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 :-)