Mom/Grandma and Aunt Janet turned almost-80 today, a convenient party day before the official turning. All but one daughter-in-law (who was very much missed) was able to celebrate, with a catered dinner at The Grandparents’. Piper prepared a cake that she, Cecily and Amber turned into an aesthetic wonderland of love and frosting.

Having the family together was gift enough (and shout out to Brian who made the quick trip up with no back up driver and not enough sleep!) but we managed to fit in an ornament exchange to round out food and fun.

The movie was good, yah, yah, but turn it into a musical? Brilliantly Blonde. And yes, I am doing the Bend and Snap. Turns out, it works.

In fact, this is what Wes was able to do last month. He has been practicing in the parkour gym for months, and finally felt confident to show us in the backyard. I honestly probably have never been prouder.

That’s my boy!

We may have found our sweet spot! Sensory-friendly means a show where the lights aren’t as dim, the strobe lights and lightning cracks are toned down, and everyone there is fine with the audience being a little noisier and meandering. It also meant some “closed-captioned” screens and ASL interpreters signing the play beautifully. Wes turned into J, a good friend of Piper’s, since Wes doesn’t really “do” musicals (though he did agree that the stagecraft is always fun). Seeing Wicked on stage was a good way to spend a rainy afternoon and more than made up for the drive to Seattle and back.

Again, a huge thank you to my parents for a day of birth that is always followed by a school holiday– it turned my Sunday birthday into a three-day weekend on San Juan Island with Dwayne and two good friends.

Dwayne reserved a little cabin at Lakedale Resort, which was a great launching point for all the island’s adventures. Notwithstanding wet shoes (and Rochelle displayed her overacheiving personality when she fell from a log into the Sound hours before the rest of us got our feet soaked), we mostly stayed dry as we explored Friday Harbor, both lighthouses, the British and Amerian camps, the whaleless whale-spotting points, and the Masuleum in the little wood. (Yes, Dwayne was jealous although it is unanimously agreed he would have built something better.) A cozy dinner in, and cozy dinner out, the weirdest sandwich I could create, and some chocolate treats were the icing on this birthday weekend. I even got to pretend for a few hours that the birthday texts I got from my children that afternoon were unprompted by their father. Well, at least they were at home and not whining through my adventures.

Baths. Baths, executed by Piper and Wes, are my revenge, possibly on both the cats and the kids.

I love, love, love, love these muscles. Yep, I’m definitely shallow.

Piper loves creating Trunk or Treats, and volunteered our family for 3 cars. This year’s newest theme was Hogwarts Library. I was Professor McGonagall and, wow, did a catch a lot of Harry Potters not studying!

It may not have been record-breaking wet, which would really have been something for the PNW, but it was wet enough. I wanted to get out of town regardless and spend a weekend at Howard Miller Steelhead County Park (I recommend!) on the Cascade Loop. And that is why we have an RV. We did spend much of our time cozy inside, Dwayne and I finishing the only show we binged this year. Kyla did homework and the younger two stayed at home, which probably made all of us happier and the RV much roomier. A friend came over for the day for a hike and games & hot cocoa after we got all our layers soaked. But it was still delightful and an opportunity to have breakfast at our favorite Concrete Bakery on the way out.

I love these women I’ve grown with from baby class to book group (18 years!) with. And now we actually take weekends away together.

And, ahem, the text that I sent my family ahead of time. It was prescient.