Spring Break 2023

A million years ago, well actually three weeks ago, we packed our suitcases and headed to Los Angelos for a long spring break weekend. All four of us hadn't traveled together in a long while (pre-Covid?) but we found a great house/dog/cat/chicken sitter, rearranged work schedules and hopped on a plane. 

A few months prior, we decided that we should take a family vacation because our time all together is getting shorter (Will graduates in two years!) and we also needed some sun.  It's been a long winter.  We debated which coast, locations, etc., and then I found cheap airfair and hotel in LA so the decision was made.  Glenn was skeptical until I mentioned the La Brea tarpits - which were also what Reina was most excited about oddly.  Long story short, we had a lovely time.  It wasn't without hiccups, teen angst and crowded sleeping arrangements but we made it work.  

Look at these happy faces on the airport shuttle.  Smile for mom!  

Our first stop was the La Brea Tarpits.  It was even cooler than we thought it would be.  Highly recommend if you are in the LA area.  

We set aside the next day for exploring.  Lots of google maps and Glenn serving as the navigator (DIRECTIONS!), we found Dodger Staduim, the Coliseum, another museum and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

At a park overlooking Dodger Stadium.  Will gave Glenn a piggy back ride because he can. 

Glenn & Reina

2 out of 3 smiles.  

The ceiling outside of the LA Natural History Museum

The fastest walk through the Hollywood Walk of Fame known to man. I was the only one who was into it so it was a short trip.  

 

Our last full day was designated as Universal Studios Day.  We had a blast.  

Hogsmeade! 

Hogwarts!  We rode a ride inside the castle and it was pretty cool.  I mean, I had my eyes closed for most of it but everybody else seemed to love it.  

The car from Magnum PI!  This was the Studio tour and it was a lot more fun than I expected.  Plus it wasn't a roller coaster.  

Glenn loves the Simpsons! 

Next year's Christmas Card.  Sums up the day in a nutshell.  

On the last day, our flight didn't leave until the evening so we packed up the hotel and headed to the beach.  We picked Venice and it did not disappoint.  It wasn't quite sunbathing weather for the general public but Wyoming teens were quick to strip down and get some UV rays.  

Yes, Glenn is wearing long pants.  As was I.  We were comfy.  But look at that ocean.  

So that was our trip.  It was nice to come home and have the rest of the week to hang out, get driver's licenses, make cake pops and watch movies.  Then it was back to the grind.  Can't wait for the next one.  

Reina's first big-game hunt

Today's guest post is from our very own Reina who went on her first big-game hunt with Glenn this weekend and shot her first antelope! The comments in parantheses are from the Mom and Dad but the story is Reina's. My hunting trip, this weekend (October 1-2). I went hunting with my father (long time readers of the blog will remember his name is Glenn). We were out in the dry prarie (south-central Wyoming with more sage brush than actual prairie but its semantics) hunting antelope. My dad heard of this area where many antelope lived (according to Glenn - a hunter management area). It was also an area with cattle. We drove at least four hours (maybe a little longer than necessary because SOMEONE left the guns at the house and SOMEONE else called their cell phones a few times but no one answered so SOMEONE thought those must be extra guns that they left out but no. So SOMEONE met them on the interstate so that they wouldn't have to drive all of the way back). Back to Reina: Half of which were getting lost. After hours of driving we found a place to camp and settled for the night. We had seen many antelope but didn't go after any that first night. The stars were very pretty and bright as I tinkled on th,e shoes I borrowed from my dad when I got up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break. (Editor's note, Lucy insisted that this part of the story be added). After a cold, rough night we woke up and went out again for a long hunt, seeing and missing two antelope. I was pretty mad that I missed those shots. After a long time of driving around on a dirt road, we saw another antelope. I wasn't really up for trying to go after one, but my dad convinced me. We had to sneak through the sagebrush and we flushed a flock of sage grouse which my parents think was cool. We got into a spot where we could see the antelope. My dad set up the gun on his backpack. I was worried I was going to miss again but it took one shot and we had a antelope down. I was very happy, but was also ready to go home. We butchered the antelope and loaded up the truck. I helped with the butchering even though it was a little yucky. We got back in the truck and headed back towards home. prepared for a long trip back. In the end I'm glad my dad made me go after the antelope and I was also glad how quickly we got home. I had a great time hunting but I was ready for a nice warm shower. (Glenn wants me to say that he'll remember this trip forever and Reina is a great hunting pal.)

The rest of June

I've been too tired at night to write but we are having a fun and busy June.  Lots of baseball, a dance recital, gardens in bloom and work have been filling up our time. We've had a roller coaster of weather too - super hot days at baseball and then at the end of the week we are wearing sweatshirts and closing the windows at night. So here's the rest of our month in pictures.  

Baseball!  Will's team has had games a few nights a week with a few weekend tournaments.  The season ends on July 18 so we have some hectic schedules coming up but boy do we love watching this kid play.

