If you live in North King/Snohomish county, then you are aware that a huge windstorm ripped through the area of the weekend. Our lovely neighborhood was hit hard. After a long drought, the storm rolled in Saturday morning. I was blissfully headed to Camp Gallagher sans children. Around noon, the power went out. I felt a little guilty, but not too much. I spend every day all day with the kids. I started feeling a lot more guilty when the power still had not come on several hours later. I came home to no power. I figured I'd wake up to power, thanked God that I had a new cell phone that had a battery that lasted longer than a few hours, and went to sleep.
Sunday morning there was still no power. All of our perishables in the fridge and freezer perished. The kids did not like going to the bathroom in the dark. Robin and I scoured the region looking for a coffeeshop with power (it took about an hour). You don't realize how dependent you are on electricity until it's gone. This in combination with watching Fear the Walking Dead is making me realize how much I need to better prepare for disaster. While waiting for the power to come back on (it finally did a little over 24 hours after it first went out), the kids decided to survey the carnage and began the clean up.
He wanted to go outside too.
Um, when did Linus become a man?
"What have I gotten myself into?"
"I'm crushing your head."
His toothless smile cracks me up.
Robin chose to ride out the storm in his own private cave.
This morning we woke up with only butter and ketchup in our fridge. Desperate times call for desperate measures. After a scrumpious meal of dry Lucky charms, we braved not one, but TWO grocery stores. With our wallets much lighter, we were able to not only restock our fridge and freezer, but we got to buy yummy treats to celebrate Dave's birthday.
Instead of hanging streamers for Dave's birthday, I opted to decorate for fall. Linus spent a good half hour decorating Dave's mini cake only to watch his efforts melt. Dave, Robin, and I feasted on takeout Thai food while the other two ate Star Wars mac n cheese. Robin's eyes lit up when he saw all the candles burning on Dave's cake. Dave actually wanted blackberry pie and vanilla ice cream for his birthday. Since he is the only one who likes blackberry pie, he got it all to himself while the kids and I shared a mini cake.
34 years young
Dave and I will enjoy his birthday present later this week when we go to the Seahawks game. Last night, Dave got a surprise birthday present. Right after the power came back on, our dryer died. After not ever being able to completely fix our washer, it was time to replace. A blackberry pie all to himself, Seahawks tickets, a brand new washer and dryer, AND we have power again. Sounds like a good birthday to me.
Linus: I love reading. It's one of my favorite sports.
Aunt Beth: Do you want to take a bath?
Eileen: I don't like baths. They make me feel bad about my mom and dad.
Eileen: I don't want red hair. It's just for mermaids named Ariel.
Eileen: When it's a sunny day can we get a monster truck and go for an adventure?
Eileen: My body is NEVER going to touch those pants! (She is very feminine and insists on dresses and skirts. How ironic given that at her age I literally ripped a dress from my body.)
Robin: Oh books! (Said whenever we drive near Third Place Books Commons where both the library and a bookstore are located. It's always disappointing when we go to the grocery store instead.)
If you can't find Robin these days, there is a good chance he is hiding behind the blueberry bushes and eating all the unripe berries. He also likes to steal the badminton racquet and shuttlecock.
My sister, Beth, is moving to Wisconsin in a little over a month. It was a pretty sudden decision to move. I fully support her, but man am I going to miss her family. Beth brought her kids up for a visit to get a little respite and see family before the move.
The kids all had a great time. My aunt, Molly, came for a visit as well as my brother, Tim. My sister, Sally, took all three "big" kids to a Mariners game. My parents took my niece and nephew on a trip to the zoo. Additionally, my mom was here almost every day. It's a good thing I like my family....
Originally, Beth planned to come up while her husband was spending time with his brothers. This transformed into adding she and Chris leaving the kids with me so they could fly to Wisconsin and find a place to live. Piece of cake, right?
First part of epic babysitting was a trip to Volunteer Park. We played on the playground, visited the Conservatory, walked through the park, climbed the water tower, and waded in the pool. We waved to the cemetery, but did not enter.
