Autumn Updates

Getting our Autumn updates in just before we switch to Winter!

The kids started back to school. G participated in cross country, though much of their season was disrupted by wildfire smoke - smoke season was delayed this year so instead of landing in the summer started in late August/early September and lasted into October/early November, aided by our unusually dry fall. Don't know about you, but I'm not loving the effects of climate change.

We finally managed to get M into swim lessons! We adore his teacher - she used to be a school teacher and has taught many different ages and special ed classes and immediately knew how to connect with him, cuts right through his avoidance techniques, and got him from terrified to enter the water to not wanting to get out of it in a matter of weeks. I wish she could be his teacher for everything. 

I've been busy with orchestra leadership - I somehow* ended up being the president of the board this year and it's been a huge time commitment, more than expected, as we try to get back to a semi-normal state. I'm exhausted and it's having a negative impact on my mental health - I've felt depression creep in in a serious way for the first time since leaving Mormonism. I plan to step down from the board entirely after this season. The fact that there is an end date to it is the thing helping me make it through right now. That and Heartstopper, which brings me joy and so I re-watch episodes anytime life is feeling a little too much. Though I'm super nervous for the characters in upcoming seasons because obviously they're dealing with some serious things (bullying, hints at eating disorders, etc) that I'm worried will get worse and I just really want them all to be okay. 

Work is busy as usual, but would feel manageable if I didn't have the orchestra stuff on top of it. RSV and influenza have kept the hospital full and made on call weeks extra busy. I presented at an online conference in September - the same topic I presented at the conference in March. My team has started buying stuffies from the gift shop semi-regularly as part of our coping strategy, so I have Ollie and Alonzo and Sam the Eagle at my desk. We give them different hats for the holidays. And Alonzo was joined by a new, yet-to-be-named friend a couple weeks ago. 

We made it to the pumpkin farm/corn maze again. Weather meant there weren't all that many people there when we arrived, which was delightful. M wasn't too interested in carving his pumpkin afterward - to be fair, October weekends were packed and I think we were all a little exhausted - so kept it simple. We did get him out trick-or-treating this year. And got way more kids at our door this year than last year and actually got rid of almost all the candy we got!

M was disappointed that I wouldn't let him get these for decorations this year. But we did, for the first time ever, get some outside decor for the holiday (aside form jack o lanterns). We put up some cobwebby stuff and he picked out some large spiders to go with that. It looked quite good until the wind got to it, but we were too busy to get pictures.

Adding to the just general overwhelmed-ness of the fall, there was a shooting at G's school in early November. It was targeted, but has left everyone with a lot to deal with emotionally and mentally. The shooting happened on a Tuesday and they closed the school for the rest of the week. The student who was shot died and two other young students were arrested. Just incredibly sad for all of those families. Thankfully I happened to check my phone and saw G's texts first - otherwise I would've first seen a bunch of texts from friends asking if things were okay. It's funny how everyone responds to things like this. I was between clinic patients and felt kind of frozen - they weren't releasing kids yet so it's not like me rushing off anywhere would be helpful, but it also felt weird to just keep going about my day. I went and saw the last patient and then went and packed up my stuff and left for the day. It was going to take so long for them to release the kids that Ryan ended up driving to the hospital to pick me up and bring me home. Then he stayed home to get some food and work while I went to wait for G to be released and got to talk with my mom on the phone while waiting. We had so many friends from all our communities reach out to us and support us in a variety of ways. A close friend called me and stayed on the phone while I waiting for Ryan and as all the emotions finally started to hit. Orchestra friends checked in by text, arranged a sub for me the next day, and ordered us dinner. Work friends stepped up to cover my call and offered resources. I really appreciated the reminder that we have built robust support structures for our family here. And my sister sent the most thoughtful care package, filled with items for comfort, warmth, confronting, processing, distraction, etc. The teachers eased the kids back into school the next week, but I know a lot of teachers, staff, students, and parents are still dealing with the fallout from such a traumatic event.

