COVID-19

I remember talking about the coronavirus in January. it was so interesting because we had recently been on a cruise and now there was a cruise ship full of people who were quarantined due to this new virus.  I did not make any connections that it would spread across the world. (not sure why that didn't occur to me)
but here we are in strange circumstances. every time we check the news or our email we get updates, so it leads to more frequent checking. agitation. angst. so many closures due to "an abundance of caution" in these "unprecedented" times.
we ignored it during our ski vacation, and mostly also ignored it until my 3/1 grad school application deadline, but not possible to ignore after that.
R's not traveling. interviewing. fortunately home.
My work instructed us to work from home. I volunteered to help screen patients and visitors at the hospital. whew. no joke. doctors yelling at me for letting someone past who was then coughing their waiting room, or letting children in.
I got back to my ideal exercising with R in town, but now I have to work in the mornings because I'm homeschooling. (but not really homeschooling, because I have no training how to teach and I'm supposed to be working!)

 got to go out for a run with friends. Ms N brought up yummy banana pudding cupcakes.

 cleaning out E's room. here is his cool WA project.

 so it was just one announcement after another:

 NPR had multiple stories running. now it's even more than 3.  more like 5 or 6 stories in a row, all about coronavirus.

this was our first big shocker. news on Wed afternoon. Schools are closed, effective tomorrow! for 2 weeks.

then church was cancelled for 2 weeks.

 Then emails from everyone cancelling everything. we're doing violin lessons over skype.

 One day after we learned school was cancelled for 2 weeks, they changed that to be closed for 5 weeks! WHAT!!!!?

 all libraries closed. all after school enrichment, spring break camp. math buddies at the library. activity days at church. I don't mind having the schedule lighter.  we cancelled our game night with EL and C&N because they are over 60 years old and we were discouraged from group gatherings with more than 10 people.
social distancing and elbow bumps are the way to go.

 the Y is the only thing still open - for now. swim lessons and exercise classes/treadmill for me and parents night out.  but the crowds are gone. we've been able to find parking easily. e had a private swim lesson today since the other students didn't show up.

 we stocked up on books. then stocked up further once we got notice the library was closing.  everyone was there. the shelves were pretty empty, but we got a lot of good ones.

We haven't gotten much direction... one suggested science project was to build the highest free standing structure he could out of household items.  he got creative instead of high.
per his teacher/principal:
Seattle Public Schools has advised us to not assign work specifically. 
While Seattle Public Schools cannot provide online learning due to issues of equity and access, we are working on a plan to provide supplemental learning opportunities.
sounds like they will start doing some online "guided educational activities"...
I hope so!
my boss is being wonderfully understanding about how I'm going to try to make this work.
e wrote up his school schedule and is being GREAT implementing it at home. (2 days so far... ask me how it's going in a couple weeks)  but it's not the real deal...we're gonna have to do some homeschooling! 

crazy windy day today.  I was glad to run away from Alki.

busy Feb transition to Coronavirus March

I always love our violin group lessons.

R loves anything baked apple.

February was a short month, even this leap year with 29 days, but man oh man, did we stay busy.
I also pulled together an application for a graduate certificate program in a matter of 5 days. have since been accepted.  will start attending class in the fall.
now it's March and we're cancelling everything due to coronavirus!  we're working from home and just got word that school's out for 2 weeks.  what a change of pace.

tanner mtn

 C invited us out on a great hike. love those. he shared a treat from Turkey of hazelnuts and chocolate nougat wrapped in a fruit rollup.

sloshy and wet, but so good to get out. we spied a haven in the watershed.


Behind us in this selfie, you can see the summit. normally I'm a stickler for staying on the trail, but for some reason, we bushwhacked from the summit, down through the trees, across a stream, and up to the rise where we are standing.

squeezing into the last day

a little celebration for cousin J turning 6

 enjoying the satisfaction of everyone working together to complete a tricky puzzle

loved checking out the B family's new addition as they were so kind to host everyone for a family pizza dinner and movie.
cute couple.

E was really sweet to make homemade cards for Gma and Gpa thanking them for helping us to have such a fun vacation.

Mount Jordan

 I would love to hike all these trails! 

Brighton

I think Brighton might be my favorite.  It is so pretty with some sweet runs through the trees.  we also got a good deal online one week in advance on the tickets and the kiddos were free.  lines were reasonable and on this our last ski day, we skied our hearts out.  R, E, and Grandpa got on all the lifts, while Grandma and I chilled out with cousin L.  then we got together again and skied more after hot cocoa.

 Thank you to Aunt A

It was a chilly 6 degrees, but we had a sunny and blue sky.

 L was a Rockstar on some solid blues. 

 a good idea to pack some healthy snacks for when you're hungry after a big day. thanks Mom.

 boys vs girls puzzle night.  the boys won, and it might have been because they had a lot more hands on deck.

We love our A family, good runners and all 'round sweethearts.