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

Winter 2020

After the Rose Bowl, things returned to normal for us. It was a nice change of pace not having to adjust to myriad school cancelations due to snow/ice/wind like last year.

Iris finished up her wrestling career (didn't quite want to continue to the end of the season), and we switched our family's focus to baseball. Nick took one or both kids to the batting cages and I went along to help Iris a few times.

Nick and Iris went to the Father-Daughter Luau hosted by our YMCA & BGC.

I spent a couple days down in Madison for training and ended up helping my sis and friend in a Schitt's Creek bar trivia contest. So close!

Valentine's Day came and went, bringing more sweets into our house.

Felix had a piece of artwork entered into a statewide show, and all close family except Nick's sister joined us for the reception at the Capitol at the beginning of March. It was nice to have both sets of grandparents and my sister all together for a nice lunch at the Great Dane afterward.

We had a half-birthday pool party for Iris and three friends (Ada and Rynn swam, but Kinley declined to). They had a great time!

And playing in the background during all of this was the increasingly loud talk about the "novel coronavirus" or COVID-19. More posts on our experience with that to come. I wanted one pre-pandemic post for posterity and comparison...

(post written 3/36/20, backdated to 3/10/20)

Felix: 10.5 yrs & Iris: 7.5 yrs

Rose Bowl

As usual, November and December were a whirlwind of activity. We spent some time with family at Thanksgiving, enjoyed holiday parties in December, and Iris started wrestling (at her own request).

She's a natural

Our traditional Christmas Eve theme picture. :o)

When the Badgers were selected to go to the Rose Bowl game this year, we jumped on the opportunity to go along. Nick and I hadn't been to a bowl game since the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl on 1/1/11, when Felix was a toddler. Again, we decided to leave the kids with Nick's parents and tag along with my parents on the trip.

30 Dec: We got up early and caught our flight from GRB to MSP before 7 am. It was rainy in GB and we flew over a snowstorm that was hitting home at the time. It was quite snowy and windy in MSP, which was slightly unnerving. We were joined by my parents, who had driven there the day before. We kicked off the trip with Bloody Marys at a bar, and relaxed before our flight. We were supposedly on-time for our 11:40 flight to LAX, so we boarded the plane. Then we waited an hour to join the deicing line and rejoin the departure queue. Had a nice view of the deicing machine and blizzard outside... Yikes. Very happy to finally get in the air. The flight was uneventful, and we landed around 2 pm PST. Palm trees! 65 degrees! Yay! We got our bags, got my folk's rental car, and endured the joy that is the 405. At least the traffic gave us many opportunities to spot interesting vehicles and license plates. We got to our Airbnb apartment in Burbank and rested for a bit. The folks came back to pick us up around 5:45 and we headed to Pasadena. An acquaintance of ours, Janel, found out we were going and invited us to a couple Badger family & friends events (She's the aunt of a current player). We joined her and others at the Brookside golf course for a dinner/party. We were introduced to Garrett Rand and his parents. Had a nice time, and stayed until about 8. The time change and lack of sleep was affecting me, so it was good to get back to our apartment, although I struggled to sleep in this unfamiliar room.

December 30

31 Dec: We headed to Hollywood today, since it was a gorgeous, sunny, low 60s day. Many other people had the same idea, apparently, because it was very crowded. Also very overrated, if I'm being honest. From there, Nick wanted to view Mulholland Drive, so my dad handed over the keys and let Nick take us on the twisty-turny road. It was lunch time, so we found a block on Ventura Ave that allowed Nick and I to get poke bowls and my parents to get burgers. All sated, we decided to go to a "Badger bar" in Santa Monica. It turned out to be more of a modern-German-style place with $9-10 beers. Yeah, not so Badgery on a non-game day. We then headed east to Pasadena and parked. My mom wanted to show us Barney's Beanery and we were not disappointed. It was on Colorado Blvd, and we passed many people set up to camp before the Rose Parade tomorrow. Also old cars cruised the strip. Party atmosphere. At the Beanery, we sat between a few groups of Oregon fans. We enjoyed ourselves talking with them and got some fun pictures. After a drink, we headed to the restaurant where I had made reservations, and we were joined by Nick's sister Natalie, his aunt Joanne and uncle Clarence, also in town for the game. We had a nice dinner catching up and eating tons of tasty Cajun seafood. Getting out of Pasadena was a challenge, given all the road closures put in place for the Parade. Made it back without incident. Too much spicy food, knowing we had an early night, and New Year's fireworks helped conspire to limit my rest that night.

