 30 minutes to myself at the bar before the rest of my crew joined me for dinner in the dining room, views of the sunset and live music included.  We had delicious mahi mahi and a great chicken dish.  The girls were happy with their food and we split the chocolate torte to finish off the meal.  Our server was so nice and this was a really nice trip to (almost) end our vacation. 

Our last full day was now here and we had made a reservation for a paddleboard to explore the supposedly excellent snorkeling in the reefs in Captain Cook.  We got there at 9 am and got the paddle board and found a nice spot to hunker down for the next several hours at a semi-private beach called Manini Beach.  Bryan paddled the board around to us, Reese went aboard and they were off for about 90 minutes of paddling and snorkeling, seeing tons of fish and a lot of coral.  They returned and I asked Brooke if she wanted to go and at first, she did but she didn’t like boarding the unstable board so I went out solo while the girls stayed with Bryan to snack, color and eat the popsicles we had packed in the cooler.  I spent a little over an hour paddling and then swimming and snorkeling alongside the paddleboard most of the way back.  Came back and Reese joined me with some snorkeling right off of the Manini Beach outlet and say a lot of fish there as well.  We returned the paddle board around 2 pm, picked up a coconut from a roadside fruit stand and headed back to the rental for our final swim in the pool that afternoon.  We picked up food from L&L Barbecue again for our final night, the BBQ platter, garlic shrimp and Kahlua pork this time.  We were so hot and sun kissed that the hour right before sunset was actually painful on this night but once it went down it was beautiful and something we knew we would truly miss.  

We got a fair amount of packing out of the way on our last night and got the girls in bed to get some good sleep.  Our flight out of Kona was on Tuesday morning at 8 am, so late for Seattle time but by now we had adjusted to the time change.  We dropped off the rental car and got to the airport with plenty of time to finally get the girls the lei and flower crown they had been asking for and pick up some food for breakfast/lunch before boarding our 5 hours plus flight back to Seattle. 

Flight was smooth and easy.  Neither girl napped so we had a bit of a cantankerous Brooke with us by the time we landed in Seattle.  We got our bags, got on the train, then the bus and then were back home right around 7 pm and my parents brought over Thai food to feel us all!  It was a real treat coming home from a wonderful vacation to be greeted with my parents, who are still here and welcome to stay for however long they want to any time they come again.  We’ve had great weather since being back and are back to our routine plus some fun with my parents here.  I’ll catch up on all of that later.  In summary, we loved Kona and already can’t wait to go again.

— 
Chelsea

The fact that it was the first week of March the last time that I wrote about our latest happenings is a great indication of just how busy we have all been.  It’s been a busy past few months, great months the majority of the time but taxing ones at times too.  Before I even get to our wonderful adventure to the Big Island of Hawaii and my parents visit to date, I’ll just summarize what was keeping us so busy before that.

Firstly, it was birthday party season.  I think we had, at a minimum, one birthday party for five weekends in a row.  That keeps you additionally busy when you have activities up the wazoo during the week as well.  We have two more birthday parties coming up so of course that fun is never over.

On top of gymnastics twice a week, swim class, and dance class, we added Reese’s soccer, and me as coach, back to the mix.  I also have my soccer games most Sundays that I try to squeeze in with the help of Bryan or with the girls tagging along with me.

Bryan and I are fully into training for the STP which takes a lot of time.  Having trained for a half marathon in the past I’m used to committing time to training for something but training for a bike ride takes that much more time.  I try to get in two rides during the week of about 20 miles and Bryan and I each really need to get in at least one long ride on the weekend.  That wasn’t working out so well before but now that my parents are here, we have high hopes of getting in a few long rides together, which is just so much more enjoyable to do together.

Bryan and I had two more ski days on our ski pass to use for the year and after not having our car for a month while it was in the shop we had to squeeze them in when we could.  We were able to get one exceptional day in mid-March where we had wonderful fresh snow, really got our workout in, and even ended the day with enough time to get a margarita and chips and salsa at the shores of Lake Washington before getting the girls and taking them to the annual Ivar’s Birthday dinner.  Our third day of the year was less than desirable conditions but still fun to do together, ended the day on the slopes earlier to come home and relax some and then got to have a date night at Daniel’s Broiler thanks to our new date night swap with our friends.

