the inaugeration and a ballard bike ride

 all last week i was thrown off by the 3 day weekend and short school week. and this thursday the kids have the day off for "day between semesters". i can't believe we are halfway through this crazy school year already!

last wednesday president joe biden and vice president kamala harris were sworn into office. i watched the ceremony with the kids all morning (they were on their computers watching it for school too). it was such a beautiful event. it's such a relief to have diversity, empathy, inclusion, and competency back in the white house. and seeing the first female vice president made me overcome with emotion. here's to brighter days ahead! 

 in the afternoon vanessa and ewan came over for a couple hours, and then our neighbors louise, simone, and thelonius stopped by. they were going to get an inauguration celebratory treat at cupcake royale, so we decided to join. the kids got cupcakes (which were nearly sold out) and louise and i decided to get pie from pie bar. banana cream for me - delish! 

ok, even i'm making fun of myself for sharing this, but we got a new (bigger) toaster last week and we are so excited about it! haha. we had a 2-slot toaster that was from thatcher's college apartment (circa 2004?) and it has held up so well, but it was time for an upgrade when we have 4 toast lovers in the house ;) 

friday after school the kids and i went to webster park in our neighborhood. it has become the official after school hang out place for families from school. there were a lot of people there, but literally everyone wears a mask (adults and kids), which is really awesome that everyone is working together to make a safe gathering place for the kids to run around and play together when there is no school. 

we had a relaxing weekend here. no plans, which can feel like a lot of hours to fill with the kids, but it wasn't too bad. saturday i went to ross for a little solo outing and in the afternoon, we all went for a bike ride in ballard. it was sunny and 44 degrees. thatcher and ashford turned around when we got to shilshole marina, but azalea and i went all the way to golden gardens (about 5 miles round trip). it felt really nice in the sun, but the sun started to set on our way home and it felt much colder. 

we got takeout for dinner (burgers and shakes from red mill - yum!). thatcher and ashford watched the next star wars movie in the series and azalea and i watched "13 going on 30" in my bed. :) 

sunday was rainy all day, so we just hung out at home. cleaned, got groceries, played some board games and plenty of screen time. we made homemade pad thai for dinner and it was so good!