The big kids pretended to be gargoyles outside the water tower.
My goal was to just run the kids ragged so they would sleep. We played baseball and soccer outside the Richmond Beach library, one of my favorite parks.
There was much silliness with costumes and bubbles.
Grocery shopping with two under 2 necessitates the dreaded car cart. Robin insisted on being male and kept grabbing Gwen's steering wheel.
I'm going to miss these two so much.
Linus was feeling creative and organized an auction, puppet show, and magic show all in one. The kids were a pretty respectful audience.
Eileen's comment at the end of the show says it all.
The kids played hard. We made bird ziplines, a plastic bag rocket, and craftstick puzzles. There was much digging and many baths. As I started to lose my steam, I took the big kids to the dollar movies. By the end of our time together, serious baths were needed. Eileen was so tired that she put herself to bed at 5:40 pm and missed epic bath time.
I learned this week to be grateful that I was only blessed with one child at a time. Dear Lord managing two toddlers at a time is crazy making! I haven't done that many dishes, cleaned up that many spills, put away that many toys, read that many books, or functioned on so little sleep. I'm eternally grateful to my mom for all the pitching in she did to help manage them all. This morning I awoke relieved that I only had to care for three kids and then proceeded to clean the whole house top to bottom. I finished my day with a girls night out and a glass of sangria. All is right in the world.
I crossed another item (or two) off the summer bucket list today. The kids and I headed to Bainbridge Island today. A quick phone call this morning added my mother to the excursion. It was a long day, but fun.
The kids woke up before 6 am. Fun times. Dave now leaves the house at o'dark thirty so I get to rouse myself early these days. The upside to the early rising was that everyone was fed, dressed, beds made, and teeth brushed by 7:30 am. We were out the door by 7:45. Whew!
Eileen was mad we didn't go to KidiMu (the children's museum) last time we were on the island. She has been begging to go since. We managed to time things just right and after a short wait for the Kingston ferry, we made it to KidiMu only minutes after opening. Now that Robin is walking, it is wonderful to see him fully embrace his environment. He loved the museum, especially the store and giant light bright.
Even though he is quickly growing up, Linus can still find joy in things intended for a slightly younger set. He prefers all the physics activities upstairs and the bouldering wall outside.
After playing hard at the museum, we headed out to the nearby playground. We played until we were exhausted and we ready to do a little window shopping in downtown Winslow. It was weird to see all the tourists on a weekday. Even though I don't live on Bainbridge, I still kind of feel like I'm part of the "old" island. We then met my aunt, the venerable Great Grand Eileen, for lunch.
Growing up we went to the island every August to pick black berries. It doesn't feel like August is complete unless I've dawned jeans and a long sleeved plaid shirt, and then picked berries while the sun beat down on me and I became slowly entangled in thorny bushes.
Of course I feel it necessary to include my children in this tradition. Who needs a fancy farm with lots of rides and entertainment when you can just hang out along the side of the road and pick berries for free?
The berries this year ripened early and are pretty small due to the excessive heat this summer. It took a little bit to find the sweet spot with lots of berries prime for the picking. My aunt provided us with the proper picking containers--old giant plastic tubs with handles that once housed cheap ice cream.
It was Robin's first time picking berries. He was a natural. He and my mother have really developed a special relationship over the past year.
Linus did a great job picking berries. Eileen only picked a few, but then decided she preferred my aunt's dog, Mowgli. Mowgli is a pretty special dog in her defense.
The kids eventually tired of picking blackberries. Linus watched Robin for a little bit before being ready to throw in the towel on berry picking. I'm pretty sure all of us would have gladly stayed on the island a little longer, but there was a ferry to catch.
It was a long trip back. Thank goodness we stopped for froyo because it took forever to get off the island and we missed the ferry. Robin was beside himself by the end of the trip. We've got two full buckets of berries to show for our time on the island. Tomorrow my mom is going to teach me how to make jam.
After a day of fun, I'm tired. I really hope the kids sleep past 6 am tomorrow.
