Dragon Boat Racing

I am a dragon boat racer!  But not the serious kind.  Although I do I have a 2nd place medal to show for it so maybe I should get serious.  There is an annual dragon boat racing competition every year and a friend randomly got asked to provide a team for a sponsor who was willing to pay all the fees and provide shirts.  So that's how I got to be on a dragon boat on Lake Union with a bunch of inexperienced rowers.  I knew about half the ladies and we had as much fun hanging out together between races as we did rowing together.  

The guy on the front row, bottom left was our coach.  We failed terribly in our first race but he didn't give up on us and we did some fake rowing for practice.  It must have helped because we beat some of the other teams that had men on them, which is a serious advantage.

Here we are in the waiting tent chanting "Annihilate!" to strike fear in the hearts of our opponents.  We were laughing too hard for anyone to take us seriously though.

The winners got to walk through the tunnel of paddlers.  Seeing how serious people took this event made it all the more fun/funnier to us.

I'm on the right, third person back, in the brown LA hat and loving every minute of it.  FYI, one boat capsized and all the swimmers had to be rescued by a nearby pontoon boat.  How embarrassing for them.  We the fact that we all stayed in the tipsy boat for three races felt like a win too.

Adventures in Seattle

It's pouring rain and I have a ton of yard work to do.  Looks like I'll update the blog instead.  We are in the throes of lacrosse season which means we are busy flying to Utah to watch Marcus play and watching several games a week as Landon, Parker, and Henry play.  Do I get tired of watching lacrosse games?  Yes I do!  But it's fun and when it's all over I scratch my head and wonder what to do with all the time on my hands and that's about the time we can get the boat back out on the lake. 

But let's back up to a sunny day in February when I went on a fun adventure in Seattle with friends.  A good friend of mine plans weekly adventures and this one was called City Scramble.  You pay a small fee for a scavenger map that sends you all around Seattle taking pictures of things to prove you arrived at a certain destination.  You get points for each destination you go to and whichever group gets the most points wins.  Don't worry, my team lost.  By a lot!  But I think we had the most fun because we rented eBikes at the end.  I guess that was against the rules and should've given us a huge advantage but cheaters never win and we most definitely agree!

The Amazon Spheres are cool even though I've never been inside.  Visiting hours are limited.  But this banana cart has been around for a couple years.  They give out free bananas every day.  I want that job.

I look like my mom trying to run to the playground to search for a clue, which I found!

Rachelle had the genius idea to get eBikes and we had so much fun on them!  Seattle really is a cool city with so many statues and and cool art that you don't notice unless you're searching for it. 

Seattle

We never go to Seattle.  But I had to take Parker to his lacrosse game on Bainbridge Island and convinced Henry's BFF and brother from another mother, Jack, to come with us.  We got to the ferry terminal and found out we wouldn't make it on the next ferry so Parker was going to be late to his game.  Not cool when your team needs your mad skills.  I desperately sent out a text to the team and managed to get Parker into a stranger's car who's son also plays on the team.  Hooray for nice people who don't judge my bad parenting and arrived super early to get in line at the ferry!

While we waited 45 minutes for the next ferry, Henry and Jack went exploring with me.  These two held my hands and were more than a little scared of all the people.  Seattle has completely changed the waterfront which was news to me, so there was a lot to see and these little boys were more than overwhelmed by everything.  It was kinda cute taking them into the city for the first time that they'll remember.

Driving onto the ferry is always cool

Bringing card games to play on the ferry ride is proof I'm not that bad of a parent.  On the way back we even had a bunch of Parker's teammates join us for games.  This game is called Mantis and I highly recommend it.  Henry usually beats me every time. 

We Survived Spring Break

We stayed home for spring break, against my better judgement.  I begged the boys to let me drive us to Utah and I thought after a day or two they might change their minds.  They didn't.  Randy even suggested we go somewhere and that's saying something!  We didn't.  Sammamish was like a ghost town.  Most of our friends were gone the entire week and by the end of the week, literally everyone we knew was gone.  I honestly started having flashbacks of the early quarantine life and literally took some deep breaths and went for a jog to get my head in the right place again.  Luckily it worked.

