one crazy summer

This has been a crazy summer. Last time you heard from me we were in the middle of packing up and moving and our house looked like this for the week before graduation:

So accurate. Rhoda just watching TV all day while we packed up and ran errands and cried a little inside for leaving Philly. Thanks be to my mom for coming to hang out for a week and watching Rhoda while I got a dent in the packing and to Robbie's parents who drove with Robbie cross-country with all our worldly possessions. Next time I really hope we just spring for professional movers and save us all the physical/emotional toll of moving.

Then, there was graduation!!

It was such a great day. The group picture is Robbie with his Lauder classmates at the end of their informal graduation ceremony after the big Wharton ceremony. Robbie traveled/lived with them and since there are only like 60 people in the Lauder class (compared to the 900 in the Wharton class) it was just really easy to get to know all of them better and they were some of our closest friends in Philly. I cried at the end of the day because I felt like we didn't get enough time with all of our friends before we had to leave (THE NEXT DAY). But, packing beckons I guess. 

Us on the front steps of our house on Pine Street just before I turned in our keys. Sob, sob. Fortunately I just had to drive down to Virginia to spend the week with Eliza before flying out to California so that didn't really feel like I was *really* permanently moving...

I was in town just in time to go to Ida's "Grandfriends Day" at her school, which meant I got to eat snacks and sit in a tiny chair next to her desk and just see what an afternoon at Ida's school is like. It was super cute. Also Ida asking me if I wanted to go made me melt a little.

Rhoda and I flew with Eliza and Polly to LA for my niece's mission farewell, which was great. I love hanging out in Malibu on a beautiful summer weekend and I love hanging out with my siblings. I think we've really hit our stride in adulthood. We also got to visit my two grandmas—Grandma Helen (above) is turning 101 next week! I also spent the week in Monrovia while Robbie was in Boston for work training, and after he got back we drove up to Redwood City together and started unpacking.

Somewhere in there I went to my sister Phoebe's house in Oregon to babysit her three younger kids for the week while she was on trek. These pictures pretty accurately sum up the week (passing the time with Snapchat + driving a minivan).

When Phoebe got back we flew down to LA together to go to my Grandma Mary's funeral. She passed away less than a week after I left Monrovia. She had been very ill with bone cancer that she was diagnosed with in January and her body finally succumbed to the cancer months later. I was really happy that she was fairly coherent during both of our visits while I was home, but I was also really relieved that she was going to be free from suffering after all that time. I still can't believe how well she was handling such a tremendous amount of physical pain. The funeral was amazing and honored her memory so well. I miss her a lot and think of her every day.

Settling in to life here has been really great. The first month with all the travel and the emotional state I was in after my grandma died was a little crazy but we've hit a pretty good groove. I've been SUPER busy! Everyone's busy but I'm not used to being this busy with a kid at home. I started working from home super part time for a small business in Philly, and I also decided to start taking piano students and I've got two (!) starting in a couple of weeks. And then Rhoda starts preschool next month (!!). I hadn't been planning on putting her in preschool till next year because she's not 3 till November but Robbie and I talked about it for a long time and we both decided it was going to be best for all of us. Also, preschool here = $$ = I needed to add to our family's income so it all worked out pretty well.

Some other pictures of life here...

Rhoda dressed how my grandmas dress (no, seriously)

A little Sunday stroll/dinner at Mori Point

Major perk of living in the RWC—my cousin Karl and his wife Laura (and their awesome dog Louie) live like 10 minutes away and we see them all the time. It's the best.

Another major perk—living by lots of dear old friends and getting to hang out with them whenever we want! For some reason everyone just wants to live here. I invite all of you to follow their example so we can be neighbors.

My parents came for a visit (that's my dad hidden under that yellow blanket—why is he so tiny) and it coincided with Robbie's birthday. Also, my dad helped me with like a dozen house projects. Thanks, Dad.

And I leave you with this picture of Rhoda who somehow made it to the floor one night in her sleep. I'm feeling the same way after this update. Phew! See you guys in six months!

time flies

The end of our time in Seattle has really snuck up on me—we leave next Saturday! (Insert crying emoji here.) We have loved the last few weeks we've lived here and I'm going to be really sad to leave, but I'm happy to be going back to our house and another new routine... before we go on vacation again for a couple of weeks. We're really just trying to avoid the hot, muggy end of summer grossness as much as possible.

So here's a recap of the last few weeks...

Rhoda the mad scientist

Robbie's parents came for a visit! One of Dave's favorite spots we visited was the Chihuly Garden, which was pretty awesome. And we got this very awesome complimentary photo out of it.

On the Fourth of July we went to Bainbridge Island to check out the festivities. We left before the parade but Rhoda got some sweet swag and we ate some good carnival food.

Every day

On the train to Phoebe's. Rhoda is super into pictures of the temple lately after we had an FHE lesson about the temple. She has some confusion though about whether or not all tall buildings are temples.

I mentioned on Instagram already that Rhoda is obsessed with Phoebe's dog Rex, but those two crack me up. One day Rhoda woke up crying after her nap and Rex went and stood at attention at the top of the stairs until I went to get her out of her crib. And then he just snuggled with her like this afterward. Babies and dogs, you guys.

Rhoda walking like my dad at the arboretum

We had access to a car last week so we got a lot of our Seattle trips checked off our list, including a picnic at Gas Works Park. Such beautiful views of the city.

