April Happenings...

 

As usual, Todd and I wore ourselves out putting on a fun day for the kiddos on Easter!!

We started the day with brunch and baskets -- even the "family" got a basket this year with games + dog treats.  (Pictured here is a "resurrection roll" which is to expand and the contents melt so that it looks empty like the empty tomb of Jesus. Some of the rolls worked, but many of them fell flat.  It was kind of cool on the ones that worked -- and luckily the kids got those!) 

We watched church online - which was very very casual.  (The kids are NOT going to know how to act once we go back in person, as they've started belting out the words to the songs like no one else is around!) 

We went for a short hike at nearby Kennesaw Mountain Park (well, Isabella and I played Frisbee in a big field while Todd and Mercer hiked around the field). 

We hosted an egg hunt for the kids in our yard so that they didn't miss out on any of the usual traditions.  

We found a painted rock by our sign in the front yard while doing the egg hunt.  Which - was a nice surprise!

Todd made a beef wellington for dinner (fancy~) and I made a lemon icebox pie with blueberry-lemon topping for dessert.... which Mercer loves but I don't love making.  It takes a long time... but it IS good and springy.  

It was quiet -- just the 4 of us -- like normal, except for the dressing up / going to church.

We dyed eggs the night before.  

Hmmm... come to think of it - we never did anything with those eggs... time to throw them out!  (I was going to make my once-a-year deviled eggs... or try my hand at egg salad.  Oh well!  Maybe next year~)

We were also gifted an edible arrangement from Rose Marie (instead of her Easter cookies?)  wink~    what a nice surprise!  :)

The next day, I worked on my teacher class stuff (comments came back from the reviewer).  

The day after that, the kids and I headed out of town for a quick 3-day / 2-night get-away... destination... someplace warmer (south).  We got there right at check-in, unpacked a little, and headed to the water.  

Isabella always gets so excited when we stay some place new.  She thought the place was very nice!

My favorite thing was the screened-in porch and rockers with drink holders!  That was a nice touch~

We fished from the dock.  

(Hmmm... come to think of it - we still have the fishing worms in our 'fridge to now put in the garden... but the gardening didn't happen this weekend like I thought it would...) 

We didn't catch anything, but the place we went - Seminole State Park - apparently has some great bass fishing.  There is a lot of grass in the shallow water and they like to hide in that grass, even close to the shore (according to the write-up in the cabin).  

The fishing line got tangled so, Isabella resorted to playing in the water after awhile -- which made for some great photos!  

I had to run back-and-forth between Mercer - who was trying to build a fire - and Isabella who was playing in the water's edge.  

I trusted her, however, there were signs posted for alligators, so... I didn't want to go too far away!!   (The water was quite clear for some distance and we had not seen evidence of any gators, but still...)   

Check out this side-burn picture.... :) 

We accidentally left the porch light on while we were down cooking dinner over the fire.  But - a cool thing happened.  A little frog was on the screen eating the little bugs that were trying to get in the porch - headed towards the light.  (There were also 2 lizards at the top of the screen, but I didn't mention those - I was having a hard enough time getting Isabella inside to get ready for bed!) 

I've had a bad habit of getting up early during this whole spring break!  (It's going to take awhile to un-do that habit!)  I had no internet, so I couldn't work.  I went out to the porch, then walked back over to the dock.  It was just before sunrise and it was eerie!  I couldn't see the sun rise because the fog was too dense.  

Now would be the time for an alligator to be lurking... and we'd never know!  There were weird noises coming from the water -- some from far away in the pond.  Some close by.  Clicking and splashing noises... so I didn't hang out there too long!  

Isn't this alligator sign a bit more creepy when you can't see what lies beyond?!  

I had nothing to do, so I went back to bed.  Isabella and I shared a room. She had a bad dream and woke us both up later...  

We needed to get started with our day anyways.

We hit the road and headed down some long, seriously boring roads to continue our journey south.   Mercer talked about all of the abandoned buildings on the side of the road:  "need groceries - oh wait - this abandoned building used to be the grocery store.  Need to buy a car...here's your car shop.  Oh wait - it's falling in and abandoned."  This went on and on!  The highlight of the drive was when one of those giant sprinklers that span across acres of farms was broken and shooting water across the road!  ha.