We took the girls to Snoqualmie Pass twice (well, once for Brooke) to get them out on their skis and Reese loved it.  We still have stuck to only the magic carpet with her this year but I think with her enjoyment of it and need for speed she will be ready to get to some faster terrain next year.  I think Brooke likes snow and likes ski outfit best.  She basically yelled at me her times down the bunny hill, even though I was holding onto her backpack handle the entire time.  The thing she is not ever going to like with skiing is Reese being out in front of her.  She gets really upset if Reese gets too far out ahead of her with skiing, biking, walking, scootering, etc.

Enter April and April just came and went.  First, Bryan went down to Phoenix to spend a weekend helping and visiting with his parents.  He was there over a weekend where literally one thing after another happened, many things awry but also very wonderful moments with the girls as well.  We had some wonderful weather that we took advantage of with enjoying an early Easter Egg Hunt at Madison Park with Brooke’s buddies after dance class and visiting one of the girls’ favorite parks for box sledding on the Yesler Terrace Park grass before getting dinner in Pioneer Square and took Georgie with us to go watch the NCAA Regional Gymnastics Tournament held at UW.  But I was also taxed from all of the going ons and after glorious weather we had truly miserable weather for that Sunday for a not-so-fun soccer game in the rain.  I nearly choked at Guest Chef Night, my new bike radar fell off my bike while out for a ride that Friday, thought I had completely lost my work phone and credit card come Monday morning, and just general challenges of solo parenting.

I was relieved to have Bryan back for about 36 hours before I headed down to Phoenix myself for a Structural Engineering conference at their convention center downtown.  Bryan was in full solo parenting mode for the next three days while I was able to get a bit of reprieve from responsibilities, soaked up some sun, and enjoyed some of my coworker’s company.

Then we left for our 8 nights in Hawaii…with everything leading up to this trip it did definitely sneak up on us but fortunately it was wonderful and relaxing for us all!  More to come on that soon.

— 
Chelsea

We’ve been busy, yes, lots of activities and goings on around here.  Surprisingly winter is speeding along, some days are starting to feel like spring, and all of us are ever growing and evolving so I thought I would take a closer look at those changes.

Brooke:

• She has an insane memory…and largely for facts.  I can tell that she retains lessons learned at school really well, like when she informed me that Washington was a president the other day and she points out planets in the sky.  She will also not let it drop if you promised her a week ago that you would paint her nails or promised her something else fun to do.
• She’s still on the outs with Madison, despite our best attempts to get them together at the park, for a playdate, or at dance class.  She keeps a grumpy face on around her and I just can’t understand her deal.  Madison seems fine, it’s all on Brooke.
• We did have a great playdate with her old buddy Maya and their family when they came over for dinner a few weeks ago.  They danced, they laughed, they got dressed up, sang songs.  It was very cute.
• She’s loving dance class and gymnastics class but she does not love the first five minutes.  She needs at least this long to ease into the class and be okay without my presence or by her side.  This means I get to partake in warm up and stretching at dance class every Saturday morning…
• She is still a girly girl who loves dresses, dressing up, painting nails, braids in her hair (but don’t dare brush or style her own hair), glitter tattoos, hand tattoos done by her sister, high heels and as much jewelry as she can put on her body.
• She still is the one that keeps us up at night.  The girl doesn’t go to bed until after 9 each night and it doesn’t really matter whether or not she had a nap that day.  She needs apparently only as much sleep as a full-grown adult.
• She’s getting more comfortable in water.  Reese and her baths have become mermaid lay down sessions and their play in the hot tub in San Diego made it evident that she’s okay getting her face some wet and not needing contact at all times when in the water.
• Her safe foods are still a short list and I can’t get her to budge on that.  Even if she sees Reese eat veggies or try something she cannot be coerced.  I’d love to see what they got her to eat at school some days.
• She’s getting much better at her balance bike and scooter.  She’s had fun riding around the playgrounds with Reese and friends lately and she’s now ridden her bike to school a handful of days.
• Her hair is starting to get a bit longer and really has a lot of large curls in it.  She had her first haircut so they evened it all out but I expect it to start growing quite a bit here soon.
• She really loves her sister most.  And her sister’s friends.  She is as excited as Reese when any of Reese’s friends come over and hangs out with the big girls the whole time.  She doesn’t like doing things without Reese and certainly doesn’t like to go to school if she knows Reese is not in school.
• She’s been doing great without wearing her pullups lately, except at night she still wears them, and that is a blessing because we had several weeks with a bunch of accidents and were starting to wonder what the deal was.

