2022 Update

Goodness, I just realized I hadn't posted since April. Yikes! Let's get you caught up.

Spring was overall pretty quiet after our Milwaukee trip. We finished off the school year well, with Felix and Iris both having great endings to their respective grades. Iris received a certificate from her teacher for being "most likely to be the first female president." We can totally see it. :D I chaperoned Iris's field trip to a very soggy Heritage Hill in late May.

Felix played baseball with his middle school in the spring. It was a bit of a struggle getting him going, since he was so used to just camping in front of his computer once he got home, but he ended up enjoying it and got used to playing on the "big field."

That ball playing was just the beginning of what took over our entire summer. Both kids played league and tournament ball, and I was Iris's assistant coach in both as well (fun, but exhausting). Neither of their tournament teams were very successful, but each took home some hardware. They made some mistakes, but learned from them, so hopefully they'll come back stronger next year.

Covid finally found us starting in May. I got sick after attending a fundraising event. The cold I had just before catching it was worse than covid itself, but having to isolate meant I couldn't do my birthday/mother's day plans. That bummed me out, but my favorite show, MST3K, had a live event that night, and I got a birthday shout-out from the cast. It made my decade! Iris got sick with it a couple days after school ended, so she had to miss the first week of Y Camp. She was coughing, I tested her, and a couple hours later she asked if she could go play because she felt fine. She was grumpy about having to spend so much of her time in her room as a result.

Between bouts, we attended a family wedding, went to a Brewers game, and then spent nearly every weekend between Memorial Day and the first weekend of August at a tournament. (I'm not kidding when I said it took over our summer). Our first "free" weekend had us going up to Green Bay for a family gathering. Finally, we've been able to kick back and watch the grass grow a bit (which it has done, far too much!). 

Today's Iris's 10th birthday. I dyed her hair teal at her request (non-permanent, of course). I just had to disappoint her that we can't go out to get her choice for dinner (sushi) because the restaurant is closed tonight. :o( But, she gets to have her friends over earlier then for her dessert of choice (dirt cake she helped me make).

Awesome things: MST3K's 13th season

Spring 2021

The sun is shining (today, anyway), the snow is gone, and things are looking up! I'm cautiously optimistic that we've turned the metaphorical corner. (Granted, in recent years, we've had rogue snowstorms in April, so I'm still holding my breath.)

16 days ago, Nick and I got our one-dose J&J COVID-19 vaccination! I put in a vaccine request on a whim (even though we weren't in any of the priority groups, and I made it clear that we weren't), and we were contacted a few days later to schedule our appointment. Nick wanted the one-dose vaccine, so we left the kids with my folks and drove up to Weston on a Saturday to receive it. Felt so relieved afterward... also achy with chills and a bad headache. That makes me think that I never got COVID over the past year, and would have had a rough time of it had I contracted the virus. 

10 days ago, Nick's folks (now a month past full vaccination) took the kids for the weekend. It was nice for everybody - they got to see the kids, the kids got to be somewhere else, and we got to have two kid-free nights for the first time in 15 months.

5 days ago, we left for a little spring break trip up to Superior and Duluth. It was nice to see different walls for a change of pace. Not only walls, but waterfalls! Spring melt made for some spectacular waterfall viewing at Amnicon Falls and Pattison State Parks in Wisconsin and Tettegouche and Gooseberry State Parks in Minnesota. It also made for copious amounts of mud on our 3-mile hike at Tettegouche... We spent much of the time with my parents, who joined us. We got back yesterday afternoon.

One of the more spectacular views we saw

We're now turning our attention to the future, with summer ball starting up soon (Felix has his first tournament team practice tomorrow night). Soon, we'll get the kids signed up for summer camp. We're just about set for our kids to return to in-person school next year. 

Awesome things: It's baseball season (Go Brewers!), hearing Bob Uecker call ball games (worthy of its own mention), being able to take a vacation, science and vaccines!

Our First Pandemic Year

On Friday, March 13, 2020, Nick and I made the decision to preempt the inevitable decrees by the governor and our school district, and kept our kids home from school. The COVID-19 pandemic was approaching by leaps and bounds, and the writing had been on the wall. The week before, we cancelled our planned Spring Break trip to Florida (not that we would have been able to use our theme park tickets anyway, since the parks closed). That Friday, I left Nick and the kids at home, went to a brief meeting with ~20 people in the conference room, got our groceries for the following week (and then some), and once I returned home, our family isolation began. My office started sending people to work from home the following Monday; I didn't bother going in since I had my laptop at home with me. The school district went virtual the following Wednesday. I started collecting screenshots of major moments from the news outlets I follow as a time capsule of sorts. 

