The kid’s last day of school (except Abigail) was Friday, June 14. As I’m typing this it’s already late July which seems like I’m quite behind, but I actually am quite proud of myself for being this close to “caught up”. Since the start of summer break I tried to write down what we’ve done each day so I don’t forget. This will serve as a journal of sorts for our summer which is great, but it also means that there’s a lot of unnecessary, seemingly uneventful details. Rather than take the time to edit for content I’m just going to roll with the overshare which I realize may seem quite boring, but it’s our history nonetheless.
Saturday, June 15
I really wanted to do something as a family today. In this case “family” being the parents and three youngest kids, cause our two oldest had schedules and commitments of their own. Carly had an early morning drive for drivers ed and then babysat in the afternoon and Abigail worked in the morning as well. We ended up deciding on a bike ride. Justin was quite reluctant, but it ended up being a nice little excursion. Drew is still on training wheels and was struggling to pedal on gravel so we ended up staying on the paved paths. Jason and I rode most of the way home but stopped when the hills got steep and waited for Justin to circle around with the van and pick us up.
This morning I noticed on Facebook that the Thomas’ in Auburn were having a little open house this afternoon for their autistic son who was graduating from high school but didn’t want to attend the actual graduation ceremony. We haven’t seen them much the past few years and I knew it would be a great surprise for us to show up. I can’t travel that direction without hitting up some errands so we stopped by Costco on the way down.
They were shocked when we knocked on their door. We were the only people besides immediate family there so it was definitely the right choice for us to make that day. It meant a lot to them and it was really nice to catch up.
Justin wasn’t keen on accompanying me to Winco so I dropped him and the boys off at a park and Katie and I went to Winco on our own. Turns out that Katie deciding to come with me at the last minute was a total blessing. As I was walking into the store I realized I hadn’t switched my wallet from by bare basic cards to the full enchilada since traveling to Seabrook so I didn’t have my debit card or a check book and credit cards are not accepted at Winco. I almost had to have Justin Uber down to the store so he could buy the groceries we needed, but then realized I had some cash and would just be sure to not spend more than I had. So Katie was my accountant and kept track of how much we were adding into our cart and we made it out with most everything we had our list. Bonus was that it was a good little math lesson for Katie and a perfect example of shopping with a budget. Glad I don’t have to shop like that every day.
We met Justin’s parents at Chick-fil-A for dinner on the way home which was the perfect end to an enjoyable (and productive) day.
Sunday, June 16
Carly is mid-way through her driver’s ed course and is doing amazingly well for not having much time on the road. Her instructor came out and complimented me after her first drive and basically gave me most of the credit – um, ok. I think I’ve been calmer with Carly driving than I was Abigail, but that might just be because I’ve done this before and I’m not as uptight. We do need to get Carly on the road more so today she drove the whole family to church. Her first time on the freeway – 70 mph! Actually she got going 80mph before I noticed and told her she needed to slow down. I think as a new driver you have so many things you’re learning to pay attention to that her speed wasn’t one of them. Hopefully she doesn’t naturally have a lead foot.
Carly is great about keeping a journal and I LOVE that. I think she’ll really appreciate that during her life and if she’s like me as a teen writing in a journal was my outlet – a way to voice and let out any drama or frustrations I was having. This afternoon she was writing outside on the grass and Justin decided it would be funny to turn the sprinklers on – just enough to surprise her but not enough to get any of her papers wet. Carly didn’t find it funny.
This afternoon Abigail received her patriarchal blessing. I’ve been anticipating this for a few years now, but let Abigail be the one to get to the point where she wanted to reach out to the bishop to get her recommend. It was a neat experience. The patriarch spent a lot of time talking to her (and her parents) before the blessing and I really appreciated the insight he shared.
Monday, June 17
Today I was primarily a chauffeur. I took Carly to her babysitting gig at 10am. Took the kids to the library to get and return piles of books. I drove Katie and a neighbor to a birthday party (pottery painting) at 1pm. Then it was time to pick up Carly from her gig, drive to her friend Madi’s house to pick up Madi to bring her back to our house, so that an hour later I could drive them both down to drivers ed. It wasn’t until the evening that I was finally able to squeeze in a workout at the gym. Life of a busy mom.
