St. Patty's Parents

Hey everybody, long time no speak! We've had a house full of sickies this week, so truth be told you haven't missed much. Riker ended up with bronchitis, pink eye and ear infections on Monday (argh daycare), so by Tuesday I had a fever and full blown bronchitis, and by Thursday Matt was weathering a sore throat as well. Thank goodness antibiotics kicked in for all of us last night and by today we were all feeling much better. Just in time for the annual Seaside St. Patty's Day parade!

Matt and I have been going to Seaside for St. Patty's Day for years, and it's always been one of my favorite days. We used to go with a big group of friends every year and party it up, but this was our first year going as parents. It was kiiiind of a different scene going with the kiddos. ;-)

It was definitely a new kind of St. Patty's, but we had a great time. Our friends Chris and Karla and their son Evan met us in Seaside around 9:30, and we enjoyed the quieter hours of the day taking a walk along the beach, checking out the progress on the new boardwalk and letting the kids play in the arcade.

It still feels so strange to not have a boardwalk to walk on, but it was so great to see new pilings all lined up for the new boards to be ready by Memorial Day. It was a gorgeous day, and I really enjoyed watching the waves crash onshore, soaking up the sunshine and hearing the sound of the surf.

We were all getting hungry by lunchtime, so took a break at Sawmill for a pizza before the parade got going. Today's my "free day" and it is St. Patty's, so I ordered a Guinness to wash down my slice.

Most of Seaside businesses are still closed from Sandy so today was a big day for the town; Sawmill's grand re-opening was today, so it was great to be part of it and there to support them.

Then it was parade time!

How cute is Riker all decked out in his hippie sweater and matching hat? My aunt knitted it for him when he was first born and Matt gets a kick out of it; he thought it was perfectly funky for Riker to sport at the parade.

Haha that picture cracks me up!

By the time the parade wrapped up the kids were well beyond tired, so we loaded up to head home. It was perfect timing actually since that's when the town started to wake up and get rowdy. ;-)

On the way home we stopped to check out Lindsay and Ryan's new digs (they bought a new house yesterday!) and started to get really excited for the warm weather coming...they have a big pool I'm definitely going to be crashing this summer. :) Matt just took off to go mountain biking and Riker's down for a nap, so I'm heading into the kitchen to play around and cook up something fun for dinner. Catch you later!