Birthdays in the Time of Covid

I just realized that the title I picked for this post reminds me of a book I read: Love in the Time of Cholera.  It is somewhat fitting.  Like just about everything else, our birthday celebrations are looked little different this year.  2020 will certainly go down in the history books as a pivotal year and we just happen to have had 3 milestone birthdays this year.  Mine, in January, actually squeaked in with the last bit of normalcy- Luke's in May was the big 13, a true quaranteenager, and Adrienne rounds it out with moving into the double digits for her golden birthday of 10. 

Luke's birthday was still in the heavy lock down period so he got a special dinner of KFC, compliments of Gma and Gpa, and an ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery.    His "special" gift was his new iphone 11 which he received in February due to the untimely death of his iphone 6.  He also got a long board, a new ipad, and several other gifts.  He had zoom calls and balloons; still a memorable birthday.  Adrienne had her birthday as we started to emerge from the serious quarantine.  She was able to have 3 other friends over for water balloons and a trip to Yotality.  Her dinner of choice was 5 Guys.    She also had lots of balloons and gold decorations for her golden birthday.  She also got a long board and an electric scooter.  All riding toys in the house have seen lots of love these past few months. 

Not a milestone birthday, but we got to have a somewhat normal celebration for Matt's birthday while at Keuka for the 4th of July weekend.  The summer gave us a nice reprieve from a lot of the Covid restrictions because we were able to be outside most of the time.  Then, in November when Coco's birthday rolled around, we were pretty much back to no gatherings so we just had a small family celebration combined with some zooming.  I'm sure we will resume the birthday parties next year but all in all, no one suffered!

Coronavirus Quarantine Continues

I've lost count of what day of quarantine we are on - it doesn't really matter.  I'm not even sure how many weeks we've been at it so far.  But I do know that we are settling into a routine...one that does not include running around to kid events like crazy!  We have the kids doing checklists during the day to keep them on a productive path and they finally have a distinct task list from school. We are lucky to live in a school district that has largely kept the educational experience going; we have friends in other states whose kids are not experiencing this.  Work has been very busy for Matt and I- we are clearly not experiencing any slow down.  All of our co-workers have gotten a glimpse into our house and its workings - for better and for worse.   I've finally perfected my "business on top and lounge on the bottom" outfits.  Matt's uniform usually includes a hat.

Each of us is finding ways to get things done while also not wasting away of boredom.

Coco is really into reading right now.  She's loving the Elephant and Piggie books so much that they are now too easy for her.  She joins her class 2x per day for webex calls - which means 20 children ages 3-6 on one video conference - and 3 saintly teachers.  She makes sure to update us on her calls with "I'm participating!"  She's loving all the outside time whether it's the swing, the trampoline or the lacrosse field (our yard).  Big news! We took the training wheels off her bike last week and now she's all over the neighborhood. She likes to help on all the baking projects especially if there is a bowl to lick at the end.

Adrienne has been diligent about keeping up with the hundreds of tasks, and "challenges," and read alongs, and science experiments, and math websites and reading logs and...so.much.school.  She's currently reading her way through a book on Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  I can't say she's disappointed with the lack of swim practice but she has been working on her weak hand lacrosse skills and scooter jumps off the ramp.  She likes staying home and having access to lots of snacks :-)

Luke has also been doing a lot of school work - it took about a week before he got into the right cadence of what needs to be done and when.  There was a day that he and I spent 4 hours on Social Studies because he didn't realize there was an electronic packet on one of the 5 apps he's supposed to check.  I give the teachers a lot of credit for getting content online but it is still a pain that there are so many different apps being used.  Any time that he isn't doing school work or practicing piano, is spent outside.  I am constantly reminding him that I'm not taking him to the emergency room if he breaks any bones.  He's staying connected to friends through his phone and zoom calls but I think he also likes the slower pace of things.  He's missing lacrosse but hopefully we'll be able to salvage some of the season.  He likes having a hot breakfast everyday - which will obviously cease to exist when life returns to normal.  Unshockingly, he's still all boy - he's covered in dirt and making noise most of the time.

