If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw that Ryan finally got back from his most recently TDY in the wee hours of Friday morning. After too many delays, the boys and I made our way to SeaTac just past midnight to pick up our soldier, and we made it home around 2 AM. Needless to say, we were all a hot mess on Friday, and we ended up keeping the boys home from school to rest up and spend some Daddy/son time and get ready for a busy – and fun – weekend.
We started our weekend with the boys’ swim lessons bright and early at the Y, and we started packing up our goods for the boys to spend an overnight at Auntie Cheryl’s in Olympia. About a month ago, she graciously offered to watch the boys for us overnight while we headed up to the Seattle area for my most recent open water race – the Seattle Park-to-Park swim. We readily accepted since there was an early race start, and it would be our first time in two years (what?!) spending a night together alone and away from the boys.
The boys – and Danny – got to spend pretty much the whole weekend with Auntie Cheryl and fam, and Ryan and I headed up to the Bothell/Kirkland area late Saturday afternoon. My race had an early check-in time at 6:15 AM, and the race start was at O.O. Denny Park at 7:30 AM. Needless to say, we had to be up super early to make our way over to Lake Washington.
I knew the race would be a bit of a crapshoot since I’m still in the throes of morning sickness, and my training has lagged the past few weeks because of it. However, I was determined to do the 2.5-mile open water race, and I ended up finishing 5th of the women in 1:05.28. I did it without a wetsuit because the water was around 70 degrees, which was actually warmer than the air! I’m pleased with the end result, but I definitely have some work to do! Ryan was awesome – cheering and documenting the whole thing for me – and it’s really just so nice to have him back.
After the race, he and I made our way into Seattle for a well-deserved brunch, and after scouring Yelp, we decided to try Tilikum Place Cafe. There was an hour and a half wait, but since we were pretty close to the Space Needle, we decided to wait it out and go for a walk. We got to explore a little bit, and we had our table within 45 minutes, which was great, and it was well worth the wait! The place is trendy and cute, and the waitstaff was superb. My klutzy butt dropped one of my poached eggs while trying to put it on Ryan’s share plate, and the chef (without prompting or asking, mind you), made me another. It’s reasonably-priced, friendly, trendy, and delicious, to boot. If you’re in the area, definitely try it!
Honestly, I love my boys more than life itself, but there was something so refreshing about spending some time – even for a race and brunch – together as a couple. I think we’ll need to plan more of these!
