labor day weekend 2018

the unofficial last weekend of summer is in the books! and it was a good one. but first i want to quickly back up to a few things from last week...

the kids didn't have any camps, so we did our best to fill the days. monday we drove up to lynnwood with our neighbors martine, bruce, and beatrice to go to an indoor playground. now that my kids are able to run around by themselves, those places are worth every penny ;) they had a blast. we even packed a lunch to make the visit last longer. 

we visited two new playgrounds between tuesday and wednesday. tuesday was the playground at the wallingford ball field.

 wednesday morning we all went to "the inc" for the first time this summer. azalea is technically too old to be in the childcare rooms, but i brought along some books and a tablet and she hung out with me. it worked great. we spent the second half of the morning running some errands in northgate while ashford stayed on site. 

in the afternoon i took both kids to sandel park in greenwood.

thursday morning azalea had an orthodontist appt. it was a nice surprise to learn that we no longer have to "turn" her expander each day. it will stay in her mouth for the next year, but it's basically holding the space for her new teeth to come in properly. we don't go back until november 7th when she will get braces on her top and bottom front four teeth. moving right along!

this is the kids' favorite part of the orthodontist...the mini cup of dippin dots they get ;) 

thursday afternoon i took them to ross park and then martine, bruce, and beatrice came over for a play date. friday morning we were back at the coworking space. in the afternoon we met our friends chrissy and eli at maple leaf park. whew! 

saturday morning we cleaned our apartment and got ready to host friends for the weekend. ian, joanna, and kyla came up from portland. we drove to discovery park in magnolia and hiked to the beach with them. it's such a beautiful place and still blows my mind that it's within the city limits. 

we took the shuttle bus back to the playground and the kids played for a while. we grilled dinner at our house and the grown ups hung out on the patio the rest of the night. it was sort of comical having all of us stay in our tiny 900 sq. ft. place. ian and joanna took our bed, i slept on the couch, and thatcher slept in the kids' room because they were having trouble settling down for sleep at almost 11pm! 

saturday morning we made them a big breakfast and then we packed some lunches to take to the mountains. we did our usual trip to gold creek pond because you get the most bang for your buck there. meaning it's close to the city, kid friendly hike, and most of all - insanely gorgeous. we had a picnic and did the 1 mile loop around the lake. 

we came home to rest for a bit then headed to populuxe brewing in ballard. ian works in the brewing industry so he was psyched to go. i suggested it and it was already on his list to check out. the kids had fun playing in the arcade room and with bean bags outside. it was packed and tons of kids there too! 

we had hoped to try a new spot for dinner in greenwood - a canadian themed restaurant but there was a live music event going on there and it wasn't going to be a family-friendly option because of the noise. so we went down the street to "naked city brewery" which is a restaurant. i hadn't been there before, but thatcher has. it was delicious! our final outing of the day was a stop at shilshole marina (next to golden gardens) at sunset. we missed the peak, but it was still beautiful! 

sunday morning ian and joanna took a trip to mighty os to get us donuts. then we all headed to seward park in south seattle. it's another spot that had been on our list for a long time and it did not disappoint. it's a huge park next to lake washington and we only touched the tip of it. 

the kids played on the playground and then it was time for them to hit the road back to portland. 

we were so glad they could come hang for the weekend and we're looking forward to doing the same in their city some time soon. 

the only other thing noteworthy about monday was we took azalea's training wheels off her bike and she was off and riding on two wheels in no time! she's been pretty resistant to taking them off this summer, but finally decided she was ready. we are so proud of her! 

today is her last day of summer vacation! tomorrow she starts second grade. ashford is still off until the 10th but we have a family meeting with his teachers this week.