First Reconciliation and VBS

We finally got to reschedule First Reconciliation from March!   The original plan was a family prayer service and family reconciliation.   With social distancing, they still held it in the sanctuary versus in the typical reconciliation room, but we did it one at a time.  William was a little nervous but he said he really enjoyed talking to Father.  He didn't share with me what he shared or his penance, but he was happy about the occasion. 

This year's Vacation Bible School was also updated in order for it to be held outdoors in stations where families (versus just the kids) rotated through.   I thought this was great, because we could pick an evening time, and because the events were geared to all ages versus the usual K-5. 

Little League

When Illinois moved to Phase 4, Little League games resumed. With a condensed schedule they have either 3 games/week or 2 games plus a practice.   Boy, you could tell those kids had been inside for 3 1/2 months!  They had cobwebs to knock off and very little physical stamina.   But William had a great catch as 2nd baseman to end the 1st inning of their first game and score a run after good base running even though he was walked every at bat.  As the season has progressed, the boys are becoming much more skilled and natural.   William has been playing mostly 2nd base and left field.  He had a great game this week where he was 3-for-3 with strong hits and also allowed 3 runners to score!   Our next door neighbors also came to cheer him on at one of his games last week.  He enjoyed having them there!

John is an assistant coach and during games is usually the 1st base coach.  But he did get to be the co-head coach at one game since the head coach was out of town.  Usually our neighborhood has nearly two teams of our own, but with so many families choosing to sit out this summer due to the unknowns, we only make up 1/2 a team.  But the other parents/kids we were paired up with this year share the same camaraderie and good spirit of our neighborhood teams, so it's been nice to get to know them as well.   And we knew one family already - William's best friend from daycare.  So that was a nice surprise. 

Due to COVID precautions, the teams don't shake hands after games - they line up and tip hats to one another.  And each kid has his own equipment including batting helmet and bat.  They also fist bump or elbow bump instead of high five.  But no one wears masks, and I worry about the kids being kids in the dugout.   Parents make some attempt to social distance as spectators - moving our lawn chairs around to stay far enough away from one another.   I usually have to move my chair a few times before a game in order to create space if people get too close for my comfort.   

Windows

Over winter, John and discussed what we wanted to invest in as our next "big project" around the house between patio, windows or carpet/trim upstairs. We decided on the patio and started making calls for that in February.  Well...thanks to COVID causing me to work from home since March and suddenly look at everything with a more critical eye AND causing the cancellation of our 2-week World War II history tour in Europe, I decided we should do the windows, too!

I was able to get referrals from several neighbors and quickly got initial quotes for fiberglass casement windows from three companies who just surveyed the house from the outside and asked me a few questions over the phone.   Once we picked the final one,  they did do an inside measure before finalizing the quote and order. 

The windows took about 2 1/2 days to install and then a fourth day when they sent a painter out to touch up some of the trim.   Due to them needing to be in/out/around the first and second floors, I moved my home office from the dining room to the basement for about a week, and every person on my Zoom calls mentioned it!  It's so funny how we get used to our colleagues' backgrounds and notice a difference!

The new windows look great - swapping out white for tan on the outside and white for brown on the inside.   They also block out a lot more noise which is great since birds were waking me at 4 a.m. with their songs.   I'm excited about the fiberglass instead of wood windows since they won't warp or require painting.  And I'm excited that the interior wood trim is now white.  So, as we continue to be home ALL.THE.TIME getting the rest of the upstairs trim (baseboards and doors) redone is moving up from a 2021 project to a 2020 project!

The after picture isn't a true after, because now we are going to paint the garage door trim and porch posts white, and we have already removed the porch railings to get a more clean, modern look.   As for Europe, we hope to reschedule that trip for summer 2021.   I was able to get cash refunds for hotels and flights, but I'm still battling to get our tour fee back as the company went bankrupt.   It appears to be fraud related versus COVID related, but thanks to COVID the travel insurance company took 11 weeks to respond to my claim.  Their response was "you bought your tour with a credit card so get your money from them."   I have a temporary credit from my credit card and expect that it will become permanent next month.   

Outdoorsy Stuff

In Phase 3, our neighborhood pool was able to open to members over age 15 for lap swim.  To respect the 10 people rule, it was 6 lanes with one swimmer each and 4 lifeguards/pool personnel.  Each half hour a different 6 swimmers rotated in but were required to start on the opposite side of the pool from the prior 6 swimmers so that we didn't share common space while packing up.   Masks were required walking in/out, and you had to sign up in advance via SignUp Genius for a specific time slot.  I was able to go 3 times before our trip to the Ozarks.   And then when we got back we were in Phase 4 and family swim began.  Although the lap lanes are still up during family swim, you can't really swim laps with the same zen as when you're in a designated lap swim time. 

But family swim has been fun.  Now it's limited to 50 swimmers, so 11 families are allowed to sign up per 2 hour slot.   After 1 hour, 45 minutes the families leave and the pool staff cleans before allowing in the next group of 11 families at the top of the hour.    For any sessions where less than 50 people are signed up (the math assumes an average family size of 4.5 people, but we are a family of 3), you can just "walk in" by signing in at the gate.    There are no deck chairs, concessions or lounging areas, so families are actually playing together!   Most summers moms sit in deck chairs talking and drinking with mom friends while the kids play together or stand in line to buy candy!  This year it's really families playing as family units.   Lots of people playing with balls or having diving board contests.  One night no one was going off the boards so we had one side and our neighbors had the other and the kids could practice diving off the side of the pool into the diving well.   You wouldn't get to do that very often in a normal summer!

We also got outside for a long bike ride one weekend.   We took the trail through our neighborhood forest preserve over to the next town and then navigated on the city streets (the mostly not high traffic ones!) to get to a DQ for an afternoon treat!  Then we retraced our steps home!

Another day this summer, the guys took out our new-to-us inflatable kayaks that were part of William's birthday present.  I had work to do and couldn't join them, but we also only have two kayaks, so not sure our long term plan!   They had a great time but William severely under applied his sunscreen for being on the water and got a bad burn on his ears, face and tops of his legs.   Time and lotion helped with the healing.  And he's been much more diligent with his sunscreen this summer for tennis and pool time.