Dance recital time!  I have enough pictures for a whole post but here's a picture of our girl in her ballet costume.  She also danced modern and hip-hop this year and more pictures of that coming soon!

Cousin time ! We had a summer kick-off bbq at Fry Farm with the cousins and Hansen grandparents.  Baby cousin doesn't want to snuggle like he used to but he's still pretty darn cute.  

It wouldn't be a summer picture without hail in the backyard.  We had a heckuva storm a few Fridays ago.  The good news is that our hail tent did it's job even though it collapsed in the middle.  Surprisingly, the fabric held and even with the center collapsed, the plants underneath survived.  The flowers and veggies that weren't protected took a beating but, as always, it could have been worse.  We also need a new roof and paint on the house.  Yah for insurance?!

Pauley men!!  Will is about two inches taller than me and as you can see, is creeping up on Will.  They wear the same size shoe now and I wear Will's shoes when I go out into the backyard and don't want to get mine dirty.  Shhh, don't tell him.  

First jam of 2021!  The weather was delightfully cool enough this weekend that I fired up the stove and made some strawberry jam.  Supplies are much easier to find this summer compared to last year so I hope to have a bunch of batches in the cupboard soon.  

Hail from the earlier picture.  Some of those pieces were annoyingly gigantic. 

Will headed off to football camp with the high school team (gasp).  Will traveled to Nebraska with his teammates for a few days.  He had a great time and informed me that he's practically ready for college now because he's stayed in the dorms and gone to practice without us there.  He might be ready but I am most certainly not.  

Charlie and his very favorite bunny slipper chew toy.  It's hard to be a tough guy when you really love chewing on a squeaky fake slipper.  

Snow Days

I have to say, I'm a little tired of writing about historic events that we are experiencing from the confinement of our house, but here's another one.  We are digging our way out of the biggest snowstorm our community has experienced since 1979.  We officially had 36 inches of snow from Saturday to Monday.  The kids have Snow Day #3 tomorrow.  Government offices are closed but Glenn and I are working from home.  It's wild to see how much snow is on the ground.  

Reina on top of the pile from cleaning off the driveway. 

Reina sledding down our street before the plow came through.

Will helping Glenn shovel on Monday after the snow started to taper off.

Glenn taking on the sidewalk. He shoveled a path and took on the driveway and then our neighbor came over with his snowblower and helped finish it up.  We are taking him a gift card as soon as we can get out! 

I've had to teach an online class this week so I've missed some of the shoveling and clean-up.  This afternoon, Glenn sent me a message while I was in my class that our grocery store pharmacy was giving out COVID vaccines to anybody who could make it there.  When my class finished up at 3, I put on my snowboots and walked about 2 miles to the store.  On my way there, I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up because there were a lot of people who could easily get to the store because the roads were opening up.  Most of the roads have been plowed but there's just been about an 8 foot wide path cut so only car can get through at a time.  I was able to walk on the road for most of the route, but I did have to slog through some big drifts.  I made it to the store and stood in line behind one other person.  I was handed a clipboard, filled out some information, waited a few more minutes and got my first vaccine.  I knew it was real when the clerk handed me my vaccine passport with a note to come back in April for round 2.  And yes, I got a little teary-eyed.  I'm so glad I can stay healthy and help keep everyone else healthy too.  Even better?  Glenn shoveled a little path to get his truck onto our road and came and picked me up so that I didn't have to walk back home.  It's mostly uphill on the way back so I was happy about that.  Plus, I did a little post-vaccine celebration grocery shopping and stocked up on some items that we were running low on.  All of the roads have been closed in and out of town so store shelves were pretty bare but I grabbed some goodies to tide us over until things open up for good.  

This week in pictures

This post will not contain any pictures of Will playing basketball because he hasn't been psyched for me to bring my camera to the games.  Tomorrow morning I'm getting up super early to drive to Nebraska to watch him play so he's not going to get a say about me bringing my camera along.  Back to the week.  Will had three games this week and his team went 2-1.  Will got to play in each game and even scored some baskets. 

Reina is eating a snack right next to me right now and delaying going to bed.  That's a daily occurrence for her.  She is counting down the days til her birthday (5!) and going to dance classes.  Next week she's going to try school volleyball and I'm probably more excited than she is.  

Will had a lot of homework this week. One of his projects was to write a timeline of his life with it broken down into eras, periods, etc.  He was supposed to find add some pictures for each section so of course we got on this very blog and found some good illustrations. Like this beachy fellow.  

I think this is 2010ish.  It might also be the last time he was shirtless in public.  