Tuesday, June 18
I dropped Carly off early at her babysitting gig and headed to the movies to meet up with the Squires to see the remake of Aladdin. It was a great! There’s not much chance to visit with friends at a movie, but it was still fun and I was grateful for the invite that got us there. We stopped at Cafe Rio for lunch and we’re sorely disappointed to find that they’d raised the price of the Tasty Tuesday promo (any meal on the menu) from $5.49 to $6.99 – a 27% increase is huge. We only ordered two meals since Katie and Drew were still full off of popcorn and then we hit up Costco before heading home.
We had a quick turnaround back home before leaving to go to the resident pool party at the TPC golf course pool. It’d been years since we’d won the lottery to attend – way back in 2012. It was a cold, rainy day seven years ago and it was today as well. Like typically PNW kids the rain didn’t faze my kids. I thought it was pretty funny that the Rowley’s from our ward were there too – Mormons like free stuff. Jason got bored after a couple hours and got a ride home with them. Katie and Drew lasted the full four hours and were the last kids in the pool. It was cold!
Our admission also included a free drink – too bad they didn’t have hot chocolate this time.
Katie wanted me to video a few of her little tricks…
Wednesday, June 19
This morning we hiked Rattlesnake Ledge with the Rowley’s – their two year old, Hannah required additional stops along the way so we had to wait every so often for them to catch up. The kids did fantastic I felt like we would have been super-fast if we hadn’t been waiting at all. There was a little sprinkle of rain at the top, but nothing too concerning. I’m always very nervous on ledges and cliffs so we didn’t stay long. Drew held my hand a lot of the way down in case he tripped – I loved it!
We had just enough time to stop at the library to pick up some books that the kids had on hold and then a little time to play at a park while we waited for Carly to finish her babysitting job. We started some laundry and straighten up the house a bit. This was Drew’s idea of “straightening the shoes” – anyone see a problem with this besides me?
Jason shot hoops at Rowley’s for a bit but got bored. I made Katie’s requested meal of fettuccine for dinner and Abigail strode into the house as we were eating so technically everyone was home for dinner – a rarity. Then everyone was off to youth activities for the night except me and Drew.
Thursday, June 20
Carly was once again babysitting today – she is babysitting six days this week, Monday thru Saturday for four different families and she even had to turn a job down. She also had drivers ed every afternoon. Busy girl! Jason spent the day at a birthday party – they went to the Flying Circus which is a fun indoor trampoline place. I had a camp meeting tonight to meet my YCL’s (Youth Camp Leader) and the other UC (Unit Counselor) I will be working with. My UC partner is super organized and has lots of ideas so I think I’ll just be her trusty assistant and go with the flow. Nice to take a bit of a back seat and defer to someone who loves being creative.
Friday, June 21
Today was an awesome day! I went to the gym and ended up going to class instead of walking with Andrea and Addy the whole time. The class was rough as always but it felt great to get in a good workout. I did end up getting to walk with Addy and Andrea for a little bit afterward which is always nice to have a chance to catch up with them. After showering and getting ready I came downstairs to meet up at Carly for lunch date and found that we were wearing identical outfits. I agreed to change my clothes as long as she let Katie take a picture of us first.
Carly is the first one to have a summer lunch date this year and she chose one of my favorite places to go, Maggiano's! Lunch was delicious. My favorite dish at Maggiano’s is the mushroom ravioli. They no longer offer that entrée as one of the tomorrow options for the “Today & Tomorrow” BOGO promo but when I expressed my disappointment the waiter made arrangements with the chef to let me take it home as my take home dish as well. I was thrilled! We also add a gift card and Justin sent us a $10 off coupon just in time to get that taken off the bill as well. So it’s as if the transaction didn’t even happen, right? After hitting up Costco we headed to Baskin-Robbins in Issaquah to redeem four $2 e-cards we got off the T-Mobile Tuesday app this week. In order to maximize our eight dollars we ended up sharing a waffle cone with three large scoops of ice cream. It was delicious! When as we were leaving the ice cream shop Carly mentioned how refreshing a smoothie sounded and I then remembered that Jamba Juice was giving away free smoothies that afternoon, so of course that was next on our agenda. And as if all of that goodness wasn’t enough, I had a coupon expiring for a BOGO free dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme. The afternoon couldn’t have been more perfect. I don’t think Carly rolled her eyes at me once and she seem to enjoy taking advantage of all the promotions just as much as I did. I love getting some one-on-one time with her just as much as scoring some good deals!
