COVID Day 92 – Friday, June 12

This morning flew by.  Justin suggested I look at some options for a family getaway for this summer and before I knew it hours had past.  It sure would be nice to do something fun this summer as a family away from the home we’ve been cooped up in for months. In truth I don’t mind the cooped up part, but I always enjoy vacationing.  We’re highly considering spending a week in Sunriver, Oregon as a family in August.

Katie and Drew had class calls today as well as piano lessons.  Drew rode his bike alongside Justin running.  It wasn’t raining when they left, but that didn’t last long.  They came home soaked.  You can’t tell from this picture, but I liked it more because of the socks Drew was wearing.

I snuck in a walk around the neighborhood (including death hill) in the late afternoon and then showered and actually got dressed in an actual outfit as Justin and I were heading out for dinner.  Restaurants are allowed to open now for indoor dining so long as they don’t exceed 25% capacity.  So we made a reservation at one of our favorites – Maggiano’s – which happens to be the restaurant we last ate in clear back on March 13.  Three months.  We currently have a BOGO free there and rumor has it that discount will be ending soon so we’ve been trying to maximize it.  It was delicious but noticeably different.  The servers wore masks and gloves.  They’ve removed the majority of their tables and chairs to comply with social distancing guidelines.  The menus are one-time-use.  They don’t refill your water, instead they bring you a new water glass.  The new norm I guess – at least for a while.  It was nice to be able to go out and enjoy great food not from a take-out box.

Most of our dates include a trip to the grocery store and tonight was no different.  I had one last $10 off $40 coupon at Fred Meyer to use so we struggled our way through the store to accumulate enough groceries to qualify for the discount.  It’s crazy how hard that is for our family of seven. I have a hard time buying food when it’s not on sale and I know I can get it cheaper somewhere else.

Justin and I watched another episode of Sherlock, but ended up not finishing until after 1am because we had so many interruptions from the girls about curfews, car use, family responsibilities, etc… Teens are so fun.

• June 12: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 25,538 with 1,213 deaths.   Today we reached over 2 million cases in the U.S.

COVID Day 91 – Thursday, June 11

More vivid dreams last night, but instead of waking up refreshed I woke up pretty groggy.  I picked up my phone though and took a couple notes from what I remember.

• There was a group of teens wearing swimsuits doing fitness classes in our neighboring backyards, in the rain.  They had some legit heavy hand weights and they were sitting on each other shoulders.  In my dream I woke up seeing that out my bedroom window and immediately started a Marco polo to show my own fitness friends the crazy sight and find out if we were gonna exercise.
• There was some lady asking me about the individual births of each of my kids as she predicted heights of my kids. Trouble was I can’t remember the details, which seems so unmaternal.  She was starting to say Abigail would be 6’ 3” which lost all validity in my mind because I knew Abigail was done growing. 
• We visited DJ and Susi down in Auburn, though it didn’t look at all like their house. In fact their living room couch backed right up next to a public street/sidewalk and there wasn’t any barrier between the two. I remember sitting in the spot where their dog was just sitting and that they had two of their kids living in a small house in their backyard.  Susi had just had surgery which is the only accurate aspect from the dream.
• I was Carly – kind of – and was hanging out/napping in Caylee and Emily’s (my cousin/nieces) room at their dad Alans apartment while they weren’t home.  As I was leaving I got to my car and realized I’d left my phone in the apartment.  Alan was waiting by the door with the phone and I used the excuse that I’m not used to adulting since I’m haven’t gotten used to having a license yet.  Turns out I’d also left my coat which happened to be the black and white coat Tyrone left me when he went on his mission.  I held onto that coat for decades before finally donating it.   

Weird, right?  It would be interesting to hear what a dream interpreter would say about those random dreams. 

Katie and Drew joined me while I was in bed reading scriptures.  We also started listening to the Don’t Miss This video covering the next session of Come Follow Me but Justin had to take a call so we got relegated to the bonus room.

My Mom sent a fun package in the mail with some Lego candies and M&M’s – we’re suckers for sweets so they kids thought it was the best ever (Thanks Mom!).  They divided up the candies evenly.

K&D both had class calls today and Carly was asked to sit on a committee with the high school to determine how classes should proceed in the fall. I’m slowly chipping away on my to-do list.  I’m not sure why I’m feeling like I have so many things I need/want to work on, but it’s making the days fly by – too fast actually.  I was seriously derailed this afternoon when the kids asked me to look into how to get access to the popular game Minecraft.  This led me down the rabbit hold of researching gaming consoles – which I have totally mixed feelings about and actually looked into at the beginning of this whole COVID thing.  I chatted online with a Xbox gaming “expert” to try to uncover all the hidden costs associated with the Xbox.  Apparently you by the console, some even come with some games, but in order to play the games you have to subscribe to their “Live Gold” membership which is so frustrating to me. Just yesterday I had to subscribe to software for my camera.  I don’t like all these monthly fees without gaining any equity.