Reese:

• Reese is in swim and gymnastics class right now as well as Girl Scouts once a month and loving it all.  She really has been into practicing handstands, headstands, and cartwheels whenever she can and also swings and twirls on her bar in her bedroom on a near daily basis.  I’m glad that she seems to be starting to make friends with the girls in her Pre Team at gymnastics and they play and try to teach each other things before class each week.  Reese likes people that will challenge her.
• Reese is still tied to the hip with Georgie and Lottie and those are her besties.  They are noticeably easier and more natural playdate guests than any of her other friends which is a good thing because we have them over a lot.
• Reese has been a really great big sister lately.  She’s been super patient with Brooke even when she is being a bit of a stinker or when Brooke really is dependent on me and she includes Brooke in a lot of what she is doing.
• Reese has been a bit more interested in trying some new foods or at least giving them a taste.  She’s still not at all an adventurous eater but she’s definitely more up for giving some things a try and at least doesn’t flat out refuse like Brooke every time.
• Reese has been starting to doodle and write on her own more.  She’s been bringing her little notebook with her on the bus and spends some time writing or drawings stories to share with me later and I love it.
• On Mondays when Reese rides the bus home, I’ve let her walk the one block home by herself and she loves this!  Of course, I can see her from our upstairs window and watch her the entire time but even this small amount of independence seems to really excite her.  Our Miss Little Independent Dependent child lol.
• Reese continues to be all things Barbie, princess, Gabby, and all of the things-that-make-Bryan-cringe obsessed.  We’ve had many a debate on which movie to watch at night but we have managed to watch a few oldies but goodies including Sound of Music, which she ended up really liking, Mary Poppins, and Harry Potter, which is the one movie that scares her and she refuses to finish for that reason.
• She’s really into color by numbers and asks me to print some for her fairly frequently.  We’ve done a few more of the sewing stuffed animals from a kit we got.  And recently she has requested me to teach her to knit, which I don’t know how to do myself.

Bryan:

• Bryan is in a battle with cars as of late.  Three weeks ago, on his way home from work he got hit by a car while driving.  He was fine but the car was badly damaged and has been in the shop ever since.  We’ve had a really undesirable Nissan Altima ever since and they quoted us our car back on 3/14.  
• Then, last Friday, on a gloriously sunny afternoon, he went for a bike ride on our Magnolia loop and on his way back and down the hill in Magnolia, him and a car collided while he was riding in the bike lane.  I was in Columbia City with the girls for gymnastics and I was very worried about him when I got the Garmin alert and could see his little blue dot on the Find My Friends wasn’t moving.  He sprained both wrists, has a gash on his ankle, but other than a little bruising, him and his bike are surprisingly okay given that he was going about 30 mph when the accident happened.  I’m still so relieved.  The girls like telling anyone and everyone about his hurt wrists.
• Bryan’s been working down in Renton in his old stomping grounds since about mid-January.  It’s a work assignment that suits him well, given his past experience and knowledge, but isn’t the type of work he wants to continue on in the future or stay with forever, but a nice little reprieve from his time in Everett and an opportunity to figure out what he ultimately wants to do and where he wants to be.
• Bryan has been better than me about getting on his bike and already logging in several 20-mile bike rides.  Of course, he is now on a bit of a hold from that to wait out the healing of his wrists but I am very proud of him for getting himself out there and training even in the cold.  I will need to catch up to him for sure.
• Bryan and Philipp have been pretty good about getting together on a monthly basis for dinner and drinks and the guy’s group is still going strong as they are currently planning a 40^thbirthday trip for many of them to go fly fishing, hiking and rafting in Alaska this summer.  Bryan is pretty excited about this trip.  Now I need to finish working out the details for our trip out East with his high school buddies.
• Bryan’s latest obsession would be finances and sorting them all out.  I blame two things:  taxes and working in Renton since he has more downtime for these thoughts.  It’s a good obsession though as he gets our whole life straightened out.
• Bryan and I finally got to the law office to sign our estate.  Two plus years in the making, two years since all of the paperwork was finalized and ready for our signatures, and we finally got there to do it in person.  Can’t say it was the most fun but did feel like a good thing to have gotten done.