We got an earlier than usual snow. I appreciated that it turned into less of a storm than initially predicted, though we still had slick sidewalks for a few days.  

Ryan survived the initial layoffs at work. Of course they always say they hope there will only be the one round, but I don't trust that, so we're kind of assuming it's only a matter of time before he's laid off. That's definitely added some stress to work life for him as more pressure gets put on everyone who is left, but I'm so glad we're not solely reliant on his income. I would be much more stressed right now if I were a stay at home parent still. I feel really badly for those here on H1b visas who have been laid off - as usual, immigration rules are stupid and they have a very limited time in which to find new jobs which is very stressful.

Ryan and I went to a play for the first time since COVID! We saw Mr. Dickens and His Carol. While not my favorite play that I've ever seen, it's always fun to admire the acting, sets, costuming, etc. And just felt really good to be going out again.

We had some lingering Halloween decor up until last weekend, when I finally put it away before we went to get our tree. I adore the tree we got this year. So well-proportioned all around. Pretty proud of us that we went to get this in the afternoon, got it put up, lights on, and decorated all that evening. And we got a wreath this year as well! 

Ryan is off for the next couple weeks and I've got some days off here and there, so we can finally start getting into Christmas!

*Somehow = you have to have been on the board for at least 1 year before you can be president and everyone else on the board had either done it for too many years already or were having to take a break from the board because they were starting new jobs or couldn't take it on because they were going to be having a baby so I felt bad saying no when I had slightly less going on than others. Or less new things at least.  

Whidbey Island

Last year while the kids were at camp we opted not to go anywhere aside from some day trips, because we'd just spent a bunch of money on our family vacation. We instantly regretted it upon arriving home, so made sure not to repeat that mistake this year. 

Somehow, despite our decade plus in the PNW, we have never made it to the San Juan Islands or Whidbey Island. I had found what looked like a nice Airbnb on Whidbey the previous year and it was available for our dates still, so booked that - our first time ever using Airbnb. We dropped the kids off at camp successfully and and took the requisite picture of the beach at camp before heading toward Whidbey. 

We took some time to stop at Deception Pass State Park along our way. Walked partway across the Deception Pass Bridge and took this picture while feeling terrified of both the long fall down in front of us and the highway traffic just inches away behind us:

Then we walked down to the beach and just soaked in the beauty from what felt like a safer footing for a while. And took this picture from the path down, which felt like a much more secure vantage point.

We could've done a lot more hiking in the park, but I had my clarinet with me (and I never leave my clarinet in the car unattended) and we needed to be getting on to our rental, which was on the southern side of the island.

As we drove up, Ryan was dubious because it looks so tiny. And, despite having looked at the pictures online and making the booking myself, I had a moment of doubt:

But no. The cottage extends back/below what you can see as you pull up and really was perfect. I'm not particularly into hunting/fishing lodge decor, but I get why they chose that. And all of the details that matter where comfortable and well-thought out with this place. The owner left breakfast items for the next morning and the cabin is the only place on the multi-acre property, so you feel really secluded even though you're not far from town. The kitchen allowed for plenty of cooking and the bed was comfortable.

As usual, Ryan immediately got to work figuring out the TV and how to connect for streaming.

Most ridiculous photo, but the toilet is a Toto and automatically opens when you walk near it, heated bidet and dryer. Ryan was sad to leave the toilet behind, lol

One of the two decks - we ate breakfast and dinner here most days/nights

There was a grill that we made sure to use

And a pond

Ryan brought his wok and cooked us a stirfry the first night

We enjoyed the firepit, roasted marshmallow, and stargazing

Our first day we headed into town and meandered/window shopped a bit. Unfortunately, our timing being there Sunday-Wednesday was a little weird - clearly the town runs a little more on the weekend crowd. But we found a decent place for lunch and enjoyed a wine tasting before heading back to the cabin to relax and make dinner.

