Sunday: life

Isaac got a new mattress.  He probably should have gotten one quite a while ago.  Horizon sat right down on the old mattress and wouldn't move, even as the children were jumping all around him.  I was a bit surprised, actually.  (And it isn't one of those fancy movement isolation mattresses.  It was just a cheap one from a box store.)

We played a game throughout the day.  Everyone wears masks though since I am still in my 10 day COVID window.  It is the compromise that we've come up with to still do stuff together while trying to stay safe.

Saturday: meh

Today was rather meh.  I was a bit out of sorts and not feeling as well as I have the last several days.  (I'm not convinced it is due to COVID, but who knows.)

A friend did gift us with several pre-made meals from Sam's Club.  With the meh day today it was wonderful to not have to think about what to have for dinner. 

COIVD days: lovies

Joshua lost Grey Bear, as happens about once a week.  I told him to recheck his bed, but he was unconvinced.  After looking in other places and not finding him we went to our backup: Snowfoot.

Snowfoot is my lovie.  We will gloss over the fact that Joshua has tons of special stuffed animals in his bed, apparently Joshua needs a best-loved lovie.

Surprise surprise, Grey Bear was in Joshua's bed.  So Joshua put Snowfoot in my temporary bed to keep me company.  It's been nice to snuggle him again.

Wednesday: our life

I continued to feel better today.  I woke up in the middle of the night with a crazy sore throat so took some medicine, but that was all for the day.  I didn't feel amazing in the afternoon, but dealt with it.

These are our COVID tests.  There is one box (from the government) that I recently recycled that isn't shown.  It sure would be nice if I could always get the same brand, but they keep selling out.  Or don't come in "bulk" (if 5 tests can be considered bulk).  So instead we read the directions every dumb time someone needs a test, which is frequently this week.

 

Horizon tried to help with my puzzle.  I told him he wasn't being very helpful but he didn't seem to care.

Tuesday: same ol', same ol'

Nothing all that exciting today.  Everyone else is still testing negative for COVID, so the kids are still doing their stuff.

I'm not feeling 100%, but not doing to badly either.  I have been continuing to take some ibuprofen, but less than yesterday.  Isaac decided to make me a smoothie, probably because I said they really hit the spot yesterday.

I also got out the camping plates yesterday.  The reasons are two-fold.  1) We didn't have enough dishes because I had been sick the day before.  (I know, someone else could have dealt with the dishes but it just doesn't happen easily.  We have a system.)  2) We've been running out of dishes a lot lately.  I'm not sure why.  Anyway, I think I'll keep the camping dishes in the normal rotation to help.  And they're such fun colors!

 

Sunday/Monday: a good run

Long story short, I have COVID.

Yesterday I woke up with a low grade fever.  I had a negative COVID test.  The fever didn't go away all day.  Usually I can take some medicine and I bounce back, but the whole day I felt like I was struggling with my temperature, even when I was on Ibuprofen and Tylenol.  I felt like a whimp because the fevers weren't high, but they made me grumpy all the same.  The bridge of my nose hurt along with my eyes.

Anyway, I asked the person who I think I got the fever from to retest for COVID in the afternoon, and they came back positive.  At that point I assumed that I had COVID.  When I retested Monday morning, it came back positive.

That being said, I felt much better Monday.  I still had a few aches, but no fever.  At least, not that I know of - I did take some Ibuprofen throughout the day.

Sunday night we got smoothies, because that's always what I feel like when I'm sick.  I finished mine after the kids went to bed and it was perfect.  So Ben gave me the rest of his. <3

Honestly, this is a rather good time to get COVID.  I don't have anything big planned for the next 10 days.

Thursday - Saturday: camping

We went camping with Nathan and his family for a few days.  It's been a while since I've camped in a tent, but really, it was wonderful.

It helped that it didn't rain and the bugs weren't too bad.  At least, not for me.  The kids ended up with a few itchy bites, but we weren't swatting at bugs all the time.  

We met up in Big Rapids for a late lunch.  The kids immediately started being their crazy selves together.

We got the tents set up and the kids ran around for a while while Nathan and I pretended to read but really just talked to each other.  After dinner we went to see the sunset.  It was on a rocky beach and rock-lover Isaac was in heaven.

Friday the kids woke up early but not too early.  The quiet hours at the campground surprisingly ended at 6am, but we attempted to keep everyone quiet until 8am with mixed results.  After breakfast we went to a nature reserve for a hike.

Watching for sticks that they threw in the river on the other side.

I liked all their colors in the green forest.