Chelsea:

• I’ve still been loving playing on my women’s soccer team.  This was the first winter season I played and we’ve had some chilly games but also some really beautiful ones.  I did sprain my wrist in early January in a game but am pretty much all healed up from that.  We are losing a few of our good, young players but still have a pretty strong and balanced team.  8v8 has been fun but I’m ready to get back into the 11v11 soon.  I’ve managed to score a few goals this season which has been enjoyable as well.
• I’ve been trying to do a little more baking, both with the girls and by myself.  Nothing too challenging yet but mostly sweet quick breads that the girls really enjoy (banana, pumpkin and apple fritter breads) and am now pretty good at a three ingredient no-knead round loaf.
• My abstract for a conference in October in Nashville was accepted which means I now have to finish the rough draft before our trip to Hawaii in April.  I have not found much time to research or write this paper, unsurprisingly to me as I tend to procrastinate with writing research papers.  But this is a good fun challenge for me and Mom might be available to go with me to the conference.
• I’ve done a few FareStart volunteer gigs for some of their gala auction items and that is a lot of fun for me.  I like to see these events unfold and brings me back a bit to my catering days at Michigan.  Plus, it’s fun to meet and witness some of these great chefs do their magic and of course try their food.
• I’m at the end of my 18-week journey with my Invisalign to fix my bite and help with grinding of my teeth.  It’s been more painless than I was predicting and I am very glad that I went ahead and did it.  Having said that, I’m also glad to be soon going to only wearing a retainer at night for awhile and be able to go without anything during the day.  Still not sure when that will be as I had my appointment yesterday where they removed all of the buttons on my teeth but are going ahead with their “refinement” period which will have them order me a few more trays that I won’t get for a few weeks.  I’m hoping it’s only like five trays but don’t know yet.
• I had my first day of skiing with Bryan in 6 (but more like 8) years in January and it was so freeing and so much fun.  It felt like old us and I felt more confident on the slopes than I did 6 years ago when I was a new mom.  We had beautiful sunny skies and zero crowds.  We have two more days we need to get in and I can’t wait, especially since I just got new boots for the first time in probably over 20 years.

— 
Chelsea

We were fortunate to have a nice little family getaway to San Diego this past weekend and if I’m going to be honest, I’m ready to go back.  This four-night getaway was exactly what we all needed and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed the time spent together in the sunshine.  I think Brooke asked if we were going to San Diego 100 times.  By this she kept checking to make sure we were going back to our house in San Diego, and not going back to Seattle, so for clarity we started calling the San Diego house the Sunny House.  I think she was the least pleased of all of us about going back to Seattle Monday morning but it was also a very abrupt wake up call upon arrival with heavy rain, gale like winds, and even losing power Tuesday morning so as her school had a delayed start of 11 am.  Joy!

So our flight to San Diego (and back to Seattle) was at the crack of dawn.  6:30 am to be exact so we were up and out the door around 4 am to get there in time.  We had just enough time in the airport for a quick breakfast and then boarded the plane.  Our flight is a short and sweet 2+ hours but as we were descending into the airport the pilots made a quick maneuver to put us back in the air and did a run around of the airport which delayed us about 25 minutes and then we had to sit on the runway for another 30 minutes before we could pull into our gate.  We were restless by then but soon enough were off the plane, bags in hand, and retrieved our rental car heading to La Jolla.  Our Airbnb wasn’t going to be ready until about 3 pm and it was only about 11 am so we drove up to La Jolla to take in the seals, walk to find a delicious lunch al fresco at a place called Queenstown Café, and then picked up some groceries from Ralph’s and then were eager to see our place.  

Our rental was right in the heart of Mission Beach and was a great and spacious find.  We were one block from both the ocean boardwalk and the Mission Bay walking path.  We were also a hop, skip and a jump from a big grassy park and Belmont Park which we had plans to hit on Friday.  The girls checked out the digs and then were ready for the hot tub.  It was only about 63 degrees on Thursday and Friday and the hot tub was set pretty low upon arrival but the girls did not seem to mind and swam for about an hour before we pulled them away to go watch the sunset.  The girls chased the waves, got soaked in seawater and sand, so we headed back to the house after sunset to wash them off, change them into pjs and get them some food before they were entirely toast and ready for bed.  Chad was in town for work and we had talked of meeting up.  Because the girls (and us) were so exhausted he graciously picked us up Baja fish tacos from Oscar’s Mexican Seafood just north of us and brought them to our rental.  We scarfed them down and enjoying conversation with him for some time before we were all ready to get some needed rest.

