The arrival of COVID-19 in Colorado

In early March the chatter regarding a new virus that was slowly spreading around the world started to pick up speed.  It was bizarre to see the first impacts in Colorado in the form of empty grocery shelves--especially toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Lysol wipes.  Our family was getting ready for a spring break trip to New Mexico and had plans to visit Carlsbad Caverns, but I really wanted Finn to have a mask for our cavern trip and was surprised to see that all of the Vogmasks were sold out on Amazon.  At the time, the panic seemed really out of place.  The virus was in China and information coming from China isn't necessarily great.  We knew it was a virus that caused severe disease and that it was spreading quickly and killing thousands, but it really seemed so far away to me.

A nearly empty shelf where the toilet paper should have been.

No oatmeal--of all things to be out of!

One Wednesday March 11, the Colorado governor declared a state of emergency and on Thursday March 12, 2020 our school district announced we where going to take an extended Spring Break.  The first case of the virus had been diagnosed in El Paso County that week.  Around that time was also when the virus was officially named SARS-COV-2 and the disease which it  causes was named COVID-19 (as it had emerged in China in late 2019).  So, Friday the 13th was to be the kids' last day of school before a known two weeks off.  Finn had been home sick the entirety of that week.  He had been running a fever and had finally recovered enough to head back to school.  So, all of the kids went to school on the 13th to say goodbye to teachers and friends.  Kai came home with the entirety of his locker contents which was certainly an ominous feeling.

This came on Thursday March 12.  At this point friends were talking about pulling kids out of school, some CF families in other states already had.  I was trying to take the "alert, not anxious approach" and wait for more information.  This decision by the school district was appreciated as it made my decision for me, but at the same time I wasn't thrilled.  Every indication pointed to the fact that this wasn't going to be over in two weeks and that this wasn't going away anytime soon.  The long-term thoughts were really hard to manage at this point.

The problem with an extended spring break was that because of COVID we couldn’t go out to do much of anything and we were forced to cancel our New Mexico trip. We had received an email from the CFF on the evening of the 13th that recommended we pull our kids from school (after an email from our clinic just that morning saying the exact opposite) and that we stay home as much as possible during this time.  So, after Finn completed his Saturday morning swim lesson on the 14th we were home for the foreseeable future.  Even Reid started bringing home work supplies and setting up an office to begin remote working.  We could tell that the situation was getting serious.

So, over the next two weeks we tried to find a bit of a routine that didn’t always include electronic time and staring at a screen.  It was a challenge to convince the kids that just because we couldn’t go anywhere didn’t mean all we could do was sit and watch a screen. 

An attempt at a schedule and getting in some learning 

It happened that I had just talked to Kristi about having set a goal to learn to bake bread this year and so she gave me some tips and a a recipe.  And so I baked my first loaves of bread (from the wheat in our food storage) in early March.  I have since baked a lot more.

Trying to find exercise videos for the kids.  This is a GoNoodle video that Bree enjoyed in her first grade classroom.

Bree's teacher sent home a packet of worksheets for her to work on during the extended break.

Finn's teacher also sent home a packet of work, including the science assignment of growing a potato.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any great potatoes for this assignment and it was a bust.

And then this happened.  The state of Kansas became the first to close schools for the year.

Taking Rosie on a walk around the high school became part of our daily routine.  And Rosie loves every second of it.

As the states continued to roll out stay at home orders, people took to the internet to share their talents and interests.  There were so many options of things for the kids to do and see--virtual field trips, bedtime stories by celebrities, and so much more.  One that we did a few times was lunch doodles with Mo Willems.  My kids enjoyed it and really loved Mr. Willems.  But as we went from a school week into the week of Spring Break my kids insisted on having a "break".

Kai spent most of his time reading.  And since we didn't have many books for him, he mostly read this super hero encyclopedia.  He wasn't interested in any of the other available activities.