I've started implementing more exercise for the kids.  We've been doing runs through the neighborhood together.  They haven't really been introduced to running before so we are working on endurance. Matt and I have been doing evening walks in addition to midday runs.  I hope that even when the restrictions are lifted, we can continue the extra exercise.

Matt and I are motivated to be productive with this huge gift of time.  The basement is getting a make-over which is a herculean task.  We are sealing the floors and the walls and getting rid of all that is unnecessary.  I've even assisted on the painting because Matt is not known for his speed with painting.   Hopefully by the end, all bins will be labeled and on shelves.  We've also organized so many closets and deep cleaned so many areas of the house we've neglected until now.  I'm a pretty organized person to begin with but this clean-out feels so good!  Once we finish all inside projects, we will move to the outside projects.  The other day we did a fun "project" with a local photographer.  This photographer volunteered to take families' photos on their porch at a safe social distance.  It wasn't like the kind you get dressed up and spiffy for but none the less, it is a snapshot of an interesting time:

The most exciting event in the past few weeks was the Brighton teacher parade that came down our street.  There were at least 100 cars - many of them decorated.  It was super fun - the kids made a sign and we waived at all their teachers.  The teachers looked equally as happy to see all the kids - Luke and Adrienne got many shoutouts!

And in between all of the above, we've been watching movies, having new family dinners, playing games, reading books, baking cookies, and all in all, relaxing!  If we can just continue stay healthy, I'd be grateful!

Coronavirus Quarantine

Well I guess you can never really anticipated this type of global crisis. We are in our 2nd week of quarantine due to the Coronavirus COVID-19.  Schools and offices have been closed and we are essentially on lock down.  With the exception of the grocery store, we have not been within 6 feet of other humans outside of our own immediate family in a week and a half.  We have taken the warnings and direction from the experts very seriously and I can only say that I wish everyone else would, too.

So we've been working from home and home schooling all at the same time.  So far it's going pretty well - as long as there is a self-imposed schedule.  The kids have been very engaged in on-line learning and Matt and I have luckily been on alternating conference calls.  Our dining room has been turned in to Central Command and our kitchen has been transformed into a walk-in food storage locker.  The kids have been in constant eating mode so I've been having to be creative with my food purchases.  I'm just shocked at how much food they actually consume when home all day.  The cat, has been loving having everyone home and the extra attention.  He's joined me on a few video conference calls - and my coworkers were very happy to see him.  Our yard has even gotten a spring clean-up months ahead of schedule!  Everyone's hair will be long by the end of this thing but if that's the worst thing, then I would say that we've weathered the storm well.  

We are lucky to have every ride-on toy imaginable, a trampoline, and a yard with lacrosse goals.  We've been having many a "recess" from home schooling.  And it is now making me question why on earth schools have been scaling back the amount of recess time.  Let me tell you, they have it wrong.  More recess, less lecture is what works...and I imagine that's a similar story from others on this home schooling journey.  Our most successful modus operandi is a schedule with a change in activity every 30 minutes.  And yes, snack time counts as an activity.  The kids have been practicing their school instruments as well as keeping up with their regular piano practicing.  We've been having them write journal entries of their time in quarantine...and their musings are pretty entertaining.  They've had work sent home via different on-line applications from their teachers.  The difficult part is that each teacher uses a different application and every time someone in the class interacts with said application, I get a notification on my phone (and also in my email)...and that's a lot of notifications!  Each kid has had multiple zoom and webex meetings - they will be pros by week's end.  I would say we are being a successful home school operation so far but to be honest, I'm not sure how long it will continue.

