COVID-19 Lockdown, Week 6

Week six brought more of the same, though our arts and crafts nights are getting more outdoorsy as the weather is turning. This week's project was birdhouse making, using only "supplies" from nature... and it must've signaled to skies that we were friendly neighbors, as the wood ducks and cardinals have spent a lot more time hanging around our backyard these days.

Other highlights of the week include the fire hydrant blow-out that had every family in the neighborhood on their front stoops mesmerized, and the tour kickoff of E & S's "stationary" (i.e. not traveling) rock band.

COVID-19 Lockdown, Week 5

Week five brought the Governor's decision to extend the "stay in place" orders, most notably closing schools for the remainder of the year.  This brought mixed emotions, as the girls aren't exactly missing school, but were hoping to reunited with classmates before summer.

Staycation highlights from this week include the return to running for L, with new (and faster, as you can see in the photo) running partners, backyard softball practices and camping, fashion model photo shoots using the vacuum for hair "effects"... and, the arrival of toilet paper, albeit 2X the size and 4x the quantity we thought we were ordering!

COVID-19 Lockdown, Week 4

Week four brought the official start home schooling, i.e. required login times, actual teacher-assigned homework... and what feels like hundreds of emails, app notifications, videos and attachements for parents to navigate to ensure the kids are in the right places and doing the right things. 

This said, once the virtual school and work days were complete there was plenty of time for family fun.  This week's highlights were more games, mocktail happy hour tastings, backyard bird watching, driveway fire s'mores, snow globe concerts... and, best of all, a kid-planned, kid-prepared, kid-served and kid-clean-up Easter dinner (homemade Raising Cane's chicken fingers and sauce, salad, pineapple mango smoothies and "cookie wookie" ice cream sundaes for dessert.

Honestly, provided the curve flattens and the country's health turns around, I could get used to this!

COVID-19 Lockdown, Week 3

Needing to get more creative in week 3.  Making crepes, indoor mini golf, home made "minute to win it" challenges... and short road trips to hike off the beaten path at local State Parks, like Baker in Hamel, where the wildlife seems to be taking back their habitat with the humans out of their business these days.

EJB's 11th

E's 11th will definitely be one she'll never forget.  

She was supposed to be celebrating on a beach in Cancun (the ocean is one of E's favorite things), but travel concerns given the global COVID-19 outbreak had us cancelling.  

Then she was supposed to have a make-up party with her friends... but the outbreak was officially declared a pandemic and the government issued "stay in place" orders.

So, we scrambled to make the day as special as possible from the confines of our home.  Breakfast in bed, of course... followed by a Zoom video conference call with her 5-2 hoops team doing a "show and tell" of trick shots... followed by virtual "face time" games via the House Party app with her besties... and capped off with a viewing of Space Jam on Netflix's new Party plug-in that allows you to chat live with friends on-screen while co-viewing the same show.

Not how we drew it up, but a memorable day of smiles nonetheless!

Happy Birthday, LMB

A happy 41st the this momma bear!  We love you!

COVID-19 Lockdown, Week 2

Week two of COVID isolation brought a formal "stay in place" declaration from Governor Walz.  Only critical businesses were allowed to stay open, state residents were banned from leaving their homes for non-essential missions, and gatherings of members outside of those with whom you reside were forbidden for a three week period.  And, based on what countries like China and Italy had experienced, those who reached pandemic status much earlier than the US, it would be likely that the "stay in place" order would be extended at a later date.

More of the same on the home front for us, but with more rituals in place.  Rotating who make the dinner menu and chooses the evening family activity, for example.  And, chore charts, virtual play date windows daily, et cetera.  As we'd played most of our go-to games, arts and crafts, and some of Mom & Dad's favorite card games worked their way into the evening fun line-up.

COVID-19 Lockdown, Week 1

On March 15, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered the immediate closure of all non-essential businesses and recommended "social distancing", a practice where non-cohabitating people are to remain at least six feet apart, to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that was sweeping the nation and "flatten the curve".

Schools were to close their doors for two weeks to allow educators the time they needed to create and deploy a virtual home learning program for students that would begin after spring break and continue indefinitely.  And, businesses like General Mills were to close their doors indefinitely, and employees were to leverage technology to work from home.

This meant, to maintain some sense of normalcy, all learning, working, eating, exercising, sporting, vacationing, entertaining, et cetera shifted from all over the metro... to our home, backyard and nearby open spaces (provided nobody else was using, and we touched nothing).

Week one of isolation was spent doing lots of tech set-up and troubleshooting, family cooking, games and, rain, snow or shine, getting some fresh air, walking the dog... and knocking down buckets.