June!

Well, we spent another month in various degrees of "quarantine".  However, we have still tried our best to make summer as fun as possible!  We spent the first 5 days of June not in Banff as originally planned, but instead in Hilton Head!  We had a blast on the beach, in the pool, and riding bikes all over the island.  The weather was wonderful and it wasn't too crowded.  It was also great to get away from the house/dog!  We stayed in a condo in Shipyard Plantation and brought Bob's and Anna's bikes.  We rented a tandem for Erin and me, and it all worked perfectly!  We could ride the bikes to the beach on a paved path, and also biked around the island.  We discovered the northeast end of the island one morning, a really neat secluded beach with views of nearby islands/mainland.  It was a wonderful week, and we can't wait to go back in August with family!

Once we got home and got Finley readjusted from the Pooch Pad (he was exhausted and under the weather as he always is after going there), it was time for summer mode!  We tried to stay busy with neighbor friends, Sarah, and had a fun week watching the Tierneys' parakeets while they were in Branson (other than one passing away on our watch...apparently he was at the end of his lifespan and they were not upset.  Whew!).  We also got window films put on the front windows of the house on the 8th.  They look great and make a huge difference in heat inside the house in the afternoons.  Yay!  I finally got to go back to the Y on Friday the 12th for cycle class, but it had a twist.  Cycle class was outside!  They have been moving the stationary bikes outdoors for the classes!  It was warm but really not bad at all.  I was so happy to be back.  I signed up for class the following week, but it got rained out.  I was able to go on the 26th.  Between those, Bob has been sharing his stationary bike at home, plus we have been doing lots of dog walks and a few yoga videos at home.  I should try to branch out a little more!



We had friend Caitlin over on the 13th in the morning, then enjoyed a belated pool opening day on Sunday the 14th.  As with everything, there are changes to the pool this year.  There are no chairs/tables and no floats/toys allowed, but we are nonetheless thankful for it to be open.  The 15th-18th, Anna had tennis camp over at Sunset Ridge.  She and Sarah had a blast, despite 2.5 out of the 4 days being really rainy.  That may have been better than 90 degree humidity, though!  Erin went to the dentist while Anna was at camp, and I got a haircut that week as well.  Bob had a nice Father's Day complete with bike ride and a belated grilling out due to helping with the meals on his actual day.  We got him some more bike accessories!



The 20th-26th, we got to spend some time with neighbor friends Joey and Quint while their mom and Laney went to see family in Florida.  They were over from 9am-2pm and we had lots of fun playing here, going to the pool, having a pizza party, playing outside, etc.!  It kept us busy as an added bonus!  Anna also had her 10-year checkup and dentist appointment that week.  One went better than the other, but we are cutting back snacks and working on some improvements ;)

Saturday morning the 27th, Anna and I drove up to Wake Forest to pick up our first-ever host dog for the week!  She has been asking to host a dog for a week/weekend, and we were finally able to do it.  We got the sweetest little young adult German Shepherd mix who must be mixed with something small, because he is only 34 pounds.  He is wonderful!  Finely was NOT pleased the first 2 days, but seems to be calmer now.  The host dog (we are calling him Carter to go with Finley) is quiet, well-mannered, house-trained, and great on the leash.  We could not have gotten a better dog.  The good news is that he has been adopted, but for some reason he can't go to his new home yet, so we get to watch him this week.  That's even better news because we won't have to be sad about taking him back!  So, that's been something fun and new to try.  I don't know how often we will host due to how far Saving Grace is from our house, and also Finley's attitude.  But, we will see!



So, that was June.  Other than all of this, we have been trying to get outside as much as possible and also have done a few more home improvements.  In addition to the window film, Bob replaced one toilet and has a second one on order.  And, we got a new mattress for our bedroom.  Bob managed to convince me to try a latex foam one, and so far, it is great!  Finley seems pleased, which is what really matters.

"Phase 2" statewide restrictions got extended from June 22nd to July 17th, and the governor made masks mandatory in NC until we hear otherwise, so that means masks in public with a few exceptions and no gyms or bars opening.  We are still doing TV Mass and "drive through" communion, but our wonderful pastor, Fr. Staib, is retiring today (!) and we are getting a new pastor, so we shall see what he decides to do as far as church.  As before, it is hard to know what all to believe about all of this, but we are trying to hang in there and hope and pray for school to start in August.  The governor is supposed to make an announcement tomorrow regarding school requirements.  People seem to think that they will open with some modifications, so we will see.  Our principal took a survey in June, and 94% of respondents said they'd send their kids back if it was "reasonably safe".  Sooooo...that's a good sign!  Erin the optimist has already bought most of her school supplies.  Let's hope they are put to use!

