Never once have I thought, let’s go to Kennewick. And yet, I’ve been twice in the past few months. Gymnastics, that’s why. Laine had a meet there at the end of January and again the first weekend of April. Laine and I were also in Kennewick last spring for a gymnastics meet. I imagine we’ll be back again next meet season. And now looking at a map, I had no idea Kennewick is only about a 20 minute drive to the Oregon border. The things you find out when you actually look, haha.
Kennewick in January
Back in January, we all went. We made a night of it, leaving early Saturday with the plan to stop in the Palm Springs of Washington. Yakima. Which I always thought was only a roof rack company before moving to Washington. Whatever Yakima is, we stopped there for a break in the drive. I looked up things to do and given the options, we settled on laser tag. We talked maybe roller skating but there weren’t enough yeses to override laser tag. It was a cute mom-and-pop place. Kind of a nice change from all the large chain companies.
Nothing much to note other than it wasn’t nearly as expensive as it would be around here, and the kids—and Brian—all got their laser tag on. I think they all enjoyed the experience. Next up, Target. Saige couldn’t find a swimsuit when packing and didn’t bring one. This is a thing with her; it also happened in San Diego. Just like in San Diego, we hit up Target in Yakima. Which turned into a decent shopping spree. Everyone needed something. More like wanted. Shoes, pants, tops, swimsuits, makeup, haircare… over $250 later we left for the final stretch to Kennewick.
Last year when we went to Kennewick, one of the gymnastics moms secured a hotel block at the Comfort Suites. I went ahead and booked, and when we got there I was impressed. It’s a newish hotel and right across the parking lot is a Chipotle. This is a positive for Laine and me. And since I’m a stickler for routine, I went ahead and booked the same hotel for both Kennewick trips this year.
When Laine and I went last year, we had this extremely large room. Like we could have a dance party in there with her entire gymnastics team. It was so big. (That’s what she said.) I thought I had booked the same room for this time, but nope! It was the exact same furniture but the room was smaller. It worked; we all fit. But it wasn’t what I was expecting. Admittedly, I was a little upset about it but not enough to do anything about changing rooms. Plus, it was only one night.
We settled in and the kids suited up. It was pool time. Apparently they aren’t supposed to swim before a meet?! I have no idea why this is a thing. And I didn’t even know, so Laine went swimming. All the kiddos did. There was an older couple in the hot tub when we entered the pool area. They eventually left and we had the place to ourselves. Something about old men, they always like to tell Brian—or me if Brian isn’t around—how to embrace these years. How the kids are only young once and how much we’ll miss it. This guy did the same. And while he was nice and meant well, he was telling Brian how tough raising kids can be, especially once you’re in the thick of it. Brian was like, look at the five kids, I AM in the thick of it, haha. Of course Brian didn’t say this to him, he just smiled. The old guy said something similar to me on his way out. I just smiled also. I think sometimes these older guys probably gave up family time for careers—or they were old school dads who babysitted their kids—and their comments are a subconscious form of admitting their regrets.
It was time to eat. We were off-schedule and it was later, and nobody was super hungry. There was no need to hit a restaurant. Instead, we found a Safeway and the kids each picked out something to eat from the premade section. Somehow Laine and Saige like sushi. Blaise found a sandwich. Chicken strips were bought. And of course we grabbed some dessert options. Before heading back to the hotel, we gassed up so we’d be ready to drive home tomorrow straight after the meet. Heading back to the hotel, Brian and I noticed how many massage parlors there are in Kennewick. That are open late on a Saturday night. It was pushing 9pm at this point. It felt like there was one on every corner, in every strip mall, all along the short drive back to the hotel. We both figure they are massage parlors. Then I found this. So, probably.
The kids ate and we called it a night. We had to get up and eat breakfast, and then head to the meet. Thankfully she wasn’t on at 8am, that would make for a super early morning.
Free hotel breakfast, check. We left for the meet. Laine had a great meet! She tied for first on vault, third on beam, tied for fourth on bars, and was eighth on floor. She came in third overall for her division. And her team took first. She’s had a pretty decent meet season this year.
After the meet, we had to eat. I cannot for the life of me remember where we ate. I remember leaving the meet and driving a different way home but I don’t remember stopping anywhere?! And nobody is here to ask. I’m sure we ate. Eh, it was a busy weekend and it felt good to get home.
