2020 Family Vacation

At the end of July we were able to take our long awaited family vacation! I've been mentally planning this trip for a couple of years, and we finally booked it at the beginning of this year for May. Well, of course Covid happened and we decided at that time it was best to push it back, because so many things were still closed and the trip would have changed so much. We were supposed to start in North Carolina, spend a day in Huntsville, Alabama at the space & rocket center, head down to Gulfport, Mississippi, spend a couple days in Louisiana, and then a day in Memphis on the way home. We had to scrap some of those plans and shorten the trip by a few days to make it all work with Covid restrictions, but it still ended up being an awesome trip! 
We left on a Friday around lunchtime and drove for about 8 hours. I can't even remember what state we stopped for the night in....I think it was Kentucky. We pretty much just slept there, ate breakfast and were back on the road for about 4-5 more hours Saturday. We arrived in the mountain town of Murphy, NC late afternoon, grabbed our grocery order and headed to our cabin to explore. Everything was so beautiful! Murphy ended up being a lot different than we expected/planned for based on internet searches, which was disappointing, but we made the best of it! The highlights were hiking in the mountains, playing pool at the cabin, exploring all different kinds of nature, and visiting Fields of the Wood. I'll let the pictures do the talking! 

We stayed in Murphy for 3 nights, and then had a day of driving to get down to Gulfport, MS. We skipped over Alabama this time, since the museum had so many restrictions in place. When we got to Gulfport it was raining, so we pretty much just got our groceries, went out to dinner and got settled into our condo the first evening. It was forecast to rain the whole time we were there, but we had an open window the next morning, so we got down to the beach early. Turned out it never really rained again, which was great! It turns out that the beach in Gulfport doesn't have waves, which I had never heard. I've been to beaches all over the country & in Mexico and have never been to one without waves. It would've been great a few years ago when our kids were little, but we wanted waves! The kids had boogie boards and were ready for some fun! So we only ended up going to the beach in Gulfport (which was walking distance from our condo) once. The highlight of MS was taking a ferry out to Ship Island. It was about an hour ferry ride each way that goes out to a secluded island where there ARE waves and clear water! We spent an entire day there and did not regret it! So much fun. Other highlights from MS were tons of good seafood, the pool at the condo and the children's museum. 

After 4 nights in Gulfport we were off to a daytrip in New Orleans. We added this back in on the day we left our house. We were only an hour and a half away from NO and felt like we just had to go. At least for a few hours! I'm glad we did. We did a kid friendly tour of the French Quarter, had lunch and beignets and were on our way! 

We drove to Memphis that night, and were planning on getting breakfast at one of their really cool old breakfast places, but last minute decided that we don't live all that far from Memphis, so we'll just go back another time when we can actually enjoy it. We were ready to get home! On our night in Memphis, my little guy yanked his first tooth out! We had just gone to bed in the hotel room when he whispered for his dad to come over, and said "I pulled my tooth out." He was so nonchalant about it, and the tooth was definitely loose but really not ready to come out, so I think he had to have pulled it pretty hard! Not sure what made him decide that was the right time, but it was a big celebration.

 Another day of driving and we were home and recovering! It was a great trip and we got to mark 4 more states off our list! 

First Family Camping Trip

At the end of May, we decided to take the kids camping! The girls have gone once before, about 5 years ago, and the boys have never been. So this was really the first time we've all gone together and the first very memorable trip for both girls. We have a large 10 person tent, that ends up not feeling very large when you add an air mattress and 4 sleeping bags! So we were "roughing" it (although I don't consider it that rough when there's an air mattress involved.) We thought we had an outlet in the back of our van, so we brought an extension cord to plug into and inflate the air mattress (which has the built in blower thing). It turns out it was our old van that had the outlet so I had a moment of panic thinking about sleeping just on the ground, but my husband carried the mattress over to a site that had electric and asked if he could blow it up, then carried it back over his head once it was inflated...my hero. The campground we stayed at was about an hour from our house and is a Jellystone camp, which are all franchises so all a little different, but family friendly. There is a lake for fishing, swimming, boating and has this very cool inflatable jumping/obstacle course thing, a river and you can go tubing, a beach that our campsite was right next to, pool, and playgrounds. There are activities a few times a day, movie night Friday nights, hay ride Saturday nights, etc. Well I had called the week before to ask if things were all open back up post isolation and the lady on the phone told me yes. Turns out, nothing really was. So we couldn't do the lake, pool or obstacle course, playgrounds were roped off, and most of the activities weren't actually happening. It ended up being fine because it was not really water weather (high was around 70) and the kids had enough fun just exploring and playing on the sand at the "beach" (which had a large drop off right into a river, so we couldn't really wade out into the water or anything). We got there Friday late afternoon and set up our campsite while the kids played on the beach. I tried to do a lot of food prep ahead of time, and be strategic about what we brought to eat. After we got the camp set up, we made walking tacos on my husband's griddle over the fire. The kids played a ton around the campsite and beach that evening. We brought walkie talkies so our older kids could explore a little on their own if they wanted to, so my oldest took those and wandered a bit, and we generally just relaxed the evening away. 

