new gym, portland friends in town, blogiversary

 a little over a week ago i found out that the gym i've been going to since 2019 was closing permanently on april 15th. this came out of nowhere, and i was very bummed about it because fitness 19 has been such a big part of my routine the last few years. it was only 3 blocks from my house and super affordable. they transferred all memberships (and pricing) to a nearby LA fitness, but the location is not walkable for me, which was a drawback. 

last monday i decided to check out another gym that is closer to my house (as an alternative), but it wasn't a good fit, so i went to LA fitness to get my key card. it's way bigger and more corporate feeling than i'm used to, but i'm going to give it a try since i'm already enrolled. change is hard! ;) 

monday evening ashford had a baseball game. this season's games have been so fun to watch. the boys' skills are improving so much, and the games are exciting. they ended up losing 2-6, but they played so well. ashford still isn't thrilled about ending up on a team away from his friends, but all his teammates are really nice and play well together and he seems to have fun most of the time. the other parents are great too! 

tuesday morning i had my first official workout at my new gym and it went well. i'm sure it's going to feel different for a little while, but i'll get used to it. it's certainly fancier than the other place! there's a "lifestyle cafe" inside, which made me laugh. and it's right by ross and trader joes, so that doesn't hurt either. in the evening ashford had another baseball game. this one was against his old team who they got their butts kicked by a few days before. so, the pressure was on. the game started off a bit rocky and his team was behind until the last inning. they ended up winning by 1 run by holding the other team at their final at-bat. it was so exciting!! 

wednesday morning i met up with vanessa at 'venture coffee'. in the evening i took arlo and ashford to karate. 

thursday morning i had brunch with kay at 'portage bay cafe'. we finally had no activities in the evening. whew! 

friday i spent time cleaning and getting ready for our friends ian, joanna, and kyla to come up from portland for the weekend. they had been talking about coming up for a long time, so it was fun to have it finally arrive. they didn't get to our house until 9pm so we just caught up for a little while and then everyone went to bed. :) 

satuday morning we grabbed bagels from 'old salt' and coffee from a new coffee shop in our neighborhood called 'cardoon'. ian, joanna, and kyla are always up for a good food tour when they come to seattle. 

ashford had a noon game at gilman field, so we all went to watch. they played a team they've never played before from outside their league and lost 2-11. oh well! it was our first 70 degree day of the year and it felt like heaven! 

after the game we all walked over to 'reuben's brews' for some lunch and a beer. i've had their beer, but i had never been to the brewery before. it was fun! 

they had a cricket team there encouraging kids (and adults) to try out pitching. ashford thought it was fun. 

we relaxed at home for the rest of the afternoon. it clouded over, rained a little, and the temp dropped 15 degrees. we made pork carnitas for dinner and then we all walked down to 'salt and straw' for dessert. yum! 

when we got back, we played 'apples to apples' and watched some youtube, then it was off to bed. 

sunday morning we made waffles, eggs, and bacon for everyone. then we headed to 'mopop' museum of pop culture at seattle center. ian, joanna, and kyla had never been and they wanted to check it out. my kids are big fans, so they were thrilled. we even did the add-on exhibit 'hidden worlds' this time, which was cool. 

after the museum we grabbed lunch at the armory, then our friends hit the road to go back home. it was so nice to see them and have a fun 'staycation' kind of weekend. as if our weekend wasn't busy enough, azalea had a soccer game sunday afternoon. thatcher took her to that and i stayed home with ashford. we ended the night with leftovers, showers, and some youtube. whew! 

finally, i can't let 4/21 go by without mentioning that my blog is now fourteen years old! this is my 1,197th entry. i don't have any idea how many people still read this, but it doesn't even matter. i love having it for my own record. i just can't quite wrap my head around how long i've been doing this. thanks for reading if you are still here!