We have a new game from Uwe Rosenberg, our favorite board game designer, creator of Agricola. The premise of this one is to efficiently design and plant your garden, while raking up points in the form of terra cotta pots or glass cloches. It’s called Cottage Garden and it is super enchanting to discover the pretty patterns of make-believe gardens complete with adorable cat residents that emerge as you play your turns. Moreover, where Agricola tends to turn into a full-on marathon, Cottage Garden is a delightful breezy sprint. 

It wasn’t a double date in the typical sense. Instead it was a double date as in: we had two dates. The first one failed so the second one was a do-over. Actually it didn’t fail. We just didn’t see the play, instead we ate hummus. Allow me to explain. For Michael’s birthday, Jo gifted him tickets to the theater and babysitting so we could go together to see the show. It was on Capitol Hill at the 12th Avenue Arts venue. Parking was nearly impossible so we arrived late to the ticket counter, where we discovered… when the ticket taker announced: no late seating!

Absolutely no late seating. We are too accustomed to the casualness of a film with plenty of trailers or a music concert with an opening band and starting fashionably late at that. Even the Symphony will seat you between pieces. Here was the real deal: starts on time and no late seating. 

They did offer to switch our tickets to the next night however. Thus doubling our date night. 

We made it with plenty of time to spare on Saturday after riding the bus. We hauled in a last-minute baby-sitter, thank you Tom! Thus, on round two, we thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful dialogue and well-acted thoughtful piece that was Why We Have a Body. Thank you Jo!

Michael and I were married two years ago today in our intimate monsoon wedding ceremony. We were gathered in the Woodland Park Rose Garden gazebo exchanging vows while the rain torrented down all around us. Tonight as Lake and I walked home from our Tuesday night Lindsin adventure the sky opened up and sent us an anniversary remembrance. It rained hard! Sometimes marriage is like that: your husband is working late and your neck hurts and you’re walking home in the dark alone with your baby and it starts to downpour. But you make it home, light a fire, and there are kitties and babies to feed and care for and hot chocolate to make. And a husband who’s coming home and who will rub your back and bring you coffee in the morning. And maybe it spills all over the bedding but it’ll wash and you’re irresistibly in love, so it’s all right. It’s home. Where the heart is. 

Lake is really getting into reading these days. He loves to turn the pages of his books. Especially his lovely board books from our baby shower. Sometimes he will bring me a book to read out loud together, but most often he is content to sit by himself with a book and quietly absorb its wonders. He will studiously turn the cardboard pages… one after the other, methodically.He’s steadily improving his speed, accuracy and consistency. He’s a real page turner. 

Meanwhile I’ve been reading a armchair travel gem. It’s engrossing and transportive: living off the land in rural France. Just the kind of page turner this Mummy needs. La Belle Saison, by Patricia Atkinson. La Belle Saison, which is now, harvest time. But really la belle saison is whichever season you’re in. It’s living in the rhythm of nature, eating in-season, and off-the-land, and appreciating the present moment. It’s so good sometimes I would read passages aloud to Lake. Even so, I think he prefers turning his own pages for now. 

Thanks to Jo for working this weekend, I had a little mummycation. A vacation from the tightly scheduled working-mum lifestyle of the past ten months. I was not at the pharmacy and not with Lake for a full 18 hours. 

It was an opportunity for self-care and relationship care and a bit of laundry too. It was a grounding mummycation amongst all the growing of the past year. 

I took a bath. I took a nap. With the help of my friend Cami, I Marie Kondo’d my clothes. I went running with my husband. We had several quality relationship rambles. I relished the revival of the piggyback ride! I love carrying Lake and we are blessed to have him in our lives for sure; even so, it’s a treat to take a break and be the one getting carried every now and again. 

Ayres Annual Family Camp went out with a bang. We were blessed with gorgeous weather, clear skies for campfires, s’mores, star viewing, the Big Dipper, a sunset that intensified with time, even a shooting star! We enjoyed the outdoors and the family time: Ayres Time. Lake relished the time with his grand-aunties and grand-uncles, Grandpa Ken and Grandma Annie (Grannie). 

Out in Grayland for the Ayres Family Camp… Lake’s second annual Ayres Family Camp and his first time at the Pacific Ocean beach! He loves it! Two more days of fun still await us… stay tuned!

What an autumn day to be playing in the neighborhood park post farmers’ market! When the day brings by turns warm sunshine and sudden downpours, what could be better than a sweater? Lake is outfitted here in a summery cotton romper topped with a cozy wool sweater. The soft sage green cardigan with a jaunty string of aubergine flags was hand knit by Nana Joanie.  What a perfect sweater-weather weekend!

His new favorite word is uh-oh but there doesn’t seem much wrong in his world. He remains ebullient and unfazed. His other three words continue to remain:

Ich (I want, me-mine), Hi! which sounds more like the Swedish: Hej and Mamammama (reserved for when he’s hungry and/or tired). He can also answer yes/no questions clearly. 

Lake, are you enjoying life?

When you lend your keen fashion sense to your baby’s style you’re running the risk of twinning. 

Twinning: transitive verb. bringing two related entities together in close association to form a pair. Read: matching or coordinating outfits [with your baby] to visually demonstrate connection and togetherness. 

Maybe it’s intentional, but sometimes it occurs even when it’s unplanned! What determines what you wear on any given day? The season, the weather, the day of the week, what’s clean(?!), the current trends, the occasion? A bit of all of that and then a bit of je n’sais quoi. If you’re the one buying the wardrobe for, and dressing your baby, as well as yourself, there are similar forces driving the manifestation of both your outfits. Be warned of the strong possibility of ending up twinning, or coordinating, on any given day. Beware of spreading cheer and goodwill as folks slowly notice and take delight in the effect. 

Lake and I, we love twinning!