We woke Friday morning with our sole plans for the day being Belmont Park, which opens at 11 am.  After breakfast the girls were ready to get back in the hot tub.  I went first for a 5-mile run on the nearly empty boardwalk and then Bryan went after me.  I soaked in the hot tub with the girls for awhile and then we showered and dressed for the day.  We set out for a quick lunch at the nearby Kojack’s for Greek food for three of us and a slice of pizza for Brooke before walking across the street to Belmont Park where we proceeded to spend nearly the next 7 hours straight at.  The girls loved the rides and took them all in that they could do.  Reese especially loved the car ride with Brooke, the spinning ice cream ride by herself, and her first ever experiences on bumper cars which she was an ace at.  Brooke also loved the car ride with Reese, the submarine ride but her favorite was surprisingly the Zero Gravity drop ride, which was also a favorite amongst the rest of us.  We all walked back to the house around 3 pm to reapply sunscreen and let Brooke get in a quick snooze with me.  We enjoyed some bubbles on the grassy lawn on the way, pina colada popsicles while in the house, and the Brooke napped with me for over an hour while Reese and Bryan took in more of the rides that Reese could do but Brooke could not.

Brooke and I reconvened with the other two at the park just before 5 and we pulled the girls away from the park a little after 7 pm because we knew we needed to get food and that they both would crash pretty quickly.  We ordered takeout from SD Tap and got some really good pizza, chicken, Brussels, and pasta.  We were all toast, as was Chad, so we didn’t meet up with him on his last night in town.

Saturday morning was a planned day at the San Diego Safari Park.  We had been to the zoo here before and it was amazing and this is its sister attraction, located about 35 minutes inland.  We had an easy drive there, stopped to get a big breakfast at the Broken Yolk Café on the way, and go there a little before 11 am.  It was more than 10 degrees warmer at the park then at the coast, if not more.  We started with the carousel, which is always fun, and started our walk through the Australia Outback section which was maybe another 10 degrees warmer.  We got to see tigers, kangaroos and condor on this walk, all very cool but we lost Reese to the warm weather as well.  Carrying both of the girls in the heat was…fun.  We looped back around to the carousel for another three rides which perked both girls up and then we set out for a cool snack of an ICEE and soft serve cone which also helped.  We continued on to the Africa Walk and to get on the tram for the safari.  The wait was a bit for the tram but it was fine not walking for a bit and before long we were on the tram and ready for a 20+ minute ride through the park.  This was a lot of fun and well worth it.  We got to see giraffes, rhinos, zebras, antelope, deer, flamingos, lions, and many other animals and it was peaceful and serene and really all beautiful.  I did feel transported to a real safari for a short time.  After the ride we cooled off in the little kids spray park before heading to the exit with one more stop at the carousel for a ride before leaving the park at nearly 5 pm.

We got back to the Pacific Beach area right at sunset and it was beautiful.  We picked up a delicious poblano chicken California burrito from one of our favorite stops, Lucha Libre, and then tried some more Baja fish tacos from Mission Tacos which were surprisingly even better than Oscar’s and brought them back to the house to have for dinner.  We settled into a movie and then spent the last hour of the night hot tubing before going to bed.

Our last full day I think was one we were not sure how it was all going to play out as we were headed downtown to a whale watching cruise.  The weather was phenomenal though with zero cloud cover or fog and sunny beautiful skies.  We got to Pier Two to board the City Cruises boat at 9:15 am and from then until nearly 1 pm we were out at sea.  They gave us some historical information on San Diego, some areas downtown and of course the military bases in the harbor, before getting out into the open.  The sea was very calm and flat with very little wind so it was extremely pleasant in the sunshine. 

Before long we got reports of two fin whales a little way out and got to the spot where we caught them in action for about an hour.  This was very cool to see the second largest animal in the world.  We then found a group of standard dolphins which was also super fun to watch jump and swim with the boat.  We headed back to the harbor and upon departing the boat found a food truck pop-up with live music and a grassy lawn for the girls to play in.  We shared a bang bang shrimp plate and got Reese a massive hot dog and Brooke a cheese quesadilla to enjoy in the shade before heading back to our casa. 

Bryan and I alternated going for a run, along the bay this time, and taking the girls to the beach for the last 3 hours of sunshine.  We really enjoyed building sandcastles, burying the girls in the sand, chasing waves, looking for seashells and Reese did handstands and cartwheels for an hour.  The sunset was gorgeous and we were all feeling great.  We headed back home once the sun was set, soaked in the hot tub for a while and then I went back to get more Greek from Kojacks and pizza for Brooke to have while watching a movie and the girls were toast and ready for bed shortly after that.  Bryan and I finished laundry, packing and getting the house ready to leave and were in bed early as well.