I had some extra chicken from earlier in the week and whipped together a chicken a rice dish with a bunch of leftovers from the fridge and it was so delicious.  Abigail and Carly weren’t home yet when we ate (even though I gave them ample notice) by the time they meandered in dinner was gone. They didn’t stick around long and both left to hang out with friends as soon as they got their laundry done.  The rest of us watched Cheaper by the Dozen.

• June 11: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 25,171with 1,204 deaths.   

COVID Day 90 – Wednesday, June 10

I had some pretty vivid dreams last night and woke up around 6am feeling pretty awake; however, that’s much too early for me even if I was feeling refreshed so I willed myself back to sleep until 7:30am which is still much earlier than I’m used to these days.  The early morning gave me some time to read some of our next chapters in Alma and go through emails before getting up and moving for the day.

I discovered this morning that I can’t open any of the RAW files from my new camera until I upgrade my photoshop software – I’ve known this was coming and haven’t updated my mac operating system for the same reason, but alas it’s time. Unfortunately Adobe now only has subscription based plans that you pay for monthly which means you don’t actually own anything once you quit paying monthly.  I’d much rather pay once and use it until it’s completely obsolete. Anyhow, decisions to be made about exactly what my needs are…

After lunch JK&D and I went to play tennis.  The kids rode their bikes to our neighborhood park, but unfortunately someone had just arrived and claimed the court.  So they rode down to the YMCA courts and all three of those courts were taken.  So I had them ride to Carmichael park which thankfully was empty.  The idea was for Jason and I to play tennis and K&D to ride bikes – that only lasted about 20 minutes and then K&D wanted in on the action.  Just image how that went with two complete tennis novices, one slightly tennis-familiar tween, and a mediocre tennis-loving adult.  It was a zoo.  We played around for about 20 minutes and then it started to pour so we had to quickly call it quits and load up the bikes on the back of the van and head home.

Once again Drew spend lots of time looking at cruises.  The kid is obsessed!  

This is the first week we haven’t had a meal plan in place so we’ve been winging it and I dislike that VERY much.  It’s been so nice to know ahead of time what we’ll be eating for dinner and who will be preparing it.  I really hope we can continue to have the kids cooking regularly throughout the summer. Gotta get back on that ASAP!

We watched the third High School Musical movie (FHJKD) after dinner and then Justin and Jason played another round of chess before bed.

A fun fact is that Snoqualmie once again ranked as Washington’s safest city for the third year in a row.  Safewise complied FBI Crime Report statistics and population data to rank cities across the state of Washington (and the U.S. and other states as well).  

I really do love where we live!

• June 10: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 24,779 with 1,194 deaths.   

COVID Day 89 – Tuesday, June 9

Looks like this week will be pretty rainy – which is typical for June in the PNW.  It seems strange but I think we actually have better weather in May and then June likes to remind us that summer doesn’t official start until after July 4 so we need to be patient.  I feel like I was busy all day.  I ended up selling some of Katie’s old clothes which led me to post a few more things online that we need to get rid of.  Organizing and taking pictures of those always take more time than it should, but my time is not worth much so earning a bit of money is worth it to me.

Katie was able to finish up the puzzle I worked on last night before I even work up this morning.  Another puzzle complete!  This one was 750 pieces and now that it’s complete Drew wants to start a 1000 piece puzzle next.  

The kids had very little schoolwork today so they were anxious to get some tech time so I had to find some chores for them to complete.  One of Katie’s chores was grading Carly’s practice ACT test – ha!

We tried a new pasta dish tonight with chicken, lemon and asparagus.  I thought it was good but could tell it was a light version and stepping it up with cream instead of milk woulda been extra yummy.  The asparagus had mixed reviews from the kids, but that’s to be expected though they all ate it without complaint.  I think we’ve only cooked them asparagus one other time.

Drew was very excited for Abigail to get home from Sunriver tonight.  He’s really going to miss her when she goes away to school.

When Jason finished his virtual deacons quorum activity I played a couple games with JKD that still needed to be played and then after K&D went to bed, and Justin had finished his church call, Justin and Jason played chess while I organized our card games.  Apparently Jason gave Justin more of a challenge than he anticipated – with a little practice Jason might just dominate.  

• June 9: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 24,642 with 1,190 deaths.   

COVID Day 88 – Monday, June 8

Because I spent so much time with the family this weekend it seemed I had a lot I needed to get done today.  I spent a little time this morning working on the new puzzle Katie and Drew got started, but mostly I was in the office attacking my to-do list.  Justin took Katie and Drew with him on his workout around lunch time – they rode bikes while he ran laps.  

This afternoon I finally got to play around with my new camera.  I love it!  It’s going to take some time to get everything set up the way I want it and to familiarize myself with the new features and button placement but it’s amazing. I’ve been waiting years to upgrade.

J on the Wii, Katie watching a show and Drew observing

Precisely where you will find Carly 92% of the day

The other 8% of the day (notice there is still a device in hand) - I'm kidding, but just a bit

Drew has been watching lots of videos about the cruise we are hoping to go on in December

Today was cold, but dry so I pleaded with Carly to play tennis with me.  Thankfully she conceded and joined everyone at Jeanne Hansen Park.  Jason, Justin, Carly and I played tennis a bit and when it started to sprinkle Jason, Katie and Drew rode their bikes home.  I decided to let Justin and Carly hit around and I walked laps around the track for exercise.  

