GG's 90th

About a month ago Jack's grandma had a big 90th birthday celebration.   Now that a few weeks have passed, I can say that it wasn't a super-spreader event, so that's nice too :)   We got some good pictures I want to share here.

GG and her kids

GG and most of her grandkids and great-grandkids

D turns 8 !

After very small celebrations for D's 6th and 7th birthday, we pulled off a relatively large party for his 8th!    The weather was good, though chilly for some.   You'll notice mask wearing in these pictures, that goes beyond what most of us do outdoors nowadays (2 years and 2 months in to the pandemic).  This is due to that fact that on the day before the party (Saturday) we learned that Dd had a covid exposure in preschool on Friday (and Thursday) but we decided to proceed with the party on Sunday after letting everyone know.   We tested Dd several times, but it was still to early to be definitive and a couple of guests couldn't take the risk of attending.   Happily Dd passed the PCR test he had on Monday.

We reserved a shelter and had costco pizza and cake.   I planned a scavenger hunt that went by in a flash and we played a few other little games like red light, green light and steal the bacon.   The party combined friends and family and we appreciate the help from grandparents!

Jefferson Park has lots of fun things, including drains.

I don't think I'm a germaphobe, but I no longer like the idea of blowing 

on the whole cake everyone else will eat.

The kids climbed on the sculpture before we saw the subtle "no climbing" sign.   The sculpture was created in collaboration with Red Bull as a skateboardable sculpture, but I guess it's been too heavily used in the last 8 years.  https://parkways.seattle.gov/2014/06/23/seattles-first-skateable-art-sculpture-lands-in-jefferson-park/

post party, at home

Why are the cats tired?

Scavenger Hunt Clues

The kids went pretty quick and made some guesses they couldn't explain.   I'll make them harder next time!

• Take a speedy ride on the
• What’s curly and red and found to the north?
• !υoγ ɿoʇ ƨɒʜ γɒઘ ɈoillƎ Ɉɒ Ɉυo ϱniʞool nɒmwonƨ ɘnoɈƨ γzoɔ ɘʜɈ Ɉɒʜw ɘɘƧ
• For clue number two, slide through a tube that is blue.
• L _ _ K  IN  THE L _ _ K _ UT   T _ WER

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.

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.

happy birthday, Jack

We gave Jack some nice boots (Bogs!) and a French press, completing his evolution into a level four coffee drinker, capable of making coffee in every way I’m aware of: cold brew, pour over, drip and press.  

His birthday fell exactly on Labor Day so we spent the morning at Grayland Beach State Park, where we spent two nights in a yurt, and gave him a half hour alone in a hammock with a good book!

We had a backyard dinner with Jack’s family and came home to the first forest fire smoke of the season.

35 goes 3 for 5 on his 35th

Since Jack is 54.25 weeks younger than me, he is fated to always hit the traditional milestone birthdays about 54.25 weeks after I do.  That inspired me to celebrate his 35th more than usual.  His baseball jersey number has been 35 on almost every team he's been on since the beginning of high school.   Also, Jack threw me a nice surprise party for my 30th so a party for him was overdue.  This year on his birthday I wasn't 20 months pregnant (2018) and we weren't in the middle of moving out of an apartment and in to a barely finished construction zone with a toddler (2016).  All this added up to a good birthday to celebrate.

Late August and early September are always a busy time for us with travel, birthdays, daycare closures and baseball.   Often there is a stretch of August where Jack has 3-4 games in a seven day period.   Then in September it is the playoffs, which means we won't know when his games are ahead of time.   It's complicated.   We squeezed a kid-free birthday party game night in just before labor day weekend, on a night guaranteed not to have baseball.   Games are such a treat.

Pictionary with three teams and all-plays!

Jack is cringing with delight because that is what Cards Against Humanity does to you.

We're both wearing number 35 here. 

Then, on his actual birthday Jack hit three for five, with three singles and the day was capped off with the most memorable lightning storm in Seattle.

Better yet, Jack's baseball season was book-ended by hitting two home runs, for the first time in a dozen years.   Fortuitously the first one is on video thanks to Jack's stepmom!   Overall he did less walking and base stealing than some other recent years but also hit more doubles and home runs than usual too.  His stats were 0.364/0.456/0.455.   The second home run was in the penultimate playoff game.  His team finished second for the third time in the last four years.  Someday they'll make it all the way.

PRO TIP: before clicking the play triangle on this video, right click on the three dots in the upper right corner and click "loop."  Otherwise, YouTube will send you in to the abyss of semi-related videos.

my mom’s sweet seventieth

In late November my mom threw herself a big (and fun) birthday bash a few weeks before her actual birthday.  Little did she know, in June we had booked a three bedroom airbnb in the Fremont/Ballard area to surprise her.  We actually managed to pull off the surprise part too!

My dad cancelled her plans for the weekend, as she made them, and we all agreed to meet for dinner Friday night in Fremont.  The ploy for getting her from the restaurant to the airbnb was “let’s go look at Christmas lights.”  It was enough.  Jack, D and I go there first, and my parents and Becky drove up, at which point my mom saw us on the porch and was very confused, but then happy.

Saturday we walked around Ballard, ate lunch at Bitterroot BBQ and enjoyed not driving at all.  Jack was kind enough to take D home for a rest in the middle of the day to “check on the kittens” so that the rest of us could walk at an adult pace.  In the evening, Becky and I made a leg of lamb in my Intstant Pot and Myra continued the surprise by joining us for a nice dinner.

Sunday morning more good friends came for quiche and coffee cake.

Thanks for everything, Mom.

Happy 3rd Birthday, D!

 

For this momentous occaision, we had a big family part at our house, with slot cars, ballons, cake and “things on toast” (bruscetta, chicken salad, bean spread, and tuna salad) which I thought worked out pretty well for party food. The birthday boy had a blast.  Jack and I had fun decorating the windows.

 

We also celebrated with our PEPs group, which is always fun.  It’s fun to be at the park, even in the rain and they kids are now old enough to enjoy games like What Time is it Mr. Fox?

D’s 1st birthday pictures

 

We had a joint birthday party with our wonderful PEPs group, including a visit from a truckload of bunnies. 

 

   

Our boy is rich in grandparents, and I was happy to get a shot of them all together.

At the party, we forced a cupcake on him, and he eventually got in touch with his love of ice cream.

 

On his actual birthday, we enjoyed some time with just the three of us.  He practiced walking, ate sushi, opened some presents, enjoyed his new chair, rode a bus (!) to the Children’s museum and had a good nap in the carrier.