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Aug. 2nd, 2023 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnI had a really lovely vacation week last week!
-We picked up E from nerd camp and got to see part of the hilarious talent show the evening before we picked her up. E loved staying up until 5:30am the night/morning before we picked her up, and was devastated to leave camp and still talks about how much she misses it, though she is now on a Discord channel and Google Chat with all the kids from camp and is spending much of her time on that (though of course, true to form, she's not posting at all).
-We then went to Mt. Rainier Sunday evening through Tuesday morning. Monday mid-day it rained, and both Monday and Tuesday the mountain was not very visible in the clouds, but Monday morning and Tuesday morning we got a couple of short hikes in, and A. got to throw a number of rocks and sticks in water (though I'm sure he would say it was not enough). Sadly, E has mostly outgrown throwing rocks in water (she did a few), and mostly was moping about camp being over (although I think it was good for her to have things to do and not just be moping at home with her computer).
-Then, my family went home and I had basically an afternoon in Seattle to myself :D :D - onase's advice, I took the light rail to downtown and went to Pike's Place Market (and spent a long time in the yarn store there, lol) and the Chihuly Glass Museum (which I LOVED, it's so SHINY) and walked around and generally had an awesome time. I loved downtown Seattle and could have spent a lot more time there, if I'd had it!
-Then, my parents showed up. Their first plan had been to rent a car, but instead I already had a car due to our previous plans, which was a VERY GOOD thing as Seattle airport is pretty overwhelming (and even more so right now with all the summer travel, I imagine), and they're really getting too old to deal with that kind of thing (especially my dad, see last bullet). And we drove to the resort on the Sound where my cousin's wedding weekend was.
-The wedding weekend itself was SO FUN. My cousin and his wife invited a ton of people (apparently 150 showed up, which wasn't quite the whole resort but close) and almost all my aunts/uncles and cousins came (my sister and one cousin didn't make it) and one set of -- I think second cousins once removed -- that my dad's family is close to for various reasons; the second-cousin-once-removed closest to my age (she's nine years younger than I am) I hadn't met before, and she is delightful, and we bonded quite a bit. I spent so much time talking and hanging out with extended family! I meant to do some water sports as the resort was on the water, but never even got around to it. And the wedding itself was both entertaining and super moving <3
-The wedding weekend also involved a LOT of very good food! A huge almost-cauldron (I guess it was more like a very large saucer?) of paella on Thursday evening, along with crostini with various toppings (my favorite was the bacon and caramelized onion jam) and make-your-own-berry-shortcake; another cousin's organization of a trip to a local oyster eatery (not affiliated with the wedding) that had extremely good oysters and clams in butter broth and clam chowder; a rehearsal dinner/welcome dinner that had crab legs and peel-your-own-shrimp and clam chowder in super yummy bread bowls; a wedding day breakfast that had Greek yogurt/granola/berries (which sounds not that great but it really was very good) and shakshuka, which I'd seen recipes for but never had before; a wedding reception with tiny crab cakes hors d'oeuvres (among others) and oysters, and a main buffet with king salmon and prime rib. (I must admit I liked the wedding reception main buffet least of all meals, though I suspect it cost the most, just because it was not quite as creative as the others.)
-My parents reportedly went to visit my sister the day after they got back and complained about the wedding the entire time they were with her, not saying anything positive until my sister asked if there was anything they liked, at which point they said that the food was good. They complained a LOT about the cost -- newsflash, it was at a fancy resort! my parents can afford it! and if they couldn't, they could have... not gone! -- and whenever there was any sort of decision made that did not cater to them specifically, like, we had to miss the last brunch because we had to leave early so I could catch my plane, and they thought the brunch should have been earlier -- and also complained about one of my cousin's daughters, who has short hair and wore an adorable suit and bow tie to the wedding, because she was acting too much like a boy *rolls eyes* (cousin's sisters and I asked, and her daughter is not trans and hasn't changed pronouns, she just wanted to dress that way. Which I think is fantastic! I'd've dressed in a suit and bow tie if I thought I could get away with it. You can see why I couldn't.) Buuuuut yeah the whole time with them was kind of like that; it was fine, but I'm glad my sister didn't go, she wouldn't have been able to put up with all that negativity.
-My dad is noticeably worse in mental function than he was in the spring, or perhaps I was paying more attention because I didn't have the kids with me. One on one he can often carry on a conversation that sounds reasonably cogent, but he can't process anything when in a group, and he can't process anything that takes cognitive load or is in multiple parts (he was very confused when mom and I tried to explain to him that most people who weren't family were attending by themselves or only with a spouse because the invitations said kids weren't invited, except for family), and at least once he couldn't remember something that had happened 24 hours ago (one of my cousins had given him salmon jerky, and he remembered someone had given it to him but not who had). This frustrates my mom a lot, which also doesn't help. :(
-We picked up E from nerd camp and got to see part of the hilarious talent show the evening before we picked her up. E loved staying up until 5:30am the night/morning before we picked her up, and was devastated to leave camp and still talks about how much she misses it, though she is now on a Discord channel and Google Chat with all the kids from camp and is spending much of her time on that (though of course, true to form, she's not posting at all).