December 31

1 Jan 2020: The folks wanted to get to the stadium early, so they picked us up at 6:30. Beautiful sunrise, light traffic, easy parking... among many Ducks fans. Sigh. Mom wanted to see the Badger Band in the Rose Parade, so we hiked the 2.2 miles to get to a place on the route. I found a large planter box on which I could stand and get a better view. We watched about 20 parade entries until the Band went by, then walked back to the car. We went to the 2nd Badger Family & Friends event, this one a tailgate party with many more people in attendance. We got some food, and since we were in a nice place with a table and shade, we decided to sit and play some cards to kill time. We left there around 12:30, headed back to our car for a pre-game Bloody and to get ready for the game. We discovered a way into the stadium with no lines, and took advantage of it. We found our seats... near the 50 yard line, press box-side, 3rd row from the bottom. We were in a great position... to have no view at all. We found ourselves watching the lone video board more than the field, since the players blocked our view. It was an exciting game, but it's difficult to win when you give up 21 points on 4 turnovers. That made us Sad Badgers. Did you see us on TV? A family member did! The lack of sleep was catching up to me, and there were times I was afraid I would fall asleep in the middle of the game. Then an exciting play would happen, and I'd get a 2nd, 3rd, ... nth wind. Alas, we lost and then listened to Badger homers break down the game on the radio as we waited for the parking lots to clear. We got back to our apartment around 7:30 and I called it a day shortly thereafter.

January 1

2 Jan: Our last full day in LA. We checked out of our apartment, and did a Warner Bros Studios tour at 9. Mom and I had been on one a long time ago, and thought it was a good one, so we did it again. Many costumes from newer movies (Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter), and we got to see a few sets (like Conan's studio) and props. Our tour guide was from Milwaukee and appreciated seeing our Badger spirit still in action. Nick was interested in seeing the Griffith Park Observatory, so we headed there. Everyone else had the same idea, and the only available parking was FAR. Given our 5+ miles walked yesterday, that wasn't well-received, so we just drove past it. We headed to the La Brea area instead, stopping for some street-style tacos for lunch. Mom had the idea of going to the Tar Pits, but the parking lot was full, so we drove past and found the Peterson Automotive Museum instead. That was a great place for the 4 of us, with many interesting collector and movie/TV vehicles to see. We killed about an hour and a half there, then walked to an Irish pub we had passed. Not much for ambiance or patrons... we were 4 of the 5 people in there besides the bartender. Finished our beers, then headed out. We decided that a view of the ocean was one more to-do item, and headed to Santa Monica again. This time, we parked pretty close to the Pier, and took a walk to the end. On the way, we picked up some souvenirs (personalized key chains for the kids). Stopped for tropical drinks at the restaurant at the end as we waited for the sun to set. Boy, was it worth it. We decided to eat dinner there, too, and took in the pier's colors on the way back to the car after. Nick and I had a red-eye out tonight, so we headed to LAX after dinner. We bid my folks farewell, got through security quickish, and whiled away the time in the gate area before our 11:40 pm flight. We made it back to Green Bay the next morning after a connecting flight in Detroit and picked up the kids. It was nice to see them and get back home again.

January 2

Felix: 10 yrs & Iris: 7 yrs

2019 Holiday Card

Bones vacances!*

Memorial Terrace, 7.20.19

Season's Greetings! 2019 for us meant sports. Felix was on a travel baseball team again and has really shown himself to be a tough player. He also took golf lessons. Iris tried hockey, softball, and recently started wrestling.

We traveled to Chicago for spring break, while Nick and Cara took an unexpectedly exciting trip to Barcelona in October.

Felix is 10 years old, in 5th grade, gifted and talented in math, loves baseball and farming video games, and wants to be an auto designer or software engineer someday.

Iris is 7 years old, in 2nd grade, gifted and talented in math and English, loves cats and sports, and wants to be a scientist.

We're looking forward to more adventures in 2020! We hope you have a wonderful holiday season! Please keep in touch!

With love,
The Abts Family

* Catalan for Happy Holidays. :o)

Felix: 10 yrs & Iris: 7 yrs