grandma jan's visit, first playoff game, memorial day weekend

last week was a great week with my mom in town. it was so nice to have her and while the weather was less than ideal, we still were able to do lots of fun things. 

 last sunday i painted my nails this fun summery pink that vanessa got me. 

azalea had a soccer game in shoreline in the afternoon. the girls lost their game 2-4, but they played hard. after the game, she and i headed straight to the airport to pick up my mom. we ended up having to wait in the cell phone lot for an hour because her flight was delayed and the flight status on the web site was not correct. oh well! we were so happy to see her. thatcher cooked dinner while we were gone, and we enjoyed greek chicken pita sandwiches and roasted potatoes when we got home. 

monday morning we got the kids off to school then my mom and i decided to check out the washington park arboretum for the first time. we parked and walked around a little bit, but unfortunately the japanese garden was closed on mondays. we made our way over to madison park neighborhood and went in a couple shops and went out for lunch at 'mcgilvra pub'. we had delicious coconut shrimp and a blackened salmon sandwich. then we spent a little time by lake washington before heading home for school pick up. i love getting to do one on one stuff like this with my mom while the kids are in school.

that night i made spaghetti for dinner and ashford had baseball practice before the playoffs begin. my mom and i went to watch the last 20 minutes. we played some rack-o back at home too! 

tuesday morning i went to the gym and then my mom and i went on some errands in ballard. we had lunch at home and watched half of the taylor swift eras concert movie. :) ashford and my mom played some yahtzee in the afternoon. it was a super rainy/chilly day! that evening ashford had his last karate class before the break starts, and he got his new yellow with black stripe belt. 

after karate, my mom, the kids and me went out for dinner because thatcher had an evening event for work. we went to 'tutta bella' in wallingford, which we hadn't been to in easily 8 years. i forgot how good it is. we all had pizza except azalea who had pasta, so everyone was happy.

 thatcher got home at the same time as us, so we hung out the rest of the evening. 

wednesday morning my mom watched a movie she's been wanting to see on streaming. then we had an outing to goodwill. we also watched the rest of the eras tour. the kids get out of school early on wednesdays, so we decided to take a little field trip to molly moon's for ice cream and then archie mcphees, which is a legendary novelty gift store that my mom had never been to. we made tacos for dinner and played some games in the evening. 

thursday morning i went to the gym again. then my mom and i went to tj maxx and target. at lunch time we met vanessa and kay at 'barking dog ale house' which is in our greater neighborhood but i hadn't been there in 6-7 years. we had a great lunch together. i love that my friends love spending time with my mom and vice versa. 

we hung out with the kids after they got home from school. ashford had his first playoff game in the evening. they played fritz's team (ashford's old team) and they won 5-1. it was really exciting! two of the other league teams were playing across the field, so we went and watched the end of their game too. now ashford's team has a bye for the next round. 

friday morning thatcher took off for the property for the day. my mom and i spent almost the whole day at home. we watched a great movie called 'the edge of 17.' in the late afternoon, she and i headed to kay's for happy hour drinks and appetizers. it was really fun. in the evening, azalea headed out to see the middle school play with sisi and the rest of us hung out at home. 

saturday morning we made pancakes and sausage then ashford's friend trent came over for a few hours. my mom, azalea, and i went on some errands, but otherwise we spent most of the day at home. azalea left to hang out with sisi because it was sisi's birthday. she went out to eat for dinner with their family. thatcher and i got to have a nice date night while my mom stayed with ashford. she took him out for thai in ballard. 

thatcher wanted to show me the new lightrail line that recently opened in redmond/bellevue, so we drove over there and parked near the microsoft headquarters and rode the train to bellevue. we stopped in the fancy mall to use a gift card i got for mother's day and then had dinner at a cute thai place on the main street. and we walked and walked. it was cool out, but not raining at least. classic memorial weekend weather here ;)

 we finally got a picture of my mom and the kids at 10pm the night before she left. 

sunday morning i took her to the airport bright and early. it's always hard to say goodbye, but at least it's only 6 weeks until we see her again. in the late morning we all headed to our friends yiling and kris's house to watch their little boy "Q". yes, a family babysitting gig. we were all pumped! we played with Q at their house for a while, fed him lunch, and then we all went on a walk where Q fell asleep. the kids and i decided to go home after the walk and thatcher stayed with Q. he did wake up after a while and was not amused that the only one there was thatcher. ha! 

we spent the rest of the afternoon at home lounging around and reading because it wasn't nice out. i guess i did a bunch of laundry too ;) it's hard to scroll social media on a weekend where it feels like the kickoff to summer everywhere but here. 

in the evening, rebekah and i headed over to kay's for drinks and appetizers and dessert. we had a fun night together. azalea went to simone's for a sleepover and ashford went to arlo's for a sleepover. not sure that has ever happened before! 

thatcher and i woke up to a very empty house on memorial day. we didn't have any plans. lots of reading again (it warmed up a bit so i was able to sit on the deck). thatcher and i went to swanson's nursery and bought a smoke bush for our property. hope you had a good holiday weekend!