The Last Dregs of Summer

(8/6) Work day for Dad and me today. The boys were home video-gaming, and seemed to have a good day.


(8/7) Day off for me and I kicked it off with a walk with Sarah. Nanan called and suggested we go out to lunch. We haven't seen her since before our Wyoming trip. It was good to catch up. D had an appointment this afternoon, and the boys had swim lessons right after. It was a busy day!


(8/8) Work day for me, and the boys were home. Dad took them clothes shopping and for haircuts. It's amazing how much a haircut can make them look so much older!


(8/9) Work day for me, and the boys were home. Dad took us mini golfing tonight.  C got two hole-in-ones! J refused to take any direction, and then got mad when we did give it and the ball didn't go where he planned. He ended up just pocketing his ball for half the course. Some of us had fun, at least!


(8/10) It was pouring down rain this morning, so my normal walk to Zumba was shortened to a quick drive. The weather cleared by the time Dad woke for the day, so we piled the kiddos in the car and went to the lake. Dad barbecued tonight for dinner, and the boys marathoned The Simpsons this evening.


(8/11) Lazy Sunday for me and the boys. I read most of a book and didn't go anywhere or do anything. I kicked the boys out after dinner, but they returned fairly quickly since it had started to rain. They requested a movie tonight and watched Detective Pikachu.


(8/12) Work from home day for me today. Dad took the twins to swim lessons this afternoon. One more week of lessons, and we're almost into school time again. I feel like summer flew!


(8/13) Work day for me. The boys got to hang at home while I was working and their dad was sleeping. We played some Uno Spin after dinner tonight, and caught up on Ninja Warrior.


(8/14) The boys had dentist appointments today and we went for lunch and to a movie after. They have been wanting to see Angry Birds 2, and we all loved it. We were home briefly until we jetted off for swim lessons.


(8/15) Work day for me today. We all piled on the couch to watch The Simpsons this evening.  Dad and I got some time to catch up on our own TV too after all the kiddos went to bed.

(8/16) I took today off so we could run over to the Tri-Cities and celebrate Oma & Opa's 50th anniversary. Sarah and I took a long walk this morning around the lake. When I got back, I got everybody packed and into the car. Our goal was to leave by 11, and we weren't far off at 11:30. We made it over to the hotel and checked in before hopping back in the car to go to Opa's. We had dinner with Opa's brother and wife (which was so fun--love seeing them!), and then we headed back to the hotel for some swimming. The boys swam well past their bedtime, and were pretty ready to settle in and go to sleep.

(8/17) We went for breakfast fairly early this morning. While the boys' food was settling, I went for a walk and read my book. When I returned, it was time to go swimming. The boys were in the pool for a good two hours. We got out, went for lunch, and then came back to hang out until it was time to go to Opa's. I stayed with Oma and the twins while the guys ran some errands to get ready for the celebration they're having at the church tomorrow. We had dinner and Oma's sister came by to join us. We had a lovely evening, and you can bet we were all back in the pool when we got back to the hotel.

(8/18) Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. We packed up and were homeward bound shortly after breakfast. We took the scenic route and took the twins to the Gingko Petrified Forest, in which they had little interest. J stomped around the interpretive center, and headed back to the car. D at least looked out the binoculars and let me take his picture. We sat in lots of oh-so-scenic traffic on the way home, and stopped for "linner" at Scuttlebutt. The concept of linner was very confusing for the boys, and D was mad that we had missed lunch and J wanted official dinner. So we snacked our way through the evening.


(8/19) Work day from home for me today. The boys video gamed while I was occupied until it was time for swim lessons this evening. Dad took them to those so I could finish up work and get dinner started. We watched BattleBots this evening, a deviation from our normal marathon of The Simpsons.

(8/20) Work day in the office for me. The boys stayed home and video gamed. Tuesdays are pizza nights, and we had pizza for dinner. D loves leftover cheese pizza for breakfast!


(8/21) Today we had ALL THE APPOINTMENTS. The boys had things scheduled at 9a, 11a, 4p, 4:20p, and 4:55p. All in different places, of course. The twins finished their session of lessons, so that's one thing off our plates. They concluded their lessons by jumping off the diving board. Brave boys!


(8/22) I worked today, so didn't see much of the kiddos until late. We watched some BattleBots and the twins had fun playing Mouse Trap. D loves that game!

(8/23) Sarah and I caught a walk before work this morning. The sunrise was amazing! The season is definitely changing which makes me simultaneously sad and energized for the new school year. Work was quiet and otherwise unremarkable. We played Dungeon tonight for family game night and Dad made us raspberry shakes. Yum!

(8/24) I went to Zumba this morning, and then came home to read my book. Dad went to help the guys change a clutch when he woke up and was home in time to grill up some surf 'n turf. I needed food on a stick for my photo prompt.