We settled into our all-at-home existence. Nick and I took separate parts of the house (him at the kitchen table with lots of natural light, me in the office in the basement). The kids drew up a daily schedule to mimic what they did for a school day, and for the next months, stuck to it (mostly). A few weeks later, we did a 3-room swap: Felix moved from the sunny bedroom to the large basement bedroom. and we bought him a lofted bed with a desk. Iris moved from the dark bedroom to the sunny bedroom. She eventually got a loft, too. My office moved to the dark bedroom. The moves have worked well. 

My weekly schedule pre-pandemic was such that I would work 38 hours in the office Monday through Thursday (the real office, not the one at home), and on Fridays, I would finish with a few hours of teleworking and have the rest of the day in a quiet house having my much-needed *me* time until the bus brought the kids home from school. That alone, quiet time has been nonexistent for nine of the last twelve months. That's been a mental challenge for me (oh, boo-hoo, I know, but I'm chronicling the changes this pandemic has wrought, and this is one of them).

After much deliberation and assurances by staff, we sent the kids each weekday to get some fresh air, sunshine and socialization at our local Y Camp for the entire summer. It was great to give them that opportunity to get away from us (well, me, since Nick went back to working at his office starting in mid-June) and the walls of this hours, and they got some much-needed physical activity because their summer ball seasons had been cancelled. But all good things come to an end, and so the summer ended. 

Birthdays were celebrated with minimal socialization (no friends, though we did meet up with family at a park and kept our distance as best we could). We did allow the kids to play with friends in the neighborhood as long as it was outside only.

During the summer, we also made the decision to enroll the kids in our district's virtual school for the year. We weren't comfortable with the decisions the school district was initially making regarding in-person learning, and I was okayed to keep teleworking for the school year. I've been writing about virtual school experience occasionally HERE.

Part of Iris agreeing to make an effort with virtual school was our permitting her to join the local Y swim team for the first time. Large ventilated facility, treated water, masks on the pool deck - all went a long way towards assuaging our worries. She's been swimming for at least three hours per week since late October, and often asks to go more often. There have been no meets this year, but the team did two intersquad time trials to give us a small taste of what one is like. Iris has been focusing on 50 yd events, and shaved at least 10 seconds off her December times at the March time trial. We're so proud of her effort in that. She also chose to challenge herself, doing a 25 yd butterfly heat by herself (no nerves!).

As predicted, our social life became nearly nonexistent (not that we really had much of one before...). In the past year, we've had brief visits from my parents: maybe a dozen times; Nick's parents: twice; spent time with another family: twice; and ran into a friend at the grocery store: once. (These are all me, and Nick has had more interaction with friends/fellow attorneys.) All of these took place either outside or masked inside. We spent Easter and Thanksgiving in front of our computers, having family Zoom sessions. We finally got together at Christmas, but masked and physically distanced. As of this writing, both sets of grandparents have gotten both of their COVID-19 shots, so soon we will be able to gather again with them. Yay!

Because my social interaction became severely limited by isolation, I decided that I needed to make sure my brain stayed active. 251 days ago, I started a Spanish course online and have been putting time every day toward learning the language. Si viajamos a México otra vez, hablaré español. Around the same time, I bought a ukulele and learned to play it. Meetings turned out to be a great opportunity for me to practice chords and strumming patterns when I was muted (it also helped that we never use video during work meetings).

Our eating habits have also changed. Once we emerged from the late spring lock down, we made it a habit to support local restaurants once a week. The rest of the time, I've been planning meals as usual. I got creative in December by picking cuisines from all over the world. Persian fish stew? Check! Korean chicken? Check! The kids have also gotten old enough and interested enough to start including more in our meal preparation.

With no evening sports to occupy us, we've been creating in dealing with evening entertainment. We taught the kids how to play sheepshead in the spring and regularly play four hands of four-handed. We've also bought a few new board games to occupy us (like Azul). Just as the stress of this situation was getting to me, I discovered the Bob Ross channel on our Roku. (So soothing. How can everything be wrong when there's a happy little tree here?) As there has been so much doom and gloom with the pandemic and politics, I just don't have any interest in watching dramas. Thankfully, I've had Archer, Crossing Swords, and our newest discovery, What We Do in the Shadows, to entertain me. We've also taken to putting on the MST3K channel on Shout!, which has gotten the kids more interested in the show.