The next day we took it easy in the morning since I hadn't been feeling great the night before - watched some shows and I practiced a bit. Ryan had booked us a kayak rental for the afternoon. It had been ages since I'd kayaked, but the rental place was great about getting us set up. It was way more tiring on my arms than I remember from when I was a kid! But fun to see the water and shoreline that way. Some people wrapping up as we arrived were very excited about having seen a whale. Sounded like the whale had moved on, but I kept an eye out while we were out anyway. Partly because it would be cool to see but also because I really didn't want to accidentally get too close to a whale. Not only are you supposed to leave them lots of space, but a close whale encounter in a kayak seems like it would be mildly terrifying. We did not see any whales, or much wildlife at all, while we were out. But just as we were pulling back in, the woman helping us saw the whale at a beach not far from where we were coming in! She ran and got us all binoculars - it's out of season for whales, but this one grey whale has been coming close in to lots of the harbors this year, enjoying more of the ghost shrimp. It was really cool to see and I'm glad we enjoyed it from the shore. 

We headed out to dinner at a local restaurant, Prima Bistro, which was excellent (and one of just a few restaurants open on a Tuesday evening). The next morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before packing up and heading to the ferry to go back home. It was a thoroughly relaxing few days and we'll likely stay at the cabin again in the future - there are a lot more parks and little towns to explore on the island, but honestly the cabin is also a great place to hole up away from everyday life for a bit as well.

Little Things

So many little things make me happy as an adult, things I would have found very mundane and boring as a kid. Maximizing our space is always something we're thinking of, so got inspired by my sister and brother in law's storage of their spices and set about to mimic their system when we got home. Got the first dozen spices set up and just got more boxes delivered to finish up the rest of the herbs and spices.

Utah 2022

We finally pulled off the trip to Salt Lake that was supposed to happen in 2020! My sister's kids are the closest in age to our kids of all the cousins and we really enjoy hanging out with their family, so have been looking forward to this trip.

Because airfares were ridiculously expensive, we had to opt for layovers and leave on a morning flight. We left for the airport before 6am to allow extra time with all the flight shenanigans that have been happening lately. However, all went smoothly (aside from having to dodge a couple dead rats along our sidewalk, gross)

We decided to try out a loft-style room, which provided us a little separation from the kids. The concept was kinda cool, but there was still just the one bathroom and I couldn't decide if I preferred that this was up in the loft or if I would have rather had it in the main room. Some other awkward points - the only mirrors were up in the loft (bathroom mirror and full length) and the only dresser was down in the main room. So, cool idea but could have used some better execution. The kids had to sleep on the sofa bed - ideally I think I'd love a room with two kings, but that seems rare to find in a hotel. Lifestyle creep has not got to the point where I'll pay for two separate rooms yet.

The mattress on the bed was good at the Sheraton, however lots of other frustrations. We obviously checked in with 4 people there, yet they didn't ask if we needed bedding for the sofa bed. So then we had to call to ask for it. Twice. There were only two towels in the room and we also had to call twice to get more towels - I'm honestly not sure that would have done it if we hadn't run into the housekeeper and just asked them for extra ourselves. Don't know why the front desk wasn't actually conveying those needs to housekeeping. And we'd paid extra on the room fee to include breakfast - the package was for 4 - 2 adults + 2 kids under 12. I wasn't expecting to get it for G, but on check-in they went ahead and gave us 4 tickets for the next day, which I appreciated. The breakfast was not that great, but if you stuck to fruit/toast/yogurt it was palatable enough. We were told we had to ask for breakfast tickets daily and they continued to give us 4 without issue for a couple more days. Then they claimed that we should have received all the tickets at check in and that it was only for 2 breakfasts per day. They "didn't want me to feel bad" (um...I don't? I was up front about my one kid being older than the rate and they kept giving me 4 anyway and now I'm just annoyed that you're pulling a bait and switch on me and claiming the deal was always for 2 breakfasts). 

