Rock Springs

 We don't get out much.

We didn't get out much before the pandemic, but now, we don't even get out much by our standards.

In a normal year, a trip to Rock Springs wouldn't be noteworthy. This year, it makes the highlights reel.

Chris' dad has adopted a family of deer.

I think this is illegal... just between you and me.

We toured Rock Springs, showing the kids the sights. 

Like my childhood home...

And my teenagehood home...

And the very special spot in Chris' backyard where we shared our first kiss...

We did not share this detail with Jane, which is why she's smiling while standing on that fateful rock.

We also visited Green River. Because you cannot visit Sweetwater County without getting a Lime Rickey from Arctic Circle and crossing the Green River to Expedition Island.

That right there... that's an iconic Green River shot.

It's a long drive across the state, but it was good to see Chris' dad (not pictured here... oops) and to stroll through the memories of our very similar, yet somehow separate childhoods. 

Back to School: COVID Style

The kids went back to school today. 

I never thought that would feel so strange.

Emily left before the dawn... off to high school. 

I walked with Jane for one last first day of Elementary school.

Both the kids have to wear masks at school. Fortunately, our trip to Disneyworld prepared them for full time mask wearing. Right now, I am just grateful that something exists that helps them be in school... with their friends... having some sense of normalcy. I think if they were told they had to wear rainbow colored clown wigs and plastic raincoats all day they'd do it just to get back to school.

After school, Jane and I made cookies and talked about her day. She likes being the BKOC. She uses her upperclassman powers wisely, striving to help the kinders rather than torment them. 

The school district says, barring a huge disaster, they won't send the kids home this year. It's too important for them to be in school. After last spring, I agree. The girls have already perked up and started acting more like their normal selves. I don't want to give that up again. 

 

Pixie Dust in the Pandemic

In January the world was still a place that kind of made sense. Kids went to school. Churches held pot luck suppers. On Friday nights couples went out to dinner at crowded restaurants and then caught a new movie at the theater. Fans went to concerts. Families went on vacations. 

This is the world in which we booked our trip to Disney World. Even when things fell apart in March we thought for sure it would be over by August.

It wasn't over. And so, we were faced with a very bizarre dilemma. On one hand, we could cancel our trip. That presented the possibility of losing thousands of dollars or, if we were lucky, being locked into a vacation next year that we didn't want. No one was willing to give us cash back. And then there was the issue of the kids. I've never seen them in such low spirits. Their whole world was taken away in March. Losing their vacation was just one more thing in a long list of suck. But, on the other hand, there was the virus. 

We knew Disney was maintaining a strict nation state in which they could control cleanliness, mask use, and social distancing. We knew that in the month since Disney World had opened there had not been a single outbreak tied to the parks. We knew the kids were dying inside. 

So, after much anxiety about the virus, we decided to cancel the beach portion of our vacation and run straight to the Disney bubble. We put on all the PPE we could get our hands on and we got on a plane. 

And then, shockingly, we had what I believe just might be the best Disney trip of our lives. 

Seven days... four parks... hardly any crowds.

How did it feel to wear a mask in 90° heat with 90% humidity, you ask? Well, it felt very much the same as not wearing a mask in 90° heat with 90% humidity. Generally unpleasant. But complete compliance with mask wearing seems to be a big part of success in not virus-ing up the joint, so we were happy to do it. And, honestly, neither the heat nor the mask wearing bothered us as much as we thought it would.

We had a couple moments where we were able to get far enough away from watchful eyes to get unmasked photos. 

"Actively eating" in front of the geodesic sphere....

Sneaking away to the Purple Wall...

And a bold shot in front of the castle....

What was so great about this trip? Well, it was partly because everything has been miserable for so long. It was like eating a delicious meal after a long fast. Partly it was because we got to be spontaneous. Anyone who has been to DW knows that every minute of your trip needs to be planned months in advance. Not this time. We rode what we wanted to ride when we wanted to ride it. 

Seven Dwarfs Mine train... I think we rode 4 or 5 times. 

Splash Mountain... we lost track of how many times we plummeted down that flume. 

Flight of Passage was spectacular so we went 3 times in one day. Same with Expedition Everest and Rock and Roller Coaster. 

It was so strange to be having fun again but after a couple of days it started to feel natural. Toward the end of our trip, we discovered that our family had reached a huge milestone. Believe it or not, our kids are finally old enough to enjoy Epcot!

The Taste of Epcot festival played a big part in this. We ate our way around the World Showcase like we were born to do it. 

Then, after 7 days of magic, we ended our trip with a feast at the Beast's castle...

And waved goodbye to the Magic Kingdom...

The next morning, we watched one last sunrise from our balcony...

And hopped on a plane back to the Rocky Mountains, where we discovered that 90° with humidity is better than 90° with a constant haze of smoke. 

I was so nervous to spend a week away from home, but it made me realize that life must go on despite the virus. You take precautions, you hope for the best, but you can't stop living. For a long while, we had stopped living. We had just been existing. 

