Summer catch up

I feel like we were just counting down the days until summer, and now it’s August! To go catch up, I have to go back to May. Jeri and Carol flew in on the 18th and spent a week with us. We had a great time sight seeing, eating lots of good food, and shopping! I took them to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Chihuly, shopping in Snohomish. We had a great brunch at Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. I was so glad they were able to come out and see where we live. The weather was a little chilly but not rainy! I think they both had a great time.

The weather was still pretty chilly through the end of school, I was kind of bummed for the kids to have a cold send off. We went to the end of year carnival, which was a little cold and rainy, but I was impressed with what the school put on. I missed the last week of school, I took a trip to Portland. I had a Germany high school reunion with Emily, Rachael, and Chelsea. We stayed at Emily’s sisters house in Portland for a few nights and explored Portland. Emily knew all sorts of fun places to show us and we had a great time catching up! Emily’s parents have a beach house on the coast of Oregon, so we drove out on Monday. Chelsea was supposed to go with us, but she has a baby at home and couldn’t leave him for that long.

The beach house was super fun and it was great to be on the coast. Rachael, Emily, and I did a lot of shopping, eating, and drinking! I brought photo albums and our old home videos, which was fun to watch together. The beach in Oregon is a lot like a Washington or California beach- cold, windy, and lots of big waves. It was fun to walk on and we found a lot of fun rocks and shells. We went back to Portland on Friday and met up with Chelsea again. I really loved exploring Portland, it felt like a smaller Seattle and was really neat. I’d seen Emily once about five years ago when Joe and I went to Portland, and I’d seen Chelsea in Olympia when we moved here seven years ago, but I hadn’t seen Rachael since I left Germany. It felt like no time had passed and it was so easy and fun to be together. We already have plans for the girls to come here next June!

Joe did a great job with the kids and I was so thankful that they were all okay while I was gone! I made it back home and was excited for the kids to be on summer vacation! We had a bit of a rough Father’s Day. I had some great gifts for Joe, and we went out to lunch. Luke had a bit of a meltdown and we had to have some big talks about how to be happy and thankful for all that we have. The kids did a week of golf camp, it was pretty basic but they liked it. We had two weeks here to hang out before our trip to Tennessee. Katie invited us to a Fourth of July party, but I was nervous about Covid and getting sick before our trip so we stayed home. We were pretty lazy but it was nice to relax!

We flew to Tennessee on July 9th. I was nervous about the airport being crazy or having flight issues, but we got really lucky. Because of Covid all the airlines are still understaffed and almost every day on the news there were reports of hundreds of flight delays and cancellations, but we avoided that. We made it to the farm and the kids were so excited to see Lillian and Christian! We left for Chattanooga Sunday after lunch and went to Ruby Falls. I’d never been, it was really fun! The ten of us (mom, dad, me, Joe, Virginia, Luke, Callie, Carlin, Christian, and Lillian) ended up in the front of the tour group. The kids were asking our tour guide lots of good questions and they were really into it. After Ruby Falls we headed to our Airbnb. Callie picked up Mellow Mushroom for us, so we had a great dinner! Our Airbnb was an old log house and it was great. There was a good porch with rocking chairs and plenty of room to spread out. After dinner the kids got in the hot tub. On Monday we had breakfast at the house and hung out. We had lunch in town and went to the aquarium. Since it was a weekday we had the place mostly to ourselves.

We got barbeque for dinner and tried to do some fishing on our man made lake behind the airbnb. Christian and dad caught a fish, the rest of us had fun trying. There were some rogue neighborhood goats that came out and sort of got too friendly with dad. He had to shield Christian from a ram and when the goats followed them home we had to form a blockade on the deck to keep the goats from swarming us! The kids got a kick out of it. On Tuesday we borrowed moms car and headed from Chattanooga to Knoxville. We stopped at a Chuy’s for lunch and shopped at McKays before heading to Nana’s house in Maryville. Nana had really outdone herself and had snacks for us, and toys for the kids to play with. Audrey and Jordis came over for dinner and we had so much fun hanging out! They stayed over until 9 and it was great to catch up with them. We had breakfast in the morning and hung out for a while before heading back to Lebanon. We stopped in Cookeville at Cracker Barrel and it was so good! They already had Halloween decor out in the shop and it made me sad that I couldn’t buy anything!

On Thursday Joe and I went out to Nashville for an early birthday dinner. We did an escape room, just the two of us, and barely made it out! It was really fun to do just the two of us, we worked really well together! I think it helped that we had done so many rooms before so we kind of knew how to work things out. We had dinner at a place within walking distance, but we had to walk down Broadway to get there, and we were surprised at how chaotic downtown was on a Thursday night. It felt like Vegas! There were so many people, it was honestly kind of gross feeling! I don’t like the new vibe that Nashville has as a vacation party town. Our food was really good at the restaurant though, so it was worth the crowds!

