To Grandmother's House We Go

Sunday, we did our first social distancing visit with family. It's been a few months since we've seen anyone and we've been missing everyone. It's hard to visit and stay apart, but we did our best and it's certainly better than nothing. Grandma and Grandpa live close enough that we can go up for the afternoon, so we brought lunch and had a nice afternoon outside.

After lunch, we got to pick cherries from Grandma's orchard.

So many cherries, and they are delicious!

Very different than picking blueberries or strawberries, which are really the only fruits the kids have a lot of experience with.

We brought home a huge bag of these--going to have to make ourselves sick on cherries this week!

 

We found a few boysenberries ripe enough to eat, but most won't be ready for a couple more weeks.

And grandma let the kids pull up a couple potato plants as well.

It's pretty much like being at a farm at their house. We cut some asparagus to bring home, along with everything else. And the kids went to visit grandkid trees (each of them have a plaque on a tree they picked out) and over to the neighbors fields to see the llamas. They love being up there when cousins are around as well, but we're not quite ready for that type of interaction yet.

One of Grandma's beautiful flowers.

And the tree frog we found on the gate.

It was really nice to see family and get to visit in person for a little while. I'm glad that we've got good weather right now for all of this outdoors interacting. Not sure what we'll do when it's 105, or if this is a problem next winter (which I'm assuming it will be). Not as fun to sit outside for visits when it's raining or 40 degrees. But for now, we'll happily spend time outside. Peanut was excited to add 4 more hours to May's total (and he ended with 104 hours, Bug had even more!) We're chipping away at that 1000 hour goal.

We got home in time for a short fireside with our bishop, dinner, and a quiet evening. Daddy-o dropped some cherries off at a friend's house and caught up with him while the kids and I all read. I've been listening to The Book of Lost Friends while I run or walk in the mornings and was finally down to the last couple hours and when everything started to get tied up, so I volunteered to do all the dishes if the kids would just not talk to me, haha.

I love historical fiction, and right now, a book about the post-Civil War south and all the injustices the freed slaves still had to endure seems like a good fit considering the most recent police killing, and all the other videos and stories surfacing showing blatant racism--hard to read at times, but so important to understand. We're in a pretty scary place right now as a nation, a society, a larger community.  Growing up, when we learned about racism, it always felt like something we had largely overcome--maybe because of the racial diversity that I lived around, or maybe just because I, as a middle class white girl, was ignorant of what others were experiencing. But it's clear that we still have a LONG ways to go as a country. And it's clear that a lot of people are (understandably) fed up and angry and scared. Our family continues to pray for comfort for all those who are hurting. I think our summer school may spend some time on learning how we can help. Should go along nicely with our Civil War unit coming up.

Singing in the Rain

We may not have actually been singing, but our hearts were. Saturday's forecast was for off and on showers, possibly a little thunder, but when it looked clear for a couple hours before lunch, we decided to go for a long walk. Peanut has been pretty squirrely and we've all been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster recently--I think the ending of school and a lot of questions about what this summer is going to look like has been another bump in our quarantine road.

Well, 2 miles from our house, the sky decided to open up and pour. It was a total NC rain storm and we were soaked within a minute. There was nothing to do but laugh, and so we laughed and ran and got wetter and wetter as we went. It was exactly what we needed--a mini adventure to help us dig out of the melancholy we've been feeling. Bean said it was her favorite walk we've ever taken, ranking up there with a lot of the best hikes we've done, too. 

Family walks and Saturday adventures have been one of the upsides to this whole thing.

The rest of Saturday was spent watching movies (the boys), finishing up seminary readings (Bean), and a social distancing meetup (me.) And then, a family movie (The Princess and the Frog, which only 3/5s of us had seen part of about 10 years ago) and another short walk because Peanut was determined to hit 100 hours outside for the month of May and wanted his last 20 minutes.

Once again, I am just so grateful for outside. We are surviving, and thriving, because of all the walking, running, hiking, backyard reading, camping, and dining we are doing.

Catching Up

I got a little behind a couple days, but here's the recap for the end of our week. On Thursday, Bug and I took a class with John Muir Laws on drawing raptors. I say we, because I did start out with him, but it was two hours and that is a whole lot of sketching! I dabbled while also taking care of a few other things. Bug was totally captivated, though, and wants to do the rest of the classes in the series.

His drawings are pretty impressive--he said that he feels like he has a way better take on bird details now. Laws knows what he's doing, and it's fun that he's a Bay Area local.

Peanut worked on handwriting, math and history journaling during the bird class. I think he liked listening in here and there, but it was too detailed of drawing for him, and he happily skipped out on that part.