Politics. Dear lord. I don't want to go too much into this, but 2020 was a fraught year for that. Trump shouldn't have been trusted to tie his own shoelaces, let alone lead our nation through a pandemic. We're in a deep, dark hole, and it'll take society as a whole a lot to climb out of it.

We celebrated our year with Indian pizzas and later, fancy vermouth. It's nice to pretend we're somewhere else, but the tide seems to be turning enough that hopefully, as I just learned in my Spanish course, nosotros también esperamos viajar pronto.

Into 2021

I was just looking back on my last post, thinking it would be a good time for an update, since we're now two full months into 2021. The good and bad tale of the tape:

• We had some gorgeous freezing fog at the beginning of January (yay!).

• I watched (via refreshing the Washington Post website) with horror and disgust the insurrection by Trump supporters on the Capitol on January 6th (boo!) and the thankfully uneventful inauguration of our 46th president (yay!).
• We watched the Packers season end so close to the Super Bowl (boo!).
• We enjoyed our first get-together with friends for the first time since July (yay!), outdoors on a frigid, windy night (boo!).

• We've had my parents over for a brief, masked visit (still strange, but yay!).

• We've trying to deal with the cabin fever that has come with too many days indoors and together (thanks, 10-day-long polar vortex, for heaping on) (boo!), but we have a plan to take a little trip up north during spring break and go looking for springtime waterfalls (yay!).
• Both kids are still doing well with their school work (yay!), although Iris's days typically end an hour and a half after they start. It's not easy keeping her busy and I end up yelling at her to clean up her myriad messes (boo!). We are planning on having them return to in-person school next year (yay?).
• The kids are all signed up to play ball again this summer and we've got our fingers crossed that the season(s) will go as planned (yay!).
• My hair is long enough to put into a bun since I haven't gotten a haircut since October 2019. Nick has a goatee as of this morning, partially shaving for the first time in five years. (I feel like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with these ones...) 

So, that's it. That's what's been different for us as we continue to tread water and ride out this pandemic.

I'm hoping that the next few months have more yays than boos (although there's likely to be plenty of booze...)! In the meantime, here is the new wall art I've created for us (I'm quite proud of this one):

Awesome things: What We Do In The Shadows (both TV show and movie - so late to the party!)

Goodbye 2020

It's time to say goodbye to 2020 and hello to the new year, whatever it may bring us. Since summer wrapped up, we've experienced a strange blend of new and mundane. You may have read about some of it in our 2020 Holiday Card. To quote Inigo Montoya, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

We started fall navigating the newness of the kids' virtual curricula and attempting to fill a school day's worth of time. (I'm chronicling our experiences separately here.) I think we've settled into something that works, since it lets me concentrate on my job during the day, with occasional check-ins with the kids. Iris still gets through her stuff too quickly, and I have to redirect her toward "school stuff" occasionally. Same old, same old by now. Same wake-up time, same views, same irritations (hence the "mundane").

Our newest family excitement has been Nick starting his own law firm in November. The pieces fell into place and the time felt right. It's been awkward trying to get things done during a pandemic, but done they are and he is open for business.

We let Iris join the local Y's swim team late this fall. They had the covid precautions in place to make us feel comfortable with the situation, and it allows her to interact with other people and puts her endless supply of energy to good use. We had the opportunity to see her "race" for the first time at an intra-team time trial last Sunday (with a masked, socially distanced, close-family-only audience). Despite being among the youngest, she's pretty speedy and clearly has some natural talent.

We also decided to shake things up with the holidays. Thanksgiving was spent alone at home, with video chats with family (with varying levels of technical difficulties).

We decided to do family presents on the Winter Solstice instead of Christmas morning. We had a nice family dinner, gave gifts (the kids picked out and bought their own presents for each other - so proud!), and played a family game. I've long felt that the kids haven't truly appreciated their presents when they get so many from us and grandparents during three events over two days. I think this is a tradition I'd like to build on next year. This was the first year that we included Felix on a view of our traditional Christmastime movie, Stalag 17. We've been watching it for 10+ years and learn something new each time. 

The gifts for each other were a hit.