Because Will had two games back to back this week (the third game was actually on Saturday), he ran into a bit of a pickle when he didn't have another dressy outfit for school.  The basketball team dresses up on home game days,  Will has one go-to outfit. This is the point of the story where I feel like I should mention that I offered last weekend to take him shopping for some extras but I was politely turned down.  So Wednesday night, after his game and after everybody got fed, I zipped over to Target to get some extras. I did have to text him some pictures and call at one point to get sizes but I didn't do too badly and nothing has to be returned.  And yes, those our jeans.  That's what passes as dress pants around here.  

I had a pretty busy week at work.  This was the view from my computer's camera during one of my zoom calls this week.  The dogs and I are just one giant pack now and where one of us is, the rest of us have to be. 

Furthermore, the feline members of the family still like to have a few minutes of fresh air everyday, even when it's crazy cold.  With my new office location, they can't just pop in the window because there's a screen. Try explaining that to a yowling cat. 

"Go to the back door!  I can't let you in right here!" 

Glenn's hand continues to heal. All of the stitches are out and the skin is healthy.  He's still working with the OT to get flexibility and movement back but he's a determined guy.  

That's our week.  I've got to go set the alarm for insanely early.  Go basketball!  

The second week of 2021

We made it through the second week of 2021 relatively unscathed.  Glenn continues to heal his hand.  The progress is a little slower than he'd like but he's getting better every day.  He had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon yesterday.  They took some of his stitches out but we have to go back in a few weeks to get the rest removed.  The skin appears to be healthy and the healing continues.  

During the last two weeks, I've learned a couple of things about Glenn that I didn't know before.  First, when he has to take medicine, he likes to fill up his mouth with water and then pop the pills in.  I wasn't sure this was physically possible but he makes it work.  I don't remember him doing this in the great medical crisis of 2012 so I think it's a recent development.  The second thing is his interest in serial killer shows with titles like "Scary People" and something about making murderers.  When he has control of the remote control it's a constant stream of fishing tournaments, serial killers, and whatever the History Channel is featuring about WW2. I hadn't noticed it as much before because his tv time was limited to when he was home alone or working out in the basement.  Now its more obvious because he has a lot of down time on the sofa.  So I'm anxious for him to feel better for his own benefit but also so that I can get Hallmark Mysteries back.   I really miss my formulaic mysteries. 

Besides all of the medical stuff, we are having a good 2021.  The kids are in school.  The quarter is ending so we all get a three-day weekend.  Will is reading this while I type and he wants me to clarify that the kids are not in school right now because it's a Saturday night but they do have Monday off so that's our three-day weekend.  He's the king of sarcasm tonight and I know that's not really NEWS but I feel like I should point it out anyway.  

Covid-19 has calmed down a little bit in Wyoming.  Our case numbers aren't as high as they were after Thanksgiving.  There is still a mask mandate and limits to crowd sizes and gatherings.  We're still being cautious and waiting on that vaccine.  

The First Week of 2021

Well I can't mince words here, but this is a family blog, so I'll just say that the first week of 2021 has been a doozy.  A real doozy.  But everybody is fine and healing, for which we are really grateful.  So here's the story.  

Last week, Glenn had a few extra days off so he and Reina headed to the middle of the state so that Glenn could try to fill his elk tag and Reina could do a little rabbit hunting.  They called frequently to give me an update on their adventures and Reina was having a terrific time.  They drove our side-by-side all over, visited a run down cabin, scouted for elk and yes, even hunted some rabbits.  They were planning on coming home Friday afternoon.  Friday morning (Jan 1), I was on the treadmill when I got a call from Glenn.  They had an accident in the side-by-side and Reina was fine but Glenn thought his hand was broken.  I could hear the pain in his voice, he was definitely hurt.  We made plans for me to drive to meet them so that I could help him drive home.  Reina was a brave girl.  She helped me figure out if Glenn could still drive, she called me with updates on where they were on the highway and she kept asking Glenn questions to make sure that he was okay and not feeling faint.  Glenn said she peppered him with questions about all of his favorites (color, food, movies etc.) to keep him talking.  

While they started to drive towards home, Vicky came and got me and we took off in my car so that we'd have an extra driver to bring back Glenn's truck.  Vicky called one of her doctor friends while we were driving to get some advice on what we should be looking for in deciding if Glenn could make it all the way back to Cheyenne or if we should take him to the ER in Laramie.  The decision was easy to make when we caught up to them on the road.  Not to be too gross, but you could see inside Glenn's hand, through his glove and down into the stuff under the skin.  I thought it looked a little like sweet and sour chicken but it was clear that Glenn would have to stop in Laramie.  Plus, his lips were the same shade as his face which is never a good look.  Vicky drove him, I drove a worried Reina and we headed to the ER.  

