Today Miss Elise turned 6! She’s actually been gone for several days with her siblings and Grandma and Grandpa Martin for the Martin family reunion in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. They’ve been keeping busy going to the lake, getting lots of amusement park time at Silverwood, and of course eating lots of delicious treats from Grandma.
They left Wednesday afternoon in G&G’s bus, meaning we allowed the girls to miss Summer School on Thursday (there’s no school on Fridays), but we didn’t want them to miss more than one day of school this Summer because there’s only 16 total, so that meant Elise and Ava were in for another big adventure on Elise’s birthday, which was flying home alone from Spokane to Seattle!
Grandma took the girls to the airport in Spokane this afternoon and stayed there at the gate until the plane was in the air. Meanwhile Jessica and I were already through SeaTac security and waiting at their arrival gate. It took forever before they finally came off the plane (because they were seated in the back row) but we were so happy to see them. They were bubbling with excitement and couldn’t wait to tell us all about their trip.
We decided to do a special birthday dinner for Elise by taking them to 13 Coins at the airport. I have so many fond memories of various meals at that restaurant, so it seemed fitting that we would go there as a family. Dinner was good but everyone was tired, and by the time we got home they were exhausted, so bedtime was imminent.
Since we obviously couldn’t do a birthday party for Elise today, we decided to do it on Saturday of next weekend instead. The plan is for Enzo to stay with G&G Martin until the end of the family reunion, then ride back with them in the bus on Thursday, meaning everyone is home in time for Elise’s party. We’ll be doing a party at home this year, with a big bouncy house out in our driveway for the kids (and maybe a few adults) to enjoy. I’m going to make pulled pork for sandwiches, and there will be plenty of other food for everyone to enjoy. It won’t be as big of an event as last year, when we took a big group of people to an AquaSox game for her birthday, but it should be a lot of fun.
It was pretty strange having such a quiet house this week; this was actually the first time Jessica and I have ever been home alone without any of the kids. Normally if we’re away from the kids, it’s us who is gone, but as they get older these kinds of things will probably start happening more frequently.
One way Jessica was able to take advantage of the free time this week was by taking the train down to Portland for a day trip on Friday. Her friend Jodi was there with her husband for some type of getaway trip, and the timing worked out, so Jessica decided to get down there and spend the day together. I dropped her off at the King St Station in Seattle at 6:30 that morning, then picked her up around 9:00 that night. As expected she had a great day just walking around the city and catching up with an old friend. The timing was coincidental, and it’s so cool that they were able to make it work out.
I can say that with just the two of us at home for most of this week, our house and cars have never been cleaner, but honestly we missed the chaos. Going out to dinner every other night, seeing movies, and living generally care free has been nice, but we’re nowhere near ready for that to be our regular lives. It’s more of a sneak peak for what’s to come in the next 15-20 years. I haven’t felt so responsibility-free in a long time, so it was nice to just enjoy it while it lasted. I know this week has been good for everyone, and we’re very appreciative of the kids getting so much quality time with their grandparents, but we couldn’t wait to get them back home. Or at least two out of three 😉
As briefly mentioned above, the girls started Summer School last week at their new elementary school. We’ve been re-zoned by the school district, so doing a few weeks at our new school before things get going again in the Fall seemed like a good idea. As it turned out, they love their new school and instantly started seeing other kids they knew from their last school. Ava was particularly worried about missing her old friends, but as expected, it’s taking no time for both of them to start making new friends. Obviously we weren’t the only family who felt like Summer School would be beneficial in this transition, so I’m glad it’s working out for the best.