We are just floating in undefined space, apparently

Add onto that that some of the electrical outlets stopped working part way through our stay, the broken hand towel bar, and the generic fire escape route posted on the door (that neither has the room actually marked nor matches the actual layout of the floor) and the place overall just felt a little sketchy for what is supposed to be a 4-star hotel. The good mattress was clearly leftover from pre-Marriott takeover days and based on everything else I wouldn't trust Marriott to keep the good quality mattresses much longer. Thankfully we weren't spending much time actually in the hotel, so it wasn't worth trying to find another place. But now we know for next time.

Our first morning we started with a trip to the King's English Bookshop and all chose some books - the kids and I had brought books/kindles with us, but you can really never have too many. I picked out Lessons in Chemistry, which I highly recommend, with the caveat of some pretty serious trigger warnings for rape, sexual assault, suicide, and death. And while from those trigger warnings you can tell there's some very serious content, it also managed to make me laugh frequently and the characters were utterly delightful. After the bookstore, we headed to their pool. My sister had told us the cantina there was better than a pool/health club cantina had any right to be and she was not wrong. They had tacos and homemade tamales and someone who works there knows how to pick mangos, because they were delicious. We hit up the pool twice during this trip on days where we just needed time to relax.

Over the next couple days we visited Red Butte Gardens and hiked up to the Living Room lookout - it was so hot and there's very little to no shade and we all needed about twice as much water as we had. Ryan turned around a little early with our niece, who was struggling as we neared the top. The rest of us made it to the lookout and then back down, and managed to stretch our water supply to last, but it was definitely rough there are the end. It's not a long hike, and in the PNW we would've had more reprieve from the sun (and probably lower temps generally). So, lesson learned to always bring way more water than you think you need when hiking in Utah. One of our pool days was the day after this hike to make up for overworking everyone.

One afternoon we went on a distillery tour at Dented Brick Distillery. It was really cool to learn about the distilling process and see the very steampunk looking stills. As with breweries, the spent grain from distilleries is also sent off to farms to feed livestock - during my internship, we met up with a cow nutritionist at a local brewery and learned about how they use the spent grain plus other food to carefully balance the feed they give dairy cows; before then I'd never realized there were people with PhDs in animal nutrition, but it makes sense once you hear them talk about it and realize it's not as simple as just putting animals out to graze! This distillery sends their spent grain to a local pig farm. We tried white whiskey, which is whiskey that has not been put into barrels, alongside standard barrel-aged whisky and the difference between the flavors of the two was surprisingly stark. The white whisky does taste like whisky, but very single-note flavor. You can immediately smell and taste a lot more depth to the regular whisky - vanilla, clove, etc. I particularly enjoy gin-based drinks, so we also tried that and was very impressed with the flavor packed into this gin. I'm not usually one to drink liquor straight, but after you have an initial sip and get past the "omg, alcohol" throat-burning feel, this one was really good. Martinis are quite possibly the stupidest "cocktail" ever, because it's literally just gin (or vodka) in a glass that's had some vermouth swirled in it. And I guess some olives, but I don't like olives. So basically just straight liquor - why does that need it's own drink name?? And why would you use vodka which usually tastes like nothing?? But I could see a martini actually being decent with this gin (or with their vodka, which also had a little pleasant flavor to it). We picked up a couple bottles of their gin to bring home as well as a rum finished in cabernet barrels, because Ryan is a sucker for anything barrel-aged/finished. 