Luckily the ER wasn't very busy so Glenn was taken to a room right away.  He was giving an IV and warm blankets to ward off shock.  The doctors and nurses had to cut off four layers of hunting clothes to work on his hand but Glenn would want me to point out that it was an old jacket and it's also an excuse to have to buy new hunting clothes.  (Side note, when I was texting Glenn's hunting friends to let them know what had happened, more than one expressed significant concern that he was wearing his expensive KUIU jacket.)  Shockingly, when the x-rays came back, there were no broken bones, just a lot of debris from the ground and his glove in the wound.  The doctors determined that Glenn had to be sent to the hospital in Loveland so that the surgery to clean everything out could be done by a hand surgeon.  Because he was hooked up to IVs and on serious pain medicine, he'd have to go in an ambulance.  

We stayed to watch Glenn be loaded into the ambulance and then we headed back to Cheyenne.  Glenn was able to call me later that night when he was settled in the hospital.  I helped Reina get settled into bed after one of the hardest days of her 11 years and we all slept a little fitfully.  

Saturday morning, I got up early and headed down to Loveland so that I could talk to the surgeon before Glenn's surgery.  At that point, there was concern that Glenn might need a skin graft on the hand but they wouldn't know until they did the surgery.  They also thought he might need a wound vac, which would result in more days at the hospital.   When I got there, Glenn was chatty with the nurses, like Reina chatty.  He didn't ask them their favorite colors but Glenn on narcotic pain pills is a sight to behold.  The surgeons also regaled us with stories of other ATV-related incidents they've seen from Wyoming residents.  Let's just say, we were some of the luckier ones.  Glenn went into surgery, I went for a walk and waited for the text saying he was in the recovery room.  

I met with the surgeon in the waiting room when Glenn was done and we got the best news possible.  No skin graft, no wound vac and he could go home as soon as he ate some applesauce and drank some ginger ale.  We got in the car about an hour later and headed home. 

Glenn's had a rough recovery.  He had some side effects from the antibiotic and an issue with his inner ear causing a lot dizziness and nausea but today it looks like he's finally turned the corner.  As he told me tonight, he finally feels like regular Glenn with a hurt hand. He'll go back to the surgeon next Friday and then hopefully a full recovery after that.  

All's well that end's well.  I had to take some time off this week to help Glenn but working from home helped make that a little easier.  Glenn and I watched the events of Jan 6 unfold together and I'm thankful for companionship during that weird/bad day.  The kids are back at school and Reina has bounced back from her hard day and even had a story to beat all other stories about "what I did over Christmas break."  

Finally, we have amazing friends and extended family. We've had dinner deliveries, and calls and texts checking on Glenn.  Vicky and a friend even came over and helped me clean my house which basically brought me to tears. Not because it was so dirty and I was embarrassed... well maybe a little bit... but mostly because it was one less thing that I had to worry about.  

So that's our first week of 2021.  It can only go up from here.  

Our 15th Anniversary

 

I interrupt this quarantine diary to write a quick bit about our 15th Anniversary.  FIFTEEN!  Our marriage can get a learner's permit.  We celebrated like we usually do, ordered takeout and made vague plans to buy a new compost bin.  I was on board with this plan until I learned that the 15th anniversary's gift is alexandrite and now I might need to rethink that compost bin.  

I posted this picture on Facebook today with a comment about how Glenn asked if I wanted to split a fun size candy bar leftover from Halloween yesterday and despite that ridiculous request (just eat the dang candy bar Glenn!) I'd marry him all over again.  In some ways, the last fifteen years feel like they've flown by.  Other times, I forgot that I didn't know Glenn in high school because it feels like it's been that long.  Do I write that every year?  Well it's still true.  Happy Anniversary honey!

Day 238

This is my first post for November?  Yikes!  So much for writing once a day this month.  Truth be told, I think about writing a quick update just about every evening but by the time the monsters are in bed, my brain is struggling to play the word jumble game on my phone and those are usually just 3 or 4 letters.  So here we are. 

Everybody is healthy.  Everybody is still at school.  I'm still at home.  Glenn is still at work although his agency is scaling back the number of people in the office so he might be home more. I'm excited about that but I also have my little routine and hours and hours of enjoyable silence.... Wyoming has seen an increase in case numbers in the last few weeks.  On Friday we had almost 1000 cases in one day.  Today's total was almost 700.  I saw a statistic that said 1 in 100 Wyomingites have COVID.  We are doing what we can to reduce our exposure but also trying to support local businesses (versus everything online) and maintaining our mental health. I think that's been the goal since this whole thing started.  So Reina and Will trick-or-treated, Glenn went bird hunting with friends and I took a quick trip with V and a few friends to the Denver Art Museum last week.  Some days I'm so tired of all of this and just wish that I could jump on a plane like it was 2019 and go somewhere fun.  Other days, I'm excited to wash masks and refill hand sanitizers and place an order for grocery pick-up.  It continues to be a weird world to live in. 

