Historic Week on Many Levels

Inauguration Day was a bevy of activities for us.  We were asked to attend a small breakfast soiree at the Santa Rosa Country Club by our friend and former 5th District Supervisor, Eric Koenigshofer, wherein we watched the inauguration and applauded, cried tears of joy and toasted President Obama & Vice-President Biden.  I can't seem to recall ever being so relieved and happy to see a President leave office and such an awareness by the country for the new one taking office.  

We taped the inauguration so that we could watch it later with Grady, as he was so excited the night of the election results.  He was glued to the t.v. and I hope he remembers this day, along with the rest of the nation.  The above photo is from the night we went to an "Inaugural Ball" at the home of our friends in Bodega, Charlie & Patty.  Grady did not attend, but that didn't stop him from playing dress-up while channeling a Chippendale dancer?

All of the Pollock-inspired paintings I've been working on with G's school are now hanging at the Tomales Bakery and they look beautiful against the yellow tin walls.  Three sold on the first day and we're hoping to raise close to $1,000 for the school PTA.

We had the pleasure of going back to G's preschool this week to help out for a few hours.  One of the teachers was in a really bad car accident and we asked to help in any way we could.  G was so excited to be a "teacher" for the day.  He brought a book to read to the class and kept saying the cutest things about being an example for the little ones and he got to climb his favorite tree.  When he started kindergarten he got a time out for doing something on the playground he wasn't supposed to.  He came home and told me that his new kindergarten wasn't as "daring" as his preschool.  His first lesson in new school, new rules.  

After his first "teaching" day, Steve took his training wheels off of his bike and he learned to ride without them.  He was so proud.  We don't have a lot of pavement for him to ride on, but he just pushed on in the gravel and dirt and did a great job.  Later in the week, he sat camped out by our driveway waiting for over an hour for his dad to come home, so that they could practice more of his riding skills.  

We love going to the beach.  The above photo is of Grady and his friend, Iain, up on a rock at Doran Beach.  After a day of frolicking in the sand, we went to the Open Mic Night at the Tomales Town Hall.  Grady had wanted to perform with a few instruments and a friend, but he got too nervous.  It was a very eclectic group and I enjoyed seeing the community come together and support the array of artists it had under one roof.  Rap, folk, new age, rock, etc.  At events like this, I reflect on the choice of leaving suburbia and moving to a small town.  I'm always reminded that it was the absolute best choice for us to uproot our lives and move north and wouldn't trade it for any strip mall in the world.  The absence of fast food chains, a Walmart or Costco and an abundance of nature, animals and stretches of beach are the things a childhood should be made of.  

The round out the week, we headed to Cambria to meet up with Scott & Kacy.  We left G with our friends Scott & Jill and my brother/mother.  We have such a great network of friends, family and neighbors.  As Hillary Clinton once said...it takes a village.  We belong to an amazing village.