Bree's sketch of Pigeon

The run on food continued.  While I didn't want to go into the grocery store, I was hesitant to do grocery pickup because you never knew what they had in stock.  I found it was easier for me to go into the store and see what was there and then put together dinners from that.  Everything was picked over, from soups, pastas, canned goods, and meats, to hand soap.  Finding "normal" groceries was difficult.

This lone banana was the only one left in the whole store.  It made me laugh.

Just a month or two earlier we were worried about running out of snow days for school.  The winter had been fairly productive already and the kids had at least 8 snow days before all of this had started.  And we still had March and April, our snowiest months, to go.

And within a week, our two week break turned into a one month break.  Plans for remote learning began in earnest.

Ahh....this encyclopedia.  While Kai was reading it all of the time, it was constantly left out around the house.  One day Bree and Finn were playing and in the course of their play Bree was pretending to be an animal (a dog or a wolf?) that had strong teeth and she claimed she could bite through this book.  So, she put it in her mouth and bit down hard.  Finn got worried about the book and pulled it away.  Unfortunately, Bree's two front teeth were loose and she had bitten down hard.  Finn's pull yanked Bree's two teeth hard and they went from being on their way out to ready to pull.  She screamed and cried and both teeth were bleeding.  She pulled one tooth out that night, and the second tooth came out the next morning.  I guess that's one way to speed up the process!

On Saturday March 21st we were trying to take pictures of all the things we were doing at home as KKTV was interested in running a piece on what the pandemic meant for the vulnerable population.  I did an interview and provided pictures and video footage of our days.  This is the kids demonstrating some Cosmic Kids Yoga.

More lunch doodles with Mo Willems

And those two front teeth were gone!

A roller coaster building game that he had received for Christmas that we finally opened and started playing with.  It was really fun.

Finn's teacher set up a place for them to chat with each other.  Here he is checking in to see the conversation.

More yoga

Trying to get this kid to do anything other than read or play electronics has been hard.

Crocodile Dentist for the kid missing two front teeth

Coloring

Building a snowman in the back yard.

Oh look!  We got Kai to play Twister.

This little girl really likes working on her selfie skills.  She's constantly playing with the filters on my phone and asking to take a selfie with me.  I am not good at selfies, but she has gotten pretty good!

On Wednesday March 25 our Bear Creek teachers and staff came through the neighborhood on a reverse parade.  It was windy and chilly and we stood outside for over an hour waiting for them to get to our neighborhood, but it was all worth it to see the people that we love.  It made my kids so happy to see their teachers waving and calling their names.  

From FB: I had seen so many friends getting out to hike and seeming to be able to safely do so. I was feeling guilty for keeping my kids at home and not at least trying to explore the mountains, etc. So, we decided to take Rosie to a dog park. It was not our normal dog park but rather one that is farther away and also bigger with the hopes that social distancing would be better. We arrived to find the parking lot quite full and a lot more people than I anticipated. The kids and I were immediately nervous and the kids actually didn’t even want to get out of the car. After the drive there, and seeing Rosie so excited, I told them we should at least try. We went into the park but did not feel comfortable and knew we needed to leave.

We heard a dog bark and it drew our attention to a trail around the outside of the dog park that no one was really on. We decided we could at least take a walk before getting back in for the drive home. We had barely begun our walk when we heard a dog bark again. Because we were on the trail we were able to see the source of the bark. We were surprised to see two beautiful dogs down an embankment and apparently stuck. After observing for a minute we realized they weren’t stuck but rather digging under some overgrowth. The dogs were taking turns digging at the same spot. Our first thought was that maybe there was something there they were trying to alert us to. We did not see another person in sight and these dogs were clearly well cared for. We tried calling to the dogs but they wouldn’t come. I tried climbing down to reach them but couldn’t get close enough. We ended up splitting up so that two kids were on one side of the embankment and I was on the other side with another kid. From the side I was on I couldn’t see the dogs but was right over top of them. I tried several times to reach them but it was too steep. Eventually one of the dogs crossed the stream and ran up the other side and approached Finn. We ran to the dog and found her name was Maya and she had phone numbers on her tag. I called and left messages at both numbers but did not get any return phone call. While we were standing there trying to decide what to do, the second dog climbed the embankment towards us. We discovered his name was Jack, and he had the same phone numbers.

