We are currently living through a pandemic. I never thought in a million years something like this would ever happen in my lifetime. Life is very uncertain at this time, and we have no idea when it will look "normal" again. We are pretty much on lockdown and have been for almost a month now. Stores are closed(besides essential businesses), kids are out of school, and social distancing is a requirement. We are home together 24/7. We can't travel and barely leave the house unless it's to walk or play outside. Ella is doing "distance learning" Tuesday-Thursday. She corresponds with teachers and classmates through videos and chats. They will not be able to finish out their school year. Ella will never go back to her school's campus since she is starting middle school. I had no idea the last time I picked her up would be the last pick up in that parking lot. She won't get to say goodbye to her teachers or celebrate the end of the school year. Paige is repeating Pre-k next year but won't be able to see her current classmates again. There was no closure for either of them, and that is very sad.
We had so many fun things planned for this year. We were supposed to go to Florida, California, Disney, and Colorado. One by one we have canceled or rescheduled with no idea if future plans will even work out. It's scary to go anywhere right now or be around anyone. It's sad when you can't even see your own family. Face masks and gloves are becoming normal. We will drive down the road, and Paige will ask me whey people are wearing masks in their cars. Parking lots are empty. Roads aren't congested. Most people are staying at home.
This would be much more manageable if we could just have an end date. The uncertainty of all this is the hardest thing to deal with at this point. We can't even make future plans, because we have no idea what the future looks like.
We are trying to make the best of this though. If I have learned one thing in my lifetime, it's definitely that hard times are temporary. It might suck now, but this will pass. It may not pass as fast as I would like it to, but I will pass. I'm trying to make the most of my time at home because I know we will never get this time back.
Let's recap....
On March 13th it was announced that school would be out until April 1st. We were to have a two-week spring break. We were still planning to go on our Florida spring break as we didn't know how serious things would get so quickly. I was still in denial about how bad this really was. We kicked off the week with the excitement of an extra week of spring break and our upcoming beach trip. By midweek we realized it was not safe to go to the beach. Other Florida towns were closing beaches and telling people to stay home. Much to my dismay, I rescheduled our beach trip to this coming fall break. Fingers crossed that works out.
We try to get outside as much as we can. It's the only thing that makes staying at home bearable.
Our house has been an absolute mess. It's a constant battle trying to pick up and keep things clean for my own sanity.
Adam decided to back into a puddle of water as a joke and killed our golf cart. My only form of entertainment was in the shop for almost a month getting fixed.
Rain or shine we play outside.
We got out the water table this day and filled it with rain water. Paige thought it was a lot of fun.
Adam's RC car has also been a big part of our entertainment.
We were supposed to go to Destin for spring break but had to cancel that. Good thing we did, because beaches closed that weekend we would have left. Instead, we rented a cabin in Gatlinburg for our first "quarantine vacation." I packed all the food we would possibly need so we didn't have to go to the store. We had absolutely nothing planned since everything was closed in Gatlinburg. We drove six hours non stop with no potty breaks. We went through the drive-thru at Chick Fil A and ate in the car. My bladder was about to explode by the time we arrived, but we made it.
We rented a cabin right on a stream so that was part of our entertainment for the week. The weather was rainy almost the entire time we were there which was a bummer, but we still made the most of it.
Our cabin was in a nice area and 20 minutes outside of Gatlinburg. I'm not sure if I would stay there again, but it was perfect for this type of vacation.
The neighbor's dog loved Ella.
Paige and I played memory a few times. She has yet to learn the right way to play games. She can't help but cheat.
It poured rain the last day but stopped long enough for a picture. It was nice to get away, but we were so ready to get home. It was great to see the sunshine again.
Once we returned home we prepared for an entire month at home since we were under a "stay at home order." Ella was also due to start distance learning after spring break.
The weather was absolutely fabulous for a few days. Elliott loved napping out in the yard.
Paige was able to play in the hose and her water tables.
Poor Elliott can not walk as far as he used to. I had to carry him a long way home.
We have spent a ton of time out on the golf course. Thank goodness for this big open space.
Kona Ice has been going through our neighborhood during our stay at home order. It's been great to walk out the door and get a snow cone. It's the little things these days that make this a little more bearable.
We have also been taking their bikes over to the school parking lot. We do not have time to do these like this with school in session unfortunately so it's been nice to have more time to do stuff like this.
Ella was so ready to start distance learning and overall it's been a pretty good experience. Their schedule is lined out each week, and they have made it as simple as possible. Besides the social aspect of school that I know she gets, I don't miss her being at school. Her schooling is, unfortunately, a huge part of my stress. I don't miss driving 45 minutes round trip to drop her off and pick her up. I don't miss dealing with teachers. I don't miss any of it. I know they will both go back (in the fall hopefully), but I'm enjoying this while I can.
Paige has been the biggest challenge during distance learning. I have to help Ella at times and keep Paige entertained at the same time. I have said many times I need to clone myself.
I hit an all time low and had two big bottles of wine delivered to our house. I hope the neighbors did see the yellow van with "Liquor Locker" printed on the side. I have been able to have almost everything delivered during this time.
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