New Life- Week 18 (Splish, Splash, Slice)

This was our first consistently warm week of summer.  While it cooled down at night, the days were in the 80's and since we don't currently have access to our pool, the kids were desperate.  Most of our days this week involved water in some variety.  We had a "water bomb" fight with the Brown cousins, we played in the sprinklers with the Brown cousins, and we did slip-n-slide with the Brown cousins.  We tried to do the river beach but apparently all of the Portland metro had the same idea so we stayed closer to home (expect for Merrick who did finally make it to the river on Saturday with the Ioapos) We were missing Ioapo cousins most of this week because they were quarantining a bit after some outside exposures.

Finally on Friday all the cousins were able to get together for a little "home run derby" and bike riding.  Unfortunately, while Jeremy took Friday off work, he wasn't able to participate because he was off having his own adventure.  Friday morning Jeremy got Lasik.  We have been talking seriously about it, but three weeks ago or so somebody stepped on and broke his glasses (which was already his back up pair).  So for the last few weeks he has been wearing his back up to his back up glasses and that was really the catalyst for finally pulling the trigger.  He is still in the healing process, but I think he is already pleased with the results.  Maybe someday soon I will get a picture of him sans glasses.

New Life- Week 17 (Living Life)

This week's post is a bit of a hodgepodge.  Nothing too big happened this week.  We did a lot of playing outside.  We played with cousins, played at the park (not the playground), had dance parties in the backyard, and went to the river beach.  Merrick had baseball practice two times this week before they decided to put the season on hold again. Yesterday was Colvin's birthday.  Merrick went with their family shooting and fishing.  All the kids caught fish and Becca and I prepared them for dinner.  It was an experience to say the least, but they turned pretty good.

 One of my favorite parts of the week was the video that my kids made together.  I really wish there was a way for me to post it here, but it was a movie about a detective (Doctor Elsie for some reason) who stops a robber (Carrigan) after she robs Merrick's bank.  Elsie dressed up as Papa, as she described it, was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

If I am being honest, this week was overshadowed by worry and disappointment.  I am feeling overwhelmed by trying to make decisions returning to school, both for the kids and for myself.  We also have seen struggling with disappointment on the house selling front and with Jeremy's job.  I am really grateful for the happy times with my family because that's all I have going for me right now.

Here is hoping for some good news soon.  In the meantime we will just continue to live our new life.

New Life- Week 16 (4th of July)

This week I experienced my first every pandemic 4th of July.  The virus put a little bit of a damper on the festivities, but we were able to fight back and still make it a great one.  This year the 4th was on a Saturday so Jeremy got Friday off in observance of the holiday and we started celebrating early.  On Friday morning Jeremy took Merrick (and the Ioapo's) down to play some baseball in the morning.  They had a great time and Merrick declared that he almost hit a home run (you can ask Jeremy if it was as almost as Merrick thinks).  In any case they had lots of fun, except for the part where Kai threw a ball into the forest and then when they went to find it both he and Jason got into poison ivy/oak and almost ruined the morning (after a quick baking soda bath they were fine).

In the afternoon we got together with the Ioapo's and the older Brown boys and made our way to the river beach.  The boys pretty much spent the whole time in the water.  They just swam and played and eventually played football.  The girls went back and forth between the water and the sand but both got in the water more than I thought they would.

Yesterday was the 4th and Jeremy decided that he had so much fun at the ball field that he wanted to repeat this process again, this time with the Brown's too.  The boy cousins had a great time playing home run derby.  Everyone commented on how fun it is to play now that the boys are a little older and can actually play and field.

Our actual 4th of July festivities took place last night at Nana and Papa's house, again with the Ioapo's.  We had burgers and nachos and s'mores.  We had a fire in the fire pit and then did fireworks out in front of the house.  Several other neighbors came out and did fireworks as well too.  We brought some very tired girls home about 10 and Jeremy walked Merrick over to see some big fireworks happening just around the corner from us.  I went upstairs and turned off the lights in my bedroom and had a perfect, unobstructed view from my bedroom window.  They lit up my whole room when they went off.  It was pretty cool.

Since the party is apparently still rolling today, Carrigan and Isabel went over to Nana and Papa's to build a fairy house.  I guess one thing led to another and they ended up designing Nana a new table top too.

In about half an hour we are heading to Brendon and Rachel's to say goodbye to Lauren.  She is moving to LA this week.  We are going to miss her tons, but know she is going to do great things.

It's been a whirlwind of a weekend for sure and a great time that even the coronavirus couldn't stop.