November 2020

Homeschool is still going well, thank goodness. We love the flexibility in our scheduling and the hands-on learning. We finished our science unit on marine biology by exploring an "ocean sample" in the backyard: the kids had to prod through muddy water, recording their findings of quarters, paper clips, buttons, and the like on clipboards. 

Hazel has done some beautiful paintings this month. We designated Monday afternoons for art, and having a regularly scheduled block of time has been really good for her. Sometimes it just takes a little nudge to get the equipment out, and then off she flies. 

Jack did an Italy study in his language arts unit, and one of his lessons gave a recipe for gnocchi. He did a great job, and we enjoyed something new for lunch! 

The library opened for in-person appointments, and we rejoiced! We filled our book cart to the brim and then some, singing songs out loud as we perused the shelves. We made a second appointment for ten days later. We were quite disappointed to find out they were going to count the books we had returned as part of our 100 book limit, since they had to sit on a shelf to quarantine for a while, and were super grateful when a librarian overrode the system and let us check out our full cart again. My kids have been desperate for books. We've been borrowing from neighbors and friends quite a bit, but nothing other than the library can keep up with their pace. 

We were soooo disappointed when COVID numbers rose in our county and the library went back to curbside pickup only again. It's like drinking from a cup vs a fire hydrant, and my kids are just thirsty as can be for books. 

My friend Katie took our family pictures again this year. I love how they turned out! Hazel put forth a lot of pre-game drama about wearing the burgundy pants, and I still wonder if it was worth it. But man, we looked good! 

We went to the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco (to celebrate finishing our marine biology unit). It was a nice day trip. We all loved the shark tunnel, and they had an octopus for Jack, and river otters for Gemma. 

After the aquarium, we walked past the sea lions at Pier 39, then picked up some pizza and ate it on a windy hill, where we watched the sunset and flew Jack's kite. Posts online indicated there was a big wooden tree swing up here, but it was gone when we came. We still had a great time. 

We went to church in person twice before county restrictions shut it down again. It was ... underwhelming. It doesn't quite feel like church when you can't sing out loud and you're discouraged from visiting with other people, even in the parking lot. But you've got to start somewhere. 

We debated back and forth for weeks about going out to Utah for Thanksgiving. We are missing our families something fierce. Todd's family is living life fairly normally, and a lot of them have come down with Covid. My family is mostly really strict about staying away from other people, and have been really isolated much of the year. We were trying to convince my parents to let us come, and trying to fanangle a schedule that let us see them and everyone else afterwards. It was all a big stressor, to be honest, and after several weeks, I still hadn't even gotten permission to come from my parents. We ended up choosing to stay home for Thanksgiving, and we sent Todd out to Utah early to do what he really wanted - help Missy install electrical on the house she's building. Todd was happy to go out and work hard and serve his family, but he was 100% for sure exposed to Covid while he was out there - Missy's husband tested positive the day after Todd arrived. So ... when Todd came back home, we all had to quarantine for the next 14 days. We cancelled piano lessons and play dates, and I stocked up on groceries before Todd came home so I wouldn't need to go shopping for a while. It was lame, but we made it through without anyone getting sick, so we're counting ourselves lucky. 

While Todd was gone, the kids and I had a spa night. We wore face masks and spread Eucerin lotion all over my kids' seasonal dry skin while we watched a documentary Jack picked out about octopuses. 

We took our scooters downtown and checked out a dozen murals that had been painted for a festival that was supposed to happen this year. It was fun to explore our town. 

Fall colors finally showed up. It's still green and brown most places, but when we spot a colorful tree, we shout, "Fall!" It's the best we can do here in California. 

Todd and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on November 19th. Since we couldn't go out, the kids made us dinner. Hazel turned the den into The Moonlight Cafe, and they made us a delicious dinner: salad, spaghetti and meatballs, breadsticks, and chocolate chip cookies. They acted as wait staff, serenaded us with live music, and did all the dishes. We loved it so much, we might need to make it an annual tradition! 

We enjoyed Thanksgiving break from home. It was actually very nice. Todd took three days off from work, and we really enjoyed slowing down and being together as a family. 

Wednesday we went to the Oakland Zoo. We scored big time in the elephant area - we were just in time to watch the zookeepers feed the elephants tree bark. They literally pulled it off the tree in the picture and then just handed it to the elephants. We also got a really good show from the gibbons. Why don't I have any pictures of them? They were seriously showing off, swinging from tree to tree and tightrope walking. They were fun to watch. 