We also dragged the kids to BYU one day, mainly because Ryan was interested in seeing what things were like after not having been on campus in 15 years. It was really hot and we were all pretty miserable walking around. But some fun nostaglic moments. We entered campus through the Museum of Art since we parked there and did a brief walkthrough of the main floor exhibitions. They're tearing down the music building next year, so I did end up being a little glad I walked through there one last time. Ryan and I spent a significant chunk of our getting to know each other time in the HFAC hallways, and of course most of my classes were there. We also went to the room Ryan had most of his classes in. While walking on campus we overheard a missionary telling someone that they had been out for 16 months and it was "so much fun" and that being in the BYU mission was a really great experience - which made Ryan and I laugh because we know that opening up a mission call to BYU campus has to be one of the most disappointing moments in a young Mormon's life.

Visited what we dubbed the "Joseph Jensen Memorial Hallway", because Joe could always be found there - many of us spent a lot of time in this hallway chatting

Found an old school sharpener to be fascinated by

We tried to find the spot where we got engaged, but they tore down Heritage Halls and replaced them and I think they redid the whole walkway/water area when they did that, because there were parts of what we remembered there, but the exact spot didn't seem to exist anymore. I think it's nice they at least kept Heritage Halls as the apartment style rather than converting them to dorm style housing, but I was disappointed to see that they just re-named the new Heritage Halls buildings with numbers - those had to have been some of the only buildings on campus named for women. 

We took the kids to see Regency apartments, where I lived my junior year and then, for comparison, took them to see Park Place, where Ryan lived for a couple years. They could easily see that Park Place was significantly crappier than Regency. Regency was a unicorn kind of complex because it was incredibly close to campus, relatively nice (not rich kid nice, but quite good compared to a lot of student housing), and not insanely expensive. We had to get up really early to line up for a contract there back in the day. 

Ryan and I spent a lot of time talking on that landing before he left my apartment each night

Regency also still had the same porch swing that Ryan and I would sit on sometimes - kinda crazy that 15 years later some of those things are still around. Around the corner from Park Place, there is now a boba tea place which we tried out (someone selling fake coffee in the same building tried to get us to buy their stuff, but no, we were there for boba). Everything was too sweet and they had run out of tapioca pearls, but the student working was really nice about trying to make things less sweet for us - I had to remind Ryan that we were in Provo after all and most people there don't actually drink tea or anything that's not incredibly sweet. And the employee did a great job adapting what she had available to a less-sweet palate. 

I was quite surprised by all the new food places that have sprung up in the area. My sister gave us some recommendations for places they like there, but we didn't have time to try them out, unfortunately. And there were Korean and Peruvian places near our old apartments - no idea how good they are, but way more variety than when we were in school. After boba we were all refreshed enough to make the trek back up to campus, where we tried to make things a little less boring for the kids by taking them to the student center for some bowling. Then we hit up the Creamery for ice cream before heading back to Salt Lake.

We also headed over to City Creek and got some Italian Ice - I'm so jealous that they have a place there and we don't have one here!! My sister gave us a driving tour of the city as well - texting us from their car while we drove behind them worked quite well. One day we stopped by the houses in the Avenues where my great-great grandmother lived and where our grandmother would visit. The house next to that was one that my great-grandmother moved into at some point and was inherited by my grandmother's brother and he lived there until he passed away as far as I know. We ate lots of delicious food at many of their favorite eateries, of course. And the cousins spent lots of time playing video games together. Our oldest kids are pretty much mirrors of each other and immediately bonded - it's always a little mind-boggling just how similar they are. The younger two are also incredibly similar, but they seem to have a harder time bonding - though they did seem to make some progress in that they weren't actively ignoring each other anymore by the time we left.

For our final day, we all got up early to make the trip down to Arches. Ryan and I (and therefore the kids) hadn't been and it's been on my list of places I want to see for a while, so it didn't take much for my brother-in-law to convince us to go. It was quite a drive to do it in one day, but I think worth it. We got up early and hit their favorite bagel place (Utah has real bagels now!) - aptly named The Bagel Project - before heading down to Moab. Ate lunch in Moab and stopped at a rock shop before heading into the park. The rock shop has some very nice, very expensive items - we let the kids each choose one not very expensive item, because M is very into rocks right now and we knew he'd come back with his hands full of things if we didn't set some guidelines. 

