I think this video is probably a perfect summary of everyone's experience: Stir crazy kids, exhausted parents, people trying to figure out technology - one of the only ways for us to connect and try to experience occasions like birthdays and get togethers we can no longer do in person.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Covid 19 Pandemic Week 4
Saturday April 4th: We awoke today to some snow on the ground and cold temperatures. This was supposed to be our first ever Adventure Race with Cristin and Casey Hopp, but like all other events, it has been cancelled. I'm a little thankful not to be biking and canoeing right now though. Hopefully next year will be a little warmer.
Eventually the sun came out and we wanted to do a family music video. We had several different songs and "visions" in mind (especially Lucy). In the end, there were too many meltdowns and non-participation. Maybe someday we will be able to post a successful music video!
Sunday April 5th: Today we took a road trip to Wildcat Mountain State Park (inspired by the cancelled adventure race that was supposed to be in that region). We have always wanted to visit the park, and given that it is in the middle of no where, we thought it would be quite empty. The park started very quiet and we found a neat hike to do called "Old Settlers Trail". The kids did an excellent job hiking most of the way and had a blast. The 2.5 miles took us all morning, and we got back to the car just in time for a late lunch on the road. At that point the whole parking lot and overflow area was full of cars!
Back at home we had the kids change into pajamas and did a family movie night. We enjoyed watching the new pixar movie "Onward". Charlie quickly fell asleep during the movie and then had a very hard time with bed time...but he was the cutest snuggler during the movie.
Monday April 6th: Kerry got to head to the Caledonia clinic for a change of scenery. Every new Monday is met with another "rolling 2 week" period of cancelling the non-essential patients and setting up phone calls.
Meanwhile at home, the kids had a fun time doing home made puffy paint while listening to soothing music :).
Tuesday April 7th: Today was a day many of us figured was coming. Gundersen made the announcement regarding system wide furloughs. In the therapy department we are at a 50% staffing, and are on alternating weeks of furlough. Doctors and mid-level providers are doing a pay cut. The highlight of the day was enjoying the warm weather on a mini-hike on the Wood Duck trail with the kids while Dad went on a bike ride. As always, Lucy and Charlie found "phoebe" (Charlie thinks the same chickadee has been following him around).
Wednesday April 8th:
Hmmm, today was a crummy weather day and we don't have much to show for it. Kerry got to work from home and I'm sure there was a decent amount of Disney + streaming happening. We did manage to get on a bike ride to campus. Lucy brought along her current favorite baby (Redina) and she took a graceful fall when trying to ride through the clock tower. The best part was Lucy saying "whoa, let's try that again"!! She rode through the clock tower multiple times after that flawlessly.
Thursday April 9th: Today marks the official start of "Spring Break" for the La Crosse school district. We were supposed to be somewhere warm and sunny right now...As a small consolation, it is raining and 50 degrees in Joshua Tree.
Today's adventure was a trip to Esofea County Park near Westby, WI. We can't wait to come back in some warm/sunny weather. It has a beautiful trout stream running along most of the campground and some nice hiking trails. As we were scoping out the stream, it started snowing today!
Friday April 10th:
Mom worked today, but this will likely be the last Friday I work for the next unknown amount of time.
A neat group called the "Beer by Bike Brigade" has been setting out daily tables of free local food items. Kerry passed Friday's table on her way home from work. We had fun decorating the dozen of farm fresh eggs for Easter!
Eventually the sun came out and we wanted to do a family music video. We had several different songs and "visions" in mind (especially Lucy). In the end, there were too many meltdowns and non-participation. Maybe someday we will be able to post a successful music video!
Sunday April 5th: Today we took a road trip to Wildcat Mountain State Park (inspired by the cancelled adventure race that was supposed to be in that region). We have always wanted to visit the park, and given that it is in the middle of no where, we thought it would be quite empty. The park started very quiet and we found a neat hike to do called "Old Settlers Trail". The kids did an excellent job hiking most of the way and had a blast. The 2.5 miles took us all morning, and we got back to the car just in time for a late lunch on the road. At that point the whole parking lot and overflow area was full of cars!
Back at home we had the kids change into pajamas and did a family movie night. We enjoyed watching the new pixar movie "Onward". Charlie quickly fell asleep during the movie and then had a very hard time with bed time...but he was the cutest snuggler during the movie.
Monday April 6th: Kerry got to head to the Caledonia clinic for a change of scenery. Every new Monday is met with another "rolling 2 week" period of cancelling the non-essential patients and setting up phone calls.
Meanwhile at home, the kids had a fun time doing home made puffy paint while listening to soothing music :).
