Another School Year in the Books!

Wednesday was the last day of school. What a strange year it ended up being! Obviously, all the big end-of-year events were cancelled. No final band concert or 5th Grade Banquet. No Kindergarten graduation. The kids handled it well. No one seemed too disappointed. The school tried to make the 5th graders feel special. They had a drive-through "graduation" and handed out treat bags. The librarian did video awards for 5th grade. Kara was one of only 2 students who read all of the Sunshine State books, which we thought was amazing. A lot of the books weren't ones she would have chosen for herself, but she set a goal and accomplished it. The librarian then announced the students who had read at least 1 million words. Florida has something called the Advanced Reading (AR) program. Kids can take tests on books they've read to earn prizes, which is how they keep track of words. After they did 1 million, she announced kids who had read 2, than 3, than 4. Then she said she had one student who read 7 million words and commented that she thought that was a record. And, guess whose picture flashed on the screen?!?! Kara of course! We were very proud.

Quite the change from this sweet little picture. I am not sure if this makes me happy or sad. Both I guess.

We don't know yet what summer will bring. They canceled the camp that we originally planned on sending the older kids to, a disappointment for all of them. Oh, and we had signed them up for their first ever sleepaway camp. One week at the end of July, the girls especially were incredibly excited. Canceled. We aren't sure if we want them going to camp anyway, but we are considering the options. We are still trying to limit our social interactions, so exposing the kids to tons of other kids isn't exactly in keeping with that goal. However, we don't want them sitting around all summer. So, it is a conundrum. We have some ideas of ways to keep them busy at home. But, I am not sure if it is enough. Fortunately, it has been fairly easy to work with them around, which takes off the pressure of feeling like we need to send them somewhere.

We did last day of school photos, as tradition dictates. Jack and Anna had quite the attitude about it. But, as Anna and Kara would say: whatever. Speaking of which, I told them I am going to start slapping their faces every time they say it. Obviously, I won't, and they know that, but it's tempting!

So, here are the pictures:

I made Jack wear his same clothes as the first day. He has grown so much!!! He's been taller than me for a couple of months now.

 And, of course, the side by side contrast with the first day.

The changes in Jack and Anna are crazy!

Growing way too fast!

One Year Florida Anniversary

It's Memorial Day weekend, which means it has officially been one year since we made the big move to Florida. I was pretty miserable when we first arrived. Actually, May-August wasn't terrible. I expected the summer to be hot and it was. But, we still enjoyed going to the theme parks and seeing my family. Then, September was still really hot and I started to get tired of it. And, it was 90 degrees on Halloween. By then, I was super sick of the constant, unbearable heat. Every day seemed to hit a new record high. And, work wasn't great. Then, sometime in November, the weather got really nice and we could comfortably be outside all day every day. It was amazing. And, I was back to enjoying life in Florida. We had a lot of fun being outdoors and I was very grateful I didn't have to deal with awful, eczema hands (my hands crack and bleed if I don't keep lotion on them 24/7 in the winter when it is cold). My skin felt so much better and I did not miss the snow at all.

So, I feel like I have a better understanding of the weather, which will hopefully make the long months of summer more bearable. I don't mind the heat for a few months. But, I really hated that it continued all the way through October. This year, I will be better prepared. I know that is a lot of talk about the weather, but it had a big impact on my mood and level of Florida enjoyment.

I have enjoyed being close to my family. I liked that we had a family Christmas party and that I got to see them frequently. We had a great time going to a play and dinner with Kim and Dave. I loved the nights that Anna and Kara spent at Marta's. It was such a nice break. And, I finally have a (sort of) friend here, which took a long time. I actually text with a couple of people. They are moms of kids in Luke's class. One of them lives just a few houses away, so I hope we can stay friends even if the kids aren't in the same class next year. It is still fairly superficial, in that our conversations are mostly about what is going on with the kids, but, it is better than nothing. I went to another bunco night in early March and may give that another try once it is allowed. I still don't have any friends at work, which is unusual for me. And, I don't see that changing anytime soon (not just because of the quarantine).

The kids have all adjusted well. Jack and Anna had an easy transition to middle school. They haven't witnessed any bullying and the kids here seem a little lower on the drama scale than what we experienced in Maryland. Of course, that could be attributable to many different reasons, like their level of comfort with kids they have known for 5+ years. Regardless of the reasons, I was very worried about their transition, so I am glad it went well. Kara and Luke also had an easy adjustment. Luke still comments on how much he misses our playset and he and Jack both miss living across the street from the Wills.