On a different nature subject, we found this cucumber that seemed to sprout overnight. Glad we'll get at least something out of our garden this year!

And we've got a whole lot of tomatoes starting. I'm really excited for those.

Friday was mostly a game day. We tried out a couple new ones--Tiki Topple, and this Madlibs card game. Both were pretty fun. Tiki Topple was the bigger hit--and Peanut beat me, and then made up his own two person version (of course--the boy can not play a game without then inventing his own!) Some of his games need some more tweaking, but this one was actually really fun, so we played a few rounds of his version, too.

We've been trying to read scriptures as a family in the evenings. We only end up remembering about 2-3 days a week, but I thought I should document it for posterity's sake. Even though we'd started this before quarantine, it feels like a coronavirus habit.

And finally, I have got to share just a little bit of the fun our animals are bringing into our lives these days. We've been getting them out to play in our make shift pet pen, and watching Charkie follow Poppy around, and try to hop like a bunny is hilarious. They are good entertainment.

Beat the Heat

When the temperatures creep over 100, we have to find ways to cool off. Peanut (and Bug who joined him later) played in the sprinklers and with buckets of water for awhile.

I can't believe these kids were okay reading outside. 

They didn't stay like this long, but were trying to get some outside time.

And then, we headed down to Santa Cruz for a long walk on the beach. I have been craving beach time for weeks now, but was too nervous about going there for awhile, thanks to stories of $1000 fines for people out of the county. From the rules laid out, beaches are closed to all from 11-5 each day, and then only supposed to be available for exercise the rest of the time, so we finally decided it should be okay and we've just been waiting for a day warm enough to feel good in the evening. This was definitely it. 

The temperature was in the high 70s most of the time we were there--perfect to run around and get a little wet (or a lot wet for some of the kids.)

And it looks like regular beach days, just later hours, are totally possible because despite what the rules say, there were tons of beach umbrellas, chairs, coolers, and people when we got there. It wasn't overly crowded so people had plenty of space to social distance, but those rules are obviously not enforced. Instead of eating our dinner in the car, we could have totally had a picnic on the beach. Hope this is an indication that outdoor spaces are slowly opening up and we can enjoy them without fear of fines or being kicked out. We need our natural spaces!

We walked for awhile, ran into friends and chatted at a distance with them, and then headed back. Just a couple hours outside in one of our favorite settings to break the monotony of home, and the heat.

Joy! There was a little stress and anxiety mixed in with that joy, especially when we first got there--I worry about the long term toll that this will have on everyone, but especially kids who are trying to cope with some pretty unnatural rules being thrown out there. Peanut doesn't always talk about it, but he's had a lot of coronavirus outbursts, especially when we're around too many people.

But luckily, it was mostly a happy trip, and with a stop for ice cream on the way home, I'd say we had a pretty awesome evening.

Memorial Day, Quarantine Style

 Daddy-o and I snuck away for a 5 mile hike first thing this morning. Hiking 5 miles with Daddy-o is very different than hiking 5 miles with my kids. They're pretty good hikers these days (two of them can out-hike me anytime they want), but Daddy-o and I finished an hour faster than I would have planned with the kids. And there wasn't any whining or fighting the entire time. I think I want to do this again :)

 It was beautiful--perfect weather, and lots of changing scenery. 

We found a magical little spot in a redwood grove that I'm going to bring the kids back to see--somewhere just off the trail, with no poison oak, and room to play or sketch or read underneath towering redwoods sounds like what we need right about now.

We got home mid-morning and spent an hour with everyone helping to clean up the house (a week of school, and then camping for two days meant lots of stuff to put away, and SO much laundry to fold!)

Then, the older kids had a birthday parade to attend, Peanut talked Hogwarts classes non-stop, we had a Zoom date with Rara and Unkie to play Scattergories (very Zoom friendly--we'll have to do it again.) Daddy-o made Tri-tip (which meant sweltering in the hot backyard--we were all very appreciative of his sacrifice.) The backyard cooled down to a balmy 88 degrees by dinner time, so we got to enjoy an hour in the backyard. 

Bean and I squeezed in another Gilmore Girls episode--we're finding it hard to fit these in, even with all outside activities cancelled. Something to do with all the movie nights, Nerts games, and her homework. ;) Should make better progress once school is done.

Kicking Off Summer 2020

We're celebrating the unofficial start to summer this weekend, and what better way to start than using some of our fresh-picked blueberries on a German pancake Friday morning? Berries and whipped cream are the best!

After breakfast, the kids and I went on a local hike--so crazy how dry the grass has gotten this month. No green left on these hills.

