roof pergola

 After a few years of indecision about reckoning with scope of projects and priorities, we bought an inexpensive pergola for shade on the roof.   With some help from D, we put it up on the fourth of July and enjoyed some shady lunches at the end of the summer.

Flash forward to October, when the wind reminded us that we needed to secure it better.   First, we tied it down and then we attached concrete blocks to the feet and reinforced it with cables.   It was our first time drilling in concrete and the first type of anchors we used were crap.  After many trips to the store and some chilly work, it's done and we're pretty sure it is secure enough.

covid lifestyle update

Here we are in the 22nd month of the covid era.  Wednesday was Dd's first day back in preschool after a week off because of one of the toddlers in his school caught covid over Thanksgiving weekend.

There are a few positives angles: no one got very sick and we as a school community have had an impressive covid-free run.  Also, Jack and I survived a week of juggling Dd with full time work.  I think he enjoyed the time at home and we enjoyed parts of it.   It's also nice to not be too worried that he as a healthy kid would have a serious case, if he had caught it.

That said, having him at home while we both work just isn't sustainable, which is why I find myself worrying more about all the other viruses too.  Our current culture requires that even little colds be taken seriously and treated like covid until tests come back.   It's so tragically funny to look back at the old days where we went to school in the throws of a bad cold, spreading germs like crazy.   We've been relatively cautious about rejoining society, because even a cold throws our delicately balanced schedule in to such disarray.

We know this from experience.  Looking back over the last year, Dd brought home colds on a monthly basis from September '20 through this past July.  I got most of them, D got a few and Jack has had a few minor sniffles.  Miraculously we haven't had a cold in our household since July, finally enjoying the break from minor illnesses that many people had last winter.   Maybe it's because Dd's been wearing a mask much more regularly at school since the summer (though still not at snacks, meals or nap time) or maybe it's because we've already had everything that is circulating, aside from the covid (knock on wood).

In other good news, D had his second vaccine dose on Nov 28th and Jack and I got our boosters prior to Thanksgiving.  Now that D is more protected, we've switched over to having him ride the school bus, which is so very nice for us.  

Dd turns 3

Before the month is up, I want to document Dd's third birthday!   His sense of humor, imaginative play, strong opinions and desire to do things for himself have all increased lately.  It is fun to watch his imagination which often stays on a theme for a week or more: the couch is a garbage truck, we're going camping, let's build a houseboat....

He has a really funny idea of what baseball is.   It involves falling down a fair bit and he shouts baseball words in a way that doesn't quite make sense, like "two ball strike!"

We've also been allowing him a bit more independence in the house.   Both kids have been excited for D to supervise Dd a bit.  The other day we felt confident enough that they'd play on their own that we did about 45 minutes of work on the stair lights while they stayed upstairs on their own.   D often reads to Dd and Dd is interested in words on signs and identifying letters.

At three, it's been a while since he was a baby, but now I find that I really see that we're done with the baby years.   A few things he said recently, really show that he's growing up:

Grammy said we needed some balls and I said "how about baseballs?"

I got up and went potty on one and I didn't bother you.

I live in this pool.

On his birthday weekend we stayed in a cabin at Dosewallips state park with friends in the cabin next door.  The following weekend, the weather was nice and D helped make a wacky cake for family.

a japanese maple for the roof

 I always look at rooftop gardens, as much as one can from down on the ground.  Japanese maples appear to be a successful option for our climate, so I finally bought one and planted it today.   It is a variety called iijima sunago.  Here’s hoping it works and is slightly protected from the wind   

We also put pink and a white snowberry bushes down by the street.  

new old table and a gallery wall!

We got a great big sturdy table, with two leaves, on Buy Nothing, a couple of years ago.   It was just right for our family since some people still occasionally stab the table with forks or put bowls of dry ice on it for fun.  Then, over the summer, the ratty finish on it started to fail catastrophically, to the point where hot soup or a cup of tea would stick to the table.  Next things that weren't even hot started to stick, including the placemats we tried as a stopgap.   