Our return flight to Seattle went without a hitch.  We landed a little after 9 am and got the girls to school around 10:30 am.  It was a very successful family vacation, one with a lot of pictures and memories, and one I could already go back to.

— 
Chelsea

So, the start of the year has started off with a bang and I guess it should be no surprise to me that I haven’t posted since our return from our winter travels and the start of the New Year.  There has just been so much going on.  It’s not that we have had any big events or grand plans but we are at the beginning of just regular weekly programming that is sending me in a tailspin.  We hopped back into school, work and all the activities at the same time.  Let’s look:

Monday:  Nothing other than Georgie and Reese swap houses and bus stops home each week to play together.  Works well…most of the time.

Tuesday:  Nothing usually except for Girl Scouts one Tuesday every month.

Wednesday:  Reese and Brooke both have gymnastics at 3:45 but it is also early release day for Reese so this means I need to essentially pause work at 1:30 to collect the girls and get down to Columbia City.  We usually ride the bus, stop at the library for our weekly collection of 10 books, stop at PCC for a treat, and then walk to gymnastics.  We don’t get back home until 5:30 so it’s a long afternoon.

Thursday:  Reese has swim class at Garfield High School at 5:30. Brooke likes to come along and be my towel girl for Reese and help her in the changing room.  It’s funny.

Friday:  Reese is back at gymnastics.  Depending on the day, Brooke may need to come with us.  I usually need to leave a little after 2 on these days.  Still back home around 5:30 unless we all get dinner out in Columbia City afterwards.

Saturday:  Brooke has started Creative Dance with her two buddies which unfortunately starts at 9 am a short walk away from our house.

Our weekends have been free which is lovely and needed after all the week’s activities.  We’ve had a few playdates on the weekend which is great for Reese, and Brooke who usually can tag along quite well and be kept entertained.  I organized Reese’s Girl Scout troop in a park clean up on MLK Day which was a success and then had a total of 4 girls over (including my 2) for the rest of the afternoon.  Reese had a sleepover with Georgie and Mira last Friday night which enjoyed by all girls.  Reese went to a Think Like an Engineer event for Girl Scouts with her friends early on Saturday morning.  Reese and Lottie went to a pop-up event at the pool at Garfield for an obstacle course inflatable race in the pool.  I had a girl’s night out for dinner and drinks in Capitol Hill one night and Bryan played pickleball and went to dinner with his guy friends another night.  We both have volunteered at one Guest Chef Night at FareStart this month.

Of course, we pulled for Texas through their strong end of season run.  Bryan closed out the season with a night at the bar with Phillip to cheer them on but Ohio State unfortunately got ahead of them and they couldn’t rebound.  Bryan took the girls for an adventure in Discovery Park one Sunday and another we did a family adventure challenge that involved a yarn obstacle course and squirt guns in the kids room.

And I’ve had a good time playing some winter soccer games and have been fortunate that every game has been sunny and in the 40s which isn’t that bad.  However, in the game this past week I fell hard and caught myself with my wrist and sprained it which hurts a ton and makes simple actions difficult.  It is getting better though.  It didn’t stop me from going skiing with Bryan midweek at Steven’s Pass.  We bought a 3-day midweek pass this year to get some good skiing in without the kids or crowds.  It had been 6 years since I had been skiing and a good 8 since I had really been skiing well.  We had a great day on the slopes.  There certainly was no new snow but the sun made the groomed runs soft and we got in a ton of runs from 10 am until 3 pm when we headed back home to pick up the girls.  I paid special attention to not use my poles and I was terrified of falling on my bad wrist but managed to ski without too much pain or difficulty.

Following an exceptional day just the two of us skiing in the sunshine, we woke up to Reese getting sick in the middle of the night Monday night and I started having really bad GI issues as well.  Both Reese and I were stuck on the couch all of Tuesday without any food or drink and Bryan miraculously worked a full day, picked up Brooke, got us groceries and some dinner before falling to some stomach discomfort himself.  Brookes seems to be fine so far so hopefully the worst is past us.  Reese has spent the past two days at home but tomorrow she should be back at school.  

Let’s hope we continue to stay healthy and having fun through all of the things we’ve got going on.  The first month of the year is almost coming to a close and what a crazy one it’s been so far.

— 
Chelsea