(8/25) Lazy Sunday for the boys and me. I read most of a book and got the boys' backpacks out from the recesses of the closet and finally cleaned them out for this coming year.  Dad has done all the supply shopping and they go back in a little over a week. C seems to be ready, but the twins are dreading it.

(8/26) Work day from home for me today. We went and picked up C's schedule for 7TH GRADE. How the heck did that happen? He chose not to smile in his picture, so we'll replace the unsmiling face from last year with this year's. Dad made an awesome dinner of lemon parmesan linguini with scallops. We're getting fancy up in here!

(8/27) Work day for Dad and me. My office hosted a game night in our training room. We had a lot of fun, and I got home in time to say "hi/bye" to the hubby and put the twinsies to bed.

(8/28) Sarah and I went walking this morning to coffee, and when we returned, C & D wanted to go. D ordered a raspberry truffle hot chocolate and could not stop talking about how amazing it was. C is trying to stay off screens in the mornings so he can use his time in the evening, so advocated hard for going to the early swim session. I took the boys, and C had a great time. The twins fought the.entire.time. I thought I'd take my book and read, but ended up monitoring that whole situation. C ran into a couple of kids from school, so the boys asked to stay for the later session too. After four hours of swimming, the kids were starving so we headed on home for snacks followed closely by dinner.


(8/29) Work day for me, but I left early so we could take the kids to the fair. We were not prepared to be rained on, so took an elephant ear break and waited out one of the squalls. We did the petting zoo  and got head-butted by an obnoxious sheep, C tried archery and came to pet the Clydesdales with me, and the kiddos went on lots of rides. We think we'll take the entire day to go next year because there was so much we didn't even get around to doing.

(8/30) Work day for me, and Dad and the boys spent the day hangin' at home. I was let off work early in advance of the holiday. The teenager is appearing this weekend so we can celebrate her birthday. It will be so good to see her!

Jalopy Journeying

(7/16) Work day for Dad and me. I worked from home because my shuffled dentist appointment from a couple of weeks ago was rescheduled to today. I lost another quarter of wisdom--ouch! I finished out the day working, but kept my phone off until I could talk again.

(7/17) Work day for Dad & day off for me. Sarah and I went to Zumba this morning. It totally felt like fall, all misty and gray out. The kids and I hung out until it was time to take C to his appointment. Once we returned, Dad was awake for his day and made us homemade ramen for dinner.  Yum!


(7/18) Work day for me, actually in the office this time! The kiddos were mostly quiet so Dad could sleep while I was gone. Still, he got an early wake-up on his day off due to a neighbor installing a fence. Luckily he was off today and could turn in early.


(7/19) Work day for me today.  The kiddos were up early today and I got to see them briefly before I left. Fridays are my early-in day, and I am usually back home after they've had dinner. Dad dealt with changing cable providers today ~ we're all thrilled to have faster and better-working interwebs!


(7/20) Lovely day off for all of us. I went walking with Sarah early this morning and then sat and read my book until Dad got up for the day. We went wine tasting this afternoon. My wine was in, and they give free tastings with membership, so... Once home, Dad made chicken skewers and we had a picnic outside.


(7/21) Lazy Sunday. The kiddos and I bummed around until Dad was up for the day, and then we decided on a trip to the dog beach. Unfortunately, everybody else had the same idea, and we couldn't find any parking at our favorite haunt. We decided on Magnuson as a suitable replacement.  It was hot and very busy, but made for a fun afternoon. Noodle was a little overwhelmed, and earned himself a leashed walk.  Cass was loving chuck-it time, and ran so hard that by the time we got to the lake, he just crawled in and laid down in the water.  He got a second wind after that, and hollered every time Dad slowed down ball-throwing.  We didn't hear a peep from him all night. He was one tired pup.


(7/22) Work from home day for me. Sarah invited the boys over to swim this afternoon. We called them home for dinner and went out to Scuttlebutt. When we got home, we watched a little Simpsons together before it was bedtime for the twinsies and Dad went off to work.


(7/23) Work day for me, and the boys got to hang out at home and play screens while I was out. The blood mobile was at my office, which always makes donating super easy. Once I got home, we watched some TV together and that about wrapped up the day.

(7/24) Today was an exciting day of appointments. C and J had check-ups, and D had to go get his nose cauterized again.  In between, I tried to keep up with the news (Mueller testimony), and was definitely looking forward to the nightly recap of everything I missed.


(7/25) We got to go out on a yacht for "staff development" aka our summer outing. The boat was enormous, the weather was perfect, and I spent the entire time soaking up the sunshine. We spent about four hours aboard, and then we continued the fun at the pub across the street.  I got home late, but still caught an episode of Ninja Warrior with the kids before they went to bed.