Our ward was having a summer picnic tonight at a local park. I was still full from lunch and wasn’t feeling particularly social so Justin took the three younger kids and I popped in for a little while with Abigail and her friend Kalli. Today was Abigail’s last day of finals so her summer officially started. Carly was once again babysitting tonight.
Saturday, June 22
Justin and I were able to tour the Norwegian Joy cruise ship today while I was in Port in Seattle. We made the reservation over a month ago, and it took some coordination to make it happen. Carly had a drive from 7 to 9 AM and we needed to find her a ride home so she could go babysitting at 10 AM. In the end we had a friend in the ward who lives in our neighborhood pick her up and bring her home. Abigail was at work. Jason has had to step up quite a bit lately as the new sibling in charge when we’re gone. We ended up canceling a birthday party that Drew was supposed to go to. All that just so Justin I could do the tour. It was fun to walk around the ship and check out some of the rooms that we never would’ve seen, especially some of the fancy suites and private lounge areas for the cruisers that pay the big bucks. We also we got to enjoy a free lunch in one of the dining rooms which was good; however, cruise food is still cruise food. The Norwegian Joy is a really fun ship, it has a race track and laser tag, but overall we weren’t that impressed. I guess we’ve become a little bit of cruise snobs with our experience on Disney. Even though Disney doesn’t have all the bells and whistles it just has a feel to it that can’t be duplicated by anyone else. We also thought our ship that we went on with Royal Caribbean last year was by far much more impressive than this particular ship.
Saturday, June 22
Justin and I were able to tour the Norwegian Joy cruise ship today while I was in Port in Seattle. We made the reservation over a month ago, and it took some coordination to make it happen. Carly had a drive from 7 to 9 AM and we needed to find her a ride home so she could go babysitting at 10 AM. In the end we had a friend in the ward who lives in our neighborhood pick her up and bring her home. Abigail was at work. Jason has had to step up quite a bit lately as the new sibling in charge when we’re gone. We ended up canceling a birthday party that Drew was supposed to go to. All that just so Justin I could do the tour. It was fun to walk around the ship and check out some of the rooms that we never would’ve seen, especially some of the fancy suites and private lounge areas for the cruisers that pay the big bucks. We also we got to enjoy a free lunch in one of the dining rooms which was good; however, cruise food is still cruise food. The Norwegian Joy is a really fun ship, it has a race track and laser tag, but overall we weren’t that impressed. I guess we’ve become a little bit of cruise snobs with our experience on Disney. Even though Disney doesn’t have all the bells and whistles it just has a feel to it that can’t be duplicated by anyone else. We also thought our ship that we went on with Royal Caribbean last year was by far much more impressive than this particular ship.
I had a gift card with me that Drew had received from a classmate for Valentine’s Day to a candy store in Seattle that I’ve been wanting to redeem, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to get that checked off my list. Turns out the gift card only had $5 on it but we walked out of the store with $5 of candy and no gift card so it was a success! I also couldn’t resist picking up some flowers at Pike Place. The peonies are in season which are so pretty. Turns out they’re not that fragrant though.
Sunday, June 23
Carly was picked up by the Feely’s to head to the airport for Utah at 3 AM today. I figure I can get up with my girl two times a year. The first day of school and the day she leaves on her first flight without us. She’ll be attending AFY (Adventures For Youth) this week in Moab, Utah. She’s going to have such a great time!
Carly was picked up by the Feely’s to head to the airport for Utah at 3 AM today. I figure I can get up with my girl two times a year. The first day of school and the day she leaves on her first flight without us. She’ll be attending AFY (Adventures For Youth) this week in Moab, Utah. She’s going to have such a great time!
Justin also left this morning before I got up to catch his flight to Kansas where he would be working for the next few days. It was a uneventful afternoon at home after church. We did have a bit of a strange experience when Brother Rowley came and knocked on our front door. He asked if Justin was home – I figured having a member of the bishopric come over on a Sunday afternoon it was calling related. Brandon insisted it wasn’t and then asked if we liked pizza. He was apparently home alone this week and making homemade pizza and offered to bring us one. We don’t turn down free food, even when we’d just finished dinner. It was simple buy delicious. I sent him this picture just minutes after he’d dropped it off.
Those of us left at home capped off the evening watching a movie together.
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