I took a break from writing weekly posts. I was burned out and needed some time away from thinking about all things fitness/health related. I'm back and will be attempting to send out bi-weekly posts in the future.
I wanted to use this post as more of a family update and personal blog posting than a health and wellness informational one.
Over the past month and a half a few things have occurred in our lives that are worth mentioning to those who care about our personal happenings.
First on the list, is that our daughters both had birthdays. Anya is now officially a teenager at 13, and Elin entered the world of double digits turning 10 years old. Since Covid restricted birthday celebrations for the past two years, this year we went big. Anya had 13 girls here for a 6 hour party full of outside games and silly competitions (even in the pouring rain). It was nice to be able to meet so many of her new friends since she made a whole load of them in her new school this past year and we hadn't met many yet. It was a whirlwind of crazy girls laughing, screaming and just being silly. We enjoyed watching the chaos.
Elin also had a birthday party and invited many of her new friends from her new school and her teacher and para/nurse came as well. Even some of her "northern" (Bellevue) friends came down to join the fun. Elin's favorite part was everyone singing her "Happy Birthday"; she loves a good ol' fashioned singalong, especially if her name is highlighted among the song lyrics.
We had a fun time celebrating the Fourth of July at our neighbors house. They threw a big party and had a 25 minute fireworks show in their yard. It was impressive to say the least. We've learned that they go BIG in Gig Harbor for the the fourth.
Shortly after that fun party, I came down with Covid. Our family had, up to that point avoided the illness, even with two kids in school. But it was bound to hit us sometime, so I guess it was better timing when we are all home for the summer anyway. Elin quickly followed as the second infected and at that point we decided we should all just get it and let it run through our family. The sickness lasted for about two weeks, spiking at different times as it made it's way through each person. Myles and I got it worse then the two girls. We were obviously very frightened for Elin to get it but she did fine and her seizure activity was normal since we kept her fever down with medicine. All I can say is, thank god for vaccines!
And our latest adventure was chartering a 38' sailboat for a week of sailing in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. We left out of Anacortes and had wonderful weather most the trip. We had some issues with our boat, but thankfully Myles is skillful with fixing things so it didn't hamper our excursion. In fact, he did such a stellar job fixing so many things they granted us an extra night for free for all his labor!
We also had "boat buddies" since both sets of our parents were out on their boats as well. We had help with Elin and Anya, and all took turns hosting dinners. It was great having them out there with us, especially when our boat motor wouldn't start one day!
We made some great family memories and had some quality time together. It wasn't relaxing or easy, but we had fun and that's all that counts. However, as an aside, this is my summation of "family vacations" in general in a recent text to a friend.
"Taking a family vacation is simply moving your family to a different location, while doing all the same menial tasks you do at home and adding extra activities to your day. AND then feeling guilty when said activities are not eliciting a feeling of joy or fun from the group or yourself. Until you have functioning humans (i.e.- grown and helpful children) vacation is just home life with a bit of distraction and more photo ops."
I think that just about sums it up perfectly- don't you.... other parents of young kids???
So that's what we've been up to. Throwing birthday parties, getting Covid, and sailing. I can say for sure that we have knocked many of the "50 things to do this summer" off our list already. Just a few more weeks left before the little ladies go back to school so we are going to try to fit in as much summer fun as we can. I hope everyone is out there enjoying the warm weather and trying to fit in some fun with family and friends!