December Updates.

 Well, it has certainly been awhile. Things continue right along around here. We had a nice Thanksgiving, and got our Christmas tree the next day. 

Taco approves of this cat toy farm we've built for him. The tree is maybe a little wider than is ideal for the space, but when you're not hosting any big holiday parties, what does it matter if you can barely squeeze by? 

It's getting a little cold for the beach, so we've been walking down to the park a lot of days. The whole quaranteam came down for this afternoon session of horse - please enjoy my delightfully dumb dog friend in the back ground. 

And we got to go on a Duffy boat ride with Mimi and Poppy!

Our big thing is we snuck away for a long weekend in Arroyo Grande with Bob and Nancy and their kids, and Victoria, Rob and Keira. Since driving up to San Carlos this summer, we'd been talking with the Magees about finding a place halfway between our houses that we could rent, and I found a fantastic estate that was almost exactly equidistant in terms of drive time. There was some debating in the last week if we were still good to go, if it was safe or if we were being reckless idiots who flout common wisdom about COVID safety, but in the end, we decided that since all of us are in the same situation - kids working from home, parents working from home, avoiding crowded places and restaurants and gyms and staying in a relatively tight bubble, that we were okay making the trip (and for us and the Pearces, we have been essentially functioning as one household the entire pandemic and see each other almost every day, so pretending that going to Arroyo Grande together was a danger would have been ridiculous.) 

The property was amazing. It was on a hill outside of town, with eight acres covered in oaks and manzanitas. The kids had space to ride their scooters and run around, and there's a family of deer that walked through periodically, and a herd of turkeys that came to visit. Every time we went outside there was something cool to see, and inside the house was comfortable and well appointed, so we could do some serious relaxing. The kids did their school work together, Tim and Rob were on vacation from work so they did some supervising and some just chilling out, and those who had work calls and emails to return were able to get stuff done and join us all for lunch, or for charcuterie and wine on the patio to watch the sunset. We coordinated grocery lists and meal planning so that we ate at home, and were able to feed the kids and then retire to the dining room for adult food and card games and bananagrams.

Our one outing (other than runs for more wine) was to the Monarch grove in Pismo Beach, where monarchs gather during their migration. I expected the trees to be covered in butterflies, which they sadly were not, because of their declining numbers. We did still see quite a lot and it was really beautiful. We also walked over to the beach and the kids collected shells and soaked the hems of their pants in the ocean. What more could you want in a morning outing? 

Also, I must say, I am very proud of these kids during the pandemic. These pictures were the only times they took off their masks all morning. When adults are throwing fits because they don't want to wear a mask at Target, the kids are great about masking up before we get out of the car, and wearing a mask without complaint until we're back in the car, sanitizing our hands. Not pictured, all adults wearing masks as well, leading by example. 

It was a great little get away, and I would most definitely rent the house again. One funny moment is that the internet went out on Sunday, mid-day. We texted the owners to see what could be done (especially with several very tech-savvy people, we knew we could probably fix it ourselves if we knew where the modem was.) Turns out, it was in the kids' bedroom and had gotten unplugged. We showed it to the kids and asked them all to be careful and make sure it didn't get unplugged again, but all of them insisted that they hadn't touched it AT ALL EVER. Then later, Ellie came and told us she had figured out what had happened. It had been windy all day, and a big gust of wind must have shook the house, particularly that one wall, and the plug just fell out of the outlet. 

In fairness, the kids were a great little pack of friends. The big girls all text and play together online constantly, so they're very familiar with one another, and they were very happy to take Caitlin around with them. The boys are good together, but are also the two who are most happy to strike out on their own (Adam in particular loves a good solo nature walk.) One night they played hide and seek for hours, or they'd be up in their room putting on some imagination game. They did way less time on screens than I expected they would. The big hit of the trip was a Cats in Hats coloring book I bought from the check out stand at Sara's store, which makes me laugh. Who doesn't want to draw so very many cats in hats?