Day 1 of not much fun consisted of doing a Family Challenge from our Family Challenge Book.  Henry scratched off our "assignment" and it revealed a piñata party.  We invited a couple friends who were also bored, to join us.  We stocked up on candy at The Dollar Store and then went to Second Hand Sports to see what fun we could find there.  

Turns out beating up on a practice dummy was a lot of fun, especially for Henry.  

The Party Store had so many pinatas to choose from and the boys quickly agreed they wanted the Poop Emoji piñata.  I refused to ask the sales clerk to get the poop piñata so Matthew proudly walked up to the register and said "We'd like one poop piñata please!"  Even the sales clerk got a laugh.

We played some (fun to me) ninja music while the boys used their best kicks and punches to destroy the piñata.  It broke after about twenty seconds.  Fun over.  The whole event bought us a couple hours of sorta fun times.
Landon was a good sport through the whole thing.  I keep forgetting he's almost in high school.  I still think of him as one of my three littles.

Tuesday we had a whole lot of funnish adventures.  I dragged the boys to the Kraken practice facility to see the professional hockey team practice.  It was free, the facility is super fancy, we got free stuff, and I had fun watching while talking to my friends.  It was also really loud as pucks were flying everywhere.  I didn't realize how loud hockey is.  

I invited some other bored friends to join us before they went out of town.

We stopped at Shake Shack for lunch on the way home and that made the whole adventure a happy one for everyone.  Will Landon ever not love cheeseburgers?  So far, it's still the best bribe to get him anywhere.

That night we took advantage of $6 movie day and saw Arthur the King.  That's Henry running to the theater and no, I did not approve his outfit.  

Thursday was the day things really started to feel boring.  We cleaned out the boys' drawers and took a bunch of junk to Value Village which is always so refreshing.  Then I treated the boys to lunch at Costco.  So fun, right?  

Friday night I got a break while Randy took the boys to Top Golf.  I like Top Golf but staying home was even better.  I read a book and felt so blessed.

On Saturday, Henry and Parker woke up early and squeezed in about five hours of screens/Fortnite with friends.  By the time I got home from my stuff they were losing their minds but they didn't know it.  Henry was seriously a disaster.  So I did what any desperate mother does.  I drove all the way into Seattle to take Henry to the science museum.  I hate museums but the science one isn't terrible.  Plus, every kid needs to see the naked mole rats.  Luckily, we never made it past the huge play ground.  Henry doesn't even remember ever going there and he was in heaven as he climbed all over the place.  He even bribed me to buy him shave ice.  Which he took one bite of and then ran off to play.  We lasted a couple hours and wore him out enough that he fell asleep on the drive home.  Hooray for a screen free afternoon.

Watching Henry play at the park by himself is going to be my future for the next five years of my life.  Hooray for caboose babies that don't have siblings close to their age to play with. I tell myself Henry and I will become best friends.  I'll let you know when that happens :) He is pretty good at reminding me multiple times a day that "I'm the worst mom in the world."

Utah Boys in Seattle

In my mind, if it doesn't make it to the blog then it never happened.  So let's jump back in time to that unforgettable weekend back in May when Marcus's Utah friends showed up on our doorstep to cheer Marcus on at the State Championship.  We had a great time showing them Seattle/Sammamish in a day and even though the weather was super rainy, not just the usual drizzle, I think they still loved it here.

After church, we drove them over to Pine Lake and our friends took them around on their barge.

The best way to experience Pine Lake is being on it.  Throw in a floating barge with a fire pit and plenty of fishing poles and the magic was real for them.

I became fast friends with Kirsten and Brenda and I got a little taste of what this friend group meant to Marcus.  No wonder he didn't want to move back to WA.  

