One Year, One Aunt

One year into this COVID-19 pandemic, our kids (and we) got to see ONE relative this past weekend (the last time they saw any family was a year ago when my parents were here before the world shut down).

Theresa, Kelvin's youngest sister, is in between jobs and asked if she could come up and visit us/the kids before her new (remote) position started. We have been really strict with absolutely avoiding any out-of-work-or-school socializing with any other household indoors to date (I have gone on some masked outdoor walks with a few friends here and there). However, the CDC recently released guidelines outlining what is reasonable/allowable for vaccinated people (like Kelvin and me) to do, which included visiting with unvaccinated and non-high-health-risk members of one other (even unvaccinated) household, especially as vaccination nearly entirely eliminates severe COVID outcomes as well as likely considerably decreases spread of infection.  Although Theresa hasn't had the opportunity to get her shot yet (and the kids obviously aren't eligible yet), she was careful, got pre-tested, wore her N95 on the way, is very medically healthy, and we agreed it was okay for her to come up to spend a few days here locally and stay with us (as the risk was mainly to her).

It was so worth it and a very fun time for the kids!  We had lovely sunny weather on the weekend. 

On Saturday, we went to the local Sequoia Zoo (a Christmas gift which she had bought for our family).  

We also took her to the kids' favorite beaches and dunes. 

Theresa took some lovely scenic photos. 

There was good food/eating to be had, including fresh-caught local Dungeness crab and oysters. 

Pancake-making (and eating) with Iver.

Theresa made some delicious popcorn chicken from scratch, which was a hit with all!

Dessert time!

Reading with auntie

Art

Marble fun

It wasn't a long visit (and didn't make up for a year's absence!), and we had a hiccup of a mild non-COVID cold that Niall developed on Saturday, prompting nasal swabs all around.... sigh. Nevertheless, we were so glad Theresa had the opportunity and chose to come and spend time with us here and the kids had another adult/person to engage with, taking some of the emotional (and entertaining) pressure off of us (as I've written before, pandemic parents are really needing breaks!). 

(Parents of small children)

We really wish we could just go back to routine family visits like in *normal* times without all of the extra worries and infection precautions... but here we are. Kelvin's parents are finishing up their second COVID vaccines this month, and hope to come up here to see us in April (which would be the first grandparents in more than a year!). We hope that my parents, who are status-post-shots #1, can follow later this year, and that we can maybe travel out of the area to see our other OC family sometime in the summer. I seriously need a change in scenery and miss travel and the novelty of new places and experiences desperately.  So much has been lost and has changed in a year.  However, things are starting to turn around... slowly... for the better. Here's to the future. Praise God.  And Science.