Beach Trip 2020

At first we weren't going to take a trip to the beach this summer, because ... covid. But once the situation started dragging on longer than we expected, and school announced that all learning would be virtual, we needed a change of scenery. To the beach we went!

We warned the kids that this beach trip would be different: we'd socially distance just like at home; they'd have to participate in virtual school every day; we wouldn't be going to restaurants or playing mini golf or taking pirate cruises. But we still had fun.

Every morning we'd go for a walk on the beach to chase seagulls and look for all kinds of amazing sea creatures. We saw dolphins, a variety of fish, stingrays, crabs, starfish, countless hermit crabs, jellyfish, and even a little squid that got stuck in a tidal pool. One morning the kids swore they saw a hammerhead shark (several other people on the beach did, too) but MJ and I couldn't confirm that one.

We tried out a new kind of beach tent this year -- a Shibumi. It was super lightweight and compact when folded, was very easy to set up, and gave us tons of shade. Unfortunately the wind made it quite noisy, but overall it was a pretty good option. Once it was set up, MJ and I could see in every direction, which was great for keeping an eye on the kids.

There was a family of deer near our condo, and the does were so tame they would literally let the kids pet and hug them. Anytime MJ and I turned our backs, the girls snuck down to feed them. An entire loaf of bread, cups of cut fruit, and a giant Costco bag of carrots quickly disappeared, and I have no doubt at all where they went. But I have to admit -- it was priceless. The girls even gave names to all the deer (pictured here: "Caramel" with CC and "Katie" with Sweet Pea).

For our last several beach trips, CC has desperately wanted to go horseback riding, but has been too terrified to get on the horse. MJ -- who had never been horseback riding -- made a deal with her: if she got on a horse, he would, too. I think it was just enough motivation to get her on! After some initial nerves, she finally sat on Pep Talk, who was an extremely gentle and patient horse.

MJ's horse was named King ("Uh ... it feels pretty high up here"); I rode Corona (named for the beer, not the virus); Little Man rode Cinnamon, and Sweet Pea was on Roanie. We went for an hour-long trail ride, and the kids loved it. They have unanimously voted to do a trail ride every time we go to the beach from now on, but I'm not sure if MJ will join us again. His verdict: "It was pretty hot. And kind of uncomfortable."

Every time we go to the beach, I take one morning to get up early and watch the sun rise. This year, I took Little Man with me. It wasn't the best sunrise ever, but we had a special morning together regardless.

Final note: School was no joke. It was 7:30 until 2:30 every day! (We didn't know the schedule when we booked the trip.)

We took Friday off from virtual learning, just so we'd have one pure beach day. And it was wonderful -- a great way to end our week.

Birthday Recap

Monday was a fantastic day, starting with donuts and presents, and ending with McDonald's for dinner. Hey, you only turn eight once! It was also the first day of (virtual) school, which the kids were really excited about ... until I had to tear them away from their new toys in order to log onto Zoom.

Little Man's favorite gifts were (surprise!) Legos. And more Legos. But he's also excited about his ant farm (me: not so much), a Grumblie and some Star Wars perler beads.

Sweet Pea just about lost her mind when she opened her main gift -- an Amazon Echo. Now she can listen to music in her room, which she's wanted to do for a long time. She also got plenty of Legos and some purple and pink matchbox cars (she's been complaining about the relative lack of those colors among toy cars -- go figure).

Her birthday wish was to have an entire box of Annie's Mac N Cheese all to herself for her lunch. She's been talking about it for months! Fortunately that wish was very easy to grant.

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by later in the afternoon (after school was done) to wish them a special day, and brought even more Legos -- much to Sweet Pea and Little Man's delight. "I've been wanting this Lego set forever!" they screamed almost simultaneously, as Little Man opened up Slave I (from Star Wars) and Sweet Pea unwrapped her amusement park.

But Monday wasn't the only special day! Memere and Pepere made a surprise visit on Saturday, bringing an awesome cake and some amazing presents. It poured rain, but no one minded -- the adults socially distanced in the garage, and the kids barely noticed the rain as they played on the water slide.

Birthdays wouldn't be complete without the annual Measuring of the Birthday Kids. Little Man is 49.5 inches tall (an increase of almost 3 inches over the last year!) and Sweet Pea is 47.5 inches tall (an increase of 1.75 inches). We aren't having a doctor's appointment for their birthday, so I don't know what the percentiles are -- but I suspect they're on their standard, small-ish curve.

School is Virtually Here

Sweet Pea and Little Man were originally very excited to learn that the first day of school coincided with their birthday. Usually school starts much later in the month, so this is the only year they've been able to "share" their birthday with their classmates and teachers. But unfortunately the day didn't turn out quite how they expected. 

"I have to do actual writing?! And math?! On the first day?!" yelled Little Man, exasperated. "How long is this Zoom going to last, anyway?!"

At one point, Sweet Pea walked away from her Zoom and cried in the corner, because technical issues were keeping her from understanding the instructions.

"These headphones hurt my ears!" complained CC.

I wanted to hide with a glass of wine, but the kids would have found me. And it was only 8:30 am.

BUT, for better or worse, school is here and we will do our very best to keep our heads above water. Prayers for all the other families and kids who are in the same boat!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea and Little Man!

They're eight! Holy cow!

Little Man and Sweet Pea are still living their best lives, and they're not going to let coronavirus -- and the fact that we've been home for over 5 straight months now -- get them down.

