snaotheus

The biggest thing that happened in the beginning of June was KrisDi’s and my anniversary getaway. We got a VRBO in Verlot, WA next to the Stillaguamish River. Once again, we planned out a bunch of meals with beer based on The Beer Lover’s Table cookbook, and once again it was awesome. I won’t list everything, we took pictures of most of the stuff.

The weather was kind of cold and rainy. We had basically one morning where we could really go hiking. We went to the Old Robe Trail, which was nice, aside from KrisDi falling and smacking her shin.

Other minor things about the trip:

• Coffee maker was missing a basket, so I rigged up a tinfoil-based pour-over system that just used the coffee maker as a stand.
• Lots of birds. I got some pictures of a woodpecker.
• There seems to be some neighborly conflict where we stayed.
• The cabin had an upstairs (which we had no use for), but the stairs were comically narrow.

Other stuff that happened in the beginning of June:

• Chilkoot’s scouts troop had an emergency services events where they got to talk to cops and firemen, learn about what to do in emergencies, wear/play with some equipment, go into a SWAT car.
• Moles returned to my yard.
• We had an increasingly problematic tree growing in the green belt right next to our house that was rubbing up against our roofline and wall on the south side. The city (or whoever is responsible) sent somebody to cut it and a few others down, which is a relief. Although it was strange to have someone climbing the tree immediately behind me while I was working.
• Chilkoot has remained interested in Rubiks cubes and is now able to solve the 3×3.

Nothing big. Random stuff:

• Chilkoot insisted we wear kilts to his school’s multi-cultural day
• Local bar Slow Boat hosted Peche Day, which KrisDi and I squeezed into the time our kids were at a drop off birthday party. We got to try four version of Peche Mortel from Dieu du Ciel.
• Chilkoot decided to enlist the help of his castmates and dress up like a girl
• I decided to pressure wash the growing green gunk off the truck, which lead to lots more pressure washing
• HB brought his kids over, and our kids all had a tasting of flavored seltzers
• KrisDi and I went out to a beer place (Chuck’s Hop Shop) and a German place. The server had to tape our leftover container shut.
• Big D’s birthday at her house. KrisDi made a cake and the kids played in a tank.
• I got a care package from my brother.

Man, I’ve gotten way behind. Life’s been busy. I’ll be quick.

Early May was dominated by the kids’ Kettleworks production of The Claw. Chilkat played the main character Dot, a neurotic cow toy happily trapped in an non-operational claw game in a bowling alley which suddenly is repaired, disrupting her life’s precious stability and endangering her “best friend” relationship with a dragon who is excited about the possibility of change.

Chilkat was on stage almost the whole time, had tons of lines, and at least one big solo song. She KICKED ASS. Chilkoot has tons of little parts, and a giant dance scene, and he ALSO KICKED ASS.

I am SUPER PROUD of my kids. They even had one little scene together where they got to act natural: Chilkat (Dot) was screaming at Chilkoot (a magic 8-ball character) for not telling her what she wanted to hear.

We hosted a cast party afterward where the kids took every stuffy in the house and turned our family room into a giant claw game.

Other stuff:

• One of Chilkoot’s characters was a lion. He was prohibited from cutting his hair. KrisDi tried to dye it a lighter (more lionish) color.
• We went to Harmon in Tacoma, and Chilkoot wanted to play pool.
• In a (successful) effort to check off the last few breweries I needed to hit 50 in a calendar year and earn free WABL membership, I visited a few breweries. Ravenna, Burke-Gilman, Best of Hands…
• I no longer remember details of why, but we did a bunch of home covid tests and came back negative on all of them.

Easter. Kids got a bunch of eggs and other treats at home, we met up with the Polish side of the family at L&D’s for more eggs and smoked meat. We learned that Chilkat cannot stand in front of KrisDi for photos anymore, but we’re still a cute family.

Chilkat and Chilkoot drew pictures inside of little leaves for their theater production’s poster.

Chilkoot and I went to a Mariners game with his Scouts troop. He got tired of it around the fifth inning and we went home.

Mommy Son Day: Main event was iFly “indoor skydiving,” soccer, baseball, bowling, iceskating. I know they went to IHOP for breakfast, but don’t know what else they ate.

Daddy Daughter Day: I was there, so I have more to say about this one. Chilkat and I went to Original Pancake House for breakfast (I had an apple pancake), went to Third Place Books in Seattle (almost had a meltdown because I would only buy her one $25 book and I made her pick), visited a park, then she painted a ceramic dino at Paint the Town, then we went a Dave and Buster’s. We spent something like $60 on video games. We ate lunch there, but they were super duper slow and it wasn’t particularly good. We went to another park, then a more indie / retro arcade filled with mostly old arcade machines that ran on actual coins. We ended up in an awkward timing scenario, and decided to get quick food at an Amazon Go store (which is weird, because you just pick stuff up and walk out, and it charges you based on what the camera systems observed you took with you). Unfortunately, Chilkat forgot she didn’t have enough food for crunchy things. We had planned to go to Cold Stone after that, but the line was super long, so we went back to the Amazon Go store and got ice cream. Then we went to see the movie Bad Guys and went home for bed. Chilkat’s favorite part was, “All of it.”

KrisDi went to Phoenix, cruelly abandoning me to the whims of our children. It reminded me that no matter how much I appreciate KrisDi, it’s not enough. Parenting is hard, especial with lots of stuff that needs to happen. I ended up missing some work and skipping an important meeting to help Chilkat with a math evaluation that she had ignored for eight days to start the morning it was due.

I had to do Chilkat’s hair for one rehearsal. There were covid cases in Chilkat’s classroom, so we had to keep testing her before sending her to rehearsal. She remained negative. We didn’t really have time for a regular trucknic in KrisDi’s absence, so we just ate ice cream back there.

I mentioned in a previous post that baseball started, one thing led to another and we got a new TV. I built a 20″ extender frame on the wall out of 2×4 to install the extendible TV mount so I can actually see the whole TV from my spot on the couch.

Meanwhile, KrisDi got to eat Portillo’s and In & Out and meet up with a friend at the Arizona Wilderness brewery. I mean, I guess she also had to give a presentation on short notice.