We were only 1 1/2 - 2 hours away from the beach.  I had scoped out a beach that a neighbor of ours (Paul & Kelly) used to live in -- in fact Paul was the town manager for this city:  Mexico Beach.  We went there first, but couldn't find any food venues that agreed with our 13 year old, so we went to the neighboring beach called Port St. Joe.

  

(Too bad - Mexico Beach had crystal blue waters.  But - it was hit hard by Hurricane Michael several years ago and most everything was wiped out.  There was so much rebuilding, but... since we were visitors, we needed a real restaurant to grab lunch.  It was set up more for rentals and not so much for the restaurant scene.  Maybe sometime we can rent a place down there / bring our own groceries and explore more?)  

The restaurant that Mercer picked out in Port St. Joe actually hit the spot!  I haven't eaten at a place in such a long time... and had a fresh salad that was sooo good.  Much better than the bagged salads we've been eating from the grocery during the pandemic!)  He was happy with his brick-oven pizza.... and - yes - since we were on vacation, I let Isabella order the chocolate pot (she had eaten a meal-like snack in the car).   

It felt like a little bit of normal!  

Port St. Joe beach was OK.  It wasn't crystal clear, however.  The only thing I can think of is perhaps because it's behind a barrier peninsula -- and it holds the water in instead of allowing the water to change constantly?  Isabella was happy enough playing in the water, though.  

Mercer, however, was not.  He did not want to change into his bathing suit.  He did not want to go in.  He was thrilled to *finally* have cell service and sat on his phone.  (I was disappointed, obviously.)   Isabella swallowed some of the salt water and almost threw up, so we decided to head back to the cabin.  

We picked up food along the way (since there were no grocery stores near our cabin), ate dinner and made another bonfire.  We had s'mores for dessert.  Cool purple flame in the picture - but we couldn't figure out why.... it didn't look purple in real life??    

Isabella and I looked at the stars for a long time, then we all called it a night.

Isabella and I both got up early the next morning so I had her come out to see the sunrise. It was over the woods behind our cabin.  We ate a junky gas-station breakfast.  Mercer finished the little tub of ice cream we shared the 1st night there -- so he was happy to have "breakfast dessert!"

(this last photo is of a goofy face that he's been making lately.)  

We packed up our belongings from the cabin into the car before we set out on our last venture at the state park.

They had a nature trail in the woods that were close to our cabin, so we decided to check it out.  The land there is strange (all along our drive, it seemed barren.  Also, in the state park, it did as well.  Maybe the landscape was altered by the storm from a few years prior? 

It took, like, 8 photos before they were both looking at me at the same time!  It's a little goofy, but it's what I've got~

 

Thankfully, the trees opened up and there was a big lily-pad filled lake with a cool boardwalk that went across.  That was a nice surprise to the otherwise barren landscape!

For some reason, I woke up with a migraine that morning - which made for a long drive home.  Also, the bikes took a jump over a bump and they shifted while we were driving.  We pulled over for lunch at a farm-house / general store I had read about (since we drove by it on the way down).  Luckily, while Mercer and I tried to fix the bike rack, Isabella was entertained by horses, a miniature horse ("Oagley") and baby ducks.  We were there for a long time because of the bikes, but we got it fixed-up enough and headed back home.

Isabella didn't want to leave the cabin or our "adventure", but she sure was excited when she saw Todd and Hip-Hop again at home.  It wasn't our best trip, but -- it was good to get away for a few days and see some things we had not seen before.  Mercer was a little out of his comfort zone.  I was too, honestly, as I had planned this trip without really knowing what was in store.  

On the positive side, it forced me NOT to work since there was no service!

(Before we left, I held a tutoring session for my students on Monday during break. Also, before / after our trip, I marked up design drawings students submitted for a competition that is put on by the AIA.   I got back to reality pretty quick the next day because the competition drawings for my students were due that day -- Friday.  (I also got my 2nd dose of the Covid shot that my school system was offering over break on that Friday.  Todd got his 1st one through my school system a couple of weekends before and is due for his next one soon.) 

