END OF THE YEAR
I surely never thought I'd live through a plague, but yet here we are: COVID-19. Our summer has been strange, to say the least. The kids never went back to school, so their last regular day was March 6th.
Collin graduated from elementary school, with a drive-thru parade on June 11th. Ethan graduated from kindergarten with a drive-thru parade in May. Katelyn graduated from preschool, with a virtual class party on Zoom. Brennan moved from 3rd to 4th grade with absolutely no closure. I can't say I'm sad that we missed all the May-cember events, but it did make the whole end-of-the-school-year anti-climatic.
SUMMER WEEKENDS
Our summer Saturdays were spent mostly at the lake. We've found our preference is Canyon Lake. We LOVED our one trip to Inks Lake, but it's hard to get reservations and it's 2 hours away. Canyon Lake is inexpensive ($10), close (45 mins) and works for both paddle boarding and the jet ski. We've had a ton of fun! We met friends there twice too.
We paid for a year membership to Six Flags before all this started, so as soon as we were able to we went there. Masks are required except for in the water park. We've only done the amusement park portion twice (once with the few rides that are open, and once for 40 minutes to see the 4th of July fireworks).
Wearing a mask when it is almost 100 degrees with 80% humidity is out-of-this-world awful. We had even more reservations to go to the water park, but honestly, I don't feel safe being around so many potential contagions without a mask, so we stopped going after 3 times.
For the 4th of July, we went to Six Flags and did the water park in the afternoon. Then we picked up pizza, came home and watched Hamilton and went back for the fireworks. It was perfect! It's awesome that we only live 10 minutes away.
On our way home from the Six Flags' fireworks, we stopped in the field near our home. It is between three firework stands and all fireworks are legal in our area. It was like a war-zone! The kids loved it and said many times how much better it was than the Six Flags show. Haha.
One Friday evening in June, after the kids were already in bed, we learned that even though we had Six Flags reservations for the next day, we weren't going to be allowed to use the water park - just the amusement park. All of the sudden, Ryan said, "Let's go to the beach!" So we packed up the car, and when the kids got up the next morning, we got in the car and drove to Port Aransas (3 hours). We stopped at their Walmart for boogie boards and sand shovels, and it was a perfect, though LONG, day.
SUMMER DAYS
Week-days we did "Mom's school work" each morning (grade-level workbooks) and went to the pool just before lunch. I didn't want them eating in the pool area, so we came home at lunch time and ate and I read aloud the Chronicles of Narnia series. The kids listened/read their own books each afternoon. I love the routine I've gotten them into with workbooks, pool, read aloud and independent reading. I plan to do that again next summer.
Collin has been reading the Artemis Fowl series, and Brennan has been reading the Theodore Boone series. Ethan has listened to both of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books, as well as all the Mouse and the Motorcycle series. He's working on the Andrew Clements' books now. Katelyn has been listening to the Whatever After series.
Usually in the summer, we spend at least one morning a week at the library for some kind of activity related to the Summer Reading Program. This year, you could sign up for a bag for each of your children filled with goodies and a free book, as well as a schedule of activities to do at home. The theme for this summer was traveling around the world (it was also supposed to be the Summer Olympics), so one morning each week I canceled our workbook time and we did one of the countries from the packet. I would mark the new country on a world map with a sticker, and then we'd watch 2 or 3 YouTube videos about the country. Sometimes we would even video chat with someone who had visited the country of the week: Jared & Charlotte (Switzerland & New Zealand), Rob (Kenya) and Grandma & Grandpa (Israel).
After learning a bit together, each of the kids then picked something they wanted to learn more in-depth about, with Ethan and Kate teaming up with Collin, Brennan or I. After 45 mins to an hour, each group or individual presented what they had learned. Here is Kate with the Great Wall of China.
Collin and Ethan showed us a golf ball that could float in water the same salinity as the Dead Sea (Israel). Brennan drew pictures and wrote facts about cow fighting (New Zealand) and Dome of the Rock (Israel). Collin made the Kenyan flag another week. We also made masks (Kenya) and cow bells (New Zealand). Collin taught us the haka dance (New Zealand). Brennan and Kate set up an obstacle course in the backyard to represent the Olympic Games (Greece). Kate taught us yoga poses (India). It was great fun and helped to break up our weeks.
Our neighborhood pool is closed every Wednesday for cleaning, and since it's so hot here, there isn't much you can do unless you stay home or get wet. So one Wednesday I took the kids to the creek near their soccer fields. It's called Cibolo Nature Preserve. Brennan didn't like how dirty (mud and bugs) it was, so we didn't go back, but everyone else had a great time.
END OF THE SUMMER
We did have a slight reprieve in cases of illness at the beginning and middle of June. The Texas governor started opening restaurants and nonessential businesses (like shopping, movie theaters and salons), but there was a huge spike in cases by the beginning of July, and things had to start closing again. Masks were made mandatory everywhere by the middle of July, and that's supposed to keep our hospitals from overflowing and needless lives from being lost. Fingers crossed.
We are now wrapping up our summer "vacation," and we are making the big School Decision. Every mother is in full-sleepless turmoil. The choices here in Texas are: to send to full in-person learning with a mask all the time, to do full e-learning on a computer all day, or to withdraw and home school. After A LOT of angst, Ryan and I have to decided to enroll the kids in in-person school. I'll assure you I looked into each options for many hours, and this one gave me the most peace.
After we decided to send them, our county declared that all schools must do e-learning through Labor Day. Oddly, most of our school district is not in our county, therefore Collin will be able to attend his middle school right away on Aug 12th, but the "Littles" will all do computer learning at least for three weeks. CRAZY!
* UPDATE: We just received word from the District that their request to exempt our two elementary schools from mandatory e-learning through Labor Day was accepted, so all my kids will go to school on the 12th... right now. *
We are headed to South Padre Island for a beach vacation next week. I booked our oceanfront condo almost a year ago, but of course, everything has changed since then. All county beaches are closed, but thankfully, our condo sits on the city-owned beach. No shade structures are allowed except umbrellas, so we bought an umbrella. We were going to do a bunch of museums and touristy things, but they are all closed, so I'm glad we can at least use the beach. The condo complex is enforcing mask-wearing, so we'll see what that means at their pool.
I am grateful for our health, and I'm grateful for our huge house. We have plenty of space to spread out when we get on each other's nerves. I am thankful Ryan has been working from home this whole time. About once per week, he sometimes takes the kids to the pool during his lunch break so I can get an hour of quiet. It's been life-saving. There's been a lot of Minecraft and arguing, and I'm ready for a reprieve.
And now on to more uncertainty...
