Goings On During a Pandemic

This pandemic.... ugh, it's ticking me off. Everything we want to do is cancelled. Even camping!  Camping is, by nature, socially distancing. But, they won't open the bathrooms. Makes no sense, since the bathrooms are open everywhere else, like Costco!  How is camping any worse. Anyway, you can tell our annual Memorial Day camping trip got cancelled and we're not happy.

I'm mad that Emily missed her winter guard season. I'm mad Ben doesn't have a graduation. They are doing a drive through parade thing next week, that I can't go to because I have to work, but it's not the same. Emily was going to go to Prom with friends. It all sucks.

But, in the midst of all that, we've seen some great things happen. David and I are still working, so we aren't noticing much of a difference, but the kids are feeling it. We've been going on daily walks/bike rides with friends. We just spread out a bit and walk. It works. Our town has had a very low number of Covid cases, which is great.

We've also done things like face masks. The boys were thrilled.

I've learned that I have to wash and put out healthy snacks for these kids. We were going through a bag of chips a day!

And this is the new norm at work and everywhere really. I hate wearing these masks, but it is what it is.

Puzzles have become my new hobby. I just like to keep my mind busy when  get a few moments to sit. Luckily, my friends and I have all exchanged puzzles and it's been fun.

And something amazing happened.... about week 3 of quarantine, Emily started to emerge. The sadness and disappointment was gone and she started playing with her brothers and engaging more with us. She's always so busy, that when she gets downtime after homework, she'd just sit in her room on her phone. If there is a blessing to all of this, my kids have gotten closer.

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We even did a few themed dinners. BBQ with patriot music and dressed up as 4th of July. The next day was country with ribs and Johnny Cash playing. It was fun. It breaks the monotony of it all.

The kids all go outside and play on the trampoline.

I think Emily was trying to teach Ben how to do a front handspring. At least we didn't end up in the hospital.

 

Easter was different. No big family gathering. Just the family. David brought some dinner over to his parents. But, it was still nice. We watched church online. Again, everything is different.

The kids outside just laughing and having fun on the trampoline. David and I love listening to them when they are all laughing and just being kids.

And more puzzles!  I'm not kidding, I think I've done at least 10 in a few months.

My bosses Mom made us pizza masks!  It's the new fashion accessory.

And another puzzle....

David has been teaching Ben to mow the yard. We are so blessed that through all this we've had amazing weather. It's so nice to be outside this time of year.

The kids have taken out the Wii and are playing video games together on their phones. Really, they've played more with each other in the past 6 weeks than they have in the past 6 years. Emily is helping with cooking and learning stuff in the kitchen. It's been lovely. Emily also face times with her friend Ava until super late. I should care that she is on the phone until 3AM, but I don't. Whatever. She's in her room giggling with her friend and they are building Minecraft empires. Have at it!

They are all getting their school work done. But, the schools have basically left the last quarter optional. Whatever your grade was at Spring Break will be your grade for 4th quarter. If you do work, you can improve your grade. We are not making it optional for our kids, but in Ben's case, how do you improve a 100%?  I think he had 100% in 5 out of 7 classes. The other two can improve some. In any case, they are still doing school work every day.

 

And, we finally cut our land line! I've been meaning to do this for awhile. We all have cell phones now and we rarely us it. Why spend $40 a month on a couple of phone calls. So, we cut it!  But, I had to make a recording of the outgoing message. We taped this back in 2008 I think. Emily was 3and Ben was 2. I say the beginning. Then, Emily talks. Then, Ben says, "have a nice day". Some people thought it was all Emily. Ben's voice certainly doesn't sound like a girl anymore!

We've spent the last few weekends hiking with friends. It's lovely and it's nice that we finally are making time to do this type of stuff. I'll post those pics next.

All in all, we are getting by in these crazy times. I'm sad to be crossing out all the stuff on the calendar. Ben's play was this week and Emily's recital and Noah's music concert. Gone, gone, gone. We've officially scraped our summer trip to Idaho and Canada this year. We just don't want to get a plane and then go spend time with my Dad and Suzy or Uncle Terry and Aunt Paula. Who knows what germs we could be exposing them to and this won't be gone in 6 weeks. It sucks, but it is what it is. That's my motto at this time.

Cabin Getaway

Our Spring Break looked a whole lot different than years past. We usually have a big trip planned and it's amazing. This year, we didn't have much planned.  Partly because Emily's color guard is always so unpredictable. We don't know when her competitions will be and last year, she missed their trip to march down Main St. in Disneyland because we were in Hawaii. She obviously wanted to be in Hawaii more, but we didn't want her to miss her guard stuff.  