While we couldn't go to any sporting events this year, we could at least be present in one way at Badger games:

We quietly bid 2020 goodbye, staying up until 11 watching Pixar movies before the ball drop. Nick & I felt a blackberry merlot was more appropriate than anything bubbly: a locally made wine, dark with a hint of sweetness (seeing as we had some good amidst the gloom and didn't go anywhere...). We'll save the foreign bubbles for tonight, to encourage 2021 to be a good year. 🍾

What we're looking forward to:

• Cara: getting vaccinated against covid, the next presidency, spending time with people in person, summer ball, traveling again, finishing my Spanish Duolingo course (halfway done!). 
• Nick: echoes many of Cara's sentiments, but includes getting his business going, having baseball/softball seasons for the kids, having a drink with a friend occasionally. 
• Felix: the vaccine being out and being able to socialize safely, being able to go back to school and be with friends.
• Iris: "Getting over with this whole year, because this year has kinda been a mess." 

Awesome things: Vaccines! (and science!), virtual meeting platforms that work, the return of the Great British Baking Shown, A.P. Bio, democracy, The Joy of Painting channel (the soothing balm this experience needs), the occasional sporting event on TV.

Our Virtual School Year

We're in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that started about six months ago in the US. Since this year will be unlike any we've ever had (for us personally and for the kids), I wanted to keep a record of it. Backstory: The closure of schools on 3/16/20 had us doing virtual schooling for the remainder of that school year. It was understandably lacking, since everything happened so quickly. As the pandemic continued, we started to hear more about what the school district was planning for the start of the 2020/21 year. We didn’t like our school district’s initial plans of full-time school for all kids with no masks required and, to paraphrase, "just don’t send your kids if they’re sick" (because people do that regardless). The virtual program was an option in the district, so we just had the kids switch to this "school." This way, when schools inevitably shut down, we’ll have kept our kids away from virus and they’ll have a more challenging, consistent online curriculum instead of what they had at the end of the school year. (The school district has changed to mandate masks and have other rules in place, but too little too late for us.) I’m trying to look at it as an adventure, since I’m the one who will be home with them full-time.

So, here we go...

Day 0 (Aug 31): I had kids make school day schedules and clean off their desks, and we learned how to use the online program together. Iris is certain she can get her assignments done by Thursday PM to have Friday off. Felix thinks by Friday lunchtime. Iris also is going to learn German on Duolingo and started her first lesson.

Day 1 (Sept 1): The day got off to a good start with first-day pictures plus a few bonus "in school" (aka, at their desks) pictures. The kids logged in to the program, and got going on their assignments. I had to get involved a few times as they learned how the assignments and program work. I got to do a bit more teaching than I thought as both had difficulty understanding latitude and longitude. They learned the program isn't forgiving if extra characters are used in the answers... It also seems like they're ahead of the game, since I got an email telling us to hold tight, things would be ready by the end of the year (we already have our login info, so we just got going). Iris is already trying to work in more "specials" time (gym, art, music). I'm fine with that as long as her assignments are being completed on time.

Day 3 (Sept 3): Iris finished her assignments and projects that were due this week by noon today. I helped explain a few, but she got them all turned in. Felix expects to be done by this afternoon. I guess they'll be free tomorrow... The program we're using gives due dates, but I got an email from Felix's teacher: "I am writing to reassure you that at this point you don't need to worry about due dates." Sorry, no, I'm still going to have the kids work toward *something* in each subject, because they'll be bored and annoying each other otherwise.

Day 6 (Sept 9): We made it through the first week and celebrated with the purchase of two new "class pets." Everyone has their own names for them. Felix calls them Fuego and Aqua. Iris: Mars and Neptune. I say One Fish, Two Fish. Nick just shakes his head. I'm starting to get us into the routine of having the kids check with me before they start on projects so I can help them understand the requirements. Iris finished her week's work yesterday... I've told both they need to fill six hours with "school stuff" (e.g., assignments, projects, Duolingo, typing, chapter books, Clever, art, physical activity, etc.). We'll see how long I stick to that request.

Day 20 (Sept 30): The kids had their first in-person school day. They'll be going every other Wednesday through the end of the 2020 (at least) with their cohort. Each kid reported a great day, which is not surprising, since it consisted mostly of their "specials" (gym, art, music). Each said they followed the COVID protocols, wearing their masks (including their new school-provided mask) all day. Iris was excited to report that lunch came to them. With six kids other kids in each of their classes, I feel comfortable that there won't be excessive interaction and we can keep them safe. On the whole, things have gone well so far with the virtual school stuff. Iris asks for help on her quizzes and I try to get her to think about her answers instead of just giving them to her. Her assignments aren't keeping her very busy, so I ask her to do handwriting, typing, German to fill her hours. Felix is keeping busy and now has weekly virtual check-in meetings with his teacher.