Tuesday April 7th: Today was a day many of us figured was coming. Gundersen made the announcement regarding system wide furloughs. In the therapy department we are at a 50% staffing, and are on alternating weeks of furlough. Doctors and mid-level providers are doing a pay cut. The highlight of the day was enjoying the warm weather on a mini-hike on the Wood Duck trail with the kids while Dad went on a bike ride. As always, Lucy and Charlie found "phoebe" (Charlie thinks the same chickadee has been following him around).
 |
| Walking through the tunnel which connects the Marsh to Hixon Forest. Love all the trail options connected to our neighborhood. |
Wednesday April 8th:
Hmmm, today was a crummy weather day and we don't have much to show for it. Kerry got to work from home and I'm sure there was a decent amount of Disney + streaming happening. We did manage to get on a bike ride to campus. Lucy brought along her current favorite baby (Redina) and she took a graceful fall when trying to ride through the clock tower. The best part was Lucy saying "whoa, let's try that again"!! She rode through the clock tower multiple times after that flawlessly.
Thursday April 9th: Today marks the official start of "Spring Break" for the La Crosse school district. We were supposed to be somewhere warm and sunny right now...As a small consolation, it is raining and 50 degrees in Joshua Tree.
Today's adventure was a trip to Esofea County Park near Westby, WI. We can't wait to come back in some warm/sunny weather. It has a beautiful trout stream running along most of the campground and some nice hiking trails. As we were scoping out the stream, it started snowing today!
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| Trail glamor shot :) |
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| We liked all the green moss; a welcome sight amongst all the brown lately. |
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| Checking out the trout stream. Charlie was not pleased to leave. |
Friday April 10th:
Mom worked today, but this will likely be the last Friday I work for the next unknown amount of time.
A neat group called the "Beer by Bike Brigade" has been setting out daily tables of free local food items. Kerry passed Friday's table on her way home from work. We had fun decorating the dozen of farm fresh eggs for Easter!
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
Covid Pandemic Week 3 in video
March 30th
A clip from Office Space, a movie from
Pischke version of the scene
Covid-19 Pandemic Week 3
March 27th: Paula left a wonderful surprise for the kids. They enjoyed decorating plant pots and planting the seeds. Charlie has wanted to check on his growing plants several times since then.
Tonight was supposed to be “Whiskey Night”-a co-ed version of the monthly wine night. This has been planned for months to allow couples to find baby-sitters. As with all the social events lately, we did a Zoom virtual Whiskey/Wine night which included at least 12 people or so. I didn’t get a screen shot of it unfortunately.
March 28th:
The kids haven’t gotten the memo to sleep in on the weekend, or any day lately for that matter. They were up by 6am today despite going to bed quite late (making way too many appearances on the whiskey night virtual meet up screen).
Today’s outside adventure was a return to a previous Marsh Trail. We showed them the tunnel that goes under Losey Blvd and Charlie did some stick races down the little creek.
Lucy enjoyed a virtual meet up with her friends Liam and Theo. The quote of the day by Lucy: “Theo and I can come over to Liam’s house when the governor says it’s ok!”
March 29th:
We had a fun FaceTime session with the Hopp Family. The iPads were mostly commandeered by Cayla and Lucy showing each other their various unicorn themed toys and clothes as well as each other's rooms. Here are the other portions of our day:
March 30th:
Isaac and the kids are starting to get into a rhythm. Today was packed full of highlights. We made a mini-movie, a spoof of Office Space's "Printer Scene." We had a picnic in the back of the van. After quiet time, during which Charlie kept his diaper dry (yeah!) Lucy learned how to put all of her bike skills together and rode on her own for real, including starting and stopping the bike all by herself (she had the balancing while riding down since last year).
April 2nd:
Here we are to Thursday again! Mom's favorite day of the work week because she's not working! We started our school day with some interactive Lego playing.
Science class included an experiment provided by Lucy's teacher. The pinterest version of this experiment looked beautiful and simple. For us, it involved 2 outfit changes, frantic sopping towel clean ups, and Mom needing a drink (just kidding on that one). It was a neat activity though, and would have worked way better if all the glasses were the same height and if my paper towel didn't have designs all over it.
Next we headed to campus to do some running around the clock tower. Charlie was quite excited to bring his Teddy and grocery cart along. (The excitement didn't last and Mom had to carry the grocery cart most of the walk).
After the walk to campus, we timed a pick up of lunch from the school bus. The kids enjoyed a picnic lunch in our yard.
After quiet time, Lucy made some big progress on her biking by doing an obstacle course that Isaac drew in the alley. Charlie and Mom went on a run during which Charlie decided every turn of the route. All told, we spent about 5 hours outside today...which makes all the movies we show not seem quite so bad.
