Well, apparently this is a once a month update blog, at this point. The reality is, we only do about one noteable thing a month - the rest of the time is spent in a repeat cycle or home school, working from home and outdoor PE.
The biggest and best change in the past month is that Mimi and Poppy completed their course of COVID shots, and so felt comfortable opening up their home to their smelly little grandkids again. HOORAY HOORAY. I know everyone was really happy to be reunited and have some time together.
It was very funny to me and Tim - so many people asked us what we were going to do with all of our kid free time and the reality is, where are we going to go? What are we going to do? Not eat at a restaurant or go see a play or a concert or hang out in public. And this is a great house, but we've spent a lot of time in it this year, and spent a lot of quality time together. Which is fortunate! The kids and their grandparents needed the quality time, not us.
What we need is time out of this house, and a little getaway, so on Sunday when we picked up the kids, we headed up to the central coast to meet up with Bob and Nancy and the kids for another week of commune time, this time also celebrating Amelia's 9th birthday. We rented a house on a 350 acre property, and it was an absolute dream. There was only one house that we could see from our porch, and we only saw the other neighbors once, maybe twice. There was a huge lawn out front dotted with oak trees, and about a half mile down the gravel path was a tree swing, and then past that, just hills and trees for miles, including one really great climbing tree!
It was really a total dream come true, and not just because Tim took the week off and so I got to make him deal with Adam's horse shit when it comes to school. We had enough internet that the kids could do all of their online lessons (and play Minecraft) but it also felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, just relaxing. I spent a ton of time just sitting out in the lawn chairs, watching the turkey vultures and the hawks circling around. We had a fun celebration for Amelia's birthday, and made smores in the fire pit out front. Tim was a fastidious butler, starting cheese and crackers and wine time as soon as he and Adam finished for the day (cocktail hour starting at two? Don't mind if I do, I'm on vacation!) It's really a huge silver lining that during these weird times, we've gotten to spend so much time with great friends. It's basically the only benefit to distance learning (other than the reduced COVID risk.) I'm curious to see if the governors plan for opening schools gets our kids back in the classroom by the end of the year - either way I'm planning on trying to send them after spring break. I think everyone will be able to attend safely, and I think it'll help everyone's sanity (though I don't think being in a classroom is going to make Adam any less of a pain in the butt - just at least it won't be my butt, for the first time in a year.)
Gigi celebrated her birthday yesterday, which also marks the first anniversary of the last time I sat down and had a meal in a restaurant. Who would have thought that a two week shelter in place would last this long? (I mean, I know a lot of scientists knew this was going to happen - I certainly wasn't mentally equipped to take in that reality on that last Friday, picking my kids up from school and making sure they had everything from the classroom.)
In short, all is well, nothing is different and yet everything is changed!
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