First quarantine casualty

You might think that in more than 10 weeks of COVID-19 quarantine, we would expect an injury or two to a child's body, especially with general wrestling, couch leaping like in the below pictures (obviously one of their favorite indoor pastimes), and rapid bike-riding down neighborhood hills (Iver took a pretty good tumble off his bike a week or so ago with some scrapes, but got right back on board and has kept at it!).

Nope. 

In fact, neither one of my high-energy boys has even required stitches, casting, or an ER visit, despite their antics.

Yesterday, in a complete accidental set of events that involved Niall wandering into the house with a painted rock from our deck, and then Iver trying to "play" volleyball with a bouncy ball (with, apparently, the rock also in his hand), the rock was hurled across our living room and smacked into our flat-screen TV, leaving a large crack and picture defect when we turned on the set (when I saw the picture, I was super confused at what I was seeing-- they were broadcasting the last regular season 2015-2016 game between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies when our team went 73-9. Boy, do I miss watching live sports, which is pretty much why we have a TV!).

While we were stunned and disappointed, we did a great job at not overreacting with anger or shame. We explained that, while TVs are expensive and it's important to take care of our valuable things, we are privileged to be able to afford a new one and it really is just a (nonessential) thing. Accidents happen. The kids don't watch TV anyway so didn't seem particularly distressed by either the occurrence or our reaction, and moved on with their play very quickly (with the rule being that all rocks are required to stay outside from now on). 

We still have our health, our jobs/income (and, most days, sanity), so this wasn't a terrible quarantine casualty for us (there could be far worse things to lose or get damaged, lost, and injured. It doesn't seem that live sports will be on in the near future, save corn hole [which, no joke, was playing last weekend]). I hope our kids learned the same lesson. 

(and how could you get upset at these cute faces)?

A different kind of Memorial Day weekend

Yes, Memorial Day is a day to celebrate/honor the military men and women who have died for our freedom.  This year, it is also a day to remember the near-100,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 (far more than, for instance, the Vietnam war), and was an "attempt" to celebrate summer without really being able to safely gather with friends for a holiday barbecue or go on any interesting trips (despite not being on call!).

We spent an early Saturday morning at mostly deserted Trinidad state beach, where all (including Pep) enjoyed the sun and sand.

Rock climbing

Creature-hunting

Snacktime

Pepper loves the beach (but hates being photographed). We don't get enough pictures in of her, but here she is in her happy sandy place.

There was lots of time for art.

(I had to explain to Iver that we don't really say "Happy" Memorial Day because it celebrates the dead, but he insisted on making some signs anyway)

Flag-themed art

Chalk art

Reading time in our closet

We went on lots of walks and Iver did a 10-mile bike ride!

Brothers at the Arcata marsh

I got in some outdoor physically distant and much-needed chat time with Kellie and Jenna in Kellie's yard.

We had "picnics" for lunch and dinner and played in the tent in our backyard. 

The trade-off for being outside in the beautiful sunny weather was icing my eyelids/eyeballs every afternoon due to my pollen allergies, but it definitely beats weekends of rain.

I wonder what next year's "start of summer" will hold for us and our nation.

Rain Boys, Rainbows

It was a heavy-on-rain past weekend.  It is definitely a challenge entertaining the boys inside for hours on end, but we did get outside despite the raindrops.

Puddle-jumping can entertain for quite a while!

We even let them loose in the backyard naked to play in the raindrops (but I'll keep the bare-butt pictures off the internet for obvious reasons). 

It was still raining a bit but, on Sunday night after the kids were in bed, I felt and saw sunlight.

I looked out our front door to see this beautiful sight:

This is a hard time. It continues to be hard, day-to-day, but in such times, I remember this: