This week I'm feeling lighter on the words (yer welcome lol), but I have LOTS of pictures (with lengthy captions) to do the talking for me! So without further adieu . . .
^^It has been life changing to have Jared not work Tuesdays. He does work long hours on the other days but lemme tell you, having a full week day each week to put appointments and family time has been amazing. It seems like every Tuesday for the past month or two has been booked out with car appointments, phone appointments, doctor appointments, etc. On the one hand it's a bit of a bummer for the free day to be used that way. But on the other hand, very nice that we don't have to juggle schedules or give up Saturdays for those things. All that to say, last Tuesday we needed something on our car fixed. One negative of living out in a rural town is that we have to drive 40+ minutes for most car repairs. In the past Jared has just gone on his own and then been stuck in Everett for hours on end, but this time we all went so we we could drop off the car and then hang out together. We spontaneously hopped on a ferry from Mukilteo to Whidbey Island. It was just a 10-minute ride. Jack loved it, and when we got to the other side we walked to the nearest Dairy Queen for lunch, picking and eating wild blackberries on the way, and then headed back. I love spontaneous adventures like that because I don't overthink an itinerary or have expectations. It's like, anything we do on this spontaneous trip is amazing because I didn't even know it would be happening in the first place.
^^Our community threw a school supplies fair open to everyone in town. I don't know if this is a small town thing or what, but it was amazing. We were able to get most of Jack's school supplies for free, and there were also bouncy castles and hot dogs and prizes.
^^We limit computer games to weekends, and we try to keep it under an hour so he doesn't get too sucked into gaming, but it's pretty cute watching Jack play Jurassic World in his dino jammies.
^^Teething BB.
^^Jared's childhood friend Eric Watson, and his wife Karen and cool Belgian Tervurens, came to visit for 2 days. They hiked to the ice caves while me and Alice stayed home and napped. Karen is a dog trainer so it was fun to hear about the dog sporting world and pick her brain on getting Savvy to stop jumping on people when they come over. Her advice: (a) remember that Savvy is a mix of some extremely social breeds so don't expect it to come naturally to her, and (b) get a "place" bed and train her to lay on it and stay there when we have people over--basically give her something TO do instead of something NOT to do. I've had success following that philosophy with Jack especially through the toddler years, but for some reason it never occurred to me to try that with Sav. Thanks Karen! TBD if I actually find/make the time to train Savvy to go to a place bed, but at least I know what the tools are now. Karen was impressed with all the tricks I've trained Savvy to do (sit, lay, bow, spin, sit pretty, big yawn). I was impressed Savvy could still remember them all since we've practiced so inconsistently since she learned them 6 years ago, pre-Jack.
^^Jared and Jack have been going on lots of really fun PNW day trips for the past several Saturdays with Jared's parents and brother. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I've become a little bitter about being stuck in nap jail at home while they're out hunting for aggots, picking huckleberries, and swimming in slow, majestic rivers. But in the end it's me who continues to choose staying home to enjoy a quiet house instead of sitting in a car for 4+ hours with a car-hating, teething baby. It actually is very nice to have those days to get some house projects done and enjoy the peace, and I'm happy Jack is forming some really great summery childhood mems. When Alice is down to one nap and no longer breastfeeding I'll be joining in on more of these trips--it helps to remind myself that this is a short, sweet phase of babyhood and I truly don't want to wish it away.
Happy last weeks of summer! There are so many summer bucket list items we haven't done yet that I'd love to squeeze in, but also we're pretty excited for Kindergarten (and flag football!) to start.