Covid-19 Pandemic

The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind and I haven't taken the time to blog with so much going on.  I'm writing this all to journal our experiences during such an unprecedented time.  Currently a worldwide pandemic, Coronavirus (Covid-19) has spread across the globe.  It originated in China in December 2019 and started spreading throughout the world.  It eventually made its way to the United States and in the past few weeks has spread rapidly.  As of today, there are currently 710,918 confirmed cases worldwide and 33,551 people have died from the virus.  The United States currently has 135,499 confirmed cases and 2, 381 people have died from the virus.  On Thursday there had only been around 1000 deaths so numbers are unfortunately starting to rapidly increase.  Utah currently has 719 cases and has had 2 people die so far (one week ago Utah only had 181 cases).  Most of the people who are dying from the virus are over the age of 60 and have underlying health conditions, but there are still healthy people who have ended up in critical care and have died.  

It's a bit of a scary time and our lives have changed drastically.  The Governor of Utah has cancelled all schools until at least May 1st.  My employer hurriedly purchased equipment and transitioned most of us to work from home.  Bryce's job has not changed, it's not really one that can.  He works for Intermountain Homecare & Hospice and has contact with multiple patients daily.  

Places we frequently visit with our kids are all closed in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.  Libraries are closed,the Treehouse Museum is closed, Dinosaur park is closed, soccer season is canceled, a few plays we were going to see are canceled, restaurants are only open for take out, etc.  We were planning on visiting a few local National Parks (Capitol Reef & Bryce Canyon) for spring break this next weekend but neither Bryce or I feel like it would be a good idea in case they draw lots of crowds.  And just staying at a hotel during all of this makes me nervous.  In January before all of this was happening we had booked our first family Disneyland trip for the last week of May but that trip is now very up in the air too.  I think it is likely we will have to reschedule or cancel.  We also had tickets to take our kids to see Paw Patrol live at the end of May and that has been canceled.  

It's been a little disappointing to have so many of our plans canceled or postponed, but I do understand the seriousness of the situation and the importance of flattening the curve.  The healthcare industry is getting slammed and they are already worrying about running out of supplies in some cities.  Slowing the spread the virus and flattening the curve is supposed to help not overwhelm the healthcare industry with patients.  We are doing our part and practicing 'social distancing' as much as possible.

I am still working (mon-fri from 6 am-12 pm) but from home which is nice.  I'm still in grad school, my program is already online so nothing changed there.  And now I get to take on the role of being a teacher for Claire and Peter.  Bryce still works evenings and is home in the mornings with the kids while I work so we are trying to split the work load of teaching the kids.  Bryce is doing some of the schoolwork with the kids in the morning and I'm doing some in the afternoons.  Claire's kindergarten teacher makes a packet for each week with all of the work she is to do for that week.  Peter is just missing 2 days of preschool a week so we just include him with some of the things Claire is doing at his level.

Claire and Peter have done pretty well with all of the changes, but they are starting to get tired of staying at home every day.  It's been really cold and rainy this past week too so we haven't been able to go outside much.  Hopefully the weather will warm up soon so we can at least play outside more.  

Here are a few pictures from our quarantining/social distancing life:

Peter after doing some preschool crafts his teacher sent home.

We've played countless games of laser tag!

Lots of puzzles to keep us busy while we quarantine.

Working in my new office!

My favorite coworker.  She loves having us all home so much!

Working on school work.  We are calling our homeschool "Mom school".

Watching Because of Winn Dixie, one of the books I read aloud to the kids a few weeks ago.

Claire set up her dollhouse like this the other day (sideways), possibly a metaphor for how she's feeling about life?

Peter playing in the playroom one morning behind me while I worked.  

Claire doing a zoom session with her teacher and a few students.  They are working on writing an opera as a class.  Our fingers are crossed that they might still get an opportunity to perform by the end of the school year.

Trying to keep the kids active and having them do cosmic kids yoga for some exercise!  That's about all there is to update about for now.  I'm off to make a daily school schedule for the kids to help maintain some routine for them (and me)!

Natural History Museum

We took our kids to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City over the weekend.  None of us had been before and it was on my bucket list for our family this year.  It was our special outing during the week Claire had spring break from school.  

A fun kids area Claire and Peter enjoyed.  There was a tunnel to crawl in, several live animal and insect exhibits built into the room, and a water table type play feature.