The park has timed entry passes right now, which worked smoothly. After a stop at the visitor's center to refill water and buy some small souvenirs, we headed through the park. We definitely did not do the park how Edward Abbey would want us to, but the goal was not to give anyone heat exhaustion and to get a taste of it/see some of the nicest parts while achieving that goal. So we mostly drove the park. Saw Two Windows and Double Arch - the only "hike" we did actually to an arch, which was more like a short walk. But in the heat it felt quite long, especially for some of the kids. We considered also walking out to two windows, but some of us were pretty worn down from the heat just doing the walk to double arch, so we settled for viewing those from a distance. Then we drove on to a couple more viewpoints, before heading to Delicate Arch. We did not hike out to delicate arch either as we had neither the time nor the stamina/water for that with the sun beating down on us. We did an even shorter walk from the parking area to a viewpoint. It doesn't sound like much, but we did spend a few hours in the park, even with as little as we did. 

Learned about the jobs people do in the park

We knew we'd get back to Salt Lake really late, so we stopped in Helper for one last meal together at Balance Rock Eatery & Pub - none of us had been there before, but were delighted with it. The only downside was the portions were huge - the 3 chicken strips were more like 3 chicken breast halves plus served with multiple (delicious) sides. No way could I finish it all, which was sad given how delicious it was. But excellent way to wrap up our time together, as we were flying out the next morning, to the disappointment of all the kids. Here's hoping we don't have to wait so long before we all get together again!

Honkfest and Birthday Walk

Nothing much going on here, just plugging away at life. The kids wrapped up the schoolyear, which felt like it flew by from my perspective. G will be doing driver's ed this summer and it was a shock to the system to realize they let kids get their permits/licenses so young here - there were multiple freshman taking their driver's ed courses during the schoolyear but I just couldn't even think about how to fit that into the school schedule.

Shortly before the end of the schoolyear M requested we attend Honkfest, which is essentially a bunch of street bands playing throughout the day. One of the after school care counselors was playing in a band, so hence the interest. I took him down to Columbia City to experience that. Very mixed quality of the groups. They had 3 bands playing at any given time, but spaced out such that it wasn't a cacophonous mess; we stayed for a while, got him some lunch, and then headed back home.

On Ryan's birthday we both took off work, thinking we'd go on a day trip somewhere. We had picked Bellingham, but then he didn't feel like driving - fair enough, a 2+ hour drive each way isn't how I'd want to spend my birthday either. A couple weeks earlier he'd asked if it was possible to walk all the way downtown, if one wanted to. I said I was sure you could and we confirmed on the map that indeed, you can do that. The weather was decent on his birthday, so he decided we should try it out. We ended up only going to Capitol Hill because our feet were a little sore by the time we made it to our lunch spot. Google wants to take you in a pretty direct line there, but that keeps you along busier roads and not far from I-5 at points and we wanted a more scenic hike. We opted to stay off the busiest roads for the most part, walk through UW campus and across Montlake Bridge. Things got a little hairy for a bit just after that due to all the construction on 520 - Google tried to tell us to go through some federal property that was very much not open to the public! - but we sorted it out and made our way to Interlaken Park. This felt like a proper foresty hike just nestled in a (super expensive) neighborhood. 

After winding through there, we went through Volunteer Park and then just a short bit further on to our destination. 

8.2 miles total. It really wouldn't be that much further to downtown from there, so maybe we'll tack that on another time. Opted for taking the lightrail home instead of walking back - not that walking back was ever under consideration. We didn't do much else to celebrate given we were tired and I had rehearsal that night. But this felt like a good celebration all on its own.

Spring Break Light Rail Outing

I managed to not cancel my planned days off this past week - these days coincided with some of spring break for the kids. The first day was busy with their annual checkups and then I had to run to a baby shower for a coworker. But Friday Ryan managed to take off work as well and we decided to go on a city "hike"/another light rail adventure.

