Coronacation Week 1 March 14-21

Well I am calling it the Coronacation. The Covid-19 virus shut down of Spring 2020. Becky's school closed on March 13 with no notice. they had been talking about it all week, but that evening the district closed all schools. Ally's school was open on Friday March 13, so that all students and teachers could get access to technology and books and things.

Here are pictures which document the first week of our Coronacation. I have not worked at my office since March 13. I go in to drop off supplies or check on things, but I am working only very part time from home. 

Ally struggled very much the first few weeks of the shut down. She was overwhelmed with school and extremely depressed with the inability to go to the gym or to school. Being an only child is really tough at times like this. We've talked about that with other families with only children. We are taking it day by day and working on lots of self care and relaxation. 

This will be the first of several posts and I will annotate photos on each post. 

we were supposed to attend a Bat Mitzvah for our friend Carly on Saturday March 15. Instead we watched it at home, it was live streamed. It was sad not to be there in person, and we all had bought new clothes to wear to it. We decided that it was best for us to start our "stay at home" that day.




Carly's family asked everyone who watched from home to email a selfie to them so they could see who was present during the ceremony.


Daisy got her nails trimmed. It is a stressful job if you can't tell by the look on Becky's face.





We managed to go for a walk on a very pretty day.


And Ally enjoyed watching a movie in her room on her iPad. This is will be a very familiar scene in the weeks to come.

Becky and Ally completed our first family puzzle of our extended Coronacation.




Cloey likes having her family home all day.


We set up Ally's gymnastics mat on the 3rd floor, and bought some weights to use. But as you can tell from her face she was not loving this set up or us taking pictures.

We purchased an inexpensive exercise bike for Ally so she could work out during the time her gym was closed.

Ally worked on some art - and more love for Cloey.


More movies.

Another puzzle - this one we all 3 worked on.






Becky and I watched The Indigo Girls live stream concert. It was great.


Daisy is living her very best life having Ally around all day long.


Our first loaf of bread from our new bread machine. It wasn't great. We have since made much better loaves.

Every morning we bring Ally breakfast in bed. Usually its chocolate chip muffins or pancakes but sometimes its just dried cereal.
But that is the last time to see that view. Late this day we re-arranged Ally's bedroom.


Lots of cleaning.


Ally was loving it

Making beds is heard work

The finished room. We have some new bedding on order and a picture for over the vanity is ordered as well.




I framed the art work Ally did week 1 and hung it up in our bedroom. I love it!

Prep for Coronacation.

Some pictures from our shopping preparation for the impending Coronacation:

This was my cart during the day on Thursday March 13.


Becky went to Home Depot after work that same day and purchased the above small fridge/freezer for our basement. It has been a huge help.



Ally's beloved gymnastics coach and her family left very unexpectedly for Columbia on March 13. The gym was closed indefinitely and things were looking bleak for the foreseeable future.
So we got the girls together for one last time before we were all under stay at home orders. That night  all of their schools closed.




That is Ally, the oldest on the team with Mari, the youngest. They have a special bond.



Later that night as panic set it, Becky went out to the grocery store. She loaded up on frozen fruit for smoothies and cheese.




This was the paper goods aisle.



And the only toilet paper left in the store. Becky did buy one of these packs.

Turns out this would be the last time went to the store. I am writing this on April 20 and Becky and I have not been shopping inside a grocery store since March 13.
I work hard - sometimes it takes me a couple of hours to get all of our groceries delivered, or ready for curbside pick up.
Its crazy, and we have a bit of a cooperative with a couple of neighbors to make sure everyone has what they might need and shop for others.
Kim and Mark have been our fruit and beer buddies.
Angelita (Sophocle's mom - we hooked her up with Easter candy and eggs for her to fill and hide for Sopho, and she got me my favorite spring rolls art Trader Joe's this week)

It takes work, but we are committed to not go shopping inside a store.

Note that Becky did go to Microcenter, an electronics store on April 16 because Daisy chewed the only charger we have to one of our laptops. The laptop was what Ally uses to take her online school classes with, so having the battery die was kind of an emergency. Becky went right away, got a new cord, and another laptop. Now that we are 6 weeks into the shut down with many more to go it seemed that having one laptop for each of us was going to be important. And now that I have one I can use all the time I am getting caught up with the blog! Win win!

Miscellaneous First half of March

Some random pictures from the first part of March.

We went to see Ally's friend Olive play hockey. It was cold in the rink and Olive's team lost but we were all happy to support Olive and her parents.



On a beautiful and warm Tuesday afternoon I voted in the Democratic primary.


Ally got LOTS of hair cut - almost 5" off! It looks so gorgeous and healthy and she loves the shorter, but still long length. Before and After here










Traditional Shamrock Shake for St. Patrick's Day.



And Becky wearing her Pi shirt giving a Pi-5 on Pi day.
Yes she is a 7th grade math teacher.

Parent of an Athlete

One of my Facebook friends nominated me to post 10 pictures in 10 days of my child as an athlete.

 “Parent of an Athlete Challenge.” That’s 10 days, 10 photos, 10 nominations and 0 explanations. Every day I will post an image or unforgettable moment in my athlete’s life.

Here are my 10 photos 

But some others that I found really representative of Ally’s life as an athlete are below:

I have no idea what the future will hold for Ally and gymnastics. We've learned recently that it might not be the best sport for her body and that if she wants to continue with gymnastics she will need to work harder than most and be very careful about how she uses her body in order to avoid more frequent injuries. 
As always Becky and I will support Ally in whatever decision she makes and however she wants to stay active and move her body.