Day 21 (Oct 1): We found out the hard way that the kids shouldn't wait until the day a project is due to do it. I think this picture sums up Iris's feelings about doing the seven required map elements with my help and direction (after I traced the basemap on my monitor because we don't have a working printer at home). Yes, those are two fat teardrops making new lakes in New York. Sigh. She does, however, need to learn to not get frustrated in the face of a list of tasks. 

Day 25 (Oct 7): Felix suddenly had a bunch of assignments show up as overdue late last week, so he worked very hard all weekend and Monday to catch up. This concerned us, given how diligently he's been working. Apparently, his teacher made a change to the software that forces them to go a little faster. Hmm. I'm having the opposite difficulty with Iris. She's underworked, and now twice this week I've had to reprimand her for playing on apps or watching idiotic YouTube videos when she's supposed to be learning. Argh!

Day 47 (Nov 9): We've done over two full months now. After the week Felix took it easy and had to catch up, I've been updating a spreadsheet with all of his assignments for the week and what he should be working on each day. He checks it, and marks the date he gets things done. It helps us both. Last week, I had both working on difficult assignments in my office with me during work hours. So much togetherness! Iris has started swim team, going to the Y for practice three days a week. That has helped put some of her extra energy to use. I had an important meeting this morning, and my extra effort to prep the kids to NOT BOTHER ME OR EACH OTHER FROM 8 TO 9 paid off, because they didn't. Hooray!

Day 65 (Dec 8): My frustration with Iris has reached a boiling point. I made her a schedule to make sure she's hitting all the other school-type stuff she should be working on during the day, with the goal of having to need fewer check-ins with her through the day. She's been doing "experiments" and other things that have resulted in messes or damaged stuff like paint on carpets. That worked, briefly. Then I found last night that she climbed up high to reach something she didn't need. (Current house rule is that if you have to climb to get it, you have to ask.) I was furious that she 1) climbed nearly to the ceiling in the kitchen and could have fallen, and 2) she lied to me about it. I took her phone, her bin of toys and her evening gingerbread cookie as punishment. Not sure when she'll get them back... Ugh. I have also had to get equally creative to block all the ways the kids have found to watch YouTube. Just so this isn't all a downer entry, both kids are doing well in their assignments. 

Day 95 (Feb 1): We're on the other side of 2020 now, but it's going about the same. The kids enjoyed their 10-day "winter break" (though we went nowhere). Both kids are continuing to do well with their online curriculum. We had a virtual portfolio conference in early January, where we were told the kids are doing well with their work (had an inkling already, since I go into their sites to check their progress regularly). This semester, they're going to in-person school weekly, instead of biweekly. Iris continues to fly through her work, resulting in too much spare time in which she makes big mess of her room and then gets annoyed when I tell her to clean it up (repeat ad nauseum). Seriously, is "trash blindness" a thing? We're tentatively starting to make plans for next school year, by when we'll hopefully be vaccinated and able to send the kids back to regular school.

Day 105 (Feb 15): The rest of the school district has off because of cold weather, but the kids don't get a break with virtual school. It's 9:30 am, and Iris finished all of her assignments already in order to go outside and play (despite my warnings about the cold and that she can't go into her friend's house). Felix, on the other hand, has 7 assignments due, hasn't started yet, and has a one-hour webinar beginning in 30 minutes. Two different kids, two different sets of frustrations. 

Day 134 (Apr 6): We made it to spring break and are now into the home stretch. Two more months of virtual school to go. It's been challenging, but we still feel it was the best decision for our family. Will we continue next year? Nope. But both kids have done well with all of their assignments and dealing with the unique nature of school this year. It's been good that they've been going once a week this semester, so they can ease back into full-time school next fall.

Day 151 (Apr 29): The kids must be over the hump of difficult work or they've gotten so used to it that they are able to complete assignments even faster. That has led to both kids being done with "school" by the early afternoon and asking to play Minecraft together. Yes, but... rooms need to be picked up and no fighting/whining. I'm trying to nudge them towards getting additional work done, so they can be done full days ahead of the last school day. If they don't want to do that, there are 25 more days to go.

