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. 

     

Lake of the Ozarks

We had been planning a Princess Party to Disney with our good friends, but decided to cancel after Florida became a hot spot and with Disney having various cancellations and changes that wouldn't be fun for a "one and done" sort of trip.  As an alternative we rented a house at Lake of the Ozarks.   The number one requirement was that it have its own swimming pool.    There aren't many of those but we found a neat VRBO on the lake with a pool and boat dock.   We brought the food we wanted for the week and cooked - or got delivery - so that we didn't have to interact much with the partying and mask-free Ozarks that made national headlines over Memorial Day weekend!   It was a warm, sunny and fun week!  I was thrilled to just hang out in the pool for hours and finish reading two books.   A truly relaxing getaway!

 

Anniversary Dinner

Only a week after all of our social distancing birthday party efforts, William went to his best buddy's in person birthday party.   John and I had trouble deciding what to do - and the friend's parents did, too - but ultimately they decided to host a backyard bounce house party for a few buddies and relatives, and we decided to let him go.

Since we found ourselves with a free Friday evening and patio dining opened on June 1st, we decided to venture out to a sushi restaurant in our downtown to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary.  Our downtown area is very popular for our city of 155,000 people and for neighboring towns, so it's always swarming with people and parking is a pain.    We had no trouble finding a parking spot, but the sidewalks were relatively normal.   John pointed out that was because anyone who was downtown right now was outside.   Normally there are thousands more inside of the restaurants and shops. 

After we put our name in for our table, we stood along the upper tier of the Riverwalk and noticed at there were three or four high school or college age boys who were swimming/showing off/goofing off in the river.   While the river is very popular for kayaks and canoes and paddle boats it is absolutely not for swimming!  I was shocked the police didn't happen by considering they were patrolling in greater numbers after the recent vandalism following more peaceful protests.   But, alas, no one but cold water and boredom eventually got the swimmers out!

We wore masks walking through the downtown streets and into/out of the restaurant lobby (such as when I had to go inside for the bathroom) but no masks on the patio seated at our table.   Instead of a menu there was a QR code to scan to bring it up on your phone.   Waiters were wearing plastic gloves (which I don't think are better than washed hands) but then the waiter touched my phone to show me a drink I might like.  So, clearly a work in progress.    Our food was amazing!  My favorite was actually a vegetarian roll called Green Goddess that had creamy avocado.  After dinner we walked through downtown some more to see all of the Black Lives Matters and other signs that popped up after the protests of the prior week.    Some were hanging on windows and railings and some were plastered over the plywood that covered shop windows. 

A Trip to the City

I had to make my first trip into my office on June 2.   It had been planned for awhile to coincide with when our mail room and tax processing team would have a large batch of tax returns that needed by signature and mailed out.   But it happened to fall right after a weekend of protests following the death of George Floyd, so the Loop was barricaded.   Usually to get to my office is about a 3-5 minute drive from the expressway.   This day all of the drawbridges into the Loop were raised (and heavy trucks also blocked them) to control traffic flow so I had to drive past my usual bridge and just keep going into the detoured traffic flow.   The one that was down where traffic was directed had a security checkpoint.  I had to show my driver's license and say that I was headed to my office and its location.    The reason for the precautions was that many of the looters from the prior days were coming in from out of town.    It took me an extra 30 minutes to get to my building.  And then I'd already been warned our parking garage was locked so I had to park on the street outside the building.  However, streets were totally deserted of people, so I wasn't worried about having my car out all day.    It was an eerie combination police presence to get into the city combined with empty streets and an empty office building once I arrived. 

 

 

 

The building had been outfitting with mask wearing signs on the doors and social distancing markers in the elevators, but I didn't see anyone except the 3 people working on my mailing.  I thought I'd feel very nostalgic about being back in the office but I did not.  It was so weird to see where everyone had been working one day and then were not.   Water bottles on desks; sweaters on the backs of chairs; dressy shoes under desks.   Just like time stopped and the people left.  Though apparently the cleaning crew is in regularly because the plants had been watered and were alive.  I did what I was there to do and left.

Last Day of 5th Grade Photo

First and last day photos.   I would have loved a first and last day in uniform photo but I couldn't interest William in putting on a uniform after 10 weeks off!