In the afternoon we went to the beach.  We walked out to the sandbar and Isaac was entertained by going back to the shore and bringing us rocks on the sandbar.  After we got out because we were getting to cold we sat on the beach, but I didn't last very long.  It was hot.  And sunny.  I took Joshua back to the campsite and we had some hammock time.  Isaac actually followed soon afterwards and read. He read a lot more than I was expecting this vacation, but I loved it.

We went back to the beach right at sunset, but didn't spend as long there.

There was a small night hike to throw away the garbage.

Saturday.

We were planning on leaving Saturday afternoon.  Everyone slept in a bit in the morning, which was helpful.  Making a fire from the embers was a fun project right after breakfast.

We went on a hike on the campground trails in the morning, had an early lunch, and went to the beach.  There was some shade this time so I was much happier, but this time Joshua was ready to leave first.  That was fine; I needed to start packing anyway.  The drive home was uneventful.

It was a lovely vacation and I was happy to camp...really camp...again.

Wednesday: block party at church

We went to the block party at church tonight.  There was a bounce race, a bounce water slide, a dunk tank, and food.  We mainly went because there was food.

Also, I fed the worms today.  Two bins are doing ok but have fruit flies.  The third bin is doing amazing!  It's like a worm infestation!

Tuesday: this and that

I feel like I actually got a few things done today.  It was partially because the kids got out the nerf guns.  It started with just trying to hit targets, but then they realized it didn't hurt so they were trying to shoot each other.

I also probably felt like I got stuff done today because I only played one game.  This is down from my 2-3 game daily average.

Monday: song

It was an excellent and busy day and I hadn't actually been planning on blogging about it.  But then I remembered.  My children made me make up words to songs.  I was rather proud of one of the results.  

*Sung to the tune of Head, shoulders knees and toes.

Do-nuts go in mouths not toes.
Mouths not toes, mouths not toes.
Do-nuts go in mouths not toes, 
But you smell them with your nose.

Sunday: more games

We played several more games today.  And cleaned the basement.  It really needed it.

Isaac (and Giraffe) enjoyed playing with the blanket right before bedtime. 

As a completely random aside, I really wish that county and country weren't spelled almost the same and both refer to an area of land in which one resides.  Slowing down to inspect the word to make sure I'm giving the correct answer is annoying.

Saturday: home

 Ben and Isaac worked with some electronics to work on some lights that he got for his birthday.

Tornado was living his best life.

Friday: cats

 Both cats managed to sit in the dryer, one at a time, so I couldn't close the door.

Thursday: puzzle

My idea was to do a puzzle with Joshua while Isaac was at camp today.  He decided we should print a picture, cut it up, and do it.  I said that sounds like a terrible idea.  Printer paper doesn't jigsaw well and it always gets blown around.

Joshua was adamant.

I was adamant.

He decided he'd draw the picture.  Ok.  I'll do that.

Here's the picture.  It has a lot of detail, so that was good.  His LEGO spinners are battling, a cat is jumping at birthday decorations, and a person is throwing a ball.  There's also our coats, counter, and a chair.

Here's the finished product.  He added a LEGO frame, which actually did help the whole thing.  He did also blow on it several times which was annoying, but they were tiny blows.

Overall, a successful project that I have no desire to repeat.

Wednesday: as a game

In the morning, the boys and I stopped rampaging monsters from destroying our home.  It was close, and they destroyed some of the towers, but we defeated them.  (We played Castle Panic)

We went and recovered some of our health.  (We got donuts.)

We did a quest to find an item and bring it back.  (We got some games from Out of the Box with a gift certificate.)

I tried to take over the world, but failed.  (Isaac beat me in Dominion.)

I did my daily quests.  (I did some chores, specifically cleaning the kitchen.)

I recovered some of my health. (We had lunch.)

I did an escort quest.  No one attacked us this time, although I almost saw an attack yesterday during an escore quest. (I brought Isaac to science camp.)

I went to a healer. (I went to a doctor.)

I recovered more health. (I took a nap.)

We dealt with some royalty. (Joshua and I played Sleeping Queens.)

I battled in the arena. (Joshua and I battled with Lego Spinners.)

We went in a maze dungeon.  Several bad guys were killed.  (I told Joshua about my day as a game and he totally bought into it.  We went to the park so he could practice with his scooter and we circled around some of the things to kill them.)

A final escort quest. (Bringing Isaac home.)

Recovering more health. (Dinner)

More daily quests, including animal wrangling and farming. (More chores, including catching the cats for a nail clip and picking raspberries and strawberries.)

I leveled up one of my skills. (I worked on my quilting.)

Next up...recovering more health for tomorrow.