Day 173 (June 1): And we have one done early! Iris finished up half her final exams last Friday and the other half today, so she is done (and I took her comparison pictures below). Felix is still hard at work studying for his finals. I've printed off what feels like a full ream of paper getting him set with all his past quizzes and exams. I have to hand it to him - the amount of effort he's put in is what would be expected for college courses, let alone 6th grade. Both kids have had more "free time" during this last month, as it's been mostly reviews in many of their subjects. Hence a new rule for basement TV/Xbox/Wii usage: rooms must be clean before they can get the remotes from me. Devious? Yes. Effective? Hell yes. 

Day 175 (June 3): And now Felix is done! He spent yesterday morning doing his science (100%!) and history/geography final tests, and took 3.5 hours to take his math final in the afternoon. This morning, he asked to take his language arts final in my office, at my desk, next to me. So, from 9 to 11:30, he took his 50-question Language Arts test. I tried to ignore him as to not give away answers. But he finished, and played a rather fraught session Minecraft afterward with Iris (argh...).

Final thoughts: both kids got 91-96% in all of their courses, which is fantastic. We knew they could do the online coursework and do it well, and the whole experience has added a new skill set for each kid. Felix now has a taste of what it's like to study for and take final exams, something he may not have to do again until college. Iris has learned to be self-directed and motivated (even if her motivation is to get her work done early so she can spend the rest of the day as she pleases). 

Once upon a time, I entertained brief fantasies of being a stay-at-home mom, but it was never our intention to home-school the kids. Then again, this pandemic was not anything that we were anticipating, either. I'm glad I had so much more time with the kids, challenging as it was at times, and next year they'll be returning to in-person school. I don't know what the future holds, but I'd like to think we're battle-tested if we ever need to do this again. :o)

Felix: 11 yrs & Iris: 8 yrs

The Summer that Was(n't)

Well, the (hopefully one and only) Summer of COVID is at an end.

Updates:

• The kids finished up their summer of Y Camp. It was nice to have that open and available, so the kids could have a different experience than just more of the same staying around the house. And, knock on wood, they didn't get sick from the exposure to others.

During Fishing Week

• I took Felix to a local junior golf tournament. He held his own and did better than I would have done. :o)

• We let the kids participate in the Rafters Baseball Triathlon. The kids were broken up by age groups and competed in hitting, base-running and pitching. I think Iris finished 2nd among the girls in her group, and Felix won his division.

Felix is the lone masked kid. Iris stubbornly refused.

• Iris turned 8! She loves cats, swimming (wants to be on a swim team if they have it this fall), making messes (but not cleaning them up), and being busy. We rounded up the grandparents for a BYOEverything picnic lunch in Waupaca. 

• Nothing much has changed for Nick or me work-wise. He's been masked when in the office and in the courtrooms. I have dealt with the attentions of my furry coworkers, but we have bonded over our interest in the birds on the bird feeders.

• I bought a ukulele (its name is Bob Ueckerlele) and am learning how to play it. I've wanted one for a while and I figured why not now? Work meetings are better when I can practice chords when I'm on mute. To keep my brain sharp, I'm also doing a Spanish course. Yo quiero mas dormir todos los dias.

Looking ahead:

• The kids will be starting school virtually on September 1st. We made that decision to be proactive, ensuring the kids will get a consistent education all year. We have watched as other school districts around the country open only to have an outbreak and close. We don't want to find ourselves scrambling to find someone to watch them, or have meaningless assignments (or no assignments at all) from their teachers. It's going to be challenging for all of us at times, but we felt this was the safer option. There is still much we don't know about this virus, that we'd rather continue to be cautious and reduce our risk for later health issues.
• We will be voting. Absentee ballots already requested.

Awesome things: Umbrella Academy season 2, listening to Bob Uecker on the radio again.

Felix: 11 yrs & Iris: 8 yrs

Finally gave the blog a new look on 9/1/20. :D

Four Months In

Today marks four full months of physical distancing for us. As positive COVID-19 cases increase around us (for shame, fellow Americans), we continue to avoid any indoor congregating of people. We mask up any time we spend indoors in the presence of others. It's just not worth the risk.

That makes the idea of the kids starting the school year year up in a classroom setting so...unsettling. The school district is going to use "appropriate safety precautions," but don't specify them. Therefore, we're considering virtual school, which was never in our game plan for the kids under normal circumstances. But since there is no "normal" now, it seems our safest option.

Updates...The kids finished their school year with a whimper as the school days just ran out. The assignments ran out a bit before, so it was anticlimactic. But we tried to make the most of it.