Unfortunately, I have been experiencing some side-effects (fever, chills, body aches) -- but it's worth it.  I hope Todd's go better than mine!  I was glad not to have to have driven back out to Alabama for my 2nd shot.  (Plus, our school system gave us treats - free chicken sandwich or salad + a lollipop.)  

Doing it this way, I had a weekend to recover afterwards.  There was no baseball since we were at the end of Spring Break, so the timing was pretty good in that regard.  I had wanted to garden / redo our community garden, but...

In a few days, we're headed into the final stretch of school... the kids get out at the end of May.  As a teacher, I have a little extra time to work afterwards into early June.  It was a quick trip, but I am glad to have had a diversion -- a small outing -- before we go into this 7 week haul!

Wish us luck!!  :) 

_____

There are a few additional things to add to the blog that are not related:

- Isabella had lice again...  I checked and we asked the nurse to check early on, however, we didn't see anything.   We thought she was having an allergic reaction to her hair products / changed them all out after lots of research.  (sigh - oh well!)  The lice magician came out again to work her magic on the spur of notice.  Of course, Isabella missed some school - which means that we missed a little bit of work...   but I finally figure out the "procedure" that I need to take care of her kind of hair!  So - the research was not for naught ~

- Isabella made a "pack" of love notes to give to a boy at her Friday camp.  Todd and I went through the little notes that were included in the package, then discussed with her that she couldn't give him ALL of the notes in the pack.  It was serious sounding -- I love you... will you marry me... etc?!  Eek.

- Mercer had to "try out" for advanced art for 8th grade.  He submitted a better self-portrait than the one he drew previously.  He worked pretty hard on this for many days in a row.  We were all happy with it!  I hope he gets into the class.  We won't know 'til later in the school year if he made it to 8th grade advanced art or not.  Fingers crossed he will!

(He drew this from a photo of himself taken on his 13th birthday.)  

Love it!!

It has been a year.

Reflecting on the past year.

Early March 2020.... 

I had just gone to a STE(A)M conference with several hundred other educators from schools across the county.  The next day, I took a personal day off work and went on a field trip with Mercer's class - riding on a grimy school bus with 40+ kids and teachers.  Isabella and I didn't feel well Sunday. I was so sick Monday -- that I actually made an appointment to go to the doctor after I took care of my classroom / prepping for a sub.  I was out the next day too, but went back in Wednesday.  I could barely talk.  I remember being grateful that we had a 1/2 day at school that day. But, I worked sooo late after our 1/2 day looking for some supplies for a specialized piece of equipment (that I found / that was buried under years worth of supplies from a previous teacher) in the back room to use for our next STEM project.  When I went in on Thursday morning, we had a "standing" meeting.  I was whisked aside by a colleague and then an administrator.  They told me to go home.... that the 1st case of Covid had occurred in that school system on Wednesday and that they were making preparations the next day - Friday - to close down for 2 weeks.  They said b/c I was already sick they didn't want me to catch it. 

That was Friday the 13th.  The (then) President announced Covid as a national pandemic.   I was in my school for a total of 1 day -- I was only with students for a "1/2 day" over 7 school days... 4 of those were sick days.  (Which - may have been a blessing that my admin sent me home, as I honestly needed that time on Thursday and Friday to prepare a portfolio for my interview at my current school where I'm working now.  I met with them after school ended that Friday.  They were all frantically prepping for the "2 week closure" as well.  We met in person, but we didn't shake hands.  Obviously, the meeting went well and the rest is history.)  

All weekend, my colleagues and I collaborated so we could figure out how to transition our work to a virtual platform.... which we launched on Monday, the 16th.  We were in unchartered territory like millions of other teachers across the country!   IT WAS INSANE doing virtual school for the 1st time ever and working at home with our kiddos who were also doing virtual for the 1st time too.  It was a tough juggle.  Isabella wasn't responding well to the closure. That spring was so, SO hard.

Above is the map that I posted March 16 2020.

     182,405 confirmed cases and 7154 deaths.

Below is the map that I am posting today - March 20 2021.