The dinosaur area was huge and so fascinating!  Bryce wanted to keep reading every single plague and informational poster, but our kids were too excited to stay still for long.  I told him we will have to come back without kids so he can spend as much time as he wants in every area haha!

There were so many incredible exhibits.  One about the Great Salt Lake, Gems and Minerals, First Prehistoric People in Utah, Land, Life, Native Voices, and Sky.  We would definitely like to go back and spend another day there.  You can easily spend several hours exploring all the exhibits.  It was a very fun and educational outing even for our 3 and 6 year old (although I think they had just as much fun at the play place eating dinner afterwards haha!).  

Library Love

The sweetest snapshot after we got home from the library Monday evening.  Both kids cozied up in their beanbag chairs and pored over their new library books while I made dinner.  We love libraries so much!

Scenes from the Weekend

We bought a pass to our local nature center and spent a few hours there Saturday.  Our kids loved it!  They thought it was so much fun.  There are lots of walking paths and a treehouse/lookout area that our kids really enjoyed.  We only were able to explore for about an hour but we are excited to go back frequently this year. 

Saturday night we went the Treehouse Museum's birthday celebration.  They officially opened on a leap day, so they are technically only 7 years old.  The party was Alice in Wonderland themed.  We went to the mad hatter's tea party, a music sing a long with the caterpillar, made tea party hats, and played flamingo croquet.  I really need to get a small point and shoot camera for the outings where I want better pictures then my phone takes but don't want to haul around my huge DSLR.  It's on the wishlist.  Blurry pictures aside, we had a great weekend!

Ice Castles in Midway

We visited the Ice Castles in Midway over the weekend.  I have been wanting to go the past couple of years and we finally made it happen this year.  I'm so glad we did!  It was very cool and our kids had so much fun crawling through all the tunnels and going down the slides.  I didn't want to carry my big camera around all night so we only got a few phone pictures, which was okay too.  It was more of an "being in the moment" experience and it's not to feel the need to thoroughly document every second.  Other events that happened over the weekend: Peter finally started feeling better and had his last soccer game.  He got a medal that he was extremely excited about.  Also now Claire has decided she wants to play soccer the next round so she can get a medal. We got Costa Vida take out for lunch after soccer on Saturday before we went to the Ice Castles.  Sunday was a low key day at home catching up on reading and homework for me.  We played a few card games and watched the movie Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH since we finished listened to the audiobook.  The movie is MUCH creepier than I remember.  Hopefully I didn't traumatize our kids forever! 

Scenes from the Weekend: Valentine's Edition

For Valentine's Day this year we simplified a bit more than we have in year's past.  The past couple of years I've given the kids a book, treat, and pajamas.  This year they both have plenty of pajamas, and we have no more room on our bookshelves.  We have a good selection of Valentine books already and we like to still use the library frequently so we are only adding books on birthdays and Christmas this year.  We gave Claire and Peter each a box of skittles (their favorite!) and a card game.  We gave Claire Old Maid and Peter Go Fish.  We played both games a few times over the weekend and they were really fun.  Claire has loved playing games lately so they were a good choice!

On Friday Night, we made our traditional homemade heart pizzas for dinner. Claire and Peter both loved getting to put their own toppings on their pizzas and they ate their entire pizzas once they were cooked.  I made a BBQ Chicken Pizza for Bryce and I.  Bryce works nights Mon-Fri and doesn't get home until around 10 pm so Friday is usually pizza and movie night for me and the kids.  We bought Frozen 2 and watched that while we ate our pizza.  Our kids were so excited, they are huge Frozen 2 fans.  And Bryce was able to have pizza once he got home that night, and I managed to stay awake late enough to see him for a bit before we went to sleep.  

Saturday Peter had a soccer game, we played outside and cleaned up the yard a bit, and then we went for a hike near a local park with a short hiking trail.  The temperature was in the 40s so not too cold, and it was nice to spend time outside together!

Sunday Peter woke up with a fever, cough, and cold.  Poor kid was miserable (still is not feeling great).  We ate left over pizza for lunch, took naps, read to the kids a lot, played card games, and made loaded sweet potatoes for dinner.  It was a great weekend other than the sickness for Peter.  I am hoping he starts feeling better by this weekend and that the rest of can stay healthy!