Last Monday we all went out to support Enzo in his first attempt at BMX bike racing. It was only a practice session so there was no official race, but you couldn’t tell Enzo that. He was out there to win from the opening run. There’s a track less than 10 minutes from the house and I’d been seeing people out there for the last couple years, so I emailed them asking how to get started. We ended up bringing our neighbor Nathan, who is 10 and is someone Enzo really looks up to, to ride along with him. Luckily he enjoyed it as well, which was awesome. They both did about 15 runs and loved it. I couldn’t believe little Enzo out there on his Ninja Turtles bike going as hard as possible, yet still being aware enough to call out “Hi Mom!” or “Hi girls!” when he rode by them. He never fell or crashed into anyone once and had a legitimately great time.
The girls were happy to cheer him on, but soon they started getting a little jealous because they wanted to ride as well. We explained to them that this day was all about Enzo. He has already spent so much time at hockey and dance, waiting around for the girls to finish their activities, so he really deserved this. However, they kept asking about it for the next couple days, and Ava went so far as to say she would like to be done with dance because it’s “not my thing” and wants to ride BMX in the Summers. Elise wasn’t quite so adamant as Ava, but she wants to give it a try, so I’m fine with it. The BMX season runs exactly during the hockey off season, and we need to keep Ava active pretty much year round, so this should work nicely. Sometime in the next week we’ll take them all back out to give it another go and see where we land. I have a feeling sometime in the near future we’ll be investing in a hitch and heavy duty bike rack for our van…
The remainder of our Summer is looking pretty low key, then things pick back up for us in the Fall. We’re going to do a day trip to Lake Chelan on Friday Aug 2nd so we can take the kids to Slidewaters. Driving to Lake Chelan and back in one day isn’t easy, but we have the most awesome van for road trips, so it makes sense to take advantage of it when you can. My Mom will be coming out for a long weekend visit the 2nd week of August, so we’re looking forward to that, then Jessica and I will be joining Kristy and Beto’s wedding party for a Labor Day weekend getaway, which is also in Lake Chelan.
My trip to Japan with the boys is now less than 3 months away. Obviously I’m excited. I had been thinking about getting a Japanese tattoo while there, but have since changed my mind and will be buying a guitar while I’m there instead. Most people probably don’t realize this, but guitars are currently way more popular in Japan than they are in the United States. Guitars were huge in the U.S. in the 70’s and 80’s, but not nearly so much anymore, however in Japan their popularity is still going strong. Currently Japan has more guitar stores per capita than any country in the world. Some of the finest guitars in the world are made there, and I’ve always had a particular affinity for Japanese made instruments. The quality bar and attention to detail is ridiculously high, yet the prices are far less than their American counterparts.
Back in the 70’s the newly rising Japanese guitar companies like Ibanez and Yamaha spent a ton of time researching the classic Gibson and Fender guitars from the 50’s and 60’s. In truly Japanese fashion, they would study these instruments heavily to understand what made them so special, then went about applying those learnings to their own instruments. In many cases they tried to replicate a classic instrument under a new name (like a Les Paul or a Stratocaster), while in other cases they went wild with new designs without sacrificing build quality.
What this means now is that you have a ton of extremely well built Japanese guitars from the 70’s and 80’s that can be purchased at an incredible value. Simply put, they’re nowhere near the cost of a classic Gibson or Fender, yet in most cases play and sound just as good. So my plan is to visit a bunch of guitar stores in Japan, buy lots of t-shirts, play lots of old guitars, and just wait for ‘the one’ to find me. I know it will, but I have to be sure because I’m only buying one guitar while I’m there, so I can’t get trigger happy and just buy the first one I like. I want something built in Japan, preferably from the 70’s or 80’s, to bring home and keep forever, then someday hand off to someone I love. We’ll see how it turns out…
That’s basically it for now. We’re very happy to have our girls back home, and can’t wait to see Enzo later this week. I’m so glad they had a great time on their trip, and look forward to officially celebrating Elise’s birthday next weekend. Overall I’m just so proud of Elise – she’s the sweetest and most loving little girl there is. She’s smart, outgoing, talented, and beautiful. The world is her oyster, I just hope she slows this ‘growing up’ thing down a little bit. Happy birthday sweetheart!