I ended up working on our current puzzle until midnight while Justin was working in our room.

• June 8: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 24,354 with 1,176 deaths.   Today we passed 110,000+ deaths in the United States with over 1.9 million cases.

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COVID Day 87 – Sunday, June 7

The timing today felt off all day – we slept in and didn’t get around to having sacrament until 2pm, followed by CFM.  Somewhere in there we finished another puzzle.  

Then we watched a movie – Spies in Disguise which was actually quite funny.  Jason found some balloons and the kids had fun playing with those….

Leftover pizza and donuts for lunch/dinner after we broke our fast.  Then a game of monopoly with Justin, Katie and Drew.  Jason was going to play but didn’t get the piece he wanted so that was the end to that.  It was more fun than I anticipated, but that’s probably only because I won.  We’re still trying to make our way through all our games. 

We saw a couple pictures from Abigail’s Sunriver adventures.  After they had “cabin church” they visited an alpaca farm and did a short hike at Smith Rock.

After Katie and Drew went to bed Justin and I relearned how to play Thurns and Taxis with Jason.  It was a really fun rediscovery, and not just because I won again (wink).  Then after Jason went to bed Justin and I watched another episode of Sherlock.  So where was Carly all day?  In her room, but phoneless today.  Still couldn’t sway her into joining us for any games and she was taking a practice ACT test when we watched the movie.

• June 7: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 24,041 with 1,161 deaths.  

COVID Day 86 – Saturday, June 6

I’m not quite sure when my “COVID” days should stop – as noted, yesterday we moved into phase 1.5 which did not exist a few weeks ago, but since the requirements to move into phase 2 were so high they introduced a modified phase 1 to allow some businesses to open up.  By no means are we back to normal – who knows if we ever will be – and technically in phase 1.5 we are supposed to limit our exposure to less than 5 people outside of our household per week so I think I’ll keep the COVID count on until we reach phase 2 or wrap up the school year on June 19.

Anyhow, Justin and I slept in this morning and I commented how nice it is that our kids don’t need us in the morning and can totally take care of their needs on their own.  I like waking up on my own terms.  Grandpa Fletcher’s birthday is tomorrow so I called him this morning to ask if we could bring down some type of goodie tomorrow for him to enjoy.  He requested donuts from our local bakery and we were happy to oblige.  Since we would be picking them up today to avoid shopping on the sabbath we decided it would actually work best, and taste better, to deliver them today.  Justin and I were planning a lunch date to pick up Cheesecake Factory to take advantage of a promo for free cheesecake, but we put that on hold until the later afternoon and rallied the kids to get ready to head to the bakery and Maple Valley.  Carly had yet to drive on Hwy 18 and since the traffic would be light today I decided to take courage and have her be our driver in the van for the day. She did great and will only get better with more practice.  

There is a planned protest this afternoon by the bakery in North Bend and it surprised and saddened me to see so many of the stores in town boarded up to protect themselves from any looting.  Our local business have already had such a hard time during these last few months that the possibility of looting and violence against them is hard to see.  Thankfully, the protest remained peaceful and was a great experience for all those that participated with their families.

Today was off and on rainy, but we had a nice break while we were at Grandma & Grandpa’s. We set up some camping chairs outside and laid out two dozen delicious donuts and some chocolate milk for everyone to enjoy.  It was a nice visit and just as were wrapping up the skies opened and it started to pour – quick good-byes and we were on the road.

Carly had a babysitting gig back home at 3, but we had just enough time to swing by Little Caesars to take advantage of a $3.99 pizza deal – we brought home SIX pizzas and have lots of leftovers.  Justin and I left shortly after we got home to head into Bellevue.  It was eerie downtown with everything boarded up.  

You could see some of the strip malls that had been smashed in last weekend.  

The Cheesecake Factory was looted last weekend so all their windows were covered in plywood. It was so dark inside when I went in to pick up our food.  So sad. The last time we got takeout in Bellevue we ate in the car at a little park near the mall – that was all closed up tonight so I looked at the map and saw we were near Meydenbauer Bay Park which was right on Lake Washington.  A few minutes later we were there and it was gorgeous.  We still ate in the car since it was a bit windy, but afterward we stayed and enjoyed the park for over an hour.  Now that we know this beautiful little park is right near downtown Bellevue we’ll be sure to be back.

The sun felt so great. We sat down on a bench and let it warm our faces.  I even laid down to try to catch a quick nap but we were interrupted by some teens playing on the closed playground – punks.

Even though we had our free cheesecake in the car I suggested we swing by Chick-fil-A to split a shake – a delicious way to quench my thirst.  Justin and I watched an episode of Sherlock tonight after the littles went to bed.

• June 6: Confirmed cases in Washington state – 23,729 with 1,159 deaths.