Stay at Home: Days 71-76 (The Series Ends)

Day 71:

"Baking" with the fresh fruit involved oranges soaked in vodka to start brewing orangecello (limoncello with oranges...).   I also made applesauce in the Instantpot and used some leftover juice from canned peaches to give it a little more zip.  But the real winner was stuffed bagel balls! Delicious and so easy!

 

Day 72:
Chef William wasn't satisfied with just applesauce for those apples!  He wanted to make an apple pie.  It was as real labor of love, but it turned out so delicious!   We started the morning making the double crust.   While it was chilling, he used a borrowed tool that peeled, cored and sliced the apples.   We used a recipe that called for a caramel sauce to pour over the holes in the top crust.  Originally we forgot to leave the holes for that so had to add them.  Made a little messy of a top but yum!  We enjoyed it warm with vanilla ice cream.   Truly the most delicious kitchen collaboration!

Day 73:

Optional school today consisted of correcting and resubmitting 1 of 2 assignments from last week and otherwise doing who knows what?   There was a lot of TV and I was shown various stages of a helicopter Lego free build in between my calls.   Good think baseball and tennis start later this month.  His Chromebook died (1 week and 1 year after purchase) so not much YouTube time in the immediate future without a device.

William started his birthday celebrations by opening the first gift that was shipped to him:  a Lego set that Uncle Ryan sent last week.   As he opened it while Facetiming with Ryan, everyone's shock set it as the box didn't contain Darth Vader's lair....it was a 15 pound bag of Iams dog food!   (Jump ahead to day 76 - his actual birthday - and the right box arrived!  This Facetime was much better!  The building has commenced!)

Day 74:

With school activities limited today, William joined me on a bike ride to pick up a set of glass bottles from a neighbor's porch.  Since he is good at math, he realized I don't need all three for my orangecello and commandeered one for his own creation.  This is fresh lemon, fresh squeezed orange juice, orange zest, white cherry Gatorade and lemonade.   It's still brewing....

Day 75:

Today I had to drop off William's school books and pick up his locker contents and leftover supplies.  We also got the summer math packet and learned he was selected for Honors Pre-Algebra next year.   Super proud!  His favorite subjects are the same as mine:  math and history!    Grades were also posted and he finished the quarter with straight As.   So proud of his resiliency at a new school and in a whole new world! 

He got to Facetime with family and unwrap more gifts that were shipped to him for his birthday.  He's so excited for his big day!

Day 76:

What a day!  Last day of school, graduation parade through the neighborhood and William's 11th birthday!   A full Friday of fun and love!

The morning started out with donut breakfast (he specifically requested "the donuts we ate at Disney World for Christmas," so we ate these boxed donuts!) and his gift from John:  a remote control monster truck!  I have to admit that neither William or I "got" it at first since he's never thought about one but it turned out to be so much fun!   By the end of the day he was zipping it all over the neighborhood and talking about how it was a great reason to be outside to play!   (Good job, Daddy!)

 My contributions to the day were to arrange for these candles to be set up in the yard - a project a few entrepreneurial neighbor boys devised - and to commission Minecraft-themed cupcakes from another neighbor girl to deliver to his buddies in advance of a Zoom birthday party.   It took us 3 hours to deliver 4 sets of cupcakes since at each stop the kids were so excited to see each other and an impromptu front or backyard playdate ensued.   At his buddy Dominic's they even managed to do some tree climbing!   Back at home there was a Zoom to collectively eat the cupcakes and talk and then the party moved onto a connected Fortnite match with each boy playing from home.   An unusual but very successful celebration!

 

And the day ended with a neighborhood parade celebrating all the graduates.   It was high school graduates followed by the 8th grade and 5th grade graduates.  William chose not to participate, so we sat on our driveway and waved at all the friends driving by.  We decorated his chair with the 11 helium balloons he received as a birthday gift from our neighbors.    He was overjoyed with those balloons!   The day was filled with so many wonderful surprises for our fantastic kid!

Ending on a high note and officially transitioning to summer now, I'm going to end my daily "stay at home" series.  I'll still be working at home through at least Labor Day, but my school principal duties have ended (yay!), so it's just our new normal summer.