Like most things, there is good and bad. It is hard to accurately judge at the moment, since we have been isolated since mid-March. We had plans to see another play and would have celebrated birthdays together, which I am sure I would have loved. Until last week, we weren't getting any benefit from being close to family, because we couldn't see them. Kim's family is coming up tomorrow, so we are slowly easing back into some aspects of normal life.

I wanted to move to Florida for a few reasons, primarily: to be close to family; to be close to amenities (i.e. not have to drive 2 hours to get to a Children's hospital); and to enjoy the theme parks. All of those were realistic and have been realized (or would be if it weren't for the pandemic). But, I still miss a lot of things about life in Maryland: having friends; our weekend trips; all of the history and battlefields; our house; access to a reliable babysitter.

The bottom line is there are things I like about Florida and things I don't. There is a lot I miss about Maryland and I definitely have some regrets. Thomas still does not like it here. I will offer him and the kids the opportunity to write their own blogs if they want to memorialize their thoughts. I was going to end by asking everyone in the house a simple question, are you glad we moved? But, it is too complex for me to answer, so I don't know how I can expect it of them (except Thomas, he is a very clear "no"). If we hadn't moved, I would likely have regretted not giving it a chance. Right now also isn't a very fair time to judge since everything is so abnormal (I would definitely have preferred to quarantine in Maryland. That basement and backyard would be amazing right about now). Also, there is a difference between wishing we had stayed and wanting to move back. We could never return to exactly where we were. Our house isn't ours anymore. The kids would be in new schools and their friends would likely change. So, maybe I will ask two questions. Are you glad we moved and if we could return would you? My prediction is that no one is glad we moved (although, there are certainly moments where they love Florida) but that no one wants to move again either.

1) Are you glad we moved; 2) if we could move back, would you want to?

For me: yes and yes (glad we moved, but would go back...or stay, I can be happy either way)
Thomas: no and yes (not glad we moved and would go back)
Anna: yes and no (it would never be the same if we went back)
Jack: yes and yes (he's glad we moved, but wants to move back)
Kara: yes and no (we're too settled here to move again)
Luke: yes and yes (he likes our pool and neighborhood, but would prefer to go back to Maryland)

My predictions were wrong. And, that is it for this long, rambling blog.

Saturday Beach Day!

We had a big day planned on Saturday--a trip to Fort DeSoto and a Gulf coast beach. It was highly anticipated (at least by me) all week. We planned on meeting up with Marta, Frank and Elizabeth for some outdoor social distancing fun. I was also excited to get the kids away from their electronics. It seems like they are rarely outside these days. I don't know how to get them to go and play. Letting them do electronics keeps them happy and quiet and allows Thomas and I to work, which we need to do. But, we know it is not good for them and that we are taking the easy way out. Essentially, their devices have become our babysitters. If given the choice, Luke will almost always choose to do something with us. Kara is 50/50 (although she is 100% if we will go in the pool with her or play a game), Anna is maybe 25%, and Jack is probably around 10%. As I have previously written, sometimes we force them. Especially in the evenings. But, that is not really fun for anyone. Who wants to play a game with someone who is grouchy? It is perplexing to me and I am worried about summer break if camps aren't open and we are still home all day. By the way, summer break starts here next Wednesday. We need a plan! I also feel like things would be different in Maryland. The weather was more conducive to being outside (at least at this time of year) and we had that huge playset they spend hours enjoying. Cue more guilt about moving <sigh>.

So, I was excited about a day in the outdoors. We left right at 8am and headed to the west coast of Florida.

This little guy was our first roadblock. He walked directly in front of the car for a minute or two :)

Fort DeSoto is a series of small islands, accessible by bridges. The area was once surveyed by Robert E. Lee. The Fort was active from 1898-1910. At that time, it was only accessible by boat. The fort was cool to see. No shots were ever fired in battle, but it was important to the development of modern weaponry. We saw the big cannons, which were in a 3-walled enclosure. The result was a huge echo. The first person to fire them had his eardrums literally blown out and was almost killed by the sound. The wall for the fort is hidden in the seabanks and is 20 feet thick! To make it, they had to import fresh water via boat in extremely heavy barrels. Today there are lots of nice shade trees, but while the fort was in use, there were none. I can't imagine how hot the soldiers must have been in their wool uniforms, dealing with thousands of barrels of water and building the thick concrete walls. 

So, we explored the fort and then set up on the beach. We found a somewhat nice spot. It required a tradeoff. It was in a little-traveled spot. But, there were fisherman set up on either side of us, so we had to be careful of their lines. The beach area was small, but we had a lot of room in the water to play by ourselves. And, the water was amazing! There was a little line of rocks/shells, but beyond it was a nice, sandy bottom with no seaweed. We could stay waist deep for around 30 yards. We had a great time being in the water. 

It was a beautiful day.

Kara found a living sand dollar. She was very careful with it.