Little Man is still my rough-and-tumble kid who wants any kind of physical touch -- wrestling, tickle fights, cuddling, hugs. He often crawls under my sheets in the morning to snuggle with me, and I treasure those moments. But in typical brother fashion, he's constantly provoking his sisters by tackling them or shooting them with Nerf guns. And at least once every day I say to him, "No standing on the furniture!" His latest game is sneaking up on us: he will creep up behind me while I'm cooking, sneak around the edge of the couch to surprise MJ, or tickle someone's foot under the table.

His personality continues to be mercurial. His temper flares quickly and hot, but he just as quickly calms down and forgets about whatever bothered him. We're trying hard to break him of his finger-sucking habit, but it's an incredibly ingrained behavior that he's done almost constantly since he was a few months old.

Little Man didn't latch on to reading as early as the girls did, but in the last month I've been relieved to see him starting. But much to my surprise, he's not picking up early reader books; he's reading the same type of chapter books that CC and Sweet Pea are reading! (The Jedi Academy books are all the rage around here lately.) So hopefully he was just holding out until he could read the books that he wanted to read. Who cares about Dick and Jane and Spot, anyway? I'm hoping that his reading is similar to Sweet Pea's walking: she was months past when other babies had taken their first steps, yet when she finally did, she walked clear across the room.

Sweet Pea is more attached to me than she's been in the past -- if that's even possible! She's in my lap, or at my side, almost every minute of the day. When she's not glued to me, she's doing gymnastics: flipping and tumbling and cartwheeling all over the place. I marvel at her strength and flexibility, and the way her lithe muscles ripple under her skin.

She adores playing board games. Ticket to Ride is our latest favorite, and we own five different versions so far. We play at least once a day, usually just her and me and MJ, and she would happily play more. She is the least interested in TV of our kids, and loves organizing things. She's the only Morrison kid who's holding onto some of her adorable childish sayings and mispronunciations: turch instead of church, ambweewance instead of ambulance, bednight instead of bedtime. And she can't seem to eat anything without getting it all over her face! 

Oh gosh, I can't believe eight years have passed already. But on the other hand, I love the people our kids are developing into. The older they get, the more interesting our conversations and adventures are! 

Sliding into Eight

Over the weekend MJ and I surprised the kids by renting an enormous water slide! Hey, we can't have a birthday party for Sweet Pea and Little Man, so let's celebrate a different way instead!

We had it for three days. Unfortunately it wasn't the best weekend, weather-wise; it poured on and off every day. But that didn't dampen the kids' enthusiasm -- they were sliding even in torrential downpours, with thunder rumbling in the distance. The girls were definitely more into it than Little Man was, but he had his moments of crazy sliding, too. He was the only Morrison kid to slide headfirst ... on his back!

The thing took up almost our entire front yard. I'd wanted it to go in the backyard, but it wouldn't fit, so instead we were on display for the entire neighborhood. I felt a little bad, because under normal circumstances we would have invited all our friends to join us! But instead they walked by and watched as our whole family whooped and slid and splashed.

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/eCjfisDzXds

Zoo Trip

 One last hurrah before school starts -- a trip to the zoo!

Sweet Pea "matched" the flamingos!

The covid restrictions were pretty strict: we had to purchase tickets in advance, for a specific entry time. All "touching" exhibits were closed, including all the sculptures of animals throughout the zoo that we normally climb on. All indoor exhibits were closed. We had to wear masks (almost) the whole time. This was the first time the kids have worn their masks for an extended period, and they surprised me by not complaining at all. Grandpa and Grandma joined us for the trip, and it was so nice to have them with us -- socially distanced, of course.

CC's favorite animals were the cougars, which were very active, coming right up to us on the other side of the glass. Sweet Pea loved the zebras, and Little Man couldn't get over the snakes (we saw some huge ones). Grandpa loved the giraffes. My favorite was the grizzly bear, who was taking a nap underneath his waterfall -- what a great way to stay cool! And Grandma's favorite was the huge turtle who came out of the water and attacked a water lilly for breakfast. 

We finished the day with ice cream -- the perfect ending to a fun outing!

Photo Friday

Three sets of headphones have arrived just in time for (virtual) school to start next week.

Cool feature: the sets can connect to each other. So they can plug one set into CC's music player, and then daisy-chain all three together so they can listen at the same time.

Pool Parties

One of the sweetest ways Alice shows her love for our kids is by taking them each on their own birthday "date" each year. Unfortunately, due to Covid, we couldn't do anything along those lines this year. So Alice came up with a great alternative: pool parties!

Each kid had a different day. They even got to pick the lunch menu on their special day, and Alice would magically make it all appear. Then they'd swim to their heart's content in her pool, showing off all their new skills.

CC, Sweet Pea, and Little Man loved their pool parties. They'd get so excited, counting down the days, and picking the flavor of their cupcakes (CC: chocolate on chocolate; Sweet Pea: rainbow sprinkles; and Little Man: chocolate on vanilla).

For Sweet Pea's party, we borrowed the enormous unicorn floatie from Mia. Afterwards, we walked it back down to her house. No, it didn't look odd at all ...

Mountain Climbing

This week our nature outing involved a 5-mile hike with a large waterfall and even larger mountain.

There were boulders to climb, streams to rock-hop across, and even a tree to climb at the very top. We ate lunch at the summit, admiring the view, and making friends with a skink who kept peeking out at us from a nearby log.

It was our most strenuous hike by far, and the kids did great! The final mile up to the summit was almost completely stairs and steep rock face. We took a few breaks during that stretch, and Little Man wished several times for a jet pack. But once we were at the top, they were awed by the view. "Mommy, it was totally worth it!" gushed Sweet Pea.

I had to agree -- even if my calf muscles were screaming at me for days afterwards!