(7/26) Our boss let us have a late start today, which meant our normal early birdie Friday walk was at a much more reasonable time. Work was workish, and even though we partied hard yesterday, there was happy hour again this afternoon. Dad barbecued this evening and I came home to a picnic outside. It was really hot today, and we had the swamp cooler running for most of the evening.


(7/27) Sarah and I met at the gym for Zumba, since it was too yucky out to walk. Zumba was a blast as usual. We all hunkered down inside while the weather cleared out. This afternoon the twins and I finally made our schedules align with Sarah and Jamie's, and took him to Altitude for a belated birthday jump. This evening we trekked down to Mt Rainier for their star-viewing program. It was a little cloudy, so Saturn and Jupiter were a little fuzzy, but I could definitely see the rings on Saturn, and Jupiter's moons. We also got to see Vega, which was crystal clear and very bright before we headed on home. It was a perfect activity for us to do with Dad on graves since we got back at 1am.


(7/28) Lazy day for me and the boys. We hung out at home for most of the day today, and D chose swimming for our afternoon activity. I took them to the community pool, and the boys are finally tall enough that I got to sit and read my book while they swam. Woohoo!  Dad worked on the truck, trying to fix its climate control gremlin. We all met back at home for dinner, and of course the requisite Simpsons viewing.

(7/29) Happy anniversary to us! It's a Monday, so we both worked,  and pretty much didn't see each other. The twins started swim lessons. J spent much of the instruction time under water, and D would  just announce, "I don't think that's a thing I want to do" when the instructor asked him to do something. So yeah, it'll be fine.


(7/30) "Work" day today. We were sent off to a beach house on Alki for a day of pampering. There was a full mimosa bar, we had massages, and played games. It was awesome team-building! I got in a shortly before Dad had to head to work, and had just enough time to catch a quick snooze before putting the twinsies to bed. Being pampered is exhausting!


(7/31) Sarah and I hit the gym for Zumba this morning, and then went home and packed for the lake. We spent several hours enjoying the water. Dad ended up having to go in early to get certified for CPR, so we only saw him because class happened to finish early and he got to come home in between that and work.

(8/1) Happy birthday to me!  I worked today and was actually in the office. I feel like we've played so hard lately that I haven't gotten a ton done in the way of actual work.  So it was a nose to the grindstone kinda day.  We're packing and doing ALL THE LAUNDRY tonight to get ready for our trip. Dad is putting on a Jalopy Journey, and we are road tripping to Oregon to take in some sights.


(8/2) ROAD TRIP! We dropped the twins with the grands and headed down to Astoria, OR today.  We had dinner at the Bowpicker Fish & Chips and would rank them solidly at second on our favorites list. After dinner, we were going to check out a local distillery, but they didn't allow kids or dogs, so we stopped at Reveille Cider for a tasting. We checked into our hotel after that, and walked the path going along the Columbia and caught a beautiful sunset.

(8/3) We were up seriously bright and early since the light outside our window made us all think it was daylight way, way too early.  We breakfasted at The Blue Scorcher Bakery and fueled up for the drive. We started the tour at Fort Stevens and saw the Wreck of the Peter Iredale. We passed Haystack Rock, as unfortunately all nearish parking was taken.  One of the drivers told us about Tillamook Country Smoker, which had tons of jerky (a favorite of C's especially). We were going to do the cheese tour at Tillamook proper, but it was super busy, so we went on to Blue Heron French Cheese Company for lunch. We chased a delicious lunch with some truffles and continued on. We drove to Rowena Crest Loop viewpoint. It was pretty hot once we got into The Dalles, so we found a winery with air-conditioning!  The wines at The Sunshine Mill were delish, and we may have walked away with a few bottles. We camped at Brooks Memorial State Park back on the WA side.  One of the drivers made homemade tortillas, so we had quesadillas for dinner. Yum!  The view of the stars was absolutely amazing tonight--crystal clear and dark night skies.

(8/4) We broke camp pretty early and got on the road. We first hit the Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah, WA.  Then we moved on to the Gingko Petrified Forest. From there we checked out the Liberty Orchards Aplets & Cotlets store in Cashmere.  The next tour wasn't for another 20 minutes, so we decided to raid the store and head on.  We had lunch at Sonic in Wenatchee, and went on to the fruit market at Smallwood's Harvest.  We got caught in traffic coming home due to construction and accidents, but we eventually made it. And once back, I met the boys at the ferry.  They got to go out on the boat, swimming at the rec center, and had a great time with the grands.

(8/5) I'm working from home today, and Dad hopefully can get a lot of sleep so he can flip back onto graves after all that driving and being awake in the daytime. The twins have swim lessons later, and that's about it for excitement around here today.