April 3rd:
Mom was off of work again today and had the kids mostly solo for the day (same as yesterday) to allow Isaac to do his online teaching duties with less distraction. The weather wasn't warm and sunny like yesterday, but we still made it out for our daily adventure. Kerry took the kids on a new hike which the kids have now nicknamed "Tippy Top Trail". They instantly had improved moods and were so excited to reach the top of the "mountain". We hiked for over an hour which I think helped Lucy actually take a nap today!
Tonight was supposed to be “Whiskey Night”-a co-ed version of the monthly wine night. This has been planned for months to allow couples to find baby-sitters. As with all the social events lately, we did a Zoom virtual Whiskey/Wine night which included at least 12 people or so. I didn’t get a screen shot of it unfortunately.
March 28th:
The kids haven’t gotten the memo to sleep in on the weekend, or any day lately for that matter. They were up by 6am today despite going to bed quite late (making way too many appearances on the whiskey night virtual meet up screen).
Today’s outside adventure was a return to a previous Marsh Trail. We showed them the tunnel that goes under Losey Blvd and Charlie did some stick races down the little creek.
Lucy enjoyed a virtual meet up with her friends Liam and Theo. The quote of the day by Lucy: “Theo and I can come over to Liam’s house when the governor says it’s ok!”
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| Wonderful....now Charlie also joined in the ‘no nap festivities’. |
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| This is how a kid that hasn’t napped in days looks. The day went downhill from here...Mom ended the night needing a Manhattan. |
March 29th:
We had a fun FaceTime session with the Hopp Family. The iPads were mostly commandeered by Cayla and Lucy showing each other their various unicorn themed toys and clothes as well as each other's rooms. Here are the other portions of our day:
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| The kids loved playing with their magic sand this morning! |
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| Finding all sorts of ways to avoid quiet time :) |
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| Once again, the face of a kid who has successfully stayed awake for the whole quiet time. |
March 30th:
Isaac and the kids are starting to get into a rhythm. Today was packed full of highlights. We made a mini-movie, a spoof of Office Space's "Printer Scene." We had a picnic in the back of the van. After quiet time, during which Charlie kept his diaper dry (yeah!) Lucy learned how to put all of her bike skills together and rode on her own for real, including starting and stopping the bike all by herself (she had the balancing while riding down since last year).
March 31st
No words are needed for today. It was a day :) Kerry was in the clinic today, so she's not even sure what happened.
April 1st
Today was Kerry's first day working from home and it was actually more productive than a day in the clinic in terms of project completion! The kids were also respectful of staying out of the "office".
Lucy demonstrated her bike riding skills for me over lunch break:
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| Lucy is really figuring out the whole biking gig. She has been fearless so far! (Charlie is starting to realize he is getting left in the dust). |
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| Had a fun night playing Code Names on Zoom with our friends the Stulls, Bittners and Zabrowskis :) |
We managed to fit one April Fool's joke in before the end of the day with Grandpa Hyland. He was a good sport and checked to see if his refrigerator was running. The kids were full of interesting knock knock jokes for the rest of the visit.
April 2nd:
Here we are to Thursday again! Mom's favorite day of the work week because she's not working! We started our school day with some interactive Lego playing.
Science class included an experiment provided by Lucy's teacher. The pinterest version of this experiment looked beautiful and simple. For us, it involved 2 outfit changes, frantic sopping towel clean ups, and Mom needing a drink (just kidding on that one). It was a neat activity though, and would have worked way better if all the glasses were the same height and if my paper towel didn't have designs all over it.
Next we headed to campus to do some running around the clock tower. Charlie was quite excited to bring his Teddy and grocery cart along. (The excitement didn't last and Mom had to carry the grocery cart most of the walk).
After the walk to campus, we timed a pick up of lunch from the school bus. The kids enjoyed a picnic lunch in our yard.
After quiet time, Lucy made some big progress on her biking by doing an obstacle course that Isaac drew in the alley. Charlie and Mom went on a run during which Charlie decided every turn of the route. All told, we spent about 5 hours outside today...which makes all the movies we show not seem quite so bad.
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| Happily playing with Lego people |
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| The colored water is beginning to "walk" across the paper towel. |
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| Off to the clock tower and then the lunch school bus. Fun fact: Mom got to carry the grocery cart for at least 1/2 a mile. |
Mom was off of work again today and had the kids mostly solo for the day (same as yesterday) to allow Isaac to do his online teaching duties with less distraction. The weather wasn't warm and sunny like yesterday, but we still made it out for our daily adventure. Kerry took the kids on a new hike which the kids have now nicknamed "Tippy Top Trail". They instantly had improved moods and were so excited to reach the top of the "mountain". We hiked for over an hour which I think helped Lucy actually take a nap today!
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| Climbing the steep section of the trail to get to the tippy top. |
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| We made it to the tippy top!!! |
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