The Nelson Narrative

Summer is almost over and I still have a list of things I want to do before it's gone: Take the girls to Rattlesnake Lake (picnic, walk on trails, play in the lake) Take the girls to Lake Sammamish State Park (picnic, or just play) Go to the North Bend Farmer's Market (Thursday nights) for live music/picnic dinner Thursday night concerts in the park in Issaquah (I would do this with a girlfriend, probably) Issaquah Art Walk (with girlfriends) I'm rapidly running out of time.  The NB Farmer's Market ends next Thursday, and I'm not sure how much longer the concerts and Art Walk go on but I think the concerts may end in the next week or two and the Art Walk maybe not until early October. We were planning on going to Rattlesnake tomorrow after church, but we may decide to postpone since we got a last minute invite to go to Lake Tapps today and therefore might decide just to lay low tomorrow, but most likely we'll still go.  Busy, busy!...

We've been stuck at home all week because, and this might sound silly, but we left our cell phone at Crescent Bar and it makes me nervous to drive anywhere not super close without it. What if we got a flat tire or something on the freeway? Gees, what did we all ever do before cell phones. We obviously got by, but still.  So yesterday I was at least going to take the girls just up the street to our neighborhood grocery for a few things, and maybe hit the coffee/donut shop while we were at it.  Just as we were getting ready, a friend called and asked if we'd be up for hitting the beach.  We were all over that (as long as I got to her place without a flat tire/breakdown she had her phone for the rest of the trip). One of the many things I love about Seattle is all the water/waterfront parks and beaches.  Between Lakes Washington and Union and Elliott Bay there are a gazillion places to go to be near water.  We opted for a little beach on Mercer Island.  W...

We had an awesome week.  We went to Crescent Bar for the last of 3 trips this summer (although we are going for just a weekend with some friends in Septmeber).  We left last Friday (the 12th) and on Saturday we left the girls with grandma and grandpa all day while we went up to Wenatchee to watch my cousin race sprint boats.  It was really fun to watch and I enjoyed seeing him and some other cousins that I hadn't seen in a long time. My cousin got the fastest time of the day, but still ended up tieing for 1st On Sunday my dad and stepmom, who had been camping in Wenatchee and gone to the races also, came down to Crescent Bar to spend the evening with us, staying in an RV park just up the road from our condo, then on Monday they headed home while we (Paul and I, the girls and Paul's parents) took a day trip to visit some friends that were staying the week at Sun Lakes.  The girls enjoyed playing with all the other kids and Paul and I got to ride a Sea Doo....

Well, this will conclude my Week in the Life series.  It was totally just for me to have a record to look back on, so sorry if I bored anyone to death.  I actually enjoy reading about other moms' days/routines/schedules, but maybe I'm in the minority. Anyway, this weekend was one of those somewhat rare weekends where we don't have any plans.  Saturday morning we went to the Issaquah farmer's market for the first time this summer, then after lunch I went outlet shopping for fall clothes for the girls while Paul took them to the park.  After dinner we had our first ever Family Movie Night.  We watched Rango, which probably isn't the most appropriate film for a 3 year old, but it's wasn't that bad and I really like Johnny Depp and have been wanting to see it and that's just what we happened to have from Netflix.  I introduced the girls to the thrill of watching popcorn pop.  When I was little I used to LOVE to watch the popcorn pop....

Thursday was pretty boring.  The girls got up really late (Olivia 9:00, Kayley 9:30).  Some of the mom's from our Sunday School class do a park playdate every Thursday but since we got up so late it probably would've been over by the time we got there, so we just stayed home and I did housework all day while the girls alternated playing inside and outside (and maybe watched a little too much TV). Today we met some friends to go watch the Blue Angels practice.  It was awesome and the girls enjoyed it. Image from Google Images The Blue Angels perform every year as part of Seattle's "Seafair".  I saw them a few times back when I was single but had been about 6 years, because we usually are at Crescent Bar the weekend they perform.  But now that the girls are old enough to enjoy it I think we're going to make it an annual tradition. After the show we stopped for ice cream.  When we got home, I left the girls with daddy and went up the ...

I woke up at 8:10 this morning, went to the bathroom and was still tired and groggy so I turned on the Today show and crawled back into bed.  I lied there until 8:30 then took a shower.  While I was in the shower Olivia came in and got in bed.  Soon after I got out Kayley got up so they watched Calliou while I got ready and cleaned the whole bathroom. At 9:30 we went down for breakfast, then we left at 10:40 for our mom's group playdate to Flying Pie Pizzeria, where the girls got to make their own pie.  They were really excited and had a great time.  It was fun to see some of the kids and moms that we haven't seen in a long time.  They really enjoyed playing with one girl in particular so her mom and I talked about getting together at a park sometime in the near future. After pizza, we went to Target, then came home, had a snack and played.  Paul got home at 3:40 and I went to the gym.  Then it was dinner, clean-up toys (the...

Today was a really fun day.  Olivia came into my room and crawled into my bed at 7:40.  I thought she would go back to sleep until about 8:30 but she didn't.  So we both got up around 8:00 and then Kayley got up at 8:10.  I let them watch some TV while I did my typical morning computer stuff (email, facebook, etc.) and got ready for our mom's group playdate to the spray park.  After breakfast I started packing a picnic lunch and gathered all the other stuff we needed to take with us (sunscreen, water, towels, clothes to change into, etc.).  I totally should have done all that last night but I was too busy watching the Bachelorette.  Anyway, by the time I finally got everything together and made everyone go potty, it was a little after 11:00 and we were finally on our way.  Except 11:00 was the start time and we didn't get there until 11:45.  Oh well. When we got there I looked around for our group, bu...

It's been a really long time since I've done a "Day in the Life" post--I'm pretty sure it was over a year ago, back when the girls were still napping (ah, memories...).  I definitely want to have a record to look back on in the months and years to come so I want to be sure to do one every so often.  I think once a season would be good.  But I've also really been wanting to do a whole week.  I almost did several months ago and never did and then for the last few months most of our weeks haven't been very typical.  But I think this week is actually going to fairly normal so I'm going to go for it. Mondays are usually days that we don't go anywhere and I catch up on housework and do tons of laundry including bedding and bathroom rugs, etc.  Today I had extra because of our camping trip. I woke up at 8:10, got a cup of coffee and turned on the Today show, mostly just to catch the weather.  Then I got on the compu...