St. Patrick's Day

 

Spring break

We took our spring break a couple weeks early, while the kids still had classes, and stayed in Crescent City for a week.  We shared a house with another family.  The beach was just across the street; it was nice to see the ocean out the big window.  Those on school zooms did those during the day, and then when they were done in the afternoon we went out exploring.  We had fun hiking around the coastal redwoods.  

We also had fun hanging out with our friends, eating good food, watching movies, playing games, pool table, and doing evening devotionals.  We had great food because our friend is a caterer and wanted to do full meals.  I only cooked one of the dinners.  One of Weston's favorite things was the massage chair.  Alex and I went jogging in the morning, running along the coast.  It was nice to go for a jog and then have a full breakfast ready to eat when we got back.  I wanted to help out with the meals, but Donald pretty much took over the cooking (since that's what he loves to do).  As mentioned, we decided to do a little scripture reading and spiritual thoughts every evening after dinner.  Those were one of my favorite things that we did.  We also were able to do the sacrament the first Sunday we arrived.    

We were pretty lucky with the weather - it rained pretty good one day and a little drizzle another day.  Aside from that, we had clear skies.    

We bought a big block of cheese from the Rumiano Cheese Store - they make it there.  

We learned NOT to pick up slugs - Weston got some really sticky stuff on his fingers that was hard to get off (it's a defense mechanism).  We found a cool newt along the path.  We also realized that the clover leaves were purple on the underside.  I'm surprised I hadn't seen that before.  

We came across a new plant we hadn't seen before - skunk cabbage (the first 2 pictures below).  There weren't a lot of wildflowers, but I took quite a few pictures of the ones I came across.  

We got pretty muddy while hiking.  Savannah, in particular, liked to walk straight through the mud holes and the water when we went to Fern Canyon.  (You'll see our pile of hiking boots in one of the photos below.)    

They had a little project in this area, to figure out a water crossing.  

We stopped by the Trees of Mystery to see the giant Paul Bunyan (about 49 feet tall) and Babe the Blue Ox statue.  We also barely fit through the drive through tree in Klamath.   

We got pretty wet on the hike through Fern Canyon.  We were scrambling over logs and trying not to get our feet wet in the creek. Savannah walked right through.  I gave up in a few places as well - you can see how deep the water was in some places from the photo of our pant legs.  

We had a fun week!  

We got to stop in for a quick visit to Mike and Carrie on the way back.  The kids hadn't seen each other since August 2017 (when we left for England).  I saw Mike and Carrie for my grandma's funeral in May 2018 and Carrie in Ireland for a week that month.  Mike and Carrie had been in Scotland for the last couple of years, so we're glad to see them again and glad they're back in CA. The kids were glad to see Kai again too - she spent the week with a friend back at home while we were in Crescent City.  

  

CC

 

Jared participated in Cross Country this year, although he didn't have much of a season.  They pushed the start of the season from August to November, and then had 3 practices a week.  That's all they did.  They ran with a small group 3 times a week for a couple of months and then announced their season was over.  No races.  Then late February, after the season had been over for at least a month, they announced they would be able to have 2 races (in just over a week's time). Some of his teammates had already gone to another sport, so they weren't allowed to participate in the race because they're only allowed to do one sport at a time during Covid.  Most of them had stopped training.  Jared had continued running a little bit in the mornings.  He and four of his teammates ran the race against ONE other team from a local school.  He ran 3 miles in 21:50 (about 7:17/mile pace).  He did a great job, considering they hadn't been training anymore.  

They cancelled the second race, because they only had 4 guys that could run (Jared couldn't make it).  So he got one race this year.  It was very frustrating, considering that the risks for Covid were very minimal, with running being outside and an individual sport.  They almost didn't let us watch the race either.  Earlier in the week, they sent out an e-mail saying no spectators.  The day of the race, we got an email giving us the okay to watch, as long as we were wearing a mask.  When Alex and I got there, one of the other coaches tried to tell us that we weren't allowed.  He let us stay, but they wouldn't allow anyone at the start or finish.  We had to watch the finish through a fence, from a little distance away.  Even the runners who came in were shewed out of the area when they finished and couldn't stand there and cheer their teammates on.  We were OUTSIDE, far apart from anyone!  It's SO frustrating.  