We hopped on the light rail and headed for the Westlake stop. Both kids needed new shoes (M desperately so) and all the shoe stores that used to be near us are gone now since the mall is being redeveloped. M had apparently been suffering through shoes 2 sizes too small for the past several months (oops). They didn't have the shoes he liked in his kids size, but we were able to get the women's size that is equivalent (and pay $30 extra for them being women's instead of kids, sigh). 

Then we headed off toward the waterfront. The kids were getting hungry, so stopped at Lowell's for lunch and got a table next to the window.

After lunch we did a touristy thing and rode the ferris wheel. M was very anxious about this given their dislike of heights. But with lots of reassurance we got him to get on and realize it wasn't all that bad - the cars are completely enclosed and you're certainly not moving very fast. Some lovely views of the Sound and downtown.

Then we walked along the waterfront to Olympic Sculpture Park. The kids ran around on the grass while Ryan and I just enjoyed sitting for a bit. M described this piece as "some sort of art" (to be fair, he wasn't viewing it from this angle when he said that):

You could apparently walk 8+ miles if you followed the entire waterfront path, but our feet were tired. We hiked back to Seattle Center, grabbed the monorail to Westlake, then the light rail back home. I cannot overstate how much I love having light rail so close to us. Even though we had good bus access to downtown previously, it never felt as easy as the light rail. Trips like this felt like they required more planning and were therefore less likely to happen. And, of course, some of the places we can get to with light rail (Capitol Hill, for instance) were significantly more difficult to get to via bus. In my casual scrolling of unaffordable houses for sale, even when I find one I love I always end up realizing that they don't have light rail in walking distance and I can't give that up.

February and March Whirlwind

Things have been on the intensely busy side the past few months. I presented at a conference and my slides were due in February with the conference occurring at the end of March. That plus my usual workload meant for a stressful first few months of the year.

We've been trying to take advantage of weekends and light rail whenever we can to get out and explore. Back in February we went to Capitol Hill again, ventured to the U-District Farmer's Market (sans G, who was off skiing with friends), and met up with friends at the aquarium. We've never been to the aquarium before since it's pricey. It was fun to check it out, but especially now that the kids are older, not something I feel I need to do regularly. M really enjoyed the things he could touch and watching the otters - especially enjoyed the fact that an otter pooped in front of us.

We had a few nights with absolutely stunning sunsets that month as well:

In early March we were able to head out on our first hike of the year - we stuck to a fairly simple trail near what was once a coal mine. G had pretty constant commitments elsewhere for several weeks, so also missed this trip.

As we wrapped up the hike, M saw this sign and asked me "what does the pants symbol mean?". Took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about:

Sadly, I've been working every weekend for the past month and had to cancel some time off I'd planned on because our service was just too busy, so our outing opportunities have been limited. It's a whole thing with doing 24/7 on call, increasing acuity of our patients, and then also being expected to be part of weekend ICU coverage - we're going to be having some conversations with our manager about the absurdity of this (no other RDs take call and no one covers for us when we're out, so makes no sense that we're expected to cover weekend ICUs) and hopefully won't have to cover ICUs on the weekend.

I survived the conference presentation at the end of March and the next weekend I managed to pull off a small birthday party for M. Took a couple friends to the ice rink for skating - the public skate is usually pretty crowded but they had fun until their feet started to hurt from the rental skates. Then we headed home and they played video games before having donuts. It's the first time in a couple years that he's had friends over and it felt so much easier now than when they were 6 and 7. 

At some point I managed to make his birthday cake but then it sat in the fridge for a week waiting for me to frost it. It was a rather spread out birthday, which M said he didn't mind, especially as he at least got dumplings and presents on his actual birthday. For his cake, he wanted a simple design from the show Naruto:

Here's hoping things calm down a bit in the next few months - I'm certainly much less stressed now that the conference is over!