With helpful insistence from my parents, the loan of scraping tools and lots of muscle we scraped off the old varnish over the course of a month.  Then the kids started to stain the bare wood... so just before it got really cold, we put on three coats of smelly varnish.  I enjoyed adding some stripes that are trying to say "I know I'm still rough, but hey, think about mountains."   Over the summer we also got matching red chairs (pictured), from Buy Nothing as well, which look nicer too.

This month we finally hung a Monet picture from a Christmas gift card from Jack's parents and put together a gallery wall above my desk.   I haven't decided on the pictures for the smaller frames yet, but am still very satisfied with how it looks.   It's been five years in the house and now we've hung a few things in more permanent positions.  I feel lucky that we've got a pretty good office set up, with large, personal desks.

Camano with bikes

 Camano Island was a nice labor day weekend destination.   We picked D up from school on Friday and headed straight to our cabin on the beach, making it the rare 3-night trip.   Jack's birthday was the day after we returned.   Will he be able to pick them both up next birthday?

We ate lots of blackberries and some comically big apples.

As with nearly everywhere we've been this summer, the kids spent a lot of time digging.   D actually dug up a pickaxe right in front of our cabin.

We found some crabs and I need to make a point of getting out to more low-tide opportunities with the kids.

Four years ago we did a fun biking weekend on San Juan Island (Friday Harbor!) and D and I are wearing the same shirts again.  The roads were pretty nice on Camano and much smoother than on San Juan Island.   Drivers were nice on both and the shoulders were good enough most of the time.   

On Saturday we rode about 20 miles from our cabin on the north part of the island.  It included some long hills and the kids were troopers.    Sunday we drove to the south part of the island to start and rode about eight miles.   Despite the good roads, I would rate San Juan Island higher because there are such nice destinations.  Camano has two (hilly) state parks, right next to each other and few (if any) other good parks or charming public spaces.  

D's Piccolo has gears and he can definitely help on hills.   Dd's Wehoo is really cool and these were the first rides where he actually pedaled, though it was only occasionally, as one would expect.  Jack's bike has a habitual problem with broken spokes, but fortunately riding on two broken ones didn't cause any problems this trip.

Coming back to our cabin to hang out was really nice.

five years in our house!

 We've added Dd, some plants, window blinds and more.

Here we are in October 2016.

38

This year, Jack had two baseball games scheduled for my birthday and one the day before, which is good for him, but less fun for me.   Either because late August is a nice time of year for a getaway or because they took pity on me, my parents and sister agreed to a little cabin stay.

It was just up in Lynwood and was right on a small lake.   The assortment of boats, a hot tub and the opportunity to play in sandy gravel were some of the highlights.   For D's benefit we stayed up late playing board games (Ticket to Ride and Forbidden Island) both nights.   My sister made an excellent birthday cake.   

I did stand up paddle boarding for the first time and swam a bit, although it was fairly chilly for August.

D can swim!!!

This was the summer where D learned to swim!  When I started teaching him again in late April, he had reverted back to putting his face in the water for only a second and by mid-July he could swim about 20 feet (with two breaths) and could dive down to get something off the bottom of the shallow end of the pool.   This month I haven't been able to take him very much, but he's been swimming with grandparents a few times and I think he will retain the progress he's made so far.

Getting him the opportunity to learn to swim has been a very frustrating experience for me.  To celebrate his accomplishment, or rather our accomplishment, I have made a cathartic timeline.

6 months: We go to our first parent tot lessons, where I thought "if we just keep this up, he'll never be afraid"

3 years: We have kept up a pretty regular course of lessons.  When he was three he started to make some progress in group lessons that no longer required parents to get in the water.   He had a few lessons where he was afraid, but not many.

I recognize a conspiracy among the city pools where almost all family swims are at about the same time in the middle of the day, conflicting with nap time. 

4 years: We are still going  to group lessons most of the time, at either the YMCA or the nearby city pool.   I realize from talking to other parents that almost no one actually learns to swim from group lessons.   In a 30 min group lesson, each kid is actually working on something for about 7 minutes.   It is entirely about time in the water and lessons are mostly just hanging on to the wall.

