hello fall, first day of preschool, my mom's visit

it has felt fall-like in seattle for a while, but it's officially fall now! i've been noticing the trees starting to change color as well. i'm looking forward to experiencing fall in seattle this year. maybe it will last more than five minutes like it does in minnesota? ;) i am also enjoying decorating my new place for the season. i may or may not have put this stuff up the day after labor day, but i'll never tell! 

as i mentioned before, the start of azalea's preschool was delayed due to the teacher's strike here. her teachers were not on strike, but her preschool is at the community center and they needed to use the space for child care for the elementry school kids during the day. she finally had her first day on friday, september 18th. she was excited. we all knew what to expect because she took a couple preschool camp classes there this summer, held in the same room and with some of the same teachers. she picked out her outfit (like she does every day - i miss that job. haha). of course i wanted an obligatory "first day" picture of her, but not surprisingly she wasn't having it. i don't know if she actually hates having her picture taken or if it's just something she knows she can control, so she does. i'm thinking the latter. anyway, she is still my cutie whether she smiles or not :) 

drop off went well and she was excited to tell me all about her morning when i picked her up. last year in minneapolis she had preschool on wednesdays and fridays from 9:30-12 (no lunch). this year is mondays, wednesdays, and fridays from 9:30-1 (with lunch), so i think it's a nice transition before kindergarten. kindergarten?! i still can't believe that is coming so soon. but she thrives on routines and structure, so it's good for all of us. 

the first of our 3 visitors in the next 6 weeks also arrived on september 18th, my mom! i had been looking forward to her coming out for a long time. when we made the decision to move, my dad was not healthy enough to travel, but would have been okay to stay at home while she came out. he deteriorated so quickly after we left that there was no way my mom could leave him. with his passing, it allowed her the opportunity to come out and see our new digs. i will admit, as much as we loved having her here, it was hard knowing my dad will never have the chance to visit us here. i'm thankful he and my mom traveled to seattle 4 years ago (before we ever thought of moving here) and actually spent time in our neighborhood, so he knew of many of the places we told him about. 

we kept pretty busy in the mornings and evenings (nap time still rules our afternoons here). we showed her our neighborhood including the locks, splash pad (the fountains are turned off for the year), market street restaurants and shops, the community center. we also went to carkeek park, mary park in queen anne, the zoo, and out to eat a couple times. one night she watched the kids so thatcher and i could have a date night, which we so appreciated! we laugh because our condo is only big enough to comfortably host 1 person. thankfully our next 2 visitors (my brother and father in law) are coming solo as well. 

here are some pictures from carkeek park: 

and here is a picture from mary park in queene anne (our first visit there at night). it took my breath away! 

my mom took a train down to portland on tuesday to visit friends and she is coming back to seattle today for 2 more nights. we will sure miss her when she leaves! she is planning to go down to florida at the beginning of november. i'm so glad she will still get that experience, but i'm sure it will be hard without my dad. also, we booked tickets for our family to come back to minneapolis on decemeber 11. we won't be there for actual christmas, but we wanted to fly before ashford turns 2 and requires a ticket.