Marcus had a weekend full of luck!  Not only did he win State, but he caught his first fish too!  Marcus HATES fishing even though he's done it a done.  This fish felt like a miracle :)

The fish flicked blood everywhere!  I got a bunch on my foot and yes, I was still in my church dress on a rainy day on a barge :)

Seattle Space Needle and the playground

They all came down the slide together and were yelling and grunting and laughing so hard it caused quite the scene.  Boys being boys.

Pike Place Market

The Gum Wall.  Kirsten is a photographer (she took all of Marcus's dance pictures in UT) and showed me how to get a shot of the gum to show texture.  I'm so artsy now.

We even got a quick picture of the temple that wasn't very reverent because somebody farted.  Bad.  

It was so fun having these boys and their moms for the weekend.  Luckily the moms stayed at a hotel because our house was full and under construction.  We even had the drywallers working all day Saturday so they got to see us and our chaos unfiltered.  I still can't believe Kirsten and Brenda drove all the way up here, through the night after the kids got back from their all night graduation party.  That's true sacrifice to me.  If only I could send all my kids to Utah for a semester but I'm pretty sure Marcus lucked out when he found this group of friends.  Now they all have their mission calls and are going to be spread out all around the world for the next two years.  Exciting stuff!

Marcus is an Adult!

My boy turned eighteen!  It finally feels like this man child of mine is as old as he should be.  Marcus hates birthdays and attention on his birthday (he's so weird) and absolutely refused to let us do much to celebrate.  Luckily, Amie and Aubrey picked that weekend to come up and visit us so it felt like a great way to celebrate Marcus's 18th birthday without really celebrating.  We haven't seen these Boston friends of ours in ten years but we picked right up where we left off.  This is the first girlfriend of Marcus's whose mom is already a friend of mine, so having them come stay wasn't awkward at all.  Marcus got to see Aubrey and I got to hang out with my friend so it was a double win.

opening presents and Henry fell in love with the card Randy gave Marcus

Aubrey carried that box on the plane with her so it wouldn't get squished.  She gave Marcus a Gym Shark hoodie which he LOVES

We took them to lunch at Din Tai Fung, our favorite restaurant. Aubrey did a great job trying food she doesn't like :)

We rented a little electric boat and cruised around Lake Union.  It was so much fun!  We drove down all the little canals in between the floating houses and then pulled up to Ivar's seafood and docked the boat while we picked up lunch.  Luckily, Marcus has driven boats before because it wasn't as easy as it looks! 

Marcus tied some sweet knots so we could dock our boat safely.  Eagle Scout for the win!

The Seattle Troll was only a few minutes away so we had to get a picture

That night was a lacrosse game and Ethan's girlfriend Riley joined us

for the fun.  I did a double take when I walked past the bathroom and saw girls prepping for the game.  It seriously stopped me in my tracks.  Could this be what it will be like to have daughter-in-laws some day??

Boys need lots of hoodies so they can give them to their girlfriends to wear.  It's a thing.

Also, boys really love having a girlfriend to cheer them on and hug them after a game.  The smelliest athletes have got to be lacrosse players.  They reek of sweat and mildew from wet gear.  It's potent!

We spent the day doing Seattle things and Ethan even got to tag along.

After eating Beecher's Mac 'n Cheese we headed to the gum wall

Yes, they are wearing matching Nike hoodies that they tie-dyed together.

Ethan is finally taller than me!

We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island

Ocean!!  And it was cold!

The next day was Sunday and Aubrey invited Riley to come to church with us.  She accepted the invitation and I wish I had a picture of our church pew full of my family plus two girls.  I caught Randy's eye and we both looked at each other with looks that said, "Is this really happening?!"

After church we drove out to Snoqualmie Falls while Marcus and Aubrey made plans to miss the flight and extend Aubrey's stay.  Didn't happen though.

And here's a cute card Aubrey gave Marcus of the two of them with their dads sixteen years ago.  
We all had a great weekend together and look forward to getting together more......at prom!