Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Portland, OR

One friend is keeping all her kids out of school for next Tuesday morning, January 20; another is planning to bring her three-year-old along for an impromptu neighborhood parade, complete with drums and American flags. We're taking our two youngest to a party where we'll eat breakfast food and watch Barack Obama be sworn in as President of the United States.

Our kids were involved in the election in one way or another, from wearing Obama pins to carving Hope pumpkins to napping obediently while we made phone calls, and now they're involved in the celebration of the beginning of a new era in American history. I think keeping children out of school is a great way to mark this morning as a serious, sanctified time in the progression of our nation, and it's symbolic that the inauguration occurs the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Will you keep your children out of school? How will you mark the swearing-in ceremony if your kids are home? Are you watching alone or with friends? Or is this just another Tuesday morning for you?