Now standing there with two beautiful, lost dogs, I had no idea what to do. We approached the fence to the dog park and I yelled into the dog park at the nearest person. I asked if she happened to recognize these dogs. She did not. I told her we had found them and asked her what she thought we should do next. We decided to call the Humane Society. So, I looked them up and made the call. A recording answered and informed me that due to COVID 19, an appointment would need to be made to bring in strays and to keep the animal at your house until your appointment. Eek! We were a long way from home, and these were two big dogs. It didn’t make sense to take them the 20 miles home. But now what? While we were standing there trying to decide what our next move should be, we hear from within the dog park “Those are my dogs!” and see a woman walking in our direction from the other side of the dog park. Relief flooded through me at not having to take these animals home and at having found their owner. It took the woman several minutes to arrive at the fence. She told me she thought someone had stolen her dogs and she had been so upset. She did not know how they had escaped the dog park but she was happy that we had found them. She threw their leashes over the fence and we leashed up the dogs and told her we would walk the dogs back to the entrance of the park. After returning Jack and Maya to their mom, we headed to the car and returned home. The elapsed time at the dog park was 35 minutes and we had spent only 5 of those at the park, the other 30 were spent rescuing the dogs.

My kids were so excited and felt they had really helped and made a difference. They were so excited to tell their dad the story of our trip to the dog park. I should have taken more pictures but I was so busy trying to figure out what to do, it never occurred to me. The dogs were absolutely beautiful and very calm. I’m pretty sure they were Samoyeds and that they had been freshly groomed. I’m glad we were able to get out of the house and help someone yesterday, but I also realized that my comfort level in public right now is much lower than others and that we are better off just staying home and walking Rosie in our neighborhood.

We returned from the dog park to find out that Colorado had issued a stay-at-home order.  We were happy to comply.

I ordered puzzles hoping the kids would help me.  Unfortunately, they weren't as interested as I had hoped.  But they did help with this one.

We decided to try to make salt dough ornaments for Easter.

Painting salt dough eggs

As March wound down, we knew we were facing at least another few weeks of stay at home orders, remote learning, and winter weather.  We were gearing up for much more to come and trying to keep busy.  While we were hopeful to return to school, we knew that many had already decided that they were not going to be reopening.  We watched the news anxiously and waited to see what April brought.

Week 13–The week we found quarantine buddies

After 12 weeks of being almost exclusively at home and not having social interaction beyond electronic communications, we decided to visit the cousins in Kansas.  They had been under the same strict lockdown and were willing to get together with us.  And the number of cases in Kansas is lower than what we are experiencing in Colorado, so it made sense for us to go to them.  The most worrisome part would be the traveling.  We took our masks and stopped only at the Sonic drive through and once for gas on the way out.  And then we were finally with family!  It felt so good to be with people again and to forget about the pandemic for a bit.  And we found so many fun things we could do there.  It was the highlight of the year so far!

Fun on the trampoline

There was pool time three out of our five days there.

Strawberry picking

Cute cousins

We picked over 11 pounds of strawberries and they were all eaten in 24 hours. 😱😂

My kids adore Scripps

Craft time

It snowed in Monument in June 7th!  We missed it and instead had 90 degree weather.

The girlies warming up in the sun.

Some pool ball game

Fossil hunting 

Sanders Mound

Kristi and I took Kai out to ride a bike to get him more comfortable.

After dinner/evening bike ride with the girlies in the trailer.

I was the caboose of our long family biking group. This ride was over three miles.

Exploring Baker Wetlands

Bree took my phone and Maci took pictures of Bree taking pictures

At Clinton lake we stopped to throw in rocks

Bree decided she had to stand in the lake

Finn found this skeleton 🤢

The girls watched Frozen, Frozen 2, and Moana.

The boys ganged up on me and begged me to let them ride in the same car.