Alex and I yelled loud enough for Jared to hear though.  They weren't going to keep us from cheering. We also weren't going to heed the "no spectators" rule.  They would have had to drag me out of there if they'd said I couldn't watch my son's first cross country race.  

Nathan hasn't had a basketball season yet.  They were able to start "practicing" in February, which means they had a couple weeks of just conditioning.  The third week, they were able to bring their own basketball and dribble and shoot around.  They couldn't scrimmage or pass or have any kind of contact.  They're supposed to be able to play after spring break, if they get tested weekly.  We'll see... 

One of the options thrown out to us was for them to not play the High School season and have them join a club team that would fly to different states for games... hmmm... that sounds like a horrible option, considering it goes against the requirements to attend in-person school, not to mention affording to fly to games in other states.  What are they thinking here??     

At this point, we're hoping he gets to play in a few games against the other local schools.  Maybe they'll even let the parents watch....... 

It's frustrating to hear about other states doing high contact sports like football and wrestling since the beginning of the school year.  Here they won't even allow tennis, golf, or cross country races.  

February fun

We had a good February, despite still not being back to "normal".  Nathan and Jared were still in zoom classes, just switching over to an in-person hybrid schedule this past Friday.  After spring break, they'll go in-person two days a week and be at home on zooms for three days.  The elementary school went to a hybrid schedule the week before, but I decided to finish out the homeschooling for the year since we only have a few months left (and they're not going every day, have several restrictions and wear masks all day).  Things are going well with homeschooling; it's hasn't been overwhelming at all, and we get done with our work pretty quickly.  The kids like the extra play time and no extra "homework"  (it's all homework these days... but they don't have extra assignments to finish up). The kids are still consistent with running 3 mornings a week, so we're staying in shape.  

We have been organizing and de-cluttering around the house quite a bit.  The foosball table had been out in the garage, slowly getting covered by stuff.  It had been moved out of the Lego room, due to lack of space, and our "junk room" / "dog room" had accumulated a lot of things.  So we finally went through it and made it a more usable space.  We were able to bring the foosball table back inside, so there is now quite a bit of foosball playing going on between classes and in the evenings.  Savannah also set up a table out there, so I caught her laying up on the table doing her reading one morning.

The other few random pictures here are Savannah at a small birthday party (which was actually for Owen, but Savannah got a special invite), Savannah looking cool in a backwards hat, and Savannah on their way to hiking with Alex and Kai.  Alex has been doing a lot of hiking, nearly every weekend.  I think the boys are getting tired of going, so he's been either going by himself or talking one or two kids into going.  Kai is always ready for a hike!      

This Valentine's Day goes down as my favorite, and not because of any gifts or food, but because it was a great spiritual experience.  Nathan received his patriarchal blessing, which is a special blessing from the stake patriarch who has been called to give these one time blessings that provide counsel, guidance, and declare their lineage in the house of Israel.  The blessing gets recorded and then sent in written form so that it can be read often.  Generally, you get them when you're old enough to understand the purpose and ready to receive it.  Here's an explanation of these blessings, in case you don't know much about them:  patriarchal blessings or here is another link.  

Alex and I got to sit in on it and listen, which was a great experience.  It was interesting to listen from the perspective of a mother who knows her child, but to hear it from the perspective of a Heavenly Father who knows His child even better than I do.  It confirmed some gifts and talents we knew and have seen in Nathan.  There were some specific things mentioned about his future opportunities and potential, as well as some general counsel to help guide his life.  I remember getting my own patriarchal blessing when I was 18 years old and thinking about some of the things I was worried about.  I remember wondering at that point if I would find someone to marry (that was probably my biggest concern about my future).  I remember getting the counsel I needed for that concern, as well as counsel in other aspects of my life.  It was a great source of peace and comfort for me, along with promises that I could obtain if I stayed faithful and true to my covenants.  As we talked with Nathan after his blessing, he also had some questions answered and some things to think about as he prepares for future opportunities.  I know it will be a great source of peace and guidance in his life.         

As far as the rest of Valentines day, I did get some flowers and chocolate from Alex.  The heart-shaped pizza was from earlier in the week, when Savannah and I went to a little outdoor lunch get together with some friends.  We exchanged valentines and had a potluck picnic.  We had shepherd's pie and chocolate cake for Valentine's dinner and dessert.