It is really hard to get to the times available at local pools.   The beautiful new Rainier Beach pool sells out consistently so if you are late, you won't get in.   Naps are no longer an issue thankfully.  The YMCA near us abruptly starts enforcing a well-intentioned but inane policy whereby kids who can't already swim must wear a lifejacket in the pool, even when they are with their parent the entire time.   This makes it literally impossible to practice anything from the lessons at the Y or to teach your kid there yourself.   It also gives kids a scary over-confidence where they think they can swim when they cannot.   Lifejackets are super useful but this policy drives me crazy.

D's daycare takes the preschool kids to group lessons two days a week in the summer!  There is no evidence of swimming, but he is in the water and it is inexpensive and convenient!

Our local city pool shuts down in January 2019 for renovation.  

I achieve the milestone of spending my 100th hour googling swim lesson options and schedules.

5 years: Some other kids can swim now.   D did a handful of really high quality private lessons at a swim school in South Lake Union.  He made some progress.  The lessons are both expensive, hard to schedule and super inconvenient.  Did I mention they are in South Lake Union?   I cannot handle this combination.   I start to wonder how any child with working parents and without a nanny ever learns to swim.

We sign up for some more fairly pointless lessons at the Y.  At least his friend is there too.  Our neighborhood pool is still closed.   The Y won't let families practice actual swimming.

As 2019 ends, the city pool renovations are finally complete, way behind schedule and marking almost an entire year of closure.  I give up on group lessons and convince D to let me teach him.  We resolve that on any weekend we are in town, we will make a point of swimming together at the city pool.   The family swim time is during Dd's nap time of course, but now that doesn't matter for my five year old.  

In January and February we swim quite a few times.   D makes some progress on being comfortable underwater.  Things are going well.   Then.... COVID-19 hits and I don't need to remind you what that was like.

6 years: D has his first covid birthday in the spring of the full shutdown.   

We play in Lake Washington in the summer and another lake near Mt St Helens (Lake Mayfield), but it's not really the same.  Somehow my dad managed to learn to swim in the lake as a kid.

The city pool opens in February, but only for adults.   I didn't make it there for a few months myself, because I had a cough.  D has a persistent (non-covid) cough also.

When we finally stop coughing in late April, we head out to a pool on Mercer Island, which is allowing kids, with reservations where each family gets a lane in the shallow pool.  This is where we start over, essentially from scratch.  We go there on five Wednesdays.  Since he basically has no school on Wednesdays (only 8 am -10 am online) we have enough flexibility to make it to mid-day time slots.  Thanks pandemic.

That first swim in late April, just before his birthday, is the only time D gets in a pool as a six-year-old.  I was on swim team, practicing every weekday morning all summer when I was six.  I need to ask my fact checkers whether it was the summer I turned six or the summer I turned seven, but the point stands either way.  I lived in the suburbs with a mom who hadn't yet returned to work after having kids.  

7 years:   By this point I am easier on myself, understanding that there were some circumstances outside my control and that if my kid doesn't swim as well as I did at the same age... well, there are bigger problems in the world.   If he doesn't swim as well as his friends, then it's a lesson in not comparing ourselves to other people.

After the five swims on Mercer Island, our local pool opens to kids in late June and we swim there nine times in June and July, reaching the level of progress I described in the intro.  We are both very excited and D is proud of himself.

Now the swimming opportunities are more abundant.   We swam a few times in a hotel pool in July (because we actually went somewhere, namely Leavenworth).  Jack's parents are allowed to take guests to their YMCA (which has a more shallow activity pool free from silly rules) and my parents' community pool is open to guests again, at certain hours.

You might be wondering about my experience teaching swimming.  I don't really have that much, but it relies heavily on trust and so teaching someone you have a relationship with makes sense.   After my first year of college I did teach a few people to swim.   Two were the kids I babysat in high school, and again that summer.  A friend of theirs and a woman from their church also came for lessons.   We did the lessons, one at a time, in a gorgeous private pool that belonged to another friend of theirs.   Only now do I realize what a privilege that was, along with the swim club my family belonged to when I was a kid.

When D and I got a bit stuck in June, I watched some YouTube videos (Swim to Fly) on teaching swimming and the thing that helped the most was telling him to to breath out through his mouth underwater.  I breath out through my nose way more, but that was hard for him.   