Last Day*
*virtual school since 3/13/20

The kids started going to Y Camp daily (both are already so tan!) and Nick to the office. I'm still working from home and it had been so quiet! Except for when the work on our basement bathroom is occurring, but yay for that.

The kids dressed as villains for superhero week at camp. Yup. 

We had our first social-distancing outings around the 4th, seeing family at a cookout one evening (appropriately spaced outdoors), and seeing friends in a similar manner the following day. Nice to see people again in person.

Happy 4th!

We saw Nick's folks for the first time since March 6th. We picked up dinner, showed them the changes in our house while all masked, ate outside, and didn't hug goodbye. That's just how things go now.

Felix turned 11 yesterday! With no teammate-and/or friend-celebrations, he asked to go golfing as a family and include my parents. He also helped me make his cake: Alton Brown's jammy icebox cake.

I don't know what the future holds, but we're going to stick to isolating as much as we can until there's either a vaccine or until there is no more spread.

Awesome things: Kimmy vs. The Reverend, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, my new Nespresso machine (makes me feel like I'm in Europe since we can't go there for a while).

Anticipating Umbrella Academy season 2 and Brewers games!

Rainbows! 

At least there's one sport they can play... 

Annual 4th of July picture

Felix: 11 & Iris: 7.5

Two Months In

Day 78. Still in quarantine / social isolation / physical distancing. The Safer-At-Home order may have been overturned by the state supreme court*, but we're still at home because we feel it's the right thing to do and we are able to do it.

4.20.20

The kids are still doing virtual school, which ends next week. Felix has been doing well with it, turning files in on time and having larger projects. Keeping Iris on task remains difficult. It's been a bittersweet and bizarre end to the year, picking up the kids' stuff left at school in black garbage bags handed through the passenger seat window on our appointed day by befacemasked staff. Felix is now done with elementary school, with no real recognition of that fact. We have no idea what next year will look like when the school year begins.

Nick's been starting to spend more time at the office (which has few staff and plenty of separation distance), although he's still doing virtual court appearances for now. I've had the word passed down to me that teleworking will continue for the foreseeable future.

The cats do not mind the arrangement.

Last Wednesday was the first time I got in a car and left the WR area for the first time since March 13. Earlier this month, I got a new battery in my car that turned out to be defective. Not knowing the cause of my completely dead car, I had it towed up to Wausau. I got a ride up there to pick it up and got to go through a few work zones each way (yay, work time!). But it felt strange to be driving "so far" again.

To mitigate the building frustration of all being within the same walls for so long, we have been trying to do more stuff as a family, like having a fire (Bug, I'm on to the fact that you only want the fire to roast marshmallows...) and playing four-handed sheepshead on a nearly nightly basis (math skills!).

I've had worse hands...

This is quickly becoming the year that wasn't:

• Baseball/softball seasons have been canceled. 
• A cousin's wedding was postponed a year. 
• I also postponed my 40th birthday indefinitely. ;o) I did document the day with lots of pictures to show what my life is like these days. Cassie got me the perfect pandemic-period presents: boxes of facial tissue (since the store were sold out), two homemade cloth face masks, and a plant to attract more hummingbirds to our yard.

But we do have some positive changes coming soon:

• The kids will be at Y Camp all summer. We had wanted them to go to the new Boys & Girls Club facility in town, but registration is severely limited (and initially available only to essential workers, which is the right thing to do) and we felt the kids having more time outdoors was the healthier thing for them in multiple ways. So, Iris is now counting down the days to that.
• We're finally (fingers crossed) going to be getting some work on the house done that was postponed in late March. I'm less excited for the construction while I'm home, but definitely ready for the results.
• Both kids will be doing five sessions of golf lessons. We got out as a family last week and it's nice that there's at least one sport they can do that's conducive to social distancing.

Speaking of birds, being home has allowed me to keep an eye on the various feathered species that are stopping in our backyard.

I need a purple bird...

Boom.

* My thoughts on this. I remain in favor of such an order. It may have limited business (bad, I know), but it also provided expectations for social conduct. Now, there's no clear direction on how many people can gather and how "open" businesses are, and as a result, the positive cases in WI just keep growing. I admit it's made me judgmental of those who are viewing this pandemic differently than us (gathering, not wearing masks, etc.). We as a family are going to continue to distance until we feel the risk of contracting or spreading the virus are significantly reduced.

