school delay, some birthday parties, smoky seattle

hello from day 4 (school days, that is) of the teacher's strike. each day we get an email from the district letting us know if there will be school the next day. apparently the negotiations did not go well over the weekend, so here we are. i wish the district would just give the teachers what they need. pay raises are way down on the list. more staff for special education, ELL, and better mental health resources for kids are at the top.

 last tuesday morning azalea had her student-only orientation at her new middle school. she met some new kids and enjoyed spending a couple hours at the school. the first few days of school she will just be in her homeroom with the same teacher and group of kids, but after that she will be switching classes 6 times a day. vanessa and ewan came over and hung out at our house in the morning. in the afternoon, ashford got to meet his teacher and see his classroom. we were bummed to learn that he is not in the same class as his closest buddies this year, but it will be ok. it's a good growth opportunity for him. all day we were on pins and needles waiting to hear if the teachers were going to strike. the official announcement came in the afternoon that the first day of school (wednesday) was cancelled. not surprising, but unfortunate that it had come to this. we hung out at kay's house the rest of the afternoon with her and her boys. azalea had soccer practice in the evening.

wednesday we settled in for...more summer break instead of our first day. ashford's friend arlo came over in the morning for a few hours. i took the boys and azalea to the new 'pagliacci pizza' down by the locks for lunch. we stopped to see the teachers picketing outside the school and gave them some love. 

  

thursday morning i took the kids to arena sports magnuson to jump/slide on the inflatables. we hadn't been there since before covid, which is hard to believe. we met kay and her boys there. it was a good way for the kids to burn off their energy for a couple hours. we hung out at home for most of the afternoon. i walked to the grocery store, then sent azalea and simone the rest of the way to the library on their own and they walked back without me. big day for azalea. we are easing into this independence thing. :) fritz hung out with ashford at our house. in the evening, azalea had soccer practice again. 

friday we had no plans. we spent most of the day lounging around at home. it was long. simone came over to hang out with azalea in the afternoon. the girls got their full 6th grade schedules online so they were comparing notes. in the evening, ashford and i joined kay and fritz at rebekah and arlo's house. the moms ordered vietnamese from 'crackle mi' and we got pizza for the boys and they watched a movie. it was a fun, chill night. thatcher took azalea out to chipotle for dinner and ice cream in phinney ridge. i love their little dates. it started to get smoky from wildfires on friday. boo. i hate having to close up our house when we don't have AC.

 

saturday morning ashford was back at arlo's house for his 9th birthday party. they took the boys to DEFY trampoline park (yes, lucky boy got to go again so soon) and then had pizza and cake. thatcher had a community event for work. azalea and i just hung out at home. it was smoky and hot and i was just feeling "meh" about the state of things. i ran some errands in the afternoon, we made tacos for dinner, and watched a movie with the kids. 

sunday morning we made pancakes & bacon for breakfast and skyped with my mom and brother. we cleaned the house, then in the afternoon azalea had her first soccer game of the season. thankfully the air quality improved. her team has dwindled over the last couple years due to kids moving to other leagues or just not playing soccer anymore, so they merged with a new team. they've had some practices together, but it was their first game. they lost 5-1, but they played well and we are excited for the rest of the season. 

while we were gone, ashford got to go to another birthday party! this one for our neighbor friend thelonious. he turned 7 in august and they planned a 'full tilt' ice cream + arcade games party for him and a few buddies. ashford sure had a good weekend :) 

now we're settling in for another week of uncertainty. i really hope they will get to start school sometime this week. the longer this goes, the harder it is for every one.