-We then went to Mt. Rainier Sunday evening through Tuesday morning. Monday mid-day it rained, and both Monday and Tuesday the mountain was not very visible in the clouds, but Monday morning and Tuesday morning we got a couple of short hikes in, and A. got to throw a number of rocks and sticks in water (though I'm sure he would say it was not enough). Sadly, E has mostly outgrown throwing rocks in water (she did a few), and mostly was moping about camp being over (although I think it was good for her to have things to do and not just be moping at home with her computer).
-Then, my family went home and I had basically an afternoon in Seattle to myself :D :D - on
ase's advice, I took the light rail to downtown and went to Pike's Place Market (and spent a long time in the yarn store there, lol) and the Chihuly Glass Museum (which I LOVED, it's so SHINY) and walked around and generally had an awesome time. I loved downtown Seattle and could have spent a lot more time there, if I'd had it!-Then, my parents showed up. Their first plan had been to rent a car, but instead I already had a car due to our previous plans, which was a VERY GOOD thing as Seattle airport is pretty overwhelming (and even more so right now with all the summer travel, I imagine), and they're really getting too old to deal with that kind of thing (especially my dad, see last bullet). And we drove to the resort on the Sound where my cousin's wedding weekend was.
-The wedding weekend itself was SO FUN. My cousin and his wife invited a ton of people (apparently 150 showed up, which wasn't quite the whole resort but close) and almost all my aunts/uncles and cousins came (my sister and one cousin didn't make it) and one set of -- I think second cousins once removed -- that my dad's family is close to for various reasons; the second-cousin-once-removed closest to my age (she's nine years younger than I am) I hadn't met before, and she is delightful, and we bonded quite a bit. I spent so much time talking and hanging out with extended family! I meant to do some water sports as the resort was on the water, but never even got around to it. And the wedding itself was both entertaining and super moving <3
-The wedding weekend also involved a LOT of very good food! A huge almost-cauldron (I guess it was more like a very large saucer?) of paella on Thursday evening, along with crostini with various toppings (my favorite was the bacon and caramelized onion jam) and make-your-own-berry-shortcake; another cousin's organization of a trip to a local oyster eatery (not affiliated with the wedding) that had extremely good oysters and clams in butter broth and clam chowder; a rehearsal dinner/welcome dinner that had crab legs and peel-your-own-shrimp and clam chowder in super yummy bread bowls; a wedding day breakfast that had Greek yogurt/granola/berries (which sounds not that great but it really was very good) and shakshuka, which I'd seen recipes for but never had before; a wedding reception with tiny crab cakes hors d'oeuvres (among others) and oysters, and a main buffet with king salmon and prime rib. (I must admit I liked the wedding reception main buffet least of all meals, though I suspect it cost the most, just because it was not quite as creative as the others.)
-My parents reportedly went to visit my sister the day after they got back and complained about the wedding the entire time they were with her, not saying anything positive until my sister asked if there was anything they liked, at which point they said that the food was good. They complained a LOT about the cost -- newsflash, it was at a fancy resort! my parents can afford it! and if they couldn't, they could have... not gone! -- and whenever there was any sort of decision made that did not cater to them specifically, like, we had to miss the last brunch because we had to leave early so I could catch my plane, and they thought the brunch should have been earlier -- and also complained about one of my cousin's daughters, who has short hair and wore an adorable suit and bow tie to the wedding, because she was acting too much like a boy *rolls eyes* (cousin's sisters and I asked, and her daughter is not trans and hasn't changed pronouns, she just wanted to dress that way. Which I think is fantastic! I'd've dressed in a suit and bow tie if I thought I could get away with it. You can see why I couldn't.) Buuuuut yeah the whole time with them was kind of like that; it was fine, but I'm glad my sister didn't go, she wouldn't have been able to put up with all that negativity.
-My dad is noticeably worse in mental function than he was in the spring, or perhaps I was paying more attention because I didn't have the kids with me. One on one he can often carry on a conversation that sounds reasonably cogent, but he can't process anything when in a group, and he can't process anything that takes cognitive load or is in multiple parts (he was very confused when mom and I tried to explain to him that most people who weren't family were attending by themselves or only with a spouse because the invitations said kids weren't invited, except for family), and at least once he couldn't remember something that had happened 24 hours ago (one of my cousins had given him salmon jerky, and he remembered someone had given it to him but not who had). This frustrates my mom a lot, which also doesn't help. :(
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Date: 2023-08-06 02:48 pm (UTC)