Felix: 10.5 yrs & Iris: 7.5 yrs

One Month In

It's Day 39 of social isolation / physical distancing / quarantine / whatever you want to call it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's been 3 weeks since my last post, and now it looks like we're about halfway through our projected quarantine, if it lifts on May 26th as currently planned. The kids won't be returning to school, and we've got to try to keep them somewhat motivated while we continue to telework full-time in our respective jobs. Nick's done some court appearances wearing dressy shirts/suit coats and sweatpants. Eh, it's what we do. My region has started to get the hang of our Skype meetings (no more everyone-talk-at-once roll calls, thankfully) (also, audio only, so I can stay dressed comfortably in my sweats).

Like I said, the kids, naturally, have some motivation issues with regards to school work. Their teachers are sending out lesson plans, but both fly through their assignments and have little on which to fall back once they're done. Iris especially. She's been getting herself in trouble with us by doing too much with the cats. Both have been using messenger to keep in touch with friends, which is nice.

I left the house for the first time in two weeks to get some groceries with Iris this weekend. We picked up my Walmart order using Nick's car. I was going to use mine for the first time in a month, but my battery's dead. (Son of a...). Not easy to take care of now, but plenty of time before I must.

Nick's been going to his office about once a week to pick up files. And now we both have colds. Grrr.

One thing that has changed: On the Friday before Easter, Nick and I did a three-room swap for the kids. Felix is now in the basement, where I put together his new loft bed/desk. Iris got his old room on the sunny side of the house, and her old room is now our office. It's a better fit for everybody, but it made for sore muscles the next day.

Easter was spent gathering as a family... on a Zoom meeting. We got 4" of snow that night. Sigh. At least it was mostly gone by midweek.

I've taken up jogging nearby to get out of the house. I've *never* been able to jog like I do now (for 20-30 minutes), so that's something.

This hasn't been easy for us, but we are grateful that we're in the situation we're in: employed, fed, secure, and most importantly, healthy. We'll keep doing this as long as we need to.

Felix: 10.5 yrs & Iris: 7.5 yrs

2 Weeks In

With COVID-19 dominating the headlines, we decided on March 11 to cancel our road trip to Disney World planned for spring break. It wasn't an easy decision, but we didn't want to risk catching anything at a crowded theme park. It's good that we took the initiative, because Disney closed its parks a week later. 

After a spirited discussion of the pros and cons and the writing on the wall becoming clearer with each passing day, we took our kids out of school and stayed home together on Friday, March 13. How apt, as that became Day 1 of social / physical isolation for us. And later that day, school statewide was canceled starting the following Wednesday, although our school district chose Monday, March 16 instead. 

Today marks Day 14 for us. Here are some highlights... 

• Nick and I have both teleworked every day. It's old hat for me, but Nick's getting the hang of it. We just stake out our own areas. Nick's got the kitchen table. 

• The kids made up their own school-mimicking schedule! It worked great for the first week. (we let them relax and do what they wanted for "spring break.") They go back to the schedule next week. 

• Iris and I used semi-permanent purple hair dye on 3/13. It's a race to see what ends first: the color or the isolation. 

• We have since made 2 family trips outside the house: to get some baseball gear with which the kids can practice at home and to do a drive-by scavenger hunt created by my parents around town.
• Iris and Felix have booth been keeping touch with friends via Messenger on their tablets. 

• Nick's folks were visiting his sister in San Francisco when the lockdowns started. Unfortunately, they didn't get to do much, but fortunately, they were able to travel back without contracting anything. 
• I picked up my Walmart grocery order last Friday and was disappointed many items I selected weren't available. So, I went to a supermarket that turned out to be pretty busy. Despite keeping my distance, shopping quickly and wearing gloves, I was accused of risking my life (and by extension, my family's) for carrots, lunch meat and beef for jerky. That attitude I could do without. [as of this time, there has been only 1 positive test reported in our county thus far].

Also, it should have been Opening Day for MLB. I like having games on the background, so I've searched for old football, baseball and basketball victories. At the same time, it's uncomfortable watching so many people in one place. 

Awesome things: PEOPLE WHO ARE TAKING THIS PANDEMIC SERIOUSLY (and don't hoard stuff!), Trailer Park Boys, sous vide Old Fashioned mix (swap brandy for bourbon, put orange zest in a tea ball, SAVE THE CHERRIES), curbside pick-up. 

Felix: 10.5 yrs & Iris: 7.5 yrs