Sunday: birthday party

Sunday night we had a small birthday party for the boys.  This summer is a bit crazy and I told them I could only handle one party.  I did get two cakes though and they had plenty of presents.

I find that the effort I'm putting into birthday parties decreases each year.  The kids don't seem to care.  I'll probably try to have two parties again next year, but the amount of effort will otherwise probably stay about the same.

Last Saturday/Sunday: Saugatuck

We went with Ben's parents by boat and spent the night in Saugatuck.  We had a beautiful day for traveling.

After we got there and had ice cream, of course, Joshua and I went for a walk.  It was a pretty interesting walk.  We found a flower garden, sidewalk stairs, a secret passage, a playground, and a gazebo.

It got cold and Isaac was covering himself with a blanket.  For some reason Ben joined him, but the blanket didn't fit very well.

The boys also got to sleep in the secret room on the boat, but they went in and out of it so much that it wasn't much of a secret. :)  They loved it though!  

In the morning we had a lovely French toast breakfast and slowly went home.

Tuedsay: normal day

It was a rather normal day today.  We played some games, kids had swimming lessons, Isaac had science camp, and Isaac and I had karate.

Amanda, to Ben when he got home from work: How was your day?

Joshua: good.

*Five minutes later*

Ben, to Amanda: How was your day?

Joshua: good.

While it is understandable that he answered at least one of them, the fact that we weren't talking to him and that he answered the same question twice went right over his head.

Monday: dominion

The day started out with a game of Dominion with Isaac.  It was one of his new sets, so we only used that set.  It was a slow game.  Fun, but significantly longer than most games.  There were a lot of bad things that happened on a regular basis that kept us from getting money quickly...and we were trying out the new cards.  The game play worked really well even though there were a ton of new mechanics.  (I expect they'll be shorter in the future because we'll mix the new cards with the old cards and we won't have as many bad things..)

Isaac had a camp in the afternoon, so Joshua and I were going to meet up with one of his friends from school at a playground.  However, it was rainy right before we were supposed to meet, so they came over to our house.  After a bit the boys started playing by themselves and I taught the other mom Dominion.  These games were shorter, so we were able to play three of them. :)

And just like that, the day was done.

Friday: naps

 We were excited because Horizon sat on Joshua's lap for a while.  (He didn't get to nap with me, and was feeling sad when I woke up.)

A few minutes later Joshua was excited because Horizon was sleeping on his lap.  A few more minutes and he was sleeping too.

Thursday: games

Today there was nothing on the calendar, surprisingly!  We got groceries and made a quick stop at the library.  Joshua and I rode our bikes around the lake and we played a ton of board games.  The kids don't seem to enjoy the same games which is annoying, but it also means that I have some one-on-one time with both of them.

Most of the games were really fun, except for red black.  Yes, this dumb card game has shown up in our house again.  The rules have changed from when Isaac was two, but not by much.  Joshua looked at a card, asked me, "red or black?" and I'd respond with red.  Every time.  I didn't want to be playing this game but it was almost bedtime so I persevered.  He did add a few extra questions, "what number between one and x?"  I always guessed x, and it was often correct.  Joshua was entertained by this game for a longer time than I was expecting, especially since I always gave the same answer.

Wednesday: Sandy Pines

 Uncle Lee and Aunt Sue invited us to Sandy Pines again!  We had a great time.

We played some mini golf.  Isaac improved a ton from the first time in 2018 when we visited.  Joshua has improved, but will often just hit the ball a ton.  We just play for fun though, so it doesn't matter.

Then we went swimming.  Isaac was a little on the fence about it because it was in the low 70s, but we decided to go anyway.  It was an excellent choice.  He loved the water slide.  Once Joshua finally gathered up enough courage to go down the water slide he loved it too.  I think they both went down it at least 20 times.

We then went for lunch and ice cream.  Joshua crashed while waiting for the food, but the ice cream seemed to pick him back up again.  Phew.  We stopped by one additional playground and swung a bit, looked at the flowers and bird feeders at their house, and then were on our way.

We got home and I crashed.  I didn't think that we had done anything that hard, but I laid down for a nap almost immediately and was asleep within two seconds.  I woke up a few times to direct the children on the school work they should be doing after they had screen time, but just could not wake up well.

We also got the wrong package from Amazon.  It was supposed to be for another house and of course we didn't get the package that we were supposed to receive.  Amazon deals with the stuff easily, but it's annoying.  I couldn't just wait to see if my package showed up correctly because I need some of the items by Sunday for a birthday.  Joshua and I took a walk and brought the incorrect package to the correct house, but just left it on their doorstep.