Kennewick in April
This is still fresh. It was last weekend. Washington State Championships for Xcel gymnastics. Back to Kennewick. It was only Laine and me this time. Her competition time was Friday at 3pm. I like that it was Friday. I don’t like that we had to stay two nights. Her gym has a rule that you can’t travel day of and you have to stay for team awards, which happen after all the sessions for her level compete. Brian says we should just do whatever is best for us—we have a complicated schedule with multiple kids that we’re always juggling—but I’m a stickler for rules. I am super thankful she competed Friday.
The thing about gymnastics meets is you know the dates, meets are usually Friday-Sunday. But you never know which day or time you’ll compete until a week or so before the actual meet. It makes it incredibly hard to plan. Especially in our family. We had plans to head out of town Sunday, and I worried Laine and I would have to leave Kennewick and meet Brian and the rest of the kids at Steamboat Rock State Park. Thankfully, for once, it all worked out. Laine and I would be able to leave Saturday morning for home, and have a whole 24 hours before we left for Steamboat Rock. There were other families where Friday wasn’t ideal for them, and I get that. Selfishly, I was so happy.
Laine and I left Thursday afternoon. I was going to send her to school that morning and pull her at 1pm, but I decided to skip that because it’s an extra hassle. And, I made her an eye appointment Thursday morning. She had been complaining about her vision. Turns out she needs glasses. Not all the time, but when she’s sitting far away. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was in kindergarten and I thought for sure one of the kids would need them sooner. Nope, we’ve done eye appointments before and her vision has recently changed. After her eye appointment, we headed home to pack. My goal was to be on the road by 2pm. We made it out by 1:45pm.
It was a smooth drive. We made good time. Google told me it’d be 3 hours and 26 minutes. We made in just under three hours. I may or may not drive fast. Fast for Washington, slow for California. I will say, after driving to Kennewick and back three times now, people over that way get keep right except to pass. Love this for Eastern Washington. It’s near Snoqualmie Pass when people get comfy in the fast lane. At least it opens up to three lanes around there.
We checked into the hotel and relaxed a bit before heading to a restaurant for a team dinner. We had the extremely large room again this time. For just the two of us. Ugh! Haha.
Dinner was at 7:15pm. I’m not a big social person, I’ve managed to avoid any team dinners until now. They had one in January but we opted to do our own thing since it was all seven of us. They’re all really nice folks and all but my social battery runs on low already. I find those kind of things exhausting and I’m mentally counting down the minutes until they’re over. Is this normal?! Then again, all the other moms ordered drinks and I didn’t. Perhaps that’s the answer. I’m glad we went though. I hadn’t officially met any of the other parents and I only knew the names of the girls. They all look the same at meets, with the same hair and leos. Clearly they’re not identical but it’s hard to make out who is who. Heck, one of the moms at dinner said at one of the meets she recorded her daughter on beam only to realize it wasn’t actually her daughter whom she recorded, haha! I get that. The only way I can make out Laine is that she is the smallest on the team.
It was pushing 10:30pm when we made it back to the hotel. We both readied for bed and zoned out on TikTok for about an hour before we went to sleep.
Traveling Thursday and having a later meet start Friday meant we could sleep in. And we slept. We missed the free hotel breakfast. I got up about 10am, and I eventually woke up Laine pushing 11am. We slowly got going and hit Chipotle for lunch. Then we drove to the Columbia River to check out the spot where Kennewick Man was found. I had just learned about Kennewick Man the weekend before, when Bob was visiting and mentioned it after I told him Laine and I were going to Kennewick. Apparently Bob knows one of the archeologists who was somehow a part of Kennewick Man. At dinner the night before, one of the moms mentioned Kennewick Man and how it’s taught in Washington history classes. And another mom said her husband’s college roommate was one of the young men who found him. Small world. I had never heard of him before and now, within a week, I heard about him twice. We grabbed a picture at the spot where he was found. At least I think it’s the spot, using this as my guide. And it turns out Kennewick Man is at the Burke Museum. It’s now on the list to check him out.
The meet! It was uneventful. And it wasn’t Laine’s best meet but she was all smiles and had fun, which is all that matters. I told her I couldn’t care less if she came in last, as long as she has fun. That’s how I’ve always felt but she has it in her head differently and puts pressure on herself. All in all, it was a good meet. She got a medal for beam, eighth place. And her team came in second with less than a point (0.45) behind the top team. All teams and girls should be proud. Gymnastics isn’t an easy sport. Which makes me ponder how fishing and bowling are considered sports. Especially when cheerleading isn’t considered a sport. If men were the primary cheerleaders, it would be a classified as a sport. Gymnastics is only a sport because it began with men.
