Tuesday we packed up a few overnight things, locked the cats inside (due to several local sightings of a cougar!), and headed up to Everett via ferry. Nate’s on his ship out in the Pacific, and Sandra had a mandatory Navy thing she had to attend on Wednesday with daycare closed, so we arrived to be Quinn’s “minder” for that day. He was so excited to see us! God, I love it! Hop-hop, hide-hide, giggle-cackle. We ordered in pizza Tuesday evening, and it was so nice to not have anybody need to cook, plus it was very nummy. Or, as Quinn would say, “Berry-berry good!” Well, he actually didn’t have any. He is not like his dad in this regard—he’s a picky eater. (Nate ate—or would try—anything).
We stayed in the car (my car!) on the ferry since they haven’t opened the galley yet due to Covid, and I caught this—watching a ferry while being on a ferry. I’m pretty sure that was the Seattle/Bainbridge ferry, heading to Bainbridge Is.
I do believe that we don’t save a whole lot (if any) time taking the ferry as opposed to driving all around the Sound through Olympia/Tacoma/Seattle. But it sure does reduce the stress. It’s pleasant riding a ferry! And avoiding typical horrendous freeway traffic through those cities. Even if we do miss the ferry and have to wait for the next one. (Story of our lives).
Nate called on his ship’s sat phone Tuesday evening, and that was so nice! What a great connection, except for a bit of an awkward delay. We had Sandra’s iPhone on speaker and I loved hearing his voice and having a chance to chat. Quinn was also definitely involved with that! I don’t think Nate’s been all that far off the west coast, mostly along California. He said they had one port of call for a weekend and he and some sailor buds took in a ballgame and watched a bunch of homeruns and grand slams and had some beers. The Dodgers, I think.
So, Wednesday we were “it” for Quinn. We’ve done this before a couple of times, but the first time he was sick (and not at all happy that we were there and Mama and Dada were not), and the second time he wasn’t particularly jazzed with our presence, either. But this time he was HAPPY. He has matured for one thing (he’ll be 4 in just a couple of months), and he’s also had to grow accustomed to his daddy being gone a couple of times for what has to seem to him as long stretches of time. (We all dread his upcoming 6-9-month deployment, probably starting in February). “Daddy’s at work. On a ship.” Sandra said that at night, at bedtime, he sometimes gets a little teary about missing his daddy. But I sense he is essentially a happy, well-adjusted little boy who mostly lives in the moment and gets a kick out of it all.
On Wednesday we took him to the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park, which has a nice playground PLUS the beach! (The “lighthouse” is a joke, though. It’s basically a tiny little house with a little light-house “shape” in back. I mean, that’s it). The weather wasn’t great (it was actually pretty cold out), but we walked on the beach for a while and of course John and I were looking for agates. (Can’t be helped). The beach rocks were mostly a little too big, but there were areas with good gravel/pebbles. John kept picking up little rocks here and there and discarding them. I’d already determined that there likely weren’t any agates on that beach, plus my eyes were watery from the strong breeze and I couldn’t see very well anyway. And also, no sun whatsoever, which truly helps light up any agates. Then, out of the blue, Quinn says, “Here’s an agate!” and plucks something off the beach AND IT WAS. It was an agate! A nice one! John and I looked at each other with wide, shocked eyes and dropped jaws and totally cracked up. Quinn was pretty matter-of-fact about it because he had just previously found a little piece of green beach glass and he was more excited about that. It was actually pretty amazing. (Neither John nor I found one).
There was an Ivar’s right near the park, so John picked up some chowder and fries and we plopped down at a covered picnic table to get out of the misty rain. Oh, that chowder was so good! Quinn took a spoonful that John offered to him and he pronounced it “hot” and didn’t want any more (it was warm by that time, but really not hot). So, Quinn had some fries. Just a few. Then he went running to chase all the tame seagulls who were awaiting dropped french fries.
Quinn enjoyed the playground, too, which was quite busy. He climbed inside a rather strange contraption where another little boy was and Quinn said to him, “I’m Quinn. I’m from Washington State!” Heh heh. The other boy just looked at him blankly. It’s been so fun to observe his speech evolution and I noticed that his vocabulary has increased a LOT since I last saw him. There are still times when he’s a little difficult to understand, but either I’m getting better at understanding him, or his pronunciation is also improving. I love it because you get to see how his mind works.
John and I left soon after Sandra returned home from work, mostly because I was aware that our Butcher Box (full of dry-ice-frozen meat) had been delivered the day before, plus I was also expecting the delivery of our Home Chef box of fresh food on ice packs. Needed to get that stuff put away. But Quinn didn’t want us to leave! He tried (teasingly) to block the door to prevent us from going.
Finally, as he was waving goodbye from Sandra’s arms and I was about to climb into the car, he said, “Goodbye Daddy’s mom!”
I thought I was going to hit the ground laughing. But yeah, that’s me!
John has now replaced two parts of our fridge’s icemaker and I’m sure hoping this last one he did today does the trick. I have been beyond frustrated not having any ice for my beloved ice water. Some meds I take give me dry-mouth, so I just about always have a glass of ice water at my side. Plus, I love it. It’s so quenching! So, c’mon icemaker, do your thing. (Have yet to hear the cubes dump in the bin…) Update: As of Sunday night, the icemaker is STILL not working. Grrrrr!
So many idiot people (yes, idiots) are refusing to be vaccinated, so we are back to Covid soup. Mostly the outbreaks are among the unvaccinated (sucks to be them), but lately there have been a lot of “break-through” infections of people who ARE vaccinated, mostly because there is so much goddamned virus out there, what with this latest Delta variant. Yes, I’m done coddling the unvaccinated. I am now blaming the unvaccinated.
Vaccines should be mandated.
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” - William Shakespeare, ‘As You Like It’
