What to Do For the Inauguration?

Well, I missed the boat on the biggest community celebration at a local theatre here, which was free to the public. I called yesterday after I found out about it, but they had already closed for the day, and when I called again today (after a day-long workshop here at church), they were out of tickets. The party was starting at 11:00am, which would have worked out great for the kids to come along. I'm considering tossing around the idea tomorrow of some kind of family-friendly inauguration open house here at church on Tuesday, but I am not sure what the interest will be and how quickly I can throw something together like this. Good idea, though, no?

Edited for an Update: Another venue decided to open its doors for inauguration day overflow from the first venue. It too was free, so we took the kids and went. They gave the kids flags, and it was so cute to see K. waving hers around proudly every time people clapped or cheered. M. didn't as much wave his flag as he shook it wildly LOL. I wish I had had a camera, but alas, we'd misplaced it and didn't have time to look for it in our rush out the door. The crowd was pretty low-key. Mostly folks who work at the nearby courthouse or city hall and were on a lunch break. We left a bit early because the kids were getting fitfully tired and needed to get home to nap. On our way out, we got stopped by a reporter from our city's newspaper. We chatted with her for a minute, but with the kids running around us like complete nuts, I have my doubts as to whether we said anything coherent, let alone worthwhile.

For the most part, I'm pretty glad we went. And G. said looking at the crowd in D.C. left her feeling very good there was no feasible way for us to go. "There is no way I'd want to be there right now," she said. As I was freezing cold just walking a third of a mile to and from our car to attend the local event, I must say, I am glad we're not stuck out there in the cold either. Especially because while Obama's speech was solid, it won't go down in history as "the best ever inaugural speech."