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!
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