Elizabeth's dog, Peach, came along too!

We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed being outside and each other's company. Luke was a huge fan of Peach. Anna and Thomas brought books and alternated between time in the water and time on the beach. Jack played in the sand for a while, building castles. The rest of us just stayed in the water.

Frank and Anna

Behind Luke is a turtle nesting area.

We stayed for about 4 hours. I could have stayed all day, but we wanted to go before people got cranky or burnt. Mainly because it was a 2-hour drive home. And, we didn't quite make it, because everyone got burnt to some degree. Fortunately, all of the kids had rash guards and we, of course, used sunscreen. But, the sun still found a way. I would like to go back and explore the park more. In addition to the beach and fort, there are trails, playgrounds, and bike and kayak rentals.

When we got home, we watched Night at the Museum and had quesadillas for dinner, a new favorite quick meal. Sunday, we watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (just had to skip one short scene) with the older kids. I took Luke to a Beya's house to play on her inflatable water slide. He loved it! Bevin is also a good host. She had popsicles and ice cream for the kids and brought me out a bottled water. They had been swimming at our house earlier in the week and it didn't even occur to me to offer food (I think I offered Bevin water, at least I hope I did, but maybe not). I don't know why I don't think of things like that. I am not a good hostess. I want to be, but it does not come naturally to me.

And, since we are going in reverse order. One night last week, I saw that Krispy Kreme had turned their glaze into a lemon glaze. We went and grabbed a dozen and they were amazing. So, so, so good! Fortunately, the lemon glaze takeover only lasted for 4 days, or I would be in trouble. 

For final news, I finished a puzzle I have been working on for weeks. It was only a 500 piece puzzle, but was really challenging for me. All of the pieces were the same, with two knobs and two holes and they were all approximately the same size. Every single piece, well, except the border. It made it less fun. But, I still felt proud of myself for sticking with it and getting it done.

I can't get the picture to rotate, but you get the idea. It's Mount Vernon.

The shape of every single interior piece.

Houses, Racing, Mother's Day, Random Pictures

We have spent 7 weeks now in this post-COVID-19 world. It was an uneventful week. We did a drive last weekend and finally checked out Celebration. Everyone remarked that they would like to move there, but when I checked housing prices, we all agreed that it was not worth the premium. We have heard chatter that we will likely be teleworking until July or August and even when we go back, it may be modified to something like 2 days in the office. We chose the location we are in for its proximity to work and everything else we enjoy. We are about 30 minutes to Disney, 20 to Seaworld, 25 to Universal and 25 to work. And, an hour from my family and the Lakeland Tigers. We had an ideal location, but it was about 45 minutes to work (15 minutes to all the parks and 45 to Winter Haven). We had set our maximum commute at 30 minutes and stuck rigidly to it while house hunting. Our neighborhood was the best we could find that met our parameters (and had decent schools).

But, with the potential of lots more telework and even the possibility that Thomas and I could stagger our schedule so one of us was always at home, I started thinking about moving to that ideal location. In reality, it is likely just a pipe dream. I am not going to ask the kids to change schools again and we would lose so much money. I did the math one afternoon and thanks to the kitchen remodel, we have a while before we hit a break even point. But, I love to look at houses and think about which ones I would purchase. That and planning vacations are something I do constantly--even when I have no intention of moving or traveling.

In other "news," Thomas did some running challenges with the kids. We have a little loop near our house that is probably just under a quarter mile. He told the kids they could run one lap at a time and whoever beat him would win. He had to run continuously, but thought he could outlast them. Kara went first and she was pretty speedy, but Thomas won in the end. Then, Luke was up. He took off at a pace that I just knew was completely unsustainable. And, he did slow down. But, it was still really fast and Thomas was done. He could have pushed it out and beat Luke, but he knew he would lose against whoever ran next so he decided to lose to Luke since he had run so fast. He did another challenge, where the kids ran an inner loop of the neighborhood (just over half a mile) and he had to run the larger loop (just over a mile). They all participated and had fun. It is hard to find ways to get them outside sometimes and the challenges help (especially when prizes are offered). We still do bike rides, and swim, and Thomas plays in the park with them, but not everyone is interested every day.

Mother's Day was okay. Kara and Luke made me a card. And Kara cooked breakfast. Thomas got my chosen dinner (Cracker Barrel pancakes). And, I made people play a game with me (which Jack and Anna quit). But, I feel funny about Mother's Day. Why do we need to designate a day to honor mothers? Shouldn't everyone be kind to their mom every day? It is like Valentine's Day to me, kind of a meh "holiday." But, I guess it's not a bad thing to have a reminder for people to honor their mothers. I do like the papers they make at school where they talk about what their mom is like. But, I miss having my own mom on Mother's Day. And, I posted something on Facebook that led to hurt feelings. So, it was not a great day for me.

Kara helped Luke, so I am not sure how truthful the answers are :)

Mexican Train before Jack and Anna quit. I came in last.

And, two random pictures:

Luke and Jack worked on building elaborate towers and then bowling them down and taking slomotion videos. Some of them were pretty exciting. At least in the opinion of people who have been self-isolating now for 7 weeks.

Kara has been working on increasing her flexibility and puts herself in some strange positions.

A Televisit, Scavenger Hunt and Dark Thoughts

Friday was a surprisingly eventful day--at least by our new standard. A few months ago, I made a visit for Jack to visit a pediatric allergist. It has been a few years since we last checked in and we thought it would be a good idea to see if there have been any new developments. I figured the appointment would be canceled, as it is a non-essential, but a week before, they called and offered us the option of a digital visit. That was better than waiting months to reschedule, so I was all in. The visit was at 920 and the doctor was right on time. We had a good visit and decided to do new bloodwork when the hospital reopens. We know he is absolutely allergic to peanuts--he has had a couple of severe reactions. But, we don't know about treenuts or shellfish (he tests as allergic, but he hasn't been exposed, so we just assume the tests are accurate). We also don't know if his levels have increased or decreased. Basically, it is just time to see where things stand. The children's hospital, where the appointment was scheduled, is only 15 minutes from our house. So, going there would not have been a big deal. But, when we lived in Maryland, we had to drive about 2 hours to get to his appointments in Baltimore. Digital medicine would have been awesome then!

Jack waiting for the doctor. Sweater on top, Christmas jammies on bottom :)

Also on Friday, Thomas created a neighborhood scavenger hunt for the kids. He had a list with about 15 items they had to find and take a picture of. Some were easy (a bench, bird, blue car) some were more challenging (a Drake lawncare sign, a mailbox with a specific number). We sent the big kids out separately and I went with Luke. We had fun and it was a good break from another really busy day at work. It was also a good way to get people outside. Once again my hopes for a calm Friday were thwarted and I ended up working for about 10 hours (instead of a peaceful 8). But, I am grateful to have a job and be working from home, so I am not complaining!

One of the photos from a successful "hunter"

Lately, I have just been incredulous about how quickly this bizarre way of life has become normal. I wear a mask when I shop. There are taped squares on the ground reminding me to stay six feet away at the grocery store, which is almost the only place I visit (the other being the occasional run to pick up takeout). School is done from home, as is work. We can't visit with family or friends, unless we are willing to stand a minimum of six feet apart. We have now missed the birthdays of my dad, brother and Elizabeth; events we likely would have celebrated together. Theme parks are closed and there is no opening in sight. We go outside, but only in our neighborhood. Playgrounds, green spaces, basketball and tennis courts are all chained shut. We are only supposed to leave our homes for essential reasons. And, we now treat all of this without much thought. In fact, when watching t.v., it seems bizarre when characters shake hands or hug. The "new normal" now is mostly just "normal."

There are other uncomfortable thoughts. I am very thankful for the people who are working in traditionally low paying jobs to keep our food supply plentiful. But, it reminds me of the social inequity in our society. I was checked out at Walmart by an older woman who didn't appear to be in the best of health. She commented that she was just happy to have a job. It seems unfair that so many have to put themselves at risk because they have no other option financially. Obviously, I am also extremely thankful for the healthcare workers, who seem to be receiving a lot of the praise (and, they certainly should be praised!), but I feel for the vulnerable, lower wage employees. It has to be done and someone has to do it, but, I feel guilty and sad about it.

I am also worried about how vulnerable we are. This could have been so much worse and I find myself having to shoo away thoughts about the next time. I hate how quickly everything changed and knowing that it could happen again and be even worse. It is enough to keep one awake at night! I also feel frustrated at society. I don't think of myself as a pessimist, but as thankful as I am for the people contributing to society, I am frustrated by the people who aren't cooperating. Remember the closed basketball courts? Every day people jump the fence to play. And, we see large groups practicing soccer and doing other things that violate the state order. The attitude of "I don't have to obey the rules, those are for everyone else," really makes me mad!

Finally, I wonder will we ever get back to old normal? I certainly hope so, and I think we will, but again, we have shown how vulnerable we really are. After I had Jack and Anna, the doctor told me that they were both healthy and I thought, "of course they are, why wouldn't they be?" It never occurred to me they wouldn't be born healthy. With Kara and Luke, the veil was removed and I knew so much could go wrong. I feel like this experience has removed the veil in a similar way. The blissful ignorance is gone. Will we ever be the same?