     122+ Million confirmed cases and 2.7+ Million deaths.  

Wow.  Just..... wow.

There were so many things that we did not know a year ago.  (There are still a ton of things we don't know about this disease a year later....  it may take decades to figure out the full impact of SARS Covid-19.

(Todd - says he thinks I had it back in March of last year.... clearly if so it was not a bad case - but I was certainly exposed to hundreds of people the week before from different schools - possibly the one in that same school system where the first cases showed up?!)   My colleagues urged me to go get tested, but there were no test kits in March.  Later when the antibody tests came out, we thought about it... but they were deemed to be pretty inaccurate.  Who knows?  (I know that - after being sick in March, I got an appointment with a pulmonologist in early April -- who -- wouldn't say yes or no if he thought that my symptoms were Covid.  It was just too early in the scheme of things.  (I don't think it was - for the record.)  :)   At this point, poor Isabella is the only one in our family to have gotten tested.  (Late 2020)   I didn't think she needed it, but school nurse sent her home / to the pediatrician for a strep test... they did flu... and - why not throw in a 3rd - they did Covid.  All negative.

Summer. 

Things haven't been easy since that spring, honestly.  The summer was wrought with learning and processing the Black Lives Matter movement.  Then - end of summer - starting a new job at a new school system and teaching new content.   It is so strange to look back on that time period!    But, this whole thing started A YEAR AGO.  It feels really, really, really long!!  

Fall.

(I'm still living in the "working at a new school system... teaching new content.... during a pandemic" chapter.  This chapter feels really, really, really long too!)  I should add to the craziness:  "finishing a teaching program" during this ridiculous chapter. 

I just submitted an E-Portfolio of 2 years worth of work for the teaching program.  There are 139 items on this list.  I didn't submit 100% of it... there are still 2 items that I have to do / that are in progress.  From my understanding, this was the first submittal.  It will be reviewed and then I will have a chance to submit the other 2 items - one of which is my "exit" meeting.  I can't remember if I wrote on the blog how much I worked over Thanksgiving break on this thing... and Christmas break.. and Winter break... and the past several months of weekends.... and... UGH.  

Even though it was not the best time to make so much change in the ol' teaching career (who knew back LAST March that this thing was going to last more than a few weeks ?!?)  

Overall, though, I am grateful to be in the new school system -- making one change (to school system OR content is hard).  Let alone BOTH.  But, I am working in a more progressive school system where the administration is doing more for teachers than in the previous system.  I am still grateful beyond measure that they offered "teacher camp" when school was virtual.  They have been working directly with the CDC through all of this pandemic.  They more recently set up a relationship with the local pharmacy to schedule vaccines for teachers (and we just got an email that they'll also get them for staff family up to 2 members) !!  

Before the vaccines were open to teachers (the governor moved a large group ahead of teachers in our state contrary to the CDC recommendations).... I took matters into my own hands.  I took a day off of school and drove over to Alabama for my first shot on March 1st.   I got to sight-see for a short bit to take in a waterfall.  It was an easy pull-off park from the road I was on and a very short walk from the parking lot to the falls.  

(not sure why the water looks yellow on the sides - maybe a bit muddy?  It had just rained.)  You could feel the spray from the observation deck and the noise.... almost deafening for the loud constant crashing of the water.  (but - that one is a good sound)

Also, while doing a slow drive-by, I snapped a photo of the statues of the band members from the group Alabama.  Apparently where I went for my vaccine was where that band was from - Ft. Payne. 

There was an interesting puppet display in a glass enclosure across from a beautiful stone train depot building too... but unfortunately, I did not have time to get out an explore because I had a lot of "teacher class" work to submit when I got home.... using up the rest of my day off.

I was grateful that everything went without a hitch + I got to see a little tiny bit of something interesting to boot. 

For my 2nd dose, I'll be getting through my school system now that everything is up-and-running. I'm within the window of time for the 2nd dose (close to the end of the allowable window).  It will be easier NOT to have to drive back over to our neighboring state!  About 1/3 of the cars in the drive through line were from Georgia.... I wonder, now, how many people will be headed over again?