But they're still pretty, in a very different way. Winter/spring hiking is my favorite around here, but hiking is hiking and we'll keep going through the summer.

We made it to the top of the hill, climbed the tree,

hung around for awhile to watch a bluebird that looked like it was waiting for us to leave so it could return to it's nest. We finally got quiet enough, and far enough away for it to chance it, 

and it went into this hole under one of the branches. I had decided this spring that I wanted to get better at finding bird's nests, and we've now found two to keep an eye on (although I don't know how often we'll climb this hill. The hawk is a lot closer to our house.)

The rest of the hike was a Jungle Cruise. Bean led the tour with hilarious commentary. Because the topography changed, it turned into a world tour,

including a stop at the Great Wall of China. The kids get really silly sometimes, but I'm so glad to hear them laughing and joking (with little bits of fighting mixed in) together. I'm grateful every day that they have each other through this time and have had some good times together.

Friday night was the start of our backyard camping trip. Only one tent this time because Daddy-o and I stayed inside (except then the kids convinced me to join them Saturday night, so I put in a little time in the tent, too.)

We roasted hot dogs, made s'mores, sang around the fire, and looked at the few stars we can see from our backyard.

Saturday morning the kids woke up to a summer fun bucket--new books (some favorites, and some new reads), new games, more water balloons, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles. A lot of big stuff for the summer is cancelled, but we're still going to do our best to have a lot of little fun and hope that things open up as we go along.

We cooked breakfast burrito fixings over the grill (and I'll just say that it's so much easier inside!)

And then spent the whole day outside. Peanut was insistent that this be like a REAL camping trip and we were only allowed indoors for the bathroom and getting things to bring out (like the food :).) We ended up doing a lot of hammock reading (in the 5 hammocks we now have out there!)

We did take a couple hours off of reading to head down to the church to fly Daddy-o's drone and hang out with some friends in a social distancing setting. 

The kids ran around at a distance, did chalk drawings, and we all sat around talking. It actually made our camping trip seem a little more real since we never camp just the 5 of us.

Then, back to the campsite ;) We had foil dinners to cook

and Daddy-o made a delicious berry cobbler in the Dutch oven.

Another night of reading and ukelele by the campfire. Our neighbors must have been doing their own fire because they were playing the guitar for awhile.

These camping trips aren't the same as being in one of our favorite forests with friends or family. They can't replace everything we're missing right now, but they sure do a lot to change things up and brighten our moods a little. I think that's what this summer is going to be all about--finding the little ways to sneak a little adventure into our days, and sharing fun as a family, with little changes to keep mixing it up. The big stuff is probably all off the table, but an old school 80's summer is totally doable, with lots of backyard fun (sprinklers are coming out this week as our temps go into the 100s) and games and books and movies. Sometimes I wish that our summers could be a little slower--and I think I got my wish this year.

Last Day of Science

Today was the last day of science, which I've been teaching online now for 10 weeks. I can't believe we've been locked down for this long. I can't believe that our world has changed so much in less than 3 months and that some of it has become so normal. I still prefer to teach in person--it is SO much better--but this is also normal now. In fact, it's worked well enough that I've decided to expand next year and will offer an online live class as a different option for students who live out of the area or who's families have decided that this works better. I don't have a lot that prefer this method, but there are a couple. And I decided this will also help me be one step ahead if I need to move my in person classes online again because who knows what September will look like. At least I'll already have some things in place for that.

The kids all designed, and most built, satellites to share in class this week. My boys went for the recycling route and created these two structures.

Bug's has a cutaway so you can see inside, and same with his telescope.

We celebrated the end of class with a virtual escape room for my older class. Not quite as fun as the in person one we did in the fall, but most of them said they really liked it.

And my youngest class got to do another chalk pastel--this time of the footprint on the moon--while we talked about that first moon walk. Then, we played hangman, which was a huge hit! I wasn't sure that most of them were good enough readers and spellers to enjoy this, but they loved it! I'll have to remember that for the future.

I was surprised at how emotional I got when it was time to say goodbye for the summer, and then I realized that for my four 8th graders, this was it. My kids were laughing at me after class because those four 8th graders are Bug and 3 of his really good friends--family friends, who I will obviously still see and get to watch grow up--but it also feels like the end of an era. They were the reason I started this whole science teaching thing, and it's going to be weird no having them in my classes next year. And we didn't get the ending we wanted. I really feel for teachers who aren't getting closure with their students and who won't get to see some of them ever again.

So, it was a little sad, but also such a sense of relief to be done with this whole online thing for a few months.