He's still got a ways to go, but this progress after so much time has been really rewarding.  Next up, Dd!

book count

We had a little competition among the people who regularly come to our house to estimate how many books we have.  I finally got around to actually counting our books and we talked about the average etc. with D.  My dad won,  just like he won our competition 10 years ago for guessing how many pictures we took on our Grand Advenenture .  now we will try to get rid of 10% of our books.

10th anniversary trip

Jack and I went away for a week on our own in mid June for an early 10th anniversary celebration.   My parents generously stayed at our house with the kids.  By this point we were fully vaccinated, but still felt that a simpler trip, close to home made the most sense for us, so we drove to the Olympic Peninsula.  Here are 10 things we did.

1)  Sunday - we lucked out and caught the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston with only a 5 minute wait and walked 6 miles on the Olympic Discovery Trail, along Lake Crescent.  We did a short side trail to see the Devil's punch bowl.   We stayed in a cozy, little cabin near La Push.

2)  Monday - Our most ambitious hike was 13 miles up Mt. Muller (3350 ft net elevation gain).  We saw one person leaving the parking lot as we arrived an no one else for the whole 8 hours it took us.  Before we were engulfed in clouds we saw a bit of the spectacular views that motivate the trail.   It was hard and we were still learning (again?) just how far off out smart watches are when it comes to hiking distances.  At three separate points we though "oh there are just five miles to go", first from believing Jack's watch and them from misidentifying a landmark rock described in the guide book.   The last bit was nice and flat and I'm proud of myself for doing it.   Getting back to the car at 8:15 pm meant that dinner was tricky.   Luckily the grocery store in Forks was still open so we bought a frozen pizza and some other supplies and ate dinner in bed.

 

we already know my apple watch overestimates distance by about 25%

3)  Tuesday - We took it easy and walked 4 miles (total) to Third Beach.  We found a log big enough to string up our hammock.  It was sunny.

4)  Wednesday - It was a very rainy morning when we checked out of our cabin.  By the time we got to Kalaloch beach at noon it was sunny again.  We did a short walk (2 miles) along the beach and then drove on to Lake Quinault Lodge.  The trails just behind the lodge were surprisingly nice and we walked another 1.5 miles and ate dinner at the lodge.   Everything was still take out style so we ate most dinners outside and breakfasts in our room there.

evidence of bears behind the lodge

Jack at the spot where his mom and step dad got married way back when

5)  Thursday - After resting we were ready to try another peak.  We went part way up Colonel Bob Peak (starting to the south with Pete's Creek trail).  As expected from a Memorial Day trip report, Moonshine Flats was covered in snow so we turned around there so it ended up being a 6.5 miles hike with 3,500 feet of elevation.   Without my hiking poles I would have twisted my ankles 10 times over.  We saw only two other hikers who proceeded up in to the snow at 3:45 pm in shorts with light packs and several more miles than us down to the other trailhead they started from.  We took bears pretty seriously on this trip.  I even wore the bear bell to make noise on my pack and we sang and shouted as we got near noisy water to avoid surprising any bears.   On the drive out we did startle a bear and got to watch it run away down the road a bit, while sitting safely in our car.

6)  Friday - Quintessential Olympic Peninsula rain arrive on Friday and we hiked 3.5 wet miles along the east fork of the Quinault River with quite a few other people.   Back at the lodge we swam in beautiful indoor pool again and played a great board game called Seven Wonders Duel, which we've only played three times in four busy years.  I won :)

7)  Saturday - We left at 7 am to get back for D's last baseball game, since Jack was the coach.

8)  We read aloud Piranesi, the new book by Susanna Clarke.

9)  In a stroke of good fortune, just before our trip we learned that a TV series had been made from the book Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, also by Susanna Clarke, so we were able to buy and download it before we left good internet access.  We both read the book about 10 years ago and then over the past six months or so we listened to the audiobook together for a second read.   Clearly it's a good book and the show was done very well.

10)  We enjoyed time together without work (mostly), kids or much cooking and we slept!