This has been a week filled with emotions on both ends of the spectrum. We’ve had an absolutely incredible week, as Alex took the whole week off of work and we celebrated Ben’s fourth birthday. While we were out having fun it seemed like our country completely fell apart. My heart just aches for the events that took place in my home state of Minnesota, as well as around the world, over the last week. I’m not going to dwell on that here, but wanted to make note that this was a roller coaster of a week with both joy and sorrow. Let’s focus on the joy!
Our sweet Benjamin turned four!
We celebrated him with a rainbow-themed birthday party with the four of us in attendance. I wasn’t sure how his quarantine party would go and if he’d be disappointed. In the end, I felt like it was an extra special day focused around Ben and what he loves and what’s important to him.
Most of our week was spent at home. The majority of Washington state is still very much closed-down with our stay-home orders in effect. Even once we move to phase two {no projected date} we will still lay low for a while. We’re not in a hurry to be the first ones out doing anything.
We took a day-trip to Lake Chelan. That was probably a summer highlight for the kids.
Our first stop was at Lake Chelan State Park to enjoy the quiet, rocky beach. The kids had a blast. Alex and I forgot how crazy it is to bring our two monkeys to the beach, especially over a mealtime. They’re not too keen on sitting still for any period of time.
From there, we moved into town and strapped the kids helmets on and cruised the one-mile loop trail.
Ben had a perfect opportunity to practice with his two-wheeler in a slightly hilly setting. It pushed him to really work on getting started all on his own and he nailed it!
In addition to our day-trip, we ventured into Leavenworth and did a family hike at Ski Hill.
Since it was a Tuesday we figured the town would be pretty quiet {we were right} so we decided to pick-up dinner for the first time since the beginning of March. We ordered sausages from our favorite sausage house and had a picnic in the town center.
Our other outing for the week was a late afternoon trip to the beach at Lake Wenatchee State Park, just up the road from us. We kept our outings to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to ensure the crowds were at bay.
The kids had so much fun going to the beach two days in a row. It’s really hard to take the kids out in public right now. They don’t have the impulse control and understanding of the situation with the virus to truly keep their distance from folks, so it feels a little more micromanagy than my personality likes.
Check out our new wagon! We LOVE it.
The weather made us feel like summer was in full-swing this last week. I believe we hit 90 degrees at least once. The sprinklers and splash pad came out, the water table was heavily used and gosh the kids go through swim suits quickly!
The pollen. Oh my goodness, the pollen. We literally had clouds and waves of pollen coming across the field at us all week long. Thankfully Ben was kind enough to hose off all of our deck furniture. It needs it again, though…
We baked doughnuts and Ben’s special Turtles Cake {chocolate & caramel cake}. Alex made some delicious ribs for dinner one night and we have been baking bread daily. I made our family favorite pulled pork for Ben’s birthday.
I spent a lot of time dreaming of Spain {I studied abroad there in college} and the time Alex and I spent in Europe together. We’ve had several conversations lately about dreams and goals we have for our family and one thing we’ve continued to come back to has been travel and exposure to various cultures around the world. Our ultimate dream is living abroad somewhere for a year or some unknown amount of time. In the short-term I’m hoping to make a couple things out of my new Spanish cookbook this week.
From all of us here at The Lodge, we hope you have a wonderful week and we send our love.