Last week was the end of the first quarter for school.  We had a Zoom parent-teacher conference with Reina's teachers.  We heard that she's kind, follows directions well (?!) and is working hard.  She's getting good grades and we proud of her progress in math.  Sixth grade history is studying the ancient world right now (Egypt, Greece, etc.) and as the kids say, that is Reina's JAM.  She's continues to love all stuff old and isn't squeamish about mummies but is indignant about Greece's inability to recognize the value and contributions of women in Sparta.  Non-school related, Reina has been very interested/invested in the presidential election and had a few sleepless nights waiting for the election results. 

We opted out of junior high parent-teacher conferences but I did chat with Will's English teacher and got a nice email from his Speech teacher.  The speech teacher said he was a nice young man and he was doing well in her class.  Considering that public speaking (well actually drawing any sort of attention to yourself that's not taking place in a sporting realm) is probably the least favorite of Will's activities, I'm proud of him for working hard.  His English teacher said he's doing great.  Will's favorite class seems to be his Science class - they are studying the planets and the solar system and it's generated a lot of discussions that I'm super unprepared for but I can say that after helping him, I now know the difference between the waning moon and the waxing moon.  Will was also pretty interested in the election.  He woke up early Wednesday morning and the first thing he asked me was if there were any results.  He usually saves that kind of enthusiasm for late night football scores but he continues to be surprising at 13.  No sports for Will right now, basketball will start closer to Thanksgiving. 

Glenn had fun hunting in South Dakota.  He and his friends packed a bunch of food so they could limit public dining and he came with a bunch of birds that I probably won't eat but he loves them.  We all missed him but made it through the week relatively unscathed. I didn't even resort to making pancakes for dinner which is usually one of the my go-to meals when he's gone.  

I still need to write about Will's confirmation but Reina just got out of the shower and we're going to watch the next episode of The Mandalorian.  Grandma H, if you are reading this, we are kidnapping you over Christmas break and you are going to watch all of the episodes from Season 1 and 2.  Be ready.  

Day 182ish

Here's a big list of stuff that happened this week. 

1.  It snowed! And froze!  We ended up with just a few inches of snow but some cold temps at night so the gardening season is officially finished.  My flowers in pots and some odds and ends survived in the garage so we'll have a little bit of color to get us through the fall... or until is snows again. 

2.  We made it through another week of in-person school!  Reina and Will are both doing well.  They have a lot of homework at night and by the end of the week, they are both pretty tired.  Reina's dance classes start back up this week and Will's football season is still going strong. 

3.  Speaking of football, Will played some defense yesterday and recovered a fumble on the 1-yd line.  It was so exciting!  He did the right thing by falling on the ball instead of trying to scoop and score but oh man, it would've been fun to watch him get a defensive TD . 

4.  Glenn was gone most of the week on a work trip.  It was the longest we've all been apart since this whole thing began back in March.  I missed his company and the extra driver for school runs.  The kids miss his calming personality when mom is losing her you-know-what.  

5.  Glenn and I ran a race yesterday.  It was a fundraiser put on by Aunt Vicky to benefit projects at the hospital.  Glenn ran the half marathon and I did the 10k.  The race takes place on a buffalo ranch and it's gorgeous scenery with a lot of hills.  I was slow, Glenn was a little slower than he wanted to be but we both finished without barfing and made it back in time to catch most of Will's game.  A win-win for everyone.  

On to a new week!  

The Weekend and Day 106

Saturday, we had a break from baseball so we packed all of the humans and the dogs into Glenn's truck and headed to Guernsey, a small town about an hour and half from Cheyenne. I've driven through it many times for work but I'd never stopped at the reservoir. The kids were excited to swim so that's where we headed first.   

I posted this picture on instagram with the caption "who are these giant kids following me around?"  But seriously, who are they?  It's like actual teenville around here.  

I tried to work on my action photos and got this blurry gem of Reina jumping in.  Now I just need to work on focus.  

Trigger had a best day ever.  He loves water and retrieving stuff out of the water, swimming after kids in the water, etc.  I have a picture of Charlie on my phone who was not having his best day.  Not a fan of the water but we got him to swim a few times.  

Hubba.

After the kids swam for a few hours, we headed over to Register Cliff and then drove a few miles to see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts that are carved in the sandstone.  It's pretty amazing to think about traveling across that country in a wagon while we are cranking the air conditioning and drinking a root beer float.  

It was a nice Saturday.  It felt nice to get out of the house and out of town, even for just a few hours. 

Day 92

Another Monday!  Glenn and I are still working from home.  The weather started off cooler than expected and hazy because of the fires burning in the West (not a good sign for so early in the summer!).  I had to go to the office for a few hours this morning.  The budget news for state government continues to be scary, but just like everything else in this time, we are taking it day by day!

Reina got to spend the afternoon with Grandma Hansen and they had lunch in the park, played with water colors and went to TJ Maxx (naturally).  Will had batting practice tonight so I took him and Charlie and I walked while he practiced.  After that, Glenn finished putting up the towel racks in the bathroom goodness this post is excruciatingly boring. We painted the bathroom this weekend!  When I think about all of the house projects we've finished up during this quarantine time, it's pretty amazing.  And there are still more to tackle.

