Daniel & Annabel's Adventures: Quarantine Week 3: aka Spring Break

Some Spring Break, eh. This was March 29- April 4, week 3 of our quarantine. I spent the week waffling between being okay and having a hard time all over again. We'd learned that we would be continuing our quarantine through the end of April, which I fully expected (and truly hoped). In fact, I'd started to fret that school would start up again on the April 7th and I personally would not be ready and willing to send my kids back then. I needn't have worried. We were officially under a shelter-in-place order that would continue for quite some time.

It's definitely been a roller coaster for me emotionally. April 1st hit me hard. We were staring down 30 more days of this. That's a lot. AND- It was Annabel's birthday month. I'd already been thinking of ways to make her birthday extra special and fun, but it still saddened me that there would be no party, no friends to celebrate with, no family party, no trips to her favorite restaurants for dinner or dessert, none of the typical birthday fuss to make it special. Annabel actually took it in stride. In fact, right when we began our quarantine, she immediately felt sympathy for the kids that had birthdays those first few weeks. It was just so sweet. So when her birthday came around, she was sad, of course, but she was ready emotionally for it to be different. It was never "ruined" in her mind. Annabel was also so wise- at one point she said to me, "Mommy, I'll still be 9." That's all that mattered, really. Still, for me, my mind was whirling with disappointments and the long month ahead that April 1st. I shook it off pretty well for the most part and said okay, well, it's April, time for birthday month, and made K Bars to celebrate the birthday month's kickoff! Annabel was delighted.

We kept busy during spring break. It just didn't feel much like a break. It was a breather from e-Learning for the kids, sure, but at the same time, it was just more of the same, more of being in our house. Our days blurred together. Our dream of a Disney cruise had been long dashed (but, oh, we did dream! and we all desperately want to make it happen sometime soon! I'm eyeing our breaks next year...) and our travel plans consisted of different rooms in the house or changes to our walk routes and so forth and so on.

My favorite part of that spring break week was that the kids built an awesome fort in the family room behind the couch. This fort was complete with a hatch opening/sunroof, support beams, storage, a "fridge" (Annabel's water bottle stayed plenty cold up against the outside wall behind the cushions), a fan, lighting (lanterns, a ceiling "light bulb"- battery operated light bulb for hanging in tents, and awesome colorful rope lighting), a stack of games and books, a table, and sometimes cats. It was an awesome fort. It last most of the week, until the cats finally did cave it in while walking on top of it. Annabel even slept in the fort at least three nights in a row. That right there felt like spring break! Camping in the family room in the fort. Daniel thought he might take a turn in there at one point, but then decided against it. I think Annabel might have continued sleeping in it more, but after it caved, she didn't want it built again. That's okay- it was really fun while it lasted!!

Here are the pictures from that week!

Remote control cars at the school blacktop!

Our awesome fort!!

I finished part 2 of the Lego Bookstore...the townhouse next door. It's all so cute.

Games, cat in a box, and Legos. Our life these days.

More fort fun.

Daniel wanted to Duo Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Gary so he could play his band concert songs for them. It was so sweet and entirely his idea!!

Our newest game on repeat these days...Ex Libris! The perfect game for the book lovers we are! You "build" shelves of books, you have to collect certain ones, collect a variety, have a stable shelf, not collect banned books, and so on. So fun! Annabel and I LOVE this game!

We introduced the kids to Shootin' Ladders. It's another new fave around here and more imporantly...one that Daniel will play!! Win win!!

Kitties sleeping on the roof of the fort!

Annabel wanted wavy hair one day, so she braided her hair before bed so that she'd wake up to waves. Her braids are darling, I think!

Well, Ziggy did it. He jumped to the top of this shelf in the family room. That cat is always looking to get up high. (And just the other day, he made it on top of our mantel in the family room- I was fit to be tied!! He hasn't done it since...that I know of. Hmph.)

Doodle Crate project for Annabel...sewing zipper pulls. Cute!

Daniel spent a great deal of spring break digging through Daddy's old Star Wars Lego sets and pulling some out to rebuild. We've discovered how hard it is to use old directions though...Lego has definitely improved their clarity since. These are seriously frustrating old sets! Anyway, this has all kept Daniel busy for hours and hours. Love it!

Cozy Cosmo.

I think it's kind of amazing how life goes on. Spring has sprung! These are the flowers outside of our school building, which we walk past almost twice daily.

Daniel and I were playing Legos at his desk, Annabel kept us company while reading out various words from her awesome word book. She just wanted company. It was the sweetest. And look at those long legs.