target date, 1st grade meetup, thatcher's hike

hello monday! another weekend recap coming at you. friday night thatcher got home from work early, so that was exciting. we grilled dinner and then azalea and i had an impromptu target date. she was in desperate need of new tennis shoes, so we found some for her and i found some lace up flats for me (using a birthday gift card that was burning a hole in my wallet :) can't wait to wear them!

when we got home, it was bed time for the kiddos and couch time for thatcher and me.

saturday morning we didn't have any plans until the late morning. we skyped with my mom and brother and then i took a walk to the library to get a new book (sooo much quicker by myself!) and thatcher stayed home with the kids and they played the "catan junior" game he bought recently. azalea had a 1st grade summer meet up at ella bailey park in magnolia. it's the best park in the city - the views from the playground are incredible. can you see the cruise ship out there as well as mount rainier peeking out of the clouds? 

 there are around 100 kids in her grade, but only about 6-7 families came to the meet up. that's summer for ya, i guess! it was not very well organized. it was supposed to be a bbq, but no one really brought food to grill and the families were spread out all over the park. we left after an hour. i could have lived without going. ha! in the afternoon, thatcher and ashford ran some errands and azalea and i took a nap on the couch. then i went to java bean for a bit to get some invoicing done. it was "seattle hot" on sunday. 85 degrees! it's usually in the 70's for most of the summer here, so i have to admit 85 did feel really hot. the kids slept almost the whole time i was gone. (uh oh). we grilled salmon for dinner (azalea's least favorite food these days - haha), then we decided to walk to the locks because it was a beautiful night and we don't do it nearly enough these days.

it was after 9pm by the time the kids went to bed, but it was worth it for a summer night well spent.

sunday morning thatcher was up super early for a day hike with his co-workers sloan and chris...which meant the kids woke up for the day at 6:15am :( we hung out at home until the late morning then went to a new (to us) playground in wallingford. the kids always ask to go to a "different" playground to make it more exciting. 

she put on this headband at one point and i cracked up because she looked like an 80's aerobics instructor! 

we played for an hour then headed home to walk up to scooters for lunch. it's our neighborhood "no frills" burger and shakes joint. gotta love it! after lunch the kids changed into their swim suits and we drove up the hill to the soundview wading pool, which we had never been to either. wading pools are pretty strange in seattle. with the exception of the one at seattle center, most of them only get filled a couple days a week and with only about a foot of water. apparently it's to conserve water, but it seems like it would be more work to do it this way, no? they also have an attendant manning each pool. very strange. anyway, the other super weird thing is when we left our house it was 71 degrees and sunny, but when we got there (about 2 miles up the hill) it was totally cloudy and 66 degrees. i actually got cold sitting on the bench, but the kids weren't bothered. they had a ball! azalea ended up taking a nap when we got home and ashford and i played. thatcher didn't get home until after 6pm. he had a looooong but beautiful hike:

they ran into a couple of consultants they work with...funny huh? 

he graciously let me escape to the grocery store and then for a solo walk to round out the night. i walked to the lookout point in our neighborhood, the view never disappoints!

and now it's monday again. azalea is in morning soccer camp this week at the community center. can't believe our minneapolis trip is coming up in just 8 days!