I got to see Coco use her cat tent as a hamster wheel to chase another cat out of the yard tonight.  Now the moths are brazenly landing on me while I try to type.  So gross.  I think even the cats are tired of catching and eating them because there are soooo many this year.  So many. 

I thought of my daily silver lining earlier today but now I've forgotten it.  Reina and I are reading The Ickabog every night, was that it?  Will and I are going through a 'pun' phase where we send each other texts and memes and include Pop-Pop because he's always up for a good pun.  Oh I know what it was!  Glenn has a thing for true crime murder shows and I do too!  I always knew that I did but his is a new appreciation that he discovered while exercising in the basement over the lunch hour.  He finds random channels on our cable and while they sometimes veer towards the gruesome (mob killings, etc.), today's was just a good old fashioned marital murder.  We both watched for a while but he had to go back to work before the murderer was revealed.  It was the wife, duh. 

So there you go.  A bit weird to end on spousal homicide but it's a Monday.  Oh wait, let's end on Will's report card.  It arrived today and he was two percentage points away from all A's for the year!  He ended up with an 89 in Spanish and an 89 in Honor's World Geography.  He had all A's for the second semester and we are really proud of him for making a commitment to his academics.  Bring on 8th grade!

Day 66

It's late for an update, so this will be a list instead of beautiful writing.

Highlights for Day 66:

1.  Glenn and Will racing each other in the 40 yd dash in the street outside our house. I was pulled away from my work to judge the second race because they couldn't agree on a winner.  (Glenn will want it noted in the official record that he swears he won.)   Will won (by just a foot) the next two races that I oversaw but I know Glenn has big plans for a rematch on Thursday.  The race drew some spectators and most of them were cheering for Glenn because most of them are older than Glenn and therefore wanted him to beat the fast teenager.  Who knew that sprinting would be part of our quarantine entertainment.    But yahoo for no one needing a trip to the ER. 

2.  Reina babysitting the cousins this afternoon.   While we've been really careful with keeping our contact to a minimum with the little cousins and Aunt Vicky, we've reached the point where lending a helping hand and getting Reina out of the house is important too.  Plus everybody is feeling good so we were all comfortable with it.  Reina played the role of mother's helper/ older cousin playdate and she came home tired so all was a success. 

3.  Will practicing baseball on an actual baseball field.  Another big milestone for Spring 2020.  Will's team had their first practice all together since I don't know... early March?  The boys had to use a lot of hand sanitizer and the coaches tried to keep everyone spread out.  Will told us when we came home that he liked being back with his teammates, so that's good for his mental health too.  While he practiced, Glenn and I walked Charlie around the park and then Glenn went home to get dinner started and Charlie and I kept walking.  The park wasn't super busy because there was a constant threat of rain but it felt like the beginnings of summer and that was good for my mental health too.

4.  The temp hitting 80 degrees.  We know it won't last but it was a nice preview of coming attractions.

5.  Coco managing to catch a bird while still inside her cat tent.  We didn't witness it so I don't know if she bounced the tent across the yard or the poor bird just happened to get too close.  Either way, she's been extremely proud of herself tonight and also a little tired.  She was fast asleep until the moths started to make an appearance as we turned off more lights and now she and Soxy will probably spend the evening stalking the nightlights in the bathroom and knocking stuff off the counters.  So helpful. 

Day 38 and Glenn's birthday!

I'm tired tonight but I had to log on to commemorate Glenn's birthday!  He couldn't have picked better weather - I heard it was close to 70 without hardly any wind.  Both Glenn and I had busy work days but we made sure to make some time tonight to the dogs out to the field.  Reina joined us too and we had a nice walk before the sun set.  We did a grocery run today so we also had steaks and steamed artichokes.  It's a dinner blog!  A friend's ninth grader daughter made Glenn an amazing cake - she's been busy during quarantine and we were the lucky recipients.  Glenn didn't want much in the way of presents but I'm getting him the wildlife conservation license plates as soon as everything opens back up.  Isn't that just such a dad gift? 

We are almost halfway through this week. I had eight Zoom sessions between yesterday and today.  The rest of the week is still going to be busy but it eases up a little bit.  The kids are working hard on their school stuff and loving the nice weather.  Will even had some 'baseball' homework to finish in preparation for another team videoconference tomorrow.

Happy birthday Glenn - we love you and I'm so glad that we are all safe at home together. 

Day 36

Day 36 and weekend #? was nice.  We had some sun and a little bit of wind but all of the snow has melted off.  I jogged, we talked to family members on the phone, Reina got to talk to cousins on both sides of the family, we cleaned the house and made more masks (we have a pretty neat little socially distanced assembly line going between Vicky's house, mine and friends - all of it is contact-free and lots of bags filled with masks in various stages of development being left on front porches.)  We ended the weekend with a family football game in the backyard and the game ended when people got cold, not angry.  Yah!  Will did baseball drills in the garage with Glenn and Reina and I baked and played some piano.