I go to Pike Place Market almost every day and I keep finding new corners I've never seen before. I think I'm going to miss the proximity to an awesome market more than anything.

Seattle, man! I'm obsessed with this place.

shouldn't have left you without a dope beat to step to

Subtitle: we live in Seattle now! If you feel left out because you didn't know about our big move (just for the summer, mind you), you shouldn't! We didn't tell anyone. It just kind of snuck up on us and now here we are, a month into Robbie's internship. And the minute we got here our laptop died on us and Robbie's work laptop makes me want to pull my hair out, so here's my belated update on our life for the past month or so. Lots of pictures too, for those of you who just scroll past the text for that sort of thing anyway. (The TL;DR version for people who just want to know how Rhoda's doing is that she talks a mile a minute now and has way more hair than she did in my last post.)

If you haven't already heard, Seattle is basically perfect in the summer. June is apparently usually questionable, but we won the lottery and got just two cloudy/rainy days this month. (Sorry Allison.) The problem with testing out living in a city in the PNW during the only cloudless months of the year is that you don't have experience with months of gray at a time, or with happy lamps. So we'll have to revisit that in a few months when we're figuring out where we want to live I guess... but for now I'll just enjoy the sunshine.

So far all of the other non-weather related stereotypes about Seattle are turning out to be true, such as the alarmingly high number of white people I see with dreds and the immediate desire I had to go camping once we landed at the airport. Two of the most surprising things to me are how aggressive homeless people are here (you give them the benefit of the doubt that they're normal when they start to exchange pleasantries with you, and then they start shaking their arms above their head and start rambling about how you need to get your baby home to feed them some g--d---- steak and eggs) and how EVERYONE HERE SMOKES. Do we not live in the 21st century?! I still don't understand why people smoke. I understand even less why people vape, and there's plenty of that going on here too.

Overall I'm pretty into the Emerald City. We live in a sort of lame area for families without a car (downtown) but cool for accessibility to the best Greek yogurt I've had in my life. I also really like our ward, and I like every single person I've met here. Not that I don't like people I meet in other places, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how welcoming everyone has been to us even though we'll just be here for a couple of months. The Relief Society presidency came over for a visit two days after our first Sunday at church, which was super impressive, and I am now regretting ignoring most of the interns in the Capitol Hill ward, because interns are people too! I've also been introduced to lots of friends of friends (who should be living in Seattle right now and NOT in Pocatello or Palo Alto) and we've been keeping busy every day with outings to splash pads, parks, and City Target (hallelujah, it's a block away from our apartment building).

Okay, time for pictures and witty captions.

Landing at SeaTac. The beginning of a week of jet lag-induced tantrums (for 2/3 of us). Glad we're past that stage... for now.

We live right around the corner from Pike's Place Market, which is awesome if only for the immediate accessibility of crumpets.

LDS churches, they just don't make 'em like they used to! I'm in love with our building's landscaping. First Presidency, take note.

 This is the view from Kerry Park, which is at the top of a hill I tried to summit with a jogging stroller on a very hot morning. The Bob can do many things, but running uphill on a narrow cobblestone streets poses a real challenge. Google Maps should really give you some warning about severe elevation climbs.

Thanks to a sweet discount from Robbie's employer we get into a lot of places for a great discount. $3 for a dinky children's museum? I'll take it!

This photo was not taken in Seattle but since Courtney and Brent really should still be living here I'll count it. Rhoda and I went to Palo Alto for Cousin Karls's wedding last month and Courtney was super nice and babysat Rhoda while I went to the reception. Rhoda and William were too much to watch walking around in their sleep sacks, especially after Courtney said they looked like Maggie Simpson.

Rhoda looking super impressed with Courtney

I needed to document how efficient of a solo traveler I've become. On my California trip I had a backpack, an overnight bag, a travel crib, and Rhoda in the Ergo on my person, while carrying around her car seat. Also, I didn't have to check any bags. Maybe that's less efficient and more crazy, but whatever. I've got this routine down. May I also note that no one in the airport offered to help me with my luggage... I guess I looked like I had too much of a handle on things. ("I got it, I got it!"... anyone?)

This photo is included so that I can get some reassurance that this jellyfish looks less like a jellyfish and more like a set of Fallopian tubes?

Come on Seattle, stop being so pretty!

Come on Rhoda, stop looking like an adult!

Rhoda hanging out on the time out bed in our apartment/hotel. Related: we have a bi-weekly cleaning service! I'm not mad about it.

Rhoda and an unconsenting pig. 

I'd really love you to hear Rhoda say "Space Needle." I don't even know how to repeat it but it's funny every time.

Summer time = melon time; maybe also time to find a new hat that actually fits Rhoda's melon, if you catch my drift.

Rhoda and a statue's bum.

Five girls at a tiny table.

Rhoda hates carousels. Sorry for ruining your weekend, kid.

There we are!

Rhoda ran a fever for a couple of days and wouldn't eat anything until a few days later when she discovered homemade lemon cupcakes at her buddy Sage's birthday party.

My buddy and me.

Phoebe lives only 3ish hours away now so she came up for a visit with 3/4 of her kids last week! Rhoda still points at the chairs at our dining room table and says "Phoebe's chair. Aggie's chair. Sully's chair." Time for another visit!

Rhoda and her new friend Luca, whom she affectionately calls Booga.