Kona Ice

Loading up the bikes after another 3 mile ride

The view from the front of our bike line.  This was our 4.6 mile ride.

My view from the back on the 4.6 mile ride. 

Bree loves this picture of Scripps smiling. 😂

We miss our cousins already!  It was so great to have quarantine buddies for a week.  It gives me just a little more strength to press forward.  And if it gets bad again, we know there is always Kansas.

Disney World Planning 2018

Because one of these days our kids will read this blog, I thought they should know how much planning has been going into our next big trip--Disney World!

Our last trip to Disney World looked something like this.

Kai was 5 and Finn had just barely turned 3. I was 13 weeks pregnant with Bree and felt it. And it turns out neither of them really remember the trip.  Reid and I had thought we'd do a Disney trip every 3 years or so--kind of coordinating with when kids were in Kindergarten.  And last time we went at Halloween and had a fantastic time, but 5 year old Kai saw all of the promotions for Christmas and kept saying he really wanted to see Disney at Christmas.  Well, Disney is expensive (even though we did our last trip really, really cheap).  And when Finn was in Kindergarten Bree was 2 1/2 which actually could of been a good time to go, but it just didn't make sense for us then.  And if Kai didn't remember his Kindergarten trip, then Finn wouldn't either.  And as year after year ticked by we kept thinking that once we got Bree to the right height she could ride more rides and once she wasn't taking naps we could stay longer in the parks, and on and on it went.  Two years ago--yes 2016 we discussed how 2017 was our year.  We were going to return to Disney World.  But then I felt this guilt and obligation to visit my grandmother.  And Finn really wanted to go to Legoland and so the California trip we took last year was born.  It turned out we didn't get to see my grandmother, but we did have a fabulous time in California.  And almost immediately after that trip was over, I began to research and plan our Disney trip in earnest.

The first thing I did was buy the park tickets.  Park ticket prices go up at least once a year and depending on the tickets, they can be good for quite a while.  So in September 2017 I bought our park tickets knowing that they would expire at the end of 2018 and knowing that we wanted to go by then.  And then I began to research resorts.  I decided we would try to do something different--rent DVC points from a DVC member and stay at a deluxe resort property for about half the price (about the same cost as a moderate resort).  We narrowed down the options to either Wilderness Lodge or The Polynesian.  Eventually The Polynesian won out simply because of it's monorail access.  To be able to be successful renting DVC points, I needed to put in my request 11 months in advance.  So last December I put in the request for a stay at The Polynesian for the week after Thanksgiving 2018.  It took a couple of days, but our request was easily granted and our resort was paid for.

Can't wait to see this place and I'm hoping it'll be warm enough to swim a bit!

And I can't wait to see the Christmas decorations.

Somewhere in between buying tickets and booking the resort a new family moved into our ward and gave talks about reading the Book of Mormon daily.  The set a goal to read every day and when they were done the were going to reward themselves with a trip to DisneyLand.  In the middle of sacrament my kids asked if they could do the same thing.  SURE!  Why NOT?!  So, we began reading the Book of Mormon as a family.  We would often listen in the car to the audio version on the way to school or after school activities.  It became quite common for the kids to beg me to turn on the scriptures so that they could keep reading and earn their trip.  The closer we got to the end the more the begging intensified.  By the time we were done with Alma, there was no holding them back.  They wanted to listen to 10 chapters or more a day.  It was amazing how good this bribe was working!

