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)!