May

Well, May was another month of quarantine!  Things did ease up a little bit towards the end of the month, but we are still far from "normal".  Bob and Anna had a fun campout in the backyard on the night of the 3rd.  We had a Cinco de Mayo dinner at home on the 5th, which Anna especially enjoyed. 



The highlight of the first week of May was Bob's birthday!  He had a nice day, even though he had to work from home...we had yummy ice cream sandwich cake and he opened a few gifts, though he had gotten his big gift, the bike, a few weeks early. 



We also had a fun time on Wednesday the 6th delivering teacher appreciation gifts on behalf of the PSO.  It was fun to "sneak attack" the teachers at their houses!  Our list wasn't really any of the girls' teachers, but we still knew most of them and had fun.  Anna also went to the eye doctor on the 8th, and her prescription changed a little bit.  She went with tortoiseshell frames this year, and we think she looks very grown up in them!

We had a fun weekend over the 9th-10th, starting with a family rosary call with cousins and grandparents organized by Erin.  She did a good job!  Then there was the neighborhood graduation parade, where high school and college graduates (and a few preschool and kindergarten ones, too!) drove through with their parents and we all sat in our driveways and cheered for them.  Sunday was a fun Mother's Day, complete with family nature hike/bike ride. 



The following week was a little more busy with some dance virtual classes, a flower-watering job for Erin at the neighbors' house, gift drop-off by Ms. Margaret the piano teacher, and ending the week with Anna's virtual birthday party on Saturday morning! 







She opened gifts from cousins and grandparents and we all watched and admired.  Right after that was Erin's virtual (again) piano recital, which was really nice.  Margaret had each student record themselves introducing and playing their songs, and she then compiled it into an hour-long video that we all watched together (virtually).  The most amazing part was two group songs where Margaret had kids play a little part of a song and she compiled it all together...some parts had up to 4 kids playing/singing at the same time!  I have no idea how she did that.  Super neat!



Monday the 18th was Anna's big day, and she celebrated to the max with Sarah staying over, playing with Laney and having lots of fun and special food!  Her favorite gift is her hoverboard that she got with money from Grandma and Grandpa A.  She rides that thing all the time! 

 

 

The rest of the week was more of the same with virtual school and activities.  Erin had her final piano lesson on the 18th, and then we were able to put away our ladder/webcam setup for the summer.  North Carolina officially went into "Phase 2" of restrictions on May 22nd, which didn't mean a whole lot for us other than the church is now offering outdoor communion services on Sundays after we view Mass at home on tv.  Also, more stores have opened and I guess people can gather in larger groups (?).  But, since school and activities are still not back to normal, our life is not either.  At some point in May, Laney was allowed to start playing with Anna again, and all of our lives vastly improved at that point.

We didn't do much over Memorial Day weekend other than the usual, but it was nice to have that extra day off.  We did have a fun bike ride/hike around the lake at Apex Community Park on Monday evening. 



The girls' last day of school was Friday the 29th, and then we were able to put those workstations away as well.  I went to school to return books and clean out the lockers. Anna's teachers had cleaned the papers out for us and put all of her stuff in a big envelope, so I totally feel like they went above and beyond taking on that job for all 65 kids! 



We had a fun final weekend of May with beautiful weather.  Each weekend in May, Bob has spent both Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening cooking, packaging, delivering, and distributing meals to those in need in a neighborhood in Apex as a part of the Knights of Columbus.  I make 250 desserts on Fridays and bag them up for them to distribute as well.  The recipients are very thankful for this food during a very stressful time.  So, a lot of our weekends have included this time for Bob and us ladies usually hanging out at home.

So, that was May.  It was still far from normal and far from how we would have wanted to spend the month with fun end-of-year activities, field day, birthdays, Mother's Day, cousins' First Communion with my grandparents visiting, a Garth Brooks concert in Charlotte, piano and dance recitals, but at the same time, it strangely felt "normal", since this is our new normal. Some days it was nice to not feel as busy and frantic as May normally is, but we would have given anything to have the usual hectic month.  We have come up with creative ways to stay in touch with family and friends from afar.  But, it is what it is, and we continue to hope for better days ahead this summer!  The summer shall be interesting with the same restrictions but also without school to keep the kids somewhat busy.  Our pool is scheduled to open on Friday, June 12th, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for that.  Hopefully we will have a better report next month!