We got in our tent around 9:30 once it was fully dark, but it was probably 11 before everyone around us got quite and we could all get to sleep. The kids did so great! I was worried about how they would sleep on the ground, when they would wake up with the sun coming in, etc. The lows got down into the 40s, so even though we brought warm pajamas, sleeping bags and extra blankets, I still wasn't sure if they'd all wake up freezing, but they did well! Everyone stayed pretty bundled up and I think I'd rather be cold then hot and sticky at night (due to the midwest humidity). Saturday the kids actually slept in later than I expected! I cracked all the eggs at home and diced up some veggies, so that was an easy breakfast we just had to cook up. We also surprised the kids with hammocks, so those went up first thing in the morning again (we had hung them later in the evening Friday) and were a huge hit! 

We spent most of the day Saturday at the beach and exploring the grounds. They set up laser tag at one point and tons of kids came from down where the RVs are for that. My oldest had fun doing that. We also attempted fishing, but had no luck. My middle daughter and youngest son spent just about the entire weekend at the beach....I felt like we would go hours without seeing them because they were just over there digging and burying and playing (we could see them from our campsite). Saturday lunch we made grilled cheese and dinner we let the kids roast hot dogs and brats over the fire. 

Even though we had planned on it being a lot more activities, it ended up being a really nice and relaxing weekend away. The kids did so well sleeping in the tent. I don't know that I would want to go for much longer than 2 days just because of the logistics of packing things for a family our size, but I think 2-3 nights is totally doable for us and everyone had a lot of fun! On Sunday, we were going to maybe try to do peddle boats, but we were all kind of ready to get going home by mid-morning. I had made muffins at home, so we had those for breakfast, and the kids were able to go to a craft time while my husband started breaking down the camp. Then, they played at the beach for awhile longer while we took down the tent and packed everything up.

 Camping is definitely a ton of work, but I think prepping so much in advance made it a lot easier for me to just unplug, relax and enjoy the weekend with my family! I'm hoping we can go again for one more weekend in the fall once it cools down a bit! 

Day In The Life During Coronavirus Isolation

I'm thinking there really isn't a better time for an updated day in the life post than during the Coronavirus isolation/quarantine that most of us are doing right now! On the one hand, our life isn't that much different since we already homeschool and are at home a lot during the day anyway, but on the other hand it really is. My husband is home working now, the boys don't have preschool in the afternoons, the girls have no activities or classes, and we don't get to just leave the house to see friends or go to a park or fun place. So it is different! I know this will be something I want to look back on one day when Covid-19 is (hopefully) but a distant memory for us all! 

Monday, March 23, 2020

9:00 I finally drag myself out of bed. Ever since time change my kids have been sleeping in, and during this whole quarantine I've found myself more tired and off schedule than usual. A few kids are already up, so I wake the last one up and get the morning going. We have breakfast (waffles & I make a green smoothie for myself and my husband) and the kids start on their morning checklists. These have been pretty casual and the kids have been wanting to stay in PJs pretty much every day, which I am really ok with. They still need to do things like feed the dog, brush their teeth, unload the dishwasher and make their beds. I get myself dressed in casual/comfy clothes and brush my teeth and then I'm pretty much ready for the day. I haven't worn makeup in over a week. 

10:00 We are finally getting started on school! We start with Bible and the kids are asked to think about what it would be like to be on death row (which also means I have to explain the death penalty first) and then they draw a picture of what they would ask for for their last meal. It leads to a good gospel conversation. I love the catechism curriculum! 

10:20ish We move on to science. We are starting a new unit on the human body and our first lesson is on muscles. We look in a bunch of our Usborne human body books and learn more about muscles, the girls start a human body flip book, they do a corresponding math activity to find out what the hardest working muscle is  and we watch a video about muscles. (Lest you think it's all nice and quiet around here, my kids run around for pretty much the whole rest of the day yelling about shaking their gluteus maximus lol!) 

11:40 Science took longer than usual today so we are getting a late start on language arts. Our language arts lesson for today is a little different. Last week we hit a lesson where we were supposed to have 3 books from this one author to read. Of course, the libraries are closed now and these are pretty old books and a lot are out of print (I hate when curriculums ask you to get books that you can't find!), but luckily I was able to find exactly 3 of his books on Amazon and we got them over the weekend. So we're coming back to that lesson. 2 of the books are more wordy so I am going to just do them as read alouds and continue on with other lessons, but for today, especially since we're running so behind, I just do that as our lesson. I give out spelling words for the week and the girls work on spelling and handwriting while I read A Lion to Guard Us.

Sometime after we get done with read aloud, the girls do their math lessons. They're learning about fractions right now. 

12:30 I've gotten our family set up with an account from Prodigies music lessons. I've been looking into this for a few months, was going to wait and see if the classes my girls go to is going to offer music next year before purchasing, and then I got an email that they, like everyone else, is doing a free trial right now, so I went ahead with it. My boys have actually been doing it more than the girls! I set them up with the first lesson on the tv today and they loved it. One of my girls joins them while the other finishes up math and I get lunch (mac and cheese) fixed. 