March 6th was baseball "opening day."  There was no parade this year, no main event where ALL of the teams gathered on the big field at the back of the park.  No presentation to the 12 year old players who were moving up and receiving their award for playing at EMNLL all of their career in little league since T-ball.  (M just had his ceremony "before closure" last year.)  Hopefully they did some sort of small ceremony for those 12 year old boys this year!

Here are the line-up pics from Isabella's game 

They say the pledge and take a Little League oath to always try their best, have fun, have good sportsmanship, etc. 

They call each player by name and they tip their hat.

Isabella had a good day.  She was the 2nd hitter in her team's line-up and they were guests, so they went first.  The player in front of her struck out.  She went to bat and got a hit -- the first hit of the season.  Following her hit, a teammate knocked her in;  she was also the first to cross the plate that day!  She was so excited.  She had several more hits.  I can't remember if her team won or not, but she had a great opening game!   

(Since then, however, her batting stance has changed dramatically and she's not hitting anymore.)   But, here's a nice "action shot" from opening day.

Here's the line-up and ceremony at Mercer's game that was later in the afternoon.

And a great action shot of him pitching. 

Mercer did not have as great of an opening day.  He walked a number of people before they put a different pitcher in.  (But he has since done better since opening day a few weeks ago, thankfully.)

Todd was extremely busy that day -- and will be for many Saturdays this spring because he's an assistant coach on both teams!

He had to stand on something to get to the same pose he had with Isabella earlier in the day.  :)  

There was a remembrance of Blake (Mercer's teammate who passed away last spring) at each game on opening day.  They painted a #12 on each field and put a #12 patch on each jersey.   The season was dedicated to him.   Also, they retired the number and hung #12 in the field where he played his last game.  There was a celebration of his life that night at the baseball field.  They invited teammates and family members.  They said it could have been much bigger, but they limited it due to social distancing.  We were honored to be a part of it.

Todd spoke as a former coach.  So did several of the other coaches.  Some of the team members told stories through one of the moms who spoke on their behalf.  (They would come up to tell her their story and she would convey it.  It's a lot for a 12 or 13 year old boy to speak in front of all of those people!  Many talked about the memories of going to Savannah for 12 y.o. All-Stars the summer before last.) 

The principal of his school spoke as well as his aunt who is a pastor.  She said she's seen a lot of "coming together" and remembrances in her church, but this baseball family was as tight as any church family she had ever seen.  I would say this is true for Todd and Mercer... they're always at the fields.   Blake's older brother played at the same park (and now plays on a high school team).  The mom and the dad were both involved throughout both boys' time at East Marietta.  

They renamed one of the fields to "Mahoney Field" too.  The baseball park did a lot to honor Blake.  There has certainly been an out-pouring of love and support for this family.  There was a scholarship set up by the family to fund 12 baseball players for 9 seasons, I think -- gifting his love of baseball and passing it along to others in the coming seasons.

March 7th was our anniversary.  I worked - literally - all day on my teaching program submission.  The only time I took off was to order food for a nice dinner @ home.  (Todd had to pick it up~)  My mom sent us some dinner money so we put that towards a 4-course meal for four.  Salad, apps, entrée and dessert.  It was delicious and decadent.  And nice not to have to cook.  Todd and I had left-overs for lunch the next day AND we stretched the meal into another dinner the following night (by adding asparagus and sauce).  It was low-key, but - hey - isn't everything over the past 12 months?!  

I was just remembering how we totally juggled to have a family bring Mercer home from a rescheduled game so that we could go out to eat at a swanky restaurant.  It was our last "really really nice meal" before the pandemic!   It was "too" nice, honestly.  You know -- that really fancy food that is small and beautifully prepared and you're not quite sure of the ingredients?  :)  This meal that we had to celebrate our 23rd anniversary hit the spot!  (and we had a guest chef who made us dessert of strawberries, graham crackers and Nutella.  She "plated" it and made sure to watch us eat it after we were totally stuffed by our dinner.  :)

It was as perfect as it could be during this strange time!   

(We have 2 years to plan a really *big* celebration for our 25th!!  I sure hope things are more back to normal by then!!)