It's  quite interesting to see who follows social distancing guidelines and takes them seriously.  It's equally frustrating because there are obviously people who are selfish and think they are untouchable.  I am completely astounded by how many people in this country are literally suggesting and warming up to the idea that we just sacrifice peoples' lives for the benefit of the economy.  I guess those people don't value to basic idea of human life.  If we've lost that, what is the point of it all?  Do we throw out the "Respect your Elders" idea?  I think it's shameful and just shows the greed of people.  We've been taking every precaution possible.  We even shipped Mimi off to Philly for extra special quarantine. She's been doing a lot of baking, puzzles, and yelling at the Liar in Chief on the TV.  G-ma and G-pa remain in Canandaigua and G-ma remains dedicated to being a nurse - hopefully she will be able to stay uninfected.  So for the safety and well-being of all, we need to interact over facetime and text messages.  I'm fairly certain that between Matt and I, we have a good 20 different text groups going.  We've done some virtual happy hours and waved at neighbors across the street. We are looking forward to the days when we don't immediately eyeball an invisible 6 foot bubble between ourselves and others.

We are continuing to work our regular work hours, albeit at home.  I have found that there is absolutely nothing that I can't do at home that I can do in the office.  And so many meetings are being handled so easily by email - I hope my coworkers are taking note!  Lots of conference calls are being had but nothing out of the ordinary.  I've tried to vary my office location inside the house.  Sometimes it's the dining room table, sometimes it's Coco's desk, sometimes it's in the living room in front of the fire.  Matt has a little setup in the living room near the front windows.

As stated above, the kids have spent a significant amount of time outside.  It seems a little throwback to the days when there were kids out and about in the neighborhood.  None of them are playing with each other of course, but we do seem them out.  Matt and I have been taking evening walks and that is also a popular activity by our neighbors.   We've been encouraging the kids to keep up their lacrosse skills and they've been really good about using the bounce back and shooting on the goals.  Each kid has also perfected a front flip on the trampoline and all three can now skateboard!

In the evenings, we've spent time reading, guitar playing, movie watching and device playing.  We've introduced classic movies to the kids like Dumb and Dumber and Annie.  Fun fact, Matt just learned that "A Hard Knock Life" was not, in fact, a song created by Jay-Z.  I'm not sure how he missed this as a child born in the 80s.

It sure will be a unique transition back to regular life.  I'm enjoying all the time spent at home with the kids. I'm enjoying the fact that I don't have to run the evening shuttle service after a day at the office.  And I'm enjoying the bonus time to get projects completed at the house.

Mon Tremblant, Quebec, Canada

This was our first year going away for February break and it was hugely successful.  The trek to Mont Tremblant is about a 6 hour car ride - a little longer with stops.  And while most trips to Canada feel like USA-lite, this trip felt like we were, in fact, in a different country.

Luke and Matt were on the slopes everyday by 8:30 to snowboard and would meet us at the conclusion of Adrienne's ski school at 3:00 pm.  They found different parts of the mountain they liked better than others but with the wealth of trails this place had, that wasn't surprising.  Adrienne really enjoyed her ski school instructor who was about 70 years old and french.  She did very well and is now a "real skier."  Matt and Luke were able to find her a few times on the trails or lifts during the week.  For our part, Coco and spent a lot of time eating and shopping our way through the pedestrian village.  Every person in the family had to pick up some extra snow gear while there so we had fun checking out the ski shops.  Coco and I found that we enjoyed the creperie and the poutinerie the best - no surprise there.  The kids and I also really loved the maple pops - there was a cute little shop where they would pour hot maple syrup onto a barrel filled with snow and while it was gelling, you would use a small wooden stick to roll it into a lolly-pop.  There were very good and tasted more like caramel than maple to me.

At the end of each day, we would leave the pedestrian village and drive about five minutes done the Monte Ryan to the town house we were staying at.  There we enjoyed time by the fire while chain watching old episodes of Friends.  The townhouse also had a jacuzzi tub which the kids loved.

Coco, Ade and I also had the chance to enjoy the indoor water park in the pedestrian village.  While these kinds of places normally drive me nuts, this one didn't.  It was clean and had a family hot tub which was really more of a warm tub but it was warm enough for even me to enjoy.  I also used the adult hot tub which was located outside.  So while sitting in the hot tub, my hair would freeze, while I gazed at the people flying overhead on the cabriolet or the skiers winding down through the village.

Mont Tremblant is definitely a dreamy place and one that we hope to return to next year!  It may have turned us into one of those ski vacation families :-)