Slippin' and Slidin"...

When all the pools are closed because of COVID and the kids are dying to cool off from the warm weather, you order that slip n slide off the internet and set it up and leave it out for days and maybe even a few months! We invited the neighbors to play with us too! It was another Covid highlight for the kids.

Mother/Daughter Beach Trip...

Being cooped up in our homes for two months was rough to say the least, so when Heather called to invite Kate and I to the beach I immediately said YES! A little girls trip to the beach was the perfect remedy for our cabin fever. On our drive to the beach I was talking about my friend Angie and how she has had a rough go with her mom recently dying from cancer, on top of being locked in due to covid, that Heather said to call her and invite her and her cute daughter Amelia too! She said yes and joined us a couple hours later. She is so fun and I know life was weighing heavy on her, so I think the beach was a nice change for her too!

We did all the things, long walks on the beach, pizza, chocolate shakes, chick flicks, spa treatment, etc. The weather was great too! What a great weekend! 

 

Wildwood Trail Marathon...

Justin continues to run 40 miles a week, and one of his big goals was to run a full marathon on the Wildwood Trail. He and his running buddy, Nathan Cluff, have been running every Saturday building up their stamina to be able to accomplish their goal. They did it! I know I am not giving him enough credit for all this running because I have never ran more than 5 miles straight, but we are really proud of him. When he puts is mind to something he jumps in with two feet full speed ahead. Don't ever tell him he can't do something. He will do it and then some! It's actually one of his best qualities that I love about him. 

 

Preston's Potty Trained!

We took advantage of quarantining and decided it was time to get Preston potty trained. Goodbye pull ups, hello big boy underwear. This was one of the positive outcomes of being locked down.  

 

Frousins...

All Brooke wanted for her birthday was a photo shoot. Heather arranged a little photo session with aunt Mari. These photos turned out so cute! I am so glad Kate has such a close relationship with her cousins. They really do make the best friends.

 

Mother's Day Spent at Hagg Lake...

The world remained in lockdown. Everything that could move to online was figuring out how to transition their work from in person to online. Businesses like Nike worked from home. Justin was finally allowed to go back to work because healthcare was deemed essential.  Anything healthcare oriented was able to open with limited staff of course. But people continued to separate themselves from other friends and people, with the exception of all the people who flocked to Hagg Lake on Mother’s Day.  The temperature was 84 degrees and with church being cancelled Heather and I decided rather than staying home listening to our families get on each other’s nerves that we would spend a day at the lake relaxing. It was the best Mother’s Day ever! The kids had a blast playing in the water on our lilipad and borrowed paddle boards.

 

Bonny Slope Teacher Drive By...

By May it was pretty apparent that the kids were never going to go back to school to finish out the year. But it didn’t stop the teachers from wanting to connect with the kids in real life. The screen and remote learning just wasn’t the same. The teachers at Bonny Slope arranged a drive by parade. The teachers drove 4 different routes to see all of the kids. We gathered with other families at the park and waited for them to drive by. It was nice to be able to see friends, and Ryan saw his teacher Mrs. Swardstrom. At this point we weren’t required to wear masks because we were saving masks for healthcare facilities and professions only, so they wouldn’t experience a shortage. I wanted to ask if anyone was up to having play dates but lockdowns were still so fresh that a lot of people were limiting their interactions with people outside of their immediate family. There were groups of people forming their quarantine friends because people were in need of connection. For us that meant getting together with our cousins. Thank goodness Andy, Heather, Paige and Grandma and Grandpa lived close. We tried to arrange a few family dinners to stay connected. We were craving friends, family, church and activities.