Whew, another summer week down. I remember when summer was the most relaxing season ever. This year it mostly just feels like the most "survival mode" season ever. It's been good and hard trying to keep Jack out of the house as much as possible. I'm a homebody so I've never been the mom who operates this way, but for the first time ever we're leaving the house at least once and often twice each day. I'm trying to look at it as "forced summer adventures." Finding a new park, walking around Target to find swim goggles instead of making every household purchase through Walmart Grocery Pickup so I never have to enter a store with my children. Definitely makes life more interesting.
But inevitably an "errand" type of outing results in intense whining about something Jack sees and wants but won't be getting. And honestly, the outdoor fun adventures also usually include a version of that too (huuuuge meltdown at the park this week because he wanted to go on a specific swing with me but the park was really crowded and it took an hour for him to get a turn). I know these struggles are age appropriate and good for him, but it's pretty wearing to either hold strong against or help him navigate the big 5-year-old feelings through these situations that come up seemingly 500 times a day. Poor guy misses preschool so much (he tells me every day), and I think that's what's behind a lot of the "having a hard time" moments. Luckily swim lessons start today. He was Christmas-Eve-level excited about it last night.
But then there's Alice's car crying. My babies don't love car rides. Not stimulating enough for them or something. About 50% of any given car ride will likely include a crying Alice. So. We're getting through it. Maybe once we get into a stride these outings will be less tumultuous.
The weather is nice though. And the babies are cute. Alice heads straight for the stairs whenever she can now that she's crawling. It's officially time to baby proof the house.
Sorry about no post on Monday--Jared whisked me away on a lovely "surprise" getaway to a lake in Anacortes. He did let me know it would be coming a couple weeks in advance, which I'm grateful for because I needed to build up a stash of milk and we got the house mother-in-law ready for Jared's mom to come stay with the kids for two nights.
I was VERY nervous about the two nights away aspect. With baby/toddler Jack, we tried probably 5 times to get away for two nights (sometimes with Jack, sometimes without), but we always ended up abandoning ship after one night for various reasons. (Baby Jack was an absolute force to be reckoned with, especially during the middle of the night.) Luckily we didn't have any issues this time, and we and the kids survived our two nights apart without a hitch (well, other than me throwing an exhausted tantrum over literally nothing on the last night--we're calling it my culmination of a year of terrible/disrupted sleep combined with a full day in the sun, after which sweet Jared tucked me into bed early and I slept in until 10 a.m.[!!]).
On our first evening, we ate seafood at a chowder bar and then watched the sun set over the San Juan Islands from a grassy beach field in Washington park. We watched a bit of the new Avatar when we got home, but honestly I wasn't that into it and it was almost midnight, so we turned it off.
^^Bob's Chowder Bar. Jared got the chowder in a bread bowl, I got the salmon sandwich. Both were great. I was in heaven not worrying about food restrictions for a few days.
^^The cutest neighborhood overlooking the ocean and San Juan Islands.
^^Feeling all kinds of Gen Z feelings in my thrifted short-sleeve knit top and parachute pants.
The next day I woke up extremely early needing to pump (ugh) and then we caught an early ferry to Friday Harbor to spend the day exploring San Juan Island. Well, the plan was to spend half of the day exploring the island, and then come back to pump and go kayaking on the lake by our AirBNB. Unfortunately, neither of us thought to check the return schedule for the ferry and realized too late that there was no return ferry between 1:00 and 4:15, so we got stuck, exhausted and pumpless, until the 4:15 ferry arrived. By the time we got home it was almost 6:00 and my body was very uncomfortable after unintentionally going 10 hours without pumping, and we were BEAT (gr8 tantrum conditions, to be honest). So no kayaking this trip, but Friday Harbor was higher on the list and we had a lovely day there. Let me give you the rundown.
^^Our first non-spider-infested airbnb experience. Felt very posh (it was actually someone's basement apartment and the walls were QUITE thin, so definitely not the most top-tier posh but still very nice). This is me taking a 6 a.m. bathroom mirror selfie to kill an hour of time before Jared woke up. I would've fared better on more sleep but it was kinda fun having a quiet morning all to myself to pump, journal, shower, and bathroom mirror selfie.
We walked onto the ferry instead of driving. Turns out you have to have a reservation to take a car to Friday Harbor, but we figured we'd either just explore the downtown area by foot, or enjoy our child-free selves and rent a moped to drive around the island. We got to the island and the downtown pier area is just cute as can be. Felt like we were arriving at Disneyland or something. There were lots of cute shops and restaurants, but what we really wanted to do was explore the island, so we ended up renting a little moped coupe for the day to cruise around. 10/10, would absolutely recommend. It was so fun. The drive alone is about 2 hours to get around the island without stops, but we made plenty of stops. Our first stop was a little lighthouse hike on the south side of the island. We saw a bald eagle, a wild fox, and a raccoon, and it was lovely to split a bagel looking our over the islands.
Next stop was a lavender farm, which was kind of a spontaneous side stop but ended up being my favorite part of the day. It's a cute little lavender farm with a gift shop and fresh lavender ice cream. We picked out a lavender soap for Jared's mom and then got a lavender vanilla ice cream sandwich that we split at a picnic table in the middle of the lavender fields. The vibes were immaculate. The ice cream sandwich is something I'll be attempting to recreate all next summer when I'm back to my dairy lifestyle. The cream tasted so fresh and the lavender wasn't at all overpowering. It was sandwiched between two chewy homemade dark-chocolate cookies. The lavender won't be in full bloom until late July but the fields were beautiful nonetheless.
Unfortunately we forgot to bring our Discover Pass, so we bypassed Lighthouse Beach where you can sometimes see Orcas from shore, and instead stopped at a beach a little further north where lots of people had pitched tents and were camping.
Our final stop was Roche Harbor Resort on the north side of the island. It was SO CUTE. Felt straight out of a storybook with the brick streets, historic mansions, and swimming pool+tennis courts. We had lunch at Lime Kiln Cafe and split the Cubano Sandwich with Mojo pork. YUM. I will also be attempting to recreate this one at home (smokey ham, roasted pork, melty swiss cheese, dill pickles, chipotle peppers, and banana peppers on ciabatta bread--the fries were decent but next time I'd try coleslaw on the side).
I hosted my first baby shower over the weekend--it turned out great! But I stressed and prepped for it waaaay too much over the span of waaaaaay too many weeks. If I was in a different phase of life it probably would have been fun, but in this sleep deprivation stage with 2 very needy kids . . . there was some bitterness about all the late nights and quiet time hours given to the party. So my takeaway is to hold off on hosting any more showers for a few more years. Here are a few pictures though, with a sneak peak of our nearly finished built-ins:
