Taylor, Matthew & Brayden: No Return to Normacly in Sight

I sit here on a Saturday morning. It is the middle of summer. Never would have I have imagined when our country was hit with Covid-19 in late February that we would still be fighting this pandemic in mid-July. There is so much to write about but so little time to do it. You would think that I have nothing but time since there is no where to go. But personally, things in my life are quite hectic. My company RIF'd a huge chunk of my colleagues on 7/1 (this is a direct result of the pandemic and the fact that I work with food and fitness franchisees). So, my workload has increased 2-3 fold. On top of this, after years in the making, Tommy and I finally pulled the trigger on our home remodel. Between working more hours than I would like and trying to pack up a house that we've lived in for 11 years, I am busy! This morning, Tommy and Matty are away at a baseball tournament (likely the only one of the season - more on that later), Taylor is upstairs choreographing a dance routine, and Brayden is playing Fortnite. I have a few minutes to enjoy my coffee before I start packing again, so I wanted to give an update on the blog.

After a decline in Covid-19 cases in May/June, our county moved from Phase 1 of recovery to Phase 1.5 to Phase 2. In Phase 2, people may congregate in groups of 5 (!) and stores/restaurants have re-opened in limited capacity. However, the protests/riots that took place in late May/early June as a result of the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, plus people that had quarantine fatigue and disregarded CDC guidance, sparked an increase in cases. With the number of confirmed cases on the rise, we are not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. The other day, our governor announced that counties in Phase 3, which previously allowed for people to congregate in groups of 50, may now only congregate in groups of 10.

It has been a rough spring/summer. My poor children. This is robbing them of their childhood. I hope (I pray!) that we will beat this virus and return to some level of normalcy in 2021. Hopefully this will be a small blip on the radar when my kids are grown and look back. But being here now, in the thick of it, is hard. I see my kids' emotional states declining. They miss their activities. They miss going to the pool. They miss school. They miss going out for dinner. We are all anxious for things to return to normal. But we continue to be grateful for all that we have - our health, our jobs, our home, our family and friends.

When King County (where we live), entered into Phase 1.5 in June, Tommy was able to start holding baseball practices. He would take five boys and work with them and his assistant coach, Ken, would take five other boys. They followed all the rules and started having practices twice a week. They were hopeful that our county would enter Phase 3 of recovery by early July so that they could participate in some local tourneys. Well, that did not happen so the tourneys were cancelled. This weekend, they are in Grays Harbor, a county about 2.5 hours from here that is in Phase 3. They are only able to play in this tourney because the governor's change to Phase 3 counties (no more than 10 people can gather) does not become effective until Monday. Phew! In order to meet the current 50-people requirement, Tommy was only able to allow 24 people to attend the tourney, including players, coaches and parents. Taylor, Brayden and I hung back as a result. The team played one game yesterday. They won 9-1. Matty was 3-3 at bat and had some amazing plays in the outfield (so I hear). They play one game today and possibly two games tomorrow. I cannot tell you how happy it made me to see Matty put his uniform on before he left yesterday. It is moments like that when I realize how much my kids are missing. Tommy and I told Matty to enjoy every moment this weekend because it will likely be the one and only tourney he plays in this summer.

Taylor and I flew to Arizona last month to visit my parents. I was initially going by myself to go with my dad to his neurologist appointment, but I decided last minute to bring Taylor along. It was a great trip - much needed mom/daughter/Mimi time and much needed time for Taylor to be away from her brothers. It was very strange to fly with masks on, but it was a small price to pay to see family. We enjoyed the sunshine and my parents' pool. Taylor and I were also thrilled to do a little shopping and go out for dinner (at that point, stores and restaurants were not open here). I love spending time with my parents. I will always laugh at the memory of my dad and Taylor watching Family Feud and eating Mike & Ike's together.

Taylor has disengaged from dance classes completely. She still loves dancing on her own, but she had no interest in signing up for any of the virtual summer skill builder classes that she usually takes. Sigh. She has developed a boba tea habit (thanks to the new tea place that opened in Newcastle), so she and her friends walk down for tea multiple times a week. At least she gets some exercise walking up our giant hill. I tease her that she is going to need a part-time job to pay for her fancy drink habit.

In June, I signed Brayden up for the swim team at our pool. At the time, we were all hopeful that the pool would be open enough that we could use it! Well, fast forward to today, and the pool is open for lap swimming only. In order to use the pool, members need to go online and make a reservation for a lane - one lane per person for a maximum of 45 minutes. The club announced last week that full refunds for the summer would be offered until 5:00 on 7/16. After that, remaining members would receive a 50% refund and roll the dice on whether the pool is able to reopen more in late-July/August. Well, after our governor announced the changes to capacities on Thursday, I promptly cancelled our pool membership. I received $700 back for the full refund, but I had already paid an additional $130 for Brayden to be on the swim team. He only made it to one practice. Ahhh!

Brian, Kristen, Emery and Josie flew up here for the 4th of July at the beach house and stayed for a week. It was soooo great to see them. The kids LOVED spending time with their cousins. Taylor was truly a Godsend for Brian and Kristen. She is so good with the girls and loves to watch them. She gave Bri and Kris a much needed reprieve from chasing Emmy around. Matty was helpful too, and at one point I saw Brayden reading a book to Emmy! Tommy and I both commented at how well-behaved our children were the entire four days/nights that we were at the beach. They enjoyed being "big kids" for a change - we let them stay up late and empowered them to watch their cousins - it also had lots to do with us not allowing them to bring their iPads. It was awesome spending time with family and doing something that is an annual tradition. This is one thing that was not cancelled this year!

After much angst, Tommy and I signed a remodel contract with Thornberg Construction. It was a long process to get here: our architect was insanely slow, the pandemic started about the time we were hoping to start the remodel, the permitting process took longer than it should have (primarily due to our architect), it was difficult to find a rental property, and the contract took hours (and legal counsel) to reach an agreement. The excavator is expected to arrive next week. We move into our rental house, which is thankfully just around the corner from our current home, on 7/27. I should probably stop typing and get back to packing.

And then there is school. UGH. We are all bracing ourselves for an announcement that school will be virtual in the fall. The school sent out a survey this week, and at this time, it looks like there is an exclusive e-learning option or a hybrid option. While I stronger prefer the hybrid option, I do not see how it will work. Kids are broken into groups. Each group goes to school two days a week and then does e-learning the other three days. I have no idea how this will work for students, teachers, and working parents. Everyone is in an impossible situation. There is no right answer.

So, that wraps up my life in a nutshell for today. Below are some pictures from the last month. I am not including the last day of school pictures since those are in a separate post.