Life in Quarantine

Life has been a little different for the past couple of months around here.  No school, less work, waaaayyyy more free time.  Trying to manage home school with working from home, and trying to keep the kids busy and not trying to kill each other.  Challenging times for sure.

We've had some absolutely beautiful and warm spring days, which has helped immensely.  We've gotten tons of yard work done.  We've weeded and barked the front yard and backyard, sold our play set, cleaned and organized the shed, and lots more.  Lance just ordered the cable railing for our deck, so that will be an upcoming project as well.  We've been taking walks/ riding bikes everyday to get some fresh air and enjoy the weather.  I think Coulee is in the best shape of her life!  🤣

One day we had a crazy hail storm.  The hail was as big as marbles!  

The kids have been doing well with the homeschooling, especially now that the teachers have a weekly calendar for them to follow.  They have been getting creative with legos, doing science experiments, baking lots of cookies, and playing with toys they haven't played with in years.  They love being home all the time.

We've allowed the kids to keep playing with one of our neighbors since they've been playing together since the beginning of all this and haven't left the neighborhood.  Thank goodness for their trampoline!  Its kept the kids entertained for hours.

So many things to be thankful for during this time with so much unknown.  We are trying to enjoy the extra family time and are grateful for our families good health.  

We are also thankful for our awesome school and teachers who have been doing everything they can to make this process easier for us.  Video chats and messages, emails, free lunches at the school, and yesterday they even did a parade for the kids!  It was so nice to see all the teachers!  We definitely miss them so much.

We're trying to hang in there and stay positive.  Little things like this definitely help put a smile on our faces!

Easter 2020

 Easter looked a little different this year due to the quarantine and stay at home orders.  I worked half a day at the hospital, and then came home to enjoy a beautiful spring day with the family.   We decorated eggs, went for a walk and did an Easter egg hunt in the yard.  The kids were bummed that we didn't get to go to the beach house this year, since that's our normal tradition.  They love the egg hunt that Papa puts on.  We'll have to do a belated Easter celebration once this is all over.  

Happy Easter!

Tulalip 2020

 

 Last weekend was our annual girls weekend at the Tulalip Casino.  We had so much fun.  Room service, pool time, eucalyptus steam room, dancing, our favorite Asian restaurant, shopping,  spa masks, mani/ pedis.  I love this tradition.  There's nothing better than spending quality time with your best girlfriends!

Winter Basketball

Carson and Rylee just finished their basketball seasons.  Carson had a great team this year with a coach that taught them a lot.  He was on a team with his friends/ neighbors Bryce and Weilan, so that made it extra fun!  They had a great season and Carson improved a lot.  He was a little bit of a ball hog, but who can blame him.  He wanted to be the one to score the points!

 Rylee had a fun season too.  Her team definitely didn't get in as much practice time as we would have liked, but she learned so much and improved a lot.  This was the first year where they actually went by real basketball rules.  The girls were so aggressive!  It was fun (and stressful) to watch!  I didn't get any video of her because the games were too fast moving.

Winter Concerts and Art show

 Carson just had his 2nd grade winter concert.  They sang songs about winter and snow.  My favorite song was called "Snirt" (snow and dirt).  It was adorable and he was very proud of himself.  😃

 Rylee just participated in an all district choir festival.  It was all the elementary, middle and high schools from our area.  It was a great concert.  Rylee was in awe of the high school choirs.

Here's a little snippet from the performance...

 We just went to the kids STEM fair and art show.  Little did I know that Carson had two pictures on display and one won an award!  Proud mom right here!  😍

Happy 8th Birthday Carson!

 Instead of a party this year, Carson decided to invite his two best buddies on an overnight getaway.  We started the day at the Family Fun Center in Tukwila for some video games, laser tag and bumper cars.  

 After the fun center we went to a hotel for some McDonalds and pool time.  The boys were so well behaved.  It was a little calmer and quieter than the usual sleepovers I do with Rylee and her friends.  The boys had a great time!

 On Carson's actual birthday, he woke up to fresh baked cinnamon rolls and a room full of balloons.  Talk about spoiled!

 I brought him lunch (Subway per request) and ate with him at school.  It was fun to see his friends and watch the class sing to him.  He requested to bring doughnuts to share with his class.  He told me later that night that his favorite part of his birthday was having his mom visit him at lunch.  Be still my heart!! 😍

After school he opened presents.  He was very excited to get his Nintendo Switch.  "Best Birthday Ever!"  We celebrated his birthday dinner at Applebees (his choice).  Such a fun and special day for this little man! 

Lake Chelan Winterfest 2020

We just returned from one of our favorite places- Lake Chelan.  Its great any time of the year, but we really love it in the winter.  The snow makes everything so much prettier!  We started the weekend by walking in the snow to one of our favorite wineries- Wapato Point Cellars.  Its not necessarily our favorite wine, but you can't beat the family friendly atmosphere.  They even have a play area outside for the kids that you can see from the tasting room.  Genius!

 It was winterfest in Manson where we stayed.  There were Christmas lights, live music and fire pits in the streets.  So much fun.

We ended the first night in the hot tub.  The kids had fun doing the "polar bear plunge..." they would jump into the snow and then run back to the hot tub.

On Saturday we drove up to Echo Valley to go tubing and skiing.  It was amazing to see the difference in attitudes and skill level since the last time we went (I think it was 2 years ago).  The kids were so excited to ski.  They closed the mountain down and did not want to leave.  It was awesome to see so much improvement in such a short time.  We'll have to make sure to go again this season!

The top video is of Carson towards the end of the day.  He was feeling pretty confident by this time.  

 Rylee did awesome too.  She initially didn't want to ski at all, then changed her mind once she saw how much fun her brother was having.  I'm so glad she tried it again.  She's now is love with skiing!

Thanks Chelan once again for the awesome memories!  ❆