On Saturday we had a little combined birthday party for the grandkids. Jeri and Carol wanted to be able to give all the kids gifts at once, which was nice. Callie, mom, and I stopped at Publix to get a cake and supplies and we had pizza delivered for lunch. Jeri seems to be doing as well as can be expected since Jack passed away, she stays really busy which has to be a blessing. The kids loved being in the pool together. We had some fun floaties and the kids all swam like fishes! Rick came by around 2 to pick us up. He visited for a minute and then we headed to the lake house in Tullahoma. The kids were excited to see Missy and Moses.

On Sunday we went down to the lake and went out on the boat. Getting down to the dock is a little scary, but we figured it out and once we’re at the dock it’s great! Joe got up on the wakeboard and also got up on the surf board. I was pretty impressed, he hadn’t done either in years! The kids loved swimming in the water by the dock. Rick and Cindy were really sweet and invited my family over for my birthday to hang out. Callie, Lillian, mom, and dad showed up around 11 and we had burgers for lunch. After lunch we headed down to the water. We swam and went for a boat ride. Rick pulled Callie and I on a tube. We hadn’t tubed together in so long! It was going great, and then Rick turned at one point and the rope completely fell off the boat and we went off the tube. It was pretty funny. Callie and Lillian also got to tube together. We had cake and I opened some gifts. Gracie and the girls showed up right before cake which was nice.

The kids really loved being down at the water. We would go down most days before lunch and then come up for lunch and a break and go back down. We worked on some puzzles at the house, the screened in porch was such a nice place to hang out! It was really nice to see how much Ella and Cordelia have grown. Ella talks and loved being with Virginia and Luke. Cordelia finally likes me and would let me hang out with her! Matt drove in on Thursday and we had a full house! Joe and I went out Thursday night to dinner and to see Nope. The movie theatre in Tullahoma was so old, it was like going back in time! It was great to have a date with Joe though. On Saturday we went down to the lake one last time before packing up. Joe went with Rick back to Tollgate to then go on to the airport. Cindy drove the kids and I to the farm.

It was nice to have some calm time at the farm. Joe made it back to Washington okay and picked Freya up from our friends house. He had test driven a Mazda convertible on Friday and loved it, so he went back on Saturday and bought it. He traded in our red Scion for a good deal. He’d been hoping to get a convertible for a while, now that the kids are old enough that they can safely sit in the front seat (with a booster) it was time! On Sunday Joe took each of the kids for a ride and they loved it. We went to Katie’s house on Tuesday and the kids got to swim. It was nice to be home and see our friends!

On Wednesday I woke up and noticed my voice was going in and out. I thought it was a weird symptom from being back in Washington with allergies. Thursday I woke up and my throat was kind of sore. I took a Covid test just to double check and it immediately lit up positive. I texted a picture to Joe and grabbed a mask and ran to my room. As the day went on a felt a little like I had a head cold coming on, but it wasn’t bad. I stayed in my room all weekend, only leaving to get food from the kitchen, and then I wore a mask. Joe and the kids appreciated me trying to keep them healthy by quarantining. Joe did a great job taking care of the kids, and the kids did a good job of entertaining themselves while Joe worked. I finished watching Alias and binged all of Working Moms, and read two books. It was kind of nice to have alone time, but I was pretty bored in our room! Emily was supposed to take the train up from Portland to visit that weekend. I was so bummed to have to tell her we had to reschedule, but she was able to move her tickets to another weekend without a fee.

I felt pretty lucky, all things considered, that Covid was basically just a head cold for me. I never had a fever, aches, or anything scary. Even though it was sad to have to reschedule Emily’s visit, it wasn’t a huge ordeal for her and neither of us lost any money. Joe started to have cold symptoms Sunday, but his Covid tests came back negative. He took tests on Monday and Tuesday, it wasn’t until Wednesday that he got a positive result. By then, his symptoms weren’t bad and he was wearing a mask to help protect the kids. My theory is that the kids and I were exposed at the airport or airplane coming home, but it took a few days for me to have symptoms. I must have infected Joe before I quarantined. The kids have stayed negative, I think the booster they got in June protected them! Joe and I are both wearing masks in the house, but I think tomorrow it will be safe for me to take mine off around the kids. The CDC actually changed its guidelines yesterday, because Covid has evolved mostly into a head cold, they say that quarantining and social distancing isn’t necessary. It will be interesting to see how this affects the kids in school when they go back in a few weeks!