Thanksgiving Day everyone got to choose a game for us all to play together. Also, everyone helped make the meal! Gemma made our green salad, Hazel made the rolls, and Jack made the stuffing. Todd, Hazel, and Jack also made the pumpkin pie the day before. Although it was a lot of work in the kitchen for a meal we weren't sharing with anyone else, it was a fun project to put together with everyone participating. 

The day after Thanksgiving, we took a road trip to Four Winds Tree Farm in Santa Cruz to seriously tree hunt. It was so beautiful and smelled wonderful! It was a long, winding drive up the mountain on a crazy narrow road, so unless Todd forgets that part, we might not come back here, but there were tons of big and beautiful trees to choose from for a flat fee, and they gave us free hot chocolate and candy canes. 

Also, they had a rope swing! Everyone had a blast on it. It made us want to put one up in our front yard super bad. 

We finished off the weekend decorating our house inside and out, and listening to a lot of Christmas music. We are ready for December, baby! 

October 2020

 We've got a couple of friend families from Croce who are also homeschooling this year. We all got a great deal for a morning gymnastics class on Tuesday mornings. The kids love it. 

The kids tied fleece no-sew blankets while we listened to General Conference. I heard several messages that I felt were meant for me, about the importance of being prepared for more challenging times ahead, and how women have the strength to endure the times well and be a great strength to their families and communities. It buoyed me up; after listening to conference I felt strong, encouraged, and empowered. 

We were planning to go to Yosemite for the first time over spring break. That was the first of many trips to get cancelled this year. Yosemite actually closed its gates for a few months (due to Covid 19). When they reopened over the summer, we jumped online to see if we could get any lodging inside the park - and struck gold. We were able to book a family-sized room, with a king bed, a bunk bed, and a living room, for a few nights in October. 

Well, long story short, our trip almost got cancelled again. Yosemite closed for a week at the end of September, due to the terrible air quality from the fires. I was avidly checking the air quality index, the weather report, and the Yosemite website for the next two weeks. The kids had forgotten about our trip, and Todd and I didn't dare mention it to them until two nights before we left. If it was going to get cancelled again, we didn't want to put the kids through the emotional ups and downs of that drama. 

Luckily, we were able to go. Unfortunately, the air was still pretty smoky. It obscured many of the views that should have knocked our socks off. Thankfully, the poor air quality and the limited numbers of people allowed in under Covid guidelines meant that there was almost nobody else there. We didn't have to deal with any crowds or parking issues whatsoever. And that, my friends, is what has kept us away from Yosemite for the last ten-plus years. So while the conditions were not ideal, we definitely enjoyed ourselves. We also definitely want to go back in the spring sometime when the waterfalls are rushing. 

Here we are at Tunnel View on our way in on day one. 

We drove to Glacier Point for the famed views of the valley. Sadly, it was pretty smoky. 

My pictures loaded out of order. That's okay. You only need the cliffnotes version of our trip anyway. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and left on a Saturday evening. Our first day was a bit of a bust because the air was the smokiest then and it felt kind of yucky to be outside. But we found a great hike for each of our other days and spent most of each day outside. 

Thursday we hiked to Taft Point and The Fissures. Along the way, we climbed massive granite boulders and passed through lush forest. The Fissures are these huge gashes in the mountains that drop thousands of feet to the valley floor below. And you literally can't see them until you are right in front of them. Jack was hiking ahead of the group and found the first one. I'm so grateful he stopped and looked ahead in time. We could have easily lost him! Once we had the kids close to our sides, they were pretty incredible to look at, though. 

We wanted to bring bikes, but didn't have enough space. We should probably get a bike rack for the van. We did, however, bring scooters, and had a blast riding them around the valley floor. We saw both bears and deer this way, and stopped to play in the Merced River as well. Boy, was it cold! 

Friday we drove an hour or so along the lovely Tioga Road out near Tuolome Meadows. We stopped at Tenaya Lake, played there for a while, and then followed a trail through the mountains and up some steep elevation for a couple of miles. 

Once again, there were massive granite boulders. The kids climbed them like billy goats, then gushed about the views from the top of their rock castles. On the way back down the trail, I climbed up with Jack to see what all the fuss was about and discovered that it really was pretty cool. He and I shared a sweet moment up there, just the two of us. 

