in person school begins, covid vaccines, spring soccer

 last monday was the big day! the first day of in person school since march 11, 2020. a day i never thought would come ;) azalea was more excited about it than ashford, but they both ended up having a great time. in the morning they both had some independent work to do from home as well as a remote "pcp" class (library and music). we walked over to school at 11:30. they have check in tables outside every door and dots on the ground for each class to line up. no parents are allowed in the school. you also have to submit an electronic health assessment for each kid every morning before school. they are in the afternoon cohort, which means class from 11:45-2:30. ashford only has 8 kids in his group and azalea has 10. everything went really smoothly the first day and it felt so good to be there. 

 

first day of school 2.0 - it was a little bright out

to celebrate this momentous occasion, thatcher and i had a date to venture coffee and went on a short walk in our neighborhood. what a treat! the two hours and 45 minutes went quickly, but it was nice to get some things accomplished and have some peace and quiet. after school we played outside with friends for the rest of the afternoon. ashford also had baseball practice in the evening, so it was a busy day. i definitely don't take those for granted anymore. 

tuesday was a success too. after school we hung out with friends outside until dinner time. by tuesday night we were all tired. 

wednesdays are remote days, so it was nice to take a breather. the kids have less than 2 hours of live instruction (and some independent work), so it's a lot of time to fill. but the weather was cloudy and cool, so it was a good day to just relax at home. the most exciting part of wednesday was i go my first covid vaccine! i drove out of the city to a walgreens in renton (i almost missed my appointment slot because traffic was so horrible, but it all worked out). it feels so good to have the first shot done. i got pfizer, so i'll go back in 3 weeks for the next one. my arm was a bit sore the next day, but more than worth it!

 i was hopeful that we are on the other side of ashford's separation anxiety that affected all of kindergarten. i know he prefers the short school day, but next fall will probably back to normal, i'm guessing. thursday he had a harder time going back to school, but we tried to reassure him as much as we can that he can do it! and he did.during school, i walked down to the locks for the first time in forever. it's still partially closed due to covid, so you can't get in that far, but the trees are blooming and i got to watch a boat come through. 

the cherry tree behind our townhouse is in full bloom and it's so pretty. i wish it looked like this all year!

friday was a little better for drop off for ashford. and he was so excited to show us his "eagle card" he got from his teacher for persevering through big feelings :) one week done! and now it's spring break, which is weird timing with going back to school, but it is what it is. thatcher also got his first dose of the vaccine on friday, so that is exciting! 

we had a mostly quiet weekend with a couple sports engagements thrown in. friday night we got takeout from "red mill" and and watching harry potter 4. saturday we hung out at home, ran some errands, and ashford had baseball practice at loyal heights field a little over a mile away. it is such a nice field! 

 

 

sunday was a similar day except azalea had her first soccer game of the season. fall is the main season for soccer, but in the spring they do a casual once a week game and no practices. her game was at salmon bay (another super nice field) and many of the girls were gone because it is spring break. but it was fun to watch her run around and get some playing time in. 

now the kids are officially on spring break. we are hanging out around here for the first half of the week, then on wednesday we are heading to ashford, wa (near mount rainier) for 3 nights.