Glenn continued his project of cleaning out our shed and sprucing up the garage.  He decided this weekend to tackle all of the paint cans that we have sitting around.  We found paint that predates us buying the house, so it was definitely time to do something about that.  What an exciting update!  But I include it in this blog to highlight all of the weird little projects we probably wouldn't be getting done if it wasn't for quarantine. 

Reina filled out a book to remember her COVID-19 days.  I'll include it in more detail here soon but she had to interview both Glenn and I separately.  One of the questions was one thing that we like to bake.  My answer was chocolate chip cookies, obviously.  Glenn's?  "Salmon." Reina had a lot to say about that answer and not much of it was positive.  She will always remember that her dad likes to eat healthy. 

So it's on to another busy week.  Both Glenn and I have a lot projects and meetings this week.  As we enter our third week of official home school I am feeling a little more prepared for some of the challenges but I also know that we can be thrown a curveball at anytime.  How's that for a baseball analogy?  I also know that we've made it through this many weeks, we can surely keep going. 

Day 1

All weekend, I've had the thought that I need to memorialize this time.  This Covid-19 time.  The change in attitudes and plans from last Sunday to tonight is a little scary but I also firmly believe that we (as a society) need to do everything we can to prevent the spread of this virus.  But this blog doesn't need a diatribe from me about how people aren't taking this seriously enough.  This blog needs the weird little details of how all of the Bronco Babies are dealing with this uncertain time in our history. So let's talk about that.

Reina has been talking about the coronavirus for a few weeks now.  Coming from a long-line of worriers and worst-case-scenario-people, Reina and I have talked a lot. As the situation has progressed, I've told her as much as I've known at the time without adding to her fears and we've talked about we can do specifically, mainly washing hands and keeping ourselves healthy. When Wyoming's first case was announced last week, we talked about that.

Mr. Junior High would talk a little bit about it but *stuff* got real for Will on Wednesday night when he and I were watching basketball on tv, flipping back and forth between college and NBA games.  We had the Nuggets game on and watched in real time as the NBA made the announcement to suspend the season and pulled players off of the court in Utah.  I had to suppress a giggle as I watched the realization dawn on Will and he turned to me and said "I might actually not have school!"  Welcome to the conversation son.

We kept ourselves pretty isolated this weekend because Glenn has been feeling under the weather and we had a icy snowstorm that blew through that canceled outdoor baseball practice.  Our church canceled services and other than a trip to the library and the grocery store, we laid low.  Today the sun came out so we all got outside for a little bit. This afternoon, I read an email from the junior high detailing how they were going to limit the number of students in the cafeteria, took a nap, and then woke up to the news that all schools in our district are canceled until at least April 7.  Both kids were shocked and obviously not completely disappointed, although they are both worried about what it means for the summer and missing their friends.  They are also super excited about my plans to keep them learning during this time.  Okay fine, Reina is pretty excited to be "home-schooled" but Will doesn't think there are any online resources that accurately reflect what he's learning right now.  Because you know, the internet is bereft of 7th-grade math, science, social studies, English and Spanish exercises.  Is my sarcasm coming through loud and clear?

Glenn and I have to go to work tomorrow morning.  We don't know what official plan will be for our agencies but for now, it's business as usual.  Stay tuned for Day 2.

Another month under our belts

How can February feel like the longest month and also simultaneously the shortest month?  I had big plans to blog every week and then our evenings were filled with sports and feeding people.  Then I told Glenn to count the sewing machine I'd already bought myself as my Valentine's present and I found yet another way to not write. Side note, I've been making reusable gift bags which involve little technical skill, thank goodness, but they look cute and I'm having fun putting them together. 

So that's our February.  Will finished up his basketball season on Saturday. His team lost in the championship.  Unfortunately, Will dislocated the pinky finger on his shooting hand a few days prior and while he's on the mend, he couldn't play on Saturday.  I'm not sure who was more disappointed (me or him, probably him) but he has a baseball season to think about and needs to be all healed up.  He had a great basketball season and it was so fun seeing how much he improved as the season went on.  He's also staying busy with 7th grade homework and confirmation at church.  He's figuring out the grind of homework and maintaining good grades even though his mom still knows that HE COULD BE DOING EVEN BETTER. 

Reina has battled just about every bug or virus that has come through Cheyenne in February.  She had a trip to the doctor on Friday to rule out strep and influenza, both were negative and she's back on her feet this week.  We're all practicing extra hand-washing and avoiding germs where we can.  Reina's been busy with dance and piano and added volleyball to her schedule last week.  She joined the school's team and is more excited about it than even she expected.  She has two parents who are willing to practice with her in the front yard when the wind isn't howling.  She's also a voracious reader.  Before we left the school's annual book fair on Thursday evening because of her rising fever, Reina talked me into 4 books plus a few more for her cousin and brother.