Saturday we hiked the Mist Trail. It was only three or four miles long, but I would definitely label this hike as strenuous. The elevation gain was wicked. Rock stair after rock stair, the climb was steep and my legs started to shake like jello. It was exhausting. In the spring, the rocks would have been slick as well, from the mist coming off Vernal Falls. Not so much in October, when the waterfalls are all down to a trickle, which made for safer footbolds, but also a pretty underwhelming climax at the top of a crazy hard hike. If I had to do it again ... I wouldn't. 

The air did clear up a little bit more each day. It was nice to see some blue sky on our last day there. Here we are at Tunnel View on our way out. 

My favorite masseuse Stephanie was able to open back up for business in October. I booked with her right away. I missed my Mother's Day massage and my birthday massage! It was so fabulous. I just melted into the table and let all my stressors dissolve. I came home so blissful that Todd got jealous and decided he wanted to try a massage since he's got so many tight muscles. He came home raving about it. He's always said he would be willing to get a massage if he could go for only twenty minutes, but he couldn't fathom laying there for an hour. I told him I'm always sad at the end of the hour that it's already over. He booked for 45 minutes and came home saying he could have done the full hour. He loved it! 

One of the perks of homeschooling is that I get to decide what our schedule is. We've been making time for a field trip about once a week. The school district has left Wednesdays fairly open, with about 45 minutes worth of meetings for each kid, so I've been able to convince Katie George to come play with us and have Lucas join his virtual meeting "on location." We went to Half Moon Bay for one last perfect beach day before the cooler weather came rolling in. The kids had a blast digging in the sand, jumping the waves, and playing hide and seek. 

We finally got in to see the dentist, for the first time in a year. No cavities to worry about, yay. He recommended the kids see the orthodontist for a consultation. I've been meaning to take Hazel in all year anyway, because she's probably about due for braces, so I set up consults for all three kids. Well, Hazel has about another year to wait while her teeth finish coming out and in, which is too bad. We were hoping she could do the braces thing while we're home anyway. Jack's mouth looks close to perfect, so hopefully it stays that way when the last of his teeth come in. Gemma's mouth ... is a disaster because of her hard-core thumb-sucking habit she's still working on. It's actually a good thing I got her in to see somebody now, because she is going to need an expander and head gear to fix the mess. She's got six teeth showing up on her x-rays that only have two spaces to grow into. She also has a gap between her top and her bottom teeth big enough to stick her pinky finger in. They want to start fixing things in January. I'm taking all the kids to two other orthodontists to compare plans and prices, but, yeah, turns out Gemma might have to go through two rounds of braces. Yikes. 

The latest fashion craze around here has been pig snouts. The kids tape their noses up with scotch tape and strut around the house talking in Southern accents. It's pretty hilarious. 

We drove up to a Brentwood pumpkin patch with Katie George and Karrie Harrison for one of our field trips. The place was adorable (Three Nuns Farm). We did the corn maze, strolled through the fields of pumpkins looking for just the right ones, took a tractor ride, and had a picnic lunch. All the pumpkins were a flat fifty cents a pound, so for the first time, I felt we could afford to get the specialty pumpkins. We brought home a cute bunch! Then we carved them up. 

Todd's Army friend Kevin has a personal airplane and offered to take Todd and a couple of kids for a ride. I agonized over it, because little planes scare me, but Todd still took Jack and Gemma. Sadly, it's a four-seater so not all of the kids could fit at once, and we chose wrong and sent Gemma. Hazel should have gone. Gemma felt motion sick and bored and apparently pouted the whole time. Jack, on the other hand, had the time of his life and swears he wants a plane when he grows up. He even got to sit in the front and fly the plane for a while. 

We had a non-traditional Halloween, but honestly, it was the easiest thing we've had to miss this year. The kids already claimed last year that they didn't want to go trick or treating anymore - there's too much that is spooky or creepy out there and my kids are pretty sensitive to it. Since I only let them keep about ten pieces of candy anyway, they weren't really going to be missing out on much. 

Jack was a baby pig, Hazel was a cat burglar, and Gemma was a horse. We hid candy around the yard and they hunted for it like Easter eggs. We doorbell ditched some candy to neighbors, made and decorated pumpkin sugar cookies, watched The Sandlot (it was a major hit) and bobbed for apples.