Plus, with my job at Costco and limited vacation/sick time, I couldn't leave for a week. But, we still planned a little cabin getaway with our best family friends. The night before we left, Trump gave his big Coronavirus speech and all hell broke loose.  We were already swamped at Costco, but this is the line to get out of the store the day after his speech. It's been insane. If you've ever been to Costco, you know this is an insane line to check receipts and get you out the door. Honestly, I was so happy to be leaving that day that I skipped out the door.

And it felt like we were in our own little world away from all the Corona craziness. We got the cabin, just 90 minutes away, and I was so thankful that we got away, even if only for 2 nights. It was wet and rainy, but nobody cared.

 

It had a really nice game room with a pool table and foosball. It also had tons of outdoors stuff, horseshoes, teetherball, etc. It was a great cabin. 

 

And this cute little squirrel came to eat every day. 

 

This is the view from the upstairs loft. 

 

The outdoor fire place area was really nice, and we made smores. 

 

Dakri and I didn't min the wet weather and we went in the hot tub anyway! 

 

 

 The home was gorgeous with all the windows.

 

We were only supposed to stay 2 nights, but it was so nice, we wanted to stay one more. The owner said the cabin was free and we booked one more night. So, this was funny. All the internet, cell service and wifi went down at the cabin. Normally, this would've have been a big deal. But, Josh was driving up from Phoenix to spend the night at the cabin with us and he was using google maps. Without that, he'd have no clue how to find us. He didn't print a map beforehand. So, we went to the little market to see if we could call him. Nobody had cell service. They were so nice and offered to let Dakri use their landline, but then, all of a sudden, someone got service. We all took out our phones to check, even the cashier, and we all had service. Ben was doing the rubik's cube. :) It was funny.

On the way home from the market, Noah spotted this in a creek.

The rain turned to snow at times.

 

It was so nice to have a roaring fire going and to just relax.

 We went out to dinner one night at a local brewery.

 Played pool. I definitely have lost some of my skills. Noah got really good though quickly.

 We were playing a game and David is asleep in the background. He's on an air mattress because Noah coughs a lot at night and we were sharing a bunkbed room with the boys. David opted to sleep in the living room. But, he cracks me up. We were all load and rowdy and there he is with his eyemask asleep.

 The next morning, we woke up to nice sunny skies.

 The kids went in the hot tub.

 

The sky was beautiful. 

 

We got to play games outside. 

 

And go on a walk. 

 

We found another carcass. 

The street we stayed on was called Bradshaw and that's the school the girls go to. 

 

A St. Patrick's Day period went by right in front of the house. You gotta love small towns. 

We made yummy dinner.

In order to stay another night, we had to get out of there by 8AM so I could get home, shower and leave for work by 11. On the way out, we passed like 5 elk just walking along.

 Now we are home quarantined. Well, the kids. David and I are working every day and Costco moved us all to pretty much 39 hours. So, I'm swamped. It's crazy. Noah escaped into a virtual reality world of the Amazon rainforest or something.

  

 The kids are bored with everything shut down, and David and I are totally stressed.

Guess that's how life rolls sometimes. I'm just glad we were able to get away for a few days.

Look Who's Driving!

We've been letting Emily drive around the neighborhood for a few months, just like 2 blocks to her friends house. Emily does really well. She's had a lot of practice on jet ski's at Papa's and Grandma Suzy's cabin. She parks those things better than I do!

The other night, she drove to our friends house. Noah put on 3 seatbelts just in case.

Yesterday, Emily officially got her permit! They allow you to take the test at home and then you just have to go MVD to take a picture and sign stuff. David took her and she drove home! I'm so glad he is mainly teaching her. I would've had her in the neighborhood going 25 for a month or an empty parking lot. That's how I learned. But, David's been letting her drive a little and felt confident in her abilities. She got in the freeway and drove the whole way home. Now, a freeway in Prescott is nothing like a freeway in Phoenix. Our freeway is like a school zone in Phoenix. She did great and even drove over Grammie and Grampies house last night and drove home in the dark.

 

She drove to school today too. I think this is the only time I've seen her smile going to school.

  

I can't believe she is driving, but I also feel she is ready. She is dependable and wants to do more stuff with her friends, and being a taxi cab is getting tiresome. David will probably get a newish car and she can have his car. It's already beat up and 12 years old, so it's a perfect starter car.