2024 :: week 40

September 29

Will is so proud not only because the Royals made the playoffs, but because he predicted they would make it to the playoffs back in June. In June while hanging out with the Bensons he made this pledge, and they held him to it. The Royals have played well this season, but last year they were pretty awful (56-106), and finished last in the AL Central. Only the pitiful As had a worse record. Also, we had a fire drill at church. It took a lot of planning and coordination, but I think it went okay.

September 30

I had my second mammogram Monday morning. It was quick and relatively painless. Mostly just uncomfortable. Because I don't have a family history I wasn't too worried, but it is always a relief to officially hear that there are no current signs of cancer.

October 1

Miles has been in a sweet Mom-loving phase lately. It is funny, because as a toddler he had a strong preference for Dad. But over the past few years he has taken a distinctive turn towards preferring Mom. We had a busy afternoon evening with volleyball practice, soccer practice and baseball. Papaw and Nana arrived in the late afternoon to stay with us and watch the kids while Anthony and I travel to Seattle for the weekend.

October 2

Happy Day! The Royals swept the Orioles in the Wildcard series and are on to the ALDS. Will invited Jude & Adrian over to watch the game with us as well. There was a lot of joy in our basement that night. 

October 3

Early Thursday morning Anthony and I flew to Seattle to spend the weekend with Meredith & Steven. They had our names for Christmas and offered to buy us tickets to attend the Weezer concert in Seattle with them. We loved the sound of that and as soon as Papa & Nana agreed to watch our kids we booked our flights. Because our flight was so early we got to spend much of the day exploring. Once we landed in Seattle we took the Link to our hotel downtown. They let us check in a little early and we took a nap because we are getting old. After our nap we headed to the Public Market, found the gum wall, and got lunch at Beecher's (grilled cheese for me and mac & cheese for Anthony). In the afternoon TJ booked us tickets for Bill Speidel's Underground Tour. The tour was really cool and I learned a lot about the history of Seattle. We picked up some pizza for dinner and decided we wanted to walk to Kerry Park, which is known for it's incredible views. It took us about an hour, and along the way we found a fun Finnish shop. The hills got steeper as we walked across town, eventually we climbed flights of stairs to get to the park. The view was amazing, but I needed to stop and rest for a bit before we headed back to our hotel. It was Rosh Hoshana and there was a group gathered at the park, singing and listening to a rabbi. We picked up ice cream treats from an amazon store near the Seattle Spheres. When all was said and done we ended up walking about 30,000 steps that day.

October 4

Friday we met up with the Maxfields at lunch time. We were exhausted from all the walking we did Thursday, and it was a bit rainy, so we slept in and then walked to the Public Market to meet the Maxfields for lunch. They had dropped their kids off at school and then drove up from McMinnville. Meredith, Carly and Hillary had a sisters weekend in Seattle a few weeks back and so Meredith knew the best spots for food. We got chowders in bread bowls from Pike Place Chowder, shared both a sweet and savory piroshky from Piroshky, Piroshky and then got Hellenika gelato for dessert. Delicious! We had some time before the Weezer concert, so we walked around the Seattle Sculpture Garden and Seattle Center. While we were walking a car turned out from an apartment parking lot and the woman driving it was at least partially nude (no shirt or bra). Only Steven and Anthony were lucky enough to see that, though we could all see she was driving erratically. The concert was amazing! The opening acts were Dinosaur Jr., and the Flaming Lips, which were also pretty good. Weezer had amazing stamina. They sang for a long time and the songs made me so happy. I also loved seeing Anthony and Meredith have such a great time together. They first listened to Weezer together as teens while doing homework in their dining room. After the concert we drove to the Maxfield's cabin to stay for the next two days.

October 5

Steven's family owns a cabin in the Cascade Mountains. It is such a beautiful part of the country. When we drove in Friday night we saw a lot many deer. Saturday got off to a weird start when Doug & Tina informed us that we had been the recipients of some obscene pumpkins. Apparently someone left two pumpkins on our front walkway with "We're Back (Racial Slur)"on the front and a penis and "FU" spelled out scratched into the back. We don't have any known enemies, so we assume it was some teenagers that Anthony scared when they ding dong ditched us last Friday. One of the kids fell as he was running away and we think he probably was mad. It is hard to know. After that nonsense we got on with our delightful vacation. We drove about 30 minutes to go on a hike. We opted for a pretty easy hike to Mammoth and Cheese Rocks. The view was spectacular! We went shopping in Cle Elum for dinner. We watched some mlb playoff games--including the first game of the ALCS where the Royals lost a close game to the Yankees. After the game we road ATVs to the Lake Bed and built a fire. The sky was so clear we could see thousands of stars--we even saw a shooting star! We ended the night soaking in the hot tub. It was such a great day.