Glenn and I are pushing through these winter months.  We both have a little travel in March but nothing extensive.  We're starting to have those days when the wind stops and the sun is out and you can imagine that Spring is somewhere around the corner.  We are playing co-ed volleyball on a team once a week and it's a lot of fun.  Glenn's competitiveness laid dormant for years when we were dating and first married.  Between kid sports and our own games, Glenn is not a fan of losing.  But we have fun and he doesn't mind when I coach him on the court... coach, bark orders, tell him to hit the ball harder...

The best part of February ending is that my sister is done with her chemo.  How's that for good news to wrap up a post?  Works for me. 

Basketball

This is turning into a kids' sports blog.  We have other things going on but I don't take pictures of piano practice, homework, dance classes and house cleaning.  I'm definitely not taking pictures of me slowly jogging around the neighborhood with two dogs pulling my arms off.  How about a picture of Glenn working hard to clean out our giant freezers?  Or the kids fighting about whether the Lego Batman movie is connected to the first Lego movie?  No one wants a picture of that.

So basketball is it.  Will's 7th grade season started right after Christmas break.  He's on the B team and their first game was last week.  He scored 4 points, had one foul, a couple of steals and he hustled.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  The game was in a town a few hours away.  I travel to this town frequently for work so it was a nice change of pace to drive there for basketball.  This week he has two games and a couple of practices.  It is definitely keeping him busy. 

#41 on the court, #1 in our hearts. 

In-bounding the ball - when did he get so tall?  

Waiting for the quarter to start.  

 The rest of our month is well underway.  Glenn and I start volleyball this week which is always fun.  The weather is typical for January but today we had a few hours without wind and it was delightful. 

Oh hey - here's a fun thing that happened this weekend.  Glenn and I went on a date to a comedy show with Vicky and Matt and a bunch of friends.  We had a delicious dinner and then watched a few comedians.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to get out of the house in the gloomy winter. 

Glenn and his giant steak 

Camera pictures from Alaska

I'm trying to write as many posts as I did in 2018 and I only have a few more days to hit my goal. I was looking through some of the posts that I started to write this year and never finished and discovered all of these Alaska pictures. I'd made a photo book for the Pauley grandparents to thank them for the trip and I guess I never got around to blogging about it.  So here are some of the highlights for blog posterity.

We left Seattle on a Sunday afternoon and cruised all day Monday.  The weather was usually in the low 60's or upper 50's and it felt great to us after a hot July in Cheyenne. While on the ship we spent a lot of time watching for whales and we got to see so many!  It was really cool.  

Glenn whale watching and Reina modeling.

It wasn't quite 60 degrees the morning that Will and I sat on the deck and read books and watched for whales.  Glad we had our cold weather gear! 

I took many photos with my Canon but these are the phone camera versions.  Our first stop was in Juneau where we had most of the day to explore Alaska's capitol.  We found a small city museum that had a little area for kids to explore and they loved it, even the tween.

Will pretending to process fish - he even put on the apron.  Well, he was using the fish as a weapon to cut other fish but he was having fun.  

Sun setting as we left Juneau

It looks like these are all of the camera pics that I saved.  We also visited Ketchikan, Sitka, Victoria BC and I feel like there's someplace else that I'm forgetting.  It was a terrific opportunity to see such a beautiful part of our planet and spend lots of quality time with family. 

While just about everybody else on the ship was viewing the Hubbard Glacier, these two monsters were swimming.  Yes the pool was heated but the air was not warm.  They didn't care.  

Thanksgiving Post

We are all sitting together in the den with a warm fire in the pellet stove.  It's chilly outside and we have a bunch of snow on the ground.  We had a delicious dinner with the Frys earlier this afternoon and we're still stuffed.  Okay fine, we did just have another round of turkey sandwiches and salads and one of us ate the praline topping that was leftover from the pie.  It was also delicious. 

So while we are sitting here watching a movie, I'm asking everyone for their annual list of thankfulness.  Here we go. 

Reina is thankful for her 'loving family' and when I said 'be serious please,' she said "I am."  This mom stands corrected.  Reina's favorite thing that she ate for Thanksgiving was the homemade cranberry sauce. 

Will is thankful for Wyoming football and sports in general.  Will's favorite food today was the green bean casserole. 

Glenn is thankful for his family and wild places to pursue his hobbies.  Glenn's favorite food was the jalapeno dip that Aunt Vicky made for the appetizer. 

I am thankful for this messy house and all of the creatures living in it and I'm especially thankful that our dear Aunt Vicky is winding up her treatment in a few months and growing some hair back and thankfully I'm just happy that she's here with us.   My favorite food today was the turkey, pumpkin cheesecake and the aforementioned praline sauce. 

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!