Inauguration Day has come and gone, and what a day it was. We all started out early. The girls and Daddy and I watched the swearing-in from the roof of a law firm downtown that overlooks the Capitol. We were far, but could see the balcony and the crowds. We were directly underneath (non)President George Bush's departing helicopter, and watched the swearing-in on one of the TV screens the firm had set up. Afterwards, we walked a looooong 12 blocks to Grampy's office to watch the parade. The parade was very late, but we saw Obama's motorcade go by, and even saw him walking down the street with Michelle until 12th Street, where he got back in the limo. The girls enjoyed all the ceremony and pomp, though A asked me repeatedly yesterday if we were going to meet Barack. (We decided that if we DID get to meet Barack, we would say, "Happy Inauguration Day, Mr. President!")

The girls were troopers during what was a long and cold day – they did a lot of walking, without (much) complaint. I think they will remember this day for a long time. Despite their exhaustion last night, they ran around the house screaming, "YAY Barack Obama!" over and over again after bath.

Daddy, Grandma Dina and Grandpa Ron and I went to an official ball last night. The girls were not happy about Night Out #4, but Imogene let them watch some TV coverage. M was excited to see Barack dance, and this morning she said that Michelle's dress was beautiful.

On Monday, the girls' class is having an Inauguration Party from 9-10 AM. Dressy attire suggested. We returned our RSVP cards today.

Here are some photos of the swearing-in rooftop, Grampy's office, the motorcade, the ball, and Barack and Michelle at the ball:

Here is the text of an email I wrote to Buppie at 12:52 PM yesterday: Barack is president!! We are at 1st and Louisiana, right across from swearing in. Millions here. Lots of joy in dc. Bush leaving on helicopter right now!!

Special thanks and gratitude to Grampy for letting us invade his office; to Grandma Dina and Grandpa Ron for their stamina and for the ball tickets last night; to Kim for the visit from California; and to the law firms of the District of Columbia for the food and parking lot.

And finally, a personal highlight of the weekend was the Huffington Post party on Sunday night where Sting performed. I didn't attain my dream of getting a photo with Sting, but I did shoot some video of his performance, which was very cool: