The Nelson Narrative

Today is the 10 year anniversary of my blog.  Wow.  I have probably posted about as much as most bloggers do in a year or two, but whatever. I started this blog as a way to keep friends and family updated on the twins, but mainly I just found it very therapeutic and a great way to vent about the challenges of having twins vs. a single (not being able to go many places because they can't accommodate a double stroller, not being able to "sleep when the baby sleeps" because, hey, there are TWO  babies and they might not necessarily be asleep at the same time!, which one do I go after when they run off in different directions?, etc.). It's been really hard to find time to blog these last 4+ years since returning to work.  There are times when I'll get inspired and motivated to blog a lot and then there are times I think I might give it up altogether, but I'm pretty sure I want to keep going until they graduate high school because I love having something to loo...

I will finish documenting our summer with some highlights from August. We have an annual tradition were we meet up with some friends to watch the Blue Angels practice over Lake Washington.  It's part of Seattle's annual SeaFair festival.  They close down the I-90 bridge and people can walk out onto it to watch.  It's so cool. Found the perfect snow cone holder Our neighborhood has outdoor concerts and movies every summer.  We saw Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. The girls and a friend all bundled up I really want to start hiking more, but unfortunately Olivia doesn't care for it and I don't want to pay for 5 or 6 (or at least 4 depending on length of hike and drive time) hours of babysitting just to go hiking.  But on this particular day we managed to coerce/bribe her to do Snow Lake with us. The girls and Kona with their friend Jasmin For Paul's 50th birthday a year and a half ago, I got him a Seattle Mariner's Gif...

Today is the last "First Day" for the girls at this school, as next year they will be off to middle school.  What the...? Kayley and Kona Olivia and Kona This is the first time since I started working 4+ years ago, or maybe even longer, that I'm actually a little sad that summer break is over.  Summers have been hard because it's been stressful having to worry about childcare and not being able to go do fun things very much (and having to fight weekend crowds when we do), but now that my work/life balance is so much better these days I was able to enjoy this summer way more than I have the past several.  Fall is still my favorite, though, so I'm not THAT sad!

School starts tomorrow (!) so I’ve been thinking about what our schedule will probably look like.  Olivia is doing soccer again this year but Kayley is not.  She is doing dance instead (Hip Hop), and Olivia is doing dance also (ballet) in addition to soccer.  It's going to be a busy fall. 6:15-7:45 - I get up and get ready for work. 7:45-8:40ish - Girls get up and get ready.  I will help with breakfast and lunches (preferably packed the night before, but not always going to happen). 8:40ish - Everybody leaves for work/school.  I imagine that for the first several weeks while the weather is still cooperative they will either walk or ride their bikes with friends.  Otherwise I will drive them. 8:45-9:00ish - I arrive at work.  It’s only 5 minutes away but can take up to 20 minutes if I get stuck behind a bus or something. 3:05 - Paul gets home (he just started a new position with an (even) earlier start time.  He has b...

School starts in 12 days and for the first time since returning to work 4+ years ago I'm not quite ready for summer to end.  Almost, but not quite.  I've hated summers in recent years due to the stress of childcare and feeling sad and guilty about not being able to do fun things with the girls, plus enduring all of the 80-something to over 90-degree days without A/C (we at least have them in our bedrooms now).  But with my shorter commute and more PTO they are getting better.  Next summer should be the best yet because I will work from home 2 days a week, Paul will take most Mondays off and the other 2-3 days a week we will just let the girls stay home alone and I will come home on my lunch break to check on them, plus there are plenty of neighborhood moms (that either are stay-at-home or work for the school district) that can keep an eye out.  Also I will finally have enough PTO built up that I can maybe take a whole week off and not go anywhere but just hang...

Our family vacation this year was to the great state of Texas.  A good friend of mine, Jerri, moved to Austin 6 years ago and I've been wanting to go visit ever since but we can only go so many places per year (like, one, plus Crescent Bar and maybe camping) and it's usually somewhere like Mexico or Hawaii or last year's awesome Caribbean cruise.  So with all that out of our system we finally went to Texas this year. We are Worldmark owners, so the first thing we did over a year and a half ago (because at that time we already knew we were going to do the cruise in 2017) was look to see if they had any resorts near Austin or San Antonio.  Turns out they have one in Austin and New Braunfels and maybe some others in the vicinity, I can't remember, but we ended up staying in New Braunfels which is roughly half way between Austin and SA (a teeny bit closer to SA). We flew in on a Saturday, picked up our rental car and drove to our condo, stopping at In N Out burger for d...