March 2020 Happenings (pre shelter in place)

March started off like all of our months - filled with plans - two fieldtrips, a getaway, a few birthday parties, and lots of hustle and bustle on the calendar. Jon was still out of town at the beginning of the month. The boys and I made a date with Grandpa and filled a day with boy stuff. We rode around in the golf cart on the ranch, burned an accumulation of old documents, and tried out shooting pellet guns. Grandpa has been around guns his whole life, so that means I have been too. He's extremely careful and respectful of them. He taught the boys about the safety, how to put a gun down, pick it up, hold it and to never point it at anyone regardless if you think it is loaded or not. The boys did a pretty good job listening, took his advice seriously, and both impressed me with what good shots they were.

After spending a full week with Jon gone I was ready for a little girl time and headed to the coast with a couple friends to celebrate C's Birthday. We had a great time, drank lots of wine, made friends with a baby goat, and I got to enjoy a sunrise run all by myself with some beautiful scenery.

By the following week things had started to get weird. COVID19 aka Coronavirus had proven itself as dangerous to certain high risk populations and it was believed to be highly contagious and easily transmitted. Parts of the United States starting limiting gatherings, travel, and other large events. Most companies (including HMC) had ceased corporate travel and were suggesting employees abstain from personal travel. Large events like the annual poetry performance held at Fresno State (which Reed was supposed to perform at again) had also been cancelled. There were rumblings that there were more shutdowns coming. Much to our surprise Kieran's school allowed a school fieldtrip to the zoo on that Thursday. Since Reed's poetry contest had been cancelled I was able to join Kieran and his class. It was a little bit of a surreal day to read our Governor's announcement that all future fieldtrips should be cancelled and gatherings should be limited to 50 people or less while on a fieldtrip with an entire school of kindergartners.

On Friday HMC had its annual company golf tournament and as we have in the past a few of our co-workers/friends and their families came over for pizza afterwards. By this time hoarding at grocery stores had started, toilet paper and cleaning supplies were becoming few and far between, and as we all stood around talking one by one we got calls/emails/texts that the schools our kids attend and that our friends work for would be closing for several weeks. I look back at these pictures and can't believe this was the last time I saw a lot of these people in person and the same for our kids and their friends. It's also kind of funny to think of Jon being the last non-parent adult these kids might have interacted with and that we spent the time trying out a new muscle massager - definitely one of those if we had only known moments!

Sunday was C's Birthday and we had a family dinner to celebrate. As the weekend progressed more and more information was coming out. There are still a lot of unknowns about COVID19 but two months ago there were substantially more and decisions were made by government at all levels to avoid overwhelming hospitals with too many patients sick with the virus. Gatherings were suggested to be limited to 10 people or less and people over the age of 65 or other at risk populations were being advised to stay home. So we had dinner and dessert and tried to celebrate but we all knew Monday was going to look nothing close to normal.

November 2019 Happenings

Kieran's Birthday was a few days before we left for Hawaii, we had planned to have a family get together but a few of us got sick so we had to cancel. He still got to open presents and have his pancake breakfast. We also made up for the missed dinner with a fun day playing arcade games, miniature golf, and eating pizza. On his actual Birthday he got to celebrate at school with his classmates, which of course include Lyla.

 

Unfortunately we were out of town for Reed's soccer party but Kieran had his when we returned. Reed had a ton of fun playing soccer again this year but his team really struggled and more help/guidance. Kieran did great and even though he was one of the youngest on the team, was one of the stronger players. It was also great to see Jon and George coach and how well they did with all of the boys.

Some of us ladies got together to celebrate Baby Ikuta and Brooke. Denae planned a fun night where we all made wreaths and got to spend time together.

Reed's school has a feast every year on the Friday before Thanksgiving week. The room moms go all out decorating and the entire school has lunch together. It was a beautiful day to be outside and the kids had a great time. One of Reed's classmates also has some food allergies so I made the two of them special pumpkin shaped rice krispie treats. As soon as the feast was over we headed to the coast which has become or annual Thanksgiving break tradition. We only stayed for the weekend this year since we had just returned from vacation but it was still great.

Grandma and Grandpa hosted Thanksgiving at their new house. Everyone really wanted family pictures so we spent some time outside getting some great group shots. We also had fun playing a few different games. After a nice lunch we headed to Nonna and Pepe's for dinner. I failed to take very many pictures but we had a great time and even managed to break the boy vs. girl tradition and played co-ed board games instead.

With Thanksgiving being so late we spent the weekend after decorating for Christmas. The boys really got into the spirit - camping out by the fireplace reading Christmas books and decorating trees. They asked if they could decorate a tree just for Dodger, which was so sweet and sentimental, I had to say yes (and wipe away a few tears).