Laine had to be back for the team awards after the last Xcel Platinum session that started at 6:30pm. Which meant awards would be about 9:30pm. Too late to drive home after. Although, I was laughing with Brian how back in our early days, I didn’t think twice about driving from Sacramento to San Luis Obispo at midnight. On a remote two-lane highway next to a prison. To be young again.
After Laine’s session, we left and I noticed a nail salon across the street. I was overdue for a pedicure and with Laine’s meet season over, she could get her nails done. We quickly looked up the hours and they were open until 7:30pm. Perfect. We went across the street and I got a pedicure and manicure, and Laine got a manicure with a star on each of her ring fingers. I really don’t like getting pedicures. I find it to be a waste of time. I’ve said this before and I stand by this. It’s because I’ve been getting pedicures every 2-3 weeks since I was 14. So 31 years now. Ugh. And here I am, starting Laine at 12, haha. Nails done, we needed to eat. Denny’s. That was the decision. We were going to go somewhere else but I forget where and why we didn’t.
Denny’s is eh but consistent. Except this time. It was all off. Even the simple side salad was weird. And the dressing, it was thick?! But it was food, and we needed to eat. Then it was time to head back to the meet. We caught the tail end of the 6:30pm session before awards started. It was a long day of gymnastics. I did manage to get a good chunk of my audio book checked off. I can’t stand noise so I’ve learned to listen to music or audio books during meets. The only downfall of this is people can’t see my AirPods with my hair and when they talk to me, I have no idea. This is why I sit in the back away from everyone.
Oh! During Laine’s meet, it was so annoying. In fact, a friend texted me this morning with a similar experience she had going on. At Laine’s meet, I found a lonely chair against a wall, with no other chairs around. I sat. I was in the only chair against a wall, about 20 feet long. Guess who decided to move a chair and sit not even two feet away from me?! Some old white dude. Of course it’s an old white dude. And then, the audacity this man had, he’d get up to stand and watch DIRECTLY in front of me. It’s as if I was a ghost and he had no idea I was there. Nan had a friend, Francis, who never left her house. Everyone would visit her at home, and her husband, Art, did all the errands. When Art died, all of Francis’s friends pitched in for Art. I thought Francis was so weird and that something was wrong with her. Maybe there was. But as I get older, the idea of never leaving home and being around others sounds appealing. I’m not quite there yet. But I understand Francis now. My friend who texted me this morning said she was at her son’s game and, “This woman literally put her chair two feet away from mine. This field is huge.” She didn’t know this woman. And the woman didn’t talk to her. People are weird.
It was late when we made it back to the hotel. I cannot not sing Back to the Hotel every time I type that. We went right to bed. I wanted to get up and head out early. I set my alarm for 7am.
It was hard to get up at 7am. But I did and woke up Laine. We went down for a quick breakfast. Laine befriended a little guy who was waiting for the waffle machine. Laine was making a waffle and made sure he saw that she put sprinkles in hers—she knew he’d want some if he saw them. Sure enough, he then had his dad make his waffle with sprinkles. When we were sitting and eating, the little guy was at the table across from us. He started talking, telling us his mom was on a mission in Belize and he and his dad were on vacation. I told him his mom sounds like a nice person. She probably is. But then back in our hotel room, I told Laine mission is likely code for trying to convert people to Christianity. Likely uneducated people in third-world countries, which is why missionaries target them. Maybe she was on a medical mission. Good for her if that’s the case. And, really, good for her for going to Belize. Maybe they’re divorcing and that’s what they’ve told the little guy. Or the husband killed his wife, and that’s the story he’s telling. Haha, I’m watching Forensic Files in the background.
It was about 7:45am when we left Kennewick. GPS said an ETA of 11:15am. When we pulled into the driveway at 10:45am, Brian came out and said, ‘You’re early.” Haha, I think he was going to have the house to my standards. Which, to be honest, it was clean and met my standards. But there was evidence breakfast had happened, which I think he wanted to clean up before I arrived. Blaise had a buddy spend the night before and they looked like they were just getting up. Baby was gone to the park with a friend. Maive and Saige greeted me but quickly went back to whatever they were doing. Evie and Willow were staying with us, and they were both happy to have me back. Mel, too. It was nice to be home with nothing on the calendar until we left the next day. I had 24 hours to rest up before pulling out Sunday for Steamboat Rock State Park. Apparently I’m nowhere near Francis status… yet.
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