12:45ish We're all eating lunch. My husband comes out from his "office" (our bedroom) for awhile since he's got a break in meetings for awhile, so we catch up on our mornings while the kids eat. 

1:10 As the girls finish up eating, they work on finishing and addressing their penpal letters so we can walk down to the mailbox and get those and a few other things sent off. 

1:25 We all take a family walk around the neighborhood, stopping to drop off and pick up mail. It's pretty nice out (it snowed yesterday) so it feels good to stretch our bodies out and get some fresh air, and the kids love having daddy join us in the middle of the day! We go around our circle a few times. Some of the kids pick up bikes at some point in the adventure. 

2:00 My husband has another conference call to hop on, so we get home and get everybody situated with quiet time (much later than usual, but the time outside was necessary!!) Everybody is having some quiet reading time for a bit while I get things cleaned up in the kitchen and get ready for my own quiet time. 

2:25 My boys are doing "virtual preschool" on a facebook page their teachers sent. It's not their teachers, but a page their teachers follow and this teacher is doing large group lessons every day. We don't catch them live, so I've been having the boys do them during this time. They're at that hard age where they could really use a nap but if they nap they won't go to bed well at night, and they're used to going to preschool in the afternoon. So it's been a bit tricky figuring out how to keep them quiet ish and busy during this time. A half hour of preschool time helps. 

I sit down with my Bible and Hebrews study while the boys are doing their preschool and the girls are downstairs playing quietly. 

3:00 The boys head downstairs to join the girls and they all start tv time. I am folding a bunch of laundry at this point, since I didn't do any over the weekend. After laundry I get caught up on some house things while the kids are watching their show. 

4:15 Husband is done working and we head downstairs to workout. Leg day for both of us. Most of the kids join us and one is off doing her own thing (more and more these days....I can feel a new season on the horizon with my oldest)! 

5:00 We are done working out and I head upstairs for a shower, while my husband and son cook dinner. He is grilling a pork loin and they make rolls, mashed potatoes, and veggies to go with it. It was all so yummy! We ate around 6. 

6:30 We've started a new post dinner cleanup routine. I recently realized my kids could totally be helping with the after dinner cleanup so I asked them to help me one night. One dried the pots and pans after I washed them, 2 cleaned off the table and chairs, and one vacuumed around the kitchen and dining area and wiped down the counters. It all went so smoothly and we were done in no time! So I made a checklist and now after dinner they grab the list, each chooses a job and gets after it. When they're done with their task, they go back to the list and choose another one, and do this until all the jobs are done! We're usually done in 10 minutes and my kitchen is getting cleaned up way more than ever before (I was horrible about cleaning the table or under it after meals before)! 

6:45 The kids play for a bit and my husband starts building our new bar stools. I loved our old ones so much and am sad to get rid of them, but they were breaking and after several repairs that weren't lasting, it was time. 

7:00 My friend Megan and her son Dax stop by to do a game swap! Megan always has the best ideas! We've set out Ticket to Ride Jr. and my middle made a little activity page/card for Dax on the porch, and we talk to them through the window for awhile. This is all so weird that this is how we're communicating with people now. It's the highlight of the day and we're all glad for some non-family human interaction! 

7:35ish The girls and I sit down to read Harry Potter. We are almost finished with book 2. I've never read them either so it's been fun reading them all together! My husband is finishing up bar stools and then the boys get ready for bed. 

8:00 The girls do their bedtime checklists and head off to bed around 8:15 or 8:30. 

I intended to write this blog post then, but I was really tired so once Tony was done with the barstools (I think around 9 or 9:30), we put them up, and headed off to our room to get ready for bed and then  mindlessly watch tv until bed (around 11). 

I would say the biggest differences during this quarantine are no school for the boys, husband home and around here and there throughout the day, not going places (we go out almost every day in regular life to a park, playdate, store, etc.) and less of a structured routine (hello sleeping until 9 a.m.....) But this has been a pretty typical day for us so far during the quarantine! 

December 2019

December! And I'm actually writing it IN December!! 

The month started off with a little music program for the girls, that was really cute. It's so hard to get decent pictures at these things.

We were off to Houston shortly after that! I'll do a whole separate post for this, since I do like to document our trips. 

When we got back, we were fully immersed in the Christmas season! 

We did a Christmas lights night...

A girl's Christmas lunch & shopping...

And baked Christmas treats for the neighbors, which are all some of our favorite December traditions! 

My husband & I worked really hard on things in our master bedroom, and it's finally just about finished (2 years after we moved in), and I'm REALLY excited about that! 

The girls had a girl's overnight at their grandparents, and their annual fancy Christmas lunch with their great aunt & uncle, neither of which I have pictures of, unfortunately!

We celebrated our 11th anniversary!

We spent Christmas Eve with my in laws and extended family! 

Slept by the fire on Christmas Even night, per tradition.

And had a magical and cozy Christmas day at home! Temps were in the 50s, so we spent a ton of time outside, enjoying new gifts, playing games and eating good food together! 

We've spent the last week relaxing, playing with new toys and games, and getting our house back in order from the holidays. 

Happy New Year to you and yours! Here's to a great 2020!