last week of summer break (?) + a lake wenatchee wedding

 we made it through the last week (?) of summer break. more on that question mark later.

last monday was a hang out at home day. i love the idea of a relaxing day at home, but it tends to go hand in hand with a lot of whining and kid bickering and minutes that feel like hours, so in reality it's less than ideal. there was some reading, legos, listening to music, kid screen time, work for me and in the afternoon the kids played with some friends at the school playground. 

tuesday morning we relaxed at home and i did my work. in the afternoon we met a bunch of friends from school at golden gardens. that's something we hadn't done all spring/summer, which is hard for me to wrap my head around how different this summer has been. i'm so glad we could fit it in before school starts. the kids were happy all afternoon and had a blast soaking up the sun/sound with their friends. 

tuesday night ashford and i attended the first in-person PTA meeting at school in 2.5 years. they had pizza for every one and then childcare while the adults met. it felt so good.

wednesday morning ashford got his back to school hair cut. then we met kay and her boys at 'hattie's hat' for lunch/brunch. it's a quirky old ballard avenue restaurant that i've been meaning to go to for...7 years now. it was a fun spot! 

ashford went to his friend arlo's in the afternoon, and azalea and i hung out at home. 

thursday i took my kids + sisi to the DEFY trampoline park in tukwila. we had been once before and my kids looooove it there, but it's far away and expensive, so we don't go often. we met kay and her boys, as well as 2 other friends there. the kids had a great time running around and getting their energy out for a couple hours. i forgot to take any pictures. oops. in the evening, we had azalea's 6th grade parent/student orientation. it was an hour long program where we got to meet her homeroom teacher, other 6th grade families, she got to see her homeroom classroom and the general area where her locker will be. she has a more formal, student-only orientation tomorrow

friday was a day full of checking items off my to-do list before we went out of town for the weekend. work, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. in the afternoon we met vanessa and ewan at the salmon bay school playground for a while. 

saturday morning we hit the road for lake wenatchee, which is a little over 2 hours away in the mountains. some friends of ours (chris and lindsey) were getting married and invited our whole family to attend their camp-themed wedding weekend. they rented out a summer camp for the ~ 60 guests with all sort of activities in addition to the wedding itself. since the cabins held 8 people and we didn't know many people going to the wedding (and we were bringing kids), we decided to rent our own tiny cabin airbnb that was a 10 minute drive away. it worked out really well. it was a super cute place with a huge deck. we didn't spend much time there, but we enjoyed the time that we did. 

when we arrived at camp zanika, the group was doing tie dyeing of the official t-shirts they ordered for every one, so we joined in on that. 

  

next we checked out the archery. there was a staff person who showed every one how to shoot the arrows at the target. the kids both did great! 

  

the swimming beach/dock was open for a few hours in the afternoon, but it wasn't that warm and the water was pretty cold. thatcher and the kids took a dip, i just watched. there was also a fair amount of smoke in the air from wildfires. 

 

we checked into our airbnb and got ready for the wedding saturday night. 

 

the ceremony was held down by the lake at the fire pit :) it was a short and sweet ceremony. this is the second wedding my kids had been to in their lives, but the first one that they actually remember. 

 

  

the reception was held in the dining hall. they decorated the tables so cutely with mountain-themed centerpieces.

  

 

these glow bracelets and necklaces were a huge hit with the kids and kept them busy all night. 

  dinner was catered by a taco truck and was delicious. they had churros for dessert. there were speeches and first dances and then it was time to hit the dance floor. the kids and i had a blast dancing til after 10pm. thatcher isn't a big dancer, but he loved watching us. then we went back to our cabin to sleep. 

sunday morning we relaxed on the covered patio...

 

then we headed back to camp zanika to have brunch with the group. they served french toast and sausage. they had various crafts for people to do over the weekend, so i got back in touch with my inner 11 year old self and made a friendship bracelet. it was so fun! 

  we also got our tie dyed shirts back (all washed and dried!)

 

 

thatcher and azalea decided to try the ropes course, which ended with a zip line. we were so proud of azalea because it required hooking and unhooking your safety rope as you went and she was a pro! 

we hung out down by the water again for a while, before heading back to our cabin to relax. then it was back to camp for dinner in the dining hall (burgers, tater tots, and salad) and an evening of board games/movies. we met lots of nice people and had a great time celebrating with the bride and groom all weekend. i thought it was so thoughtful that they invited our whole family, since they mostly just know thatcher. 

we spent our second and last night at our cabin.

monday (labor day) it was time to pack up and drive back to seattle. we knew traffic would be bad because it was a holiday....and it was! the drive took over 3 hours. we grabbed a late lunch at 'mod pizza' in lake forest park because we were all starving. 

now it's time to transition back to regular life and the impending start of school! the seattle public school teachers are still negotiating their contract with the district and there is a pretty high likelihood of there being a strike if their terms aren't met, which would delay the start of school (9/7). i fully support the teachers, but i hope this can get resolved tomorrow so the kids can start on time. we shall see!