On to step 3--booking dining.  Dining reservations can be made 6 months in advance.  And if you have a resort reservation you can book your dining 60 days from the first day of your arrival and you can do up to 14 days in a row.  So, in other words you can book up to 74 days in advance for some of your trip dates (if you are staying for 14 days).  Our 60 day mark fell on Memorial Day.  That day we happened to be in Utah on the final day of our summer road trip (post is coming--it's in draft).  The booking window opens at 6am EDT, which meant I needed to be up at 4am to make our reservations.  I was sharing a bed with Bree at Kara's house that night and for some reason Bree had woken up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep.  I watched the clock and started trying to think of excuses as to why I was going to be getting out of bed.  Finally around 3:55am I told Bree I had to go to the bathroom.  I had a list of reservations I wanted and I knew a couple would be difficult to grab (especially if you think that some people had earlier access to the date due to their hotel dates) and so I couldn't be late to get on.  Right at 4am I began refreshing the pages and hunting for the hottest reservation on my list--a pre-park opening breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table.  This reservation would allow us to walk down to the castle before the park opens and eat inside the castle with the princesses.  It normally books out in 5 minutes.  I was able to grab an 8:40am time (the park opens at 9am) and then I made the rest of our reservations.  I circled back and all of a sudden an 8:20am time was open.  I quickly switched and was excited with my grab.  Our hardest reservation was made!  And at that moment Bree began crying that I had been in the bathroom too long, so back to bed I went.

So beautiful--can't wait!

Bree really wants to meet Ariel so I'm hoping it's her morning when we are there.

Over the summer the Book of Mormon was finished.  Our final chapter was listened to on our drive to Estes Park the weekend before school started. We were all in the van together as we heard Moroni's promise.  And then Reid and I began teasing the kids about when we would go to Disney. Maybe we could go in 5 years when Kai could drive us there?  The kids groaned as we went about the typical parental teasing.  But we still gave them no indication of when the big day would be.

Our Book of Mormon chart that was in our kitchen for nearly 9 months as we worked our way through.  It was so fun to finally color it all in and then I promptly took a picture and threw it away.

This week we hit the 60 day mark on the countdown to our trip.  At 60 days we can begin to book Fastpasses.  The same deal applies to Fastpasses as dining reservations.  So, some people could be booking up to 74 days in advance (based on the start date of their trip and their hotel reservations).  The system for these opens at 7am, though, which meant I had to be up at 5am.  On Tuesday I got up at 4:45 am and got my computers open and ready for battle.  I had a plan for all of our park days and Fastpasses I was targeting.  And then......the system crashed.  Repeatedly.  It was a nightmare.  By 6:45am I had only booked 3 fastpasses (you can book up to 3 for each day of your trip).  Luckily I got the one I was most worried about before the first system crash (at 5:03 am).  I got us tickets for Flight of Passage--the Avatar ride in Pandora (Animal Kingdom).  What I failed to realize is that Slinky Dog Dash in Toy Story Land is just as hard to get as Flight of Passage.  So when the system finally roused itself long enough for me to get most of our passes, Slinky Dog was all gone.  By 10am (after getting kids ready and out the door and trying to refresh the system and make reservations as best I could while the kids were around) I finally had most of what we had wanted.  Slinky Dog is the only big exception to that.

I spent way too much time staring at this screen on Tuesday morning.  I had both the desktop and laptop going, and I was using the app on my phone.  I even called into Disney and was told the wait was over 2 hours to talk to someone because of the extreme high call volume.  Ugghhh.....it all eventually worked out.

And that brings us to today.  We are 57 days away to arriving in Disney.  Our hotel is booked (and we can do on-line check in whenever I'd like now), our Magic Bands are customized and ordered, our park tickets are linked with Fastpasses chosen, and our character meals and restaurants are booked.  This morning the celebrity narrator for the Candlelight Processional that we have tickets for was announced as Helen Hunt.  I'm super excited.  All that remains on my list is getting park items such as an autograph book, pressed penny collection book, shirts, etc. And figuring out how far we can go without telling the kids.  I'm hopeful we can make it all the way to the airport before they figure out where we are going.  But they are getting suspicious about things now.  Reid stayed home one day  this week and Finn said, "Daddy normally stays home before we go on a trip.  Maybe we're going somewhere this weekend?" Haha--Nope, not this weekend.  I wonder how many more truths I will have to stretch over the next 57 days.  Honestly, it's getting kind of fun.  I'm super excited and I can't wait to see their reaction.  But better than that, I can't wait to go to Disney World with all of my kids and see the magic through their eyes again.  It's going to be great!

The app I use to create our daily plans and help me know what Fastpasses to target.