grandma jan's visit, we bought some land (!), camp orkila

 my mom arrived last monday and i picked her up at the airport while the kids were in school. we drove back to ballard and went to 'crackle mi' for vietnamese for lunch. it's one of my favorite places and i wanted her to experience it. it was a hit :) we ran some errands and then picked up ashford from school. we made dinner at home and played some rack-o and apples to apples with the kids in the evening. 

tuesday we ran some more errands and hung out at home. it was a bit smoky in seattle again. after school we tried to go to 'little coney' by golden gardens for ice cream with the kids, but on the way there we determined there was a screw in my subaru's tire, so we went home instead :( my mom and i had happy hour on the patio because it was in the 70's. 

 

 

we made dinner and played rack-o. ashford had fun with the cards after we finished. 

 

wednesday morning i took azalea (and simone and her mom) up to the school super early for their departure to camp orkila on orcas island with the whole 6th grade. i was so excited for azalea to get to go. she's never really been away from home without us for more than 1 night, so it felt weird to have her gone. not to mention we didn't get any updates from anyone, so we were always wondering what she was up to!

by 9am i had also dropped off our car at the tire place to get fixed. never a dull moment! my mom and i watched hurricane ian coverage for most of the day. i'm glad she was not in florida during the storm, but we were worried about her house. thankfully the worst of the storm hit south of her place, but there was still some major damage in the downtown. after school we went to kay's house and hung out while the boys played. my mom and kay are gardening kindred spirits :) 

thursday morning thatcher and i had a mobile notary come to watch us sign the papers for our purchase of land in sumas, washington! we have been looking for some land to buy for over a year and finally found 'the one' about 5 weeks ago. it's 2.6 acres near the border of canada (2 hours from us). we wanted to own real estate again and we have dreamed of having a place of our own to get away to, so our plan is to build a cabin on the land in the next couple of years. we are excited for this new adventure. 

after that, my mom and i went to pike place market. neither of us had been there in a long time, so we decided to be classic tourists. It wasn't too busy, which was nice. we went to 'the athenian' for lunch and had clam chowder and salad. 

ashford's friend arlo came over after school. in the evening, my mom and i met vanessa and her mom (who is also in town visiting) for dinner at 'cafe munir'. it's a lebanese restaurant near me with the most amazing food. i had only been there once in 2019. we had a delicious dinner and even better company :) 

friday my mom and i went out to do some christmas shopping for the kids (so she can leave the gifts here). she even wrapped them :) i also put out my halloween decorations. 

 
we picked up ashford from school and expected azalea to return from camp around 3:30/4. but the ferry from anacortes got delayed and they encountered traffic so azalea didn't get back until almost 6pm. thatcher picked her up. she looks like a teen after just 2 night away. she had so much fun and i'm so happy she got to go.

we made pizza at home that night and just relaxed. 

saturday morning thatcher went up to the property to take care of a few things. my mom and i took the kids to the library and cupcake royale. we had lunch and hung out at home for the afternoon. in the evening my mom and i went to meet my friends joe & alice at the sunset tavern on ballard ave. they were in minneapolis over the summer and my mom had never seen the two bars they own in ballard. after that, we picked up take out for my mom and the kids and then thatcher and i went out to 'uneeda burger' for dinner. it was a nice night. 

sunday morning we made waffles, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. it was such a warm day for october! and there's more warm temps and sunshine on the way - crazy for october in seattle. thatcher and ashford went to the brickcon lego convention at seattle center (after a couple years hiatus). my mom and i took azalea to her soccer game. they lost again, but played hard as always and i'm glad my mom got to watch. we played some games in the evening and i made sure to get some pictures of the kids and grandma. they sort of cooperated ;) 

now all that's left to do is take her to the airport. we hate saying goodbye :( i'm hoping we can go see her in florida in february, but we're still waiting to hear when the school strike days will be made up.