So now, as we prepare for our kids to go back to school, we are making sure they wear masks. We are encouraging them to wash their hands. But we are also encouraging them to talk to their friends, to engage in life. A week of magic taught us so much... some risks are worth taking, wearing a mask full time will not kill you, but most of all it taught us that it's necessary to have a little joy in life - especially when times are dark.  

A Blanket Statement

At our house, there is no comfort equal to a Grandma Martin Blanket. 

She made me two. A blue and white one when I was newly married:

And one with a floral pattern when I was diagnosed with cancer:

Grandma Martin blankets have been a source of comfort throughout our lives. Sometimes I lend them out when the kids are sick and they need a little something extra:

They are the perfect weight, size, and softness. Just a simple piece of fleece with a crocheted edge.

So you can understand why, when Emily's plans to volunteer at the library this summer were sidelined by COVID, she thought of donating her time to share some of Grandma Martin's love with people who need it most. 

She made eight blankets to donate to Soldiers' Angels, an organization that provides support to soldiers all over the world. She attached a note to each that thanked the soldier for their service. 

I am proud that she chose to do some good with her time this summer. I think Grandma would be proud, too. 

Jane is Feeling Humerus

Jane's humerus side is back! Yesterday she had her final appointment with the orthopedic doctor and she can go sans-sling! Pictured here, after a small hail storm because I forgot to take a picture of her after her appointment and because this is what we do here. We document the size of hail balls.

She is thrilled to have two functioning arms again!

Here is her humerus halfway through healing...

And this is it yesterday. I think this is super cool. I wish I was 11 and could make new bones so quickly. 

Despite the fact that she said she would never ride her bike again, I got her a new helmet today. You're supposed to do that after a helmet's been in a crash. And since broken arms are easier to fix than broken heads, I thought we should heed that advice. 

She likes the new helmet. She says she thinks she'll ride again... soon. But not fast and not downhill... not just yet. 

The 4th

We tried to make the 4th of July as normal as possible this year. It's tough in the middle of a pandemic, but I think we almost achieved it. 

We always go for a hike on the 4th, but we decided to go on the 3rd this year since we had a day off. We went up to Happy Jack, where we had a lovely hike except for the fact that the mosquitoes actually stung us through our clothing. I think they were mutant mosquitoes. 

Jane didn't even have to carry her own water. Something about a broken arm. Cry me a river, Jane. 

After the hike, we went into Laramie and ate at McCalister's. It was so nice to have someone else make us lunch after the exertion. 

And we walked around UW campus, which was a ghost town. We really wanted to take the girls through the Union and maybe see the inside of the new engineering building but we knew that was all a long shot on account of the virus. So we weren't too disappointed when the buildings were all locked. But the virus couldn't stop us from taking the obligatory picture in front of the dinosaur. 

The virus also didn't stop us from going to see all the places we lived in Laramie. I am happy to report that White Hall, the apartment on Beaufort and the weird little house on Harney are still there. Unfortunately, the apartment on Bradley has been razed to make way for something new. That was sad since it was our first apartment as a married couple. 

The next day we went out to my parents' house to set some stuff on fire. The kids had fun. (I looked but I couldn't find any pictures of my parents. There are also no pictures of me, so they shouldn't feel bad.)

We visited with my uncle and his wife, who had come up for the holiday. It was a nice visit. 

After that, it was on to the City fireworks display. 

It was so close to normal, we almost forgot for a minute that nothing is normal. 

Next year, I'll have antibodies from the vaccine swimming around in my blood and everything will be normal. In the meantime, we'll keep trying to get as close as we can. 

Of Broken Arms and Promises

First off, I have to say something about "the hill". Last fall, one of the facebook neighborhood watch biddies decided to let the whole neighborhood know that Jane and her friends were bicycling down "the hill" at a reckless pace and turning the corner wide at the end. After that we grounded Jane from her bike for a week forbid her from going down "the hill" and told her she needed to take a safer route to her friends' house. 

A few days ago, I was sitting at work, prepping for a meeting when Chris let me know that Jane had fallen off her bike and she was hurt... badly. Emily had been taking care of her and our angel neighbor had gotten her home. 

The second we walked through the door, her first words were "I wasn't even going down the hill!"

It took almost 24 hours to break her and discover that she had been going down "the hill". 

Two x-rays later Jane was diagnosed with a broken arm. In case you can't tell, it was the big arm, not the little arm. Punishment enough for disobeying. 

I know having a broken arm is a rite of passage, but it's slightly more challenging for Jane, who has had to adapt. 

The early days were rough. The first night she had a bad trip on Tylenol with codeine and ended up in the ER thinking she couldn't breathe. After determining that she could, in fact, breathe she was sent home. 

The next day, the orthopedic doctor told us that she had broken her arm too near the shoulder to cast so she was going to have to be VERY careful and wear a sling for a month. She was very fortunate to have not had any displacement with the break. Since then, she has needed a lot of help. We've hired Emily as her home health care worker during the day and I take care of her needs in the evening. The pain is less every day. She says she's never riding her bike again. As much as I don't want to see her get hurt again, I hope that's not true. After all, she's a kid and kids ride bikes. Just not down "the hill".