It's 2020 and orthodontists still use headgear?!?

The next phase of orthodontia for Kate is headgear. She is a strict follower of the rules, so when she gets up in the morning, she practices piano before eating breakfast so that she can get her 12 hours of headgear wearing in. We're anticipating 6 months or so - and Kate has begun her countdown!

 

Dates during COVID

What do you do when you can't go to restaurants? when you can't have friends over?

Go outside! Go for a paddle with friends on the Little Miami River (because you aren't allowed to paddle on Lake Isabella - which we found out after paddling on Lake Isabella for a few minutes)

The area we paddled was a little deeper than the last time we paddled the Little Miami, but still had a few shallow spots.

Go for bike rides on the Loveland Bike Trail. Dani even got a new bike this year! We typically go for 15-25 miles.

Eat in your car. Or, even better, one night while Nana and Papa were in Texas visiting T and Hayley, Dani and I got takeout Thai food and ate it over at Nana's castle. We discovered that Nana uses a lot of birds in her décor!

 

When the weather was nice, we could have a burger outside.

Finally, one day when cases were lower, we went with the Goldies, Lesans, Browns, and Busbys (wearing masks, of course) to an escape room (we successfully escaped!)

and to a Mexican restaurant afterwards. It was delicious!

We even got dressed up once ... though we can't remember why!

First job!

Jacob has his first job! He took a refereeing course last spring in hopes to be able to referee spring soccer, but unfortunately, spring soccer season never happened.

But, he was ready for fall soccer season! He will often ride his bike to his games when there are schedule conflicts.

He gets $12 for instructional games and $17 for passers. Next year, he'll be eligible for the $25 wings games!

He coordinates his own schedule with the referee coordinator. It is fun to see him being responsible and earning money.

 

Biking to school

We decided this year that we would take our kids to school, other than Torin who rides to school in the afternoon Kindergarten bus. This time of year, the weather is perfect for riding bikes, so as often as it is sunny, Kate, Liam, and Dani ride to school in the mornings. In the afternoon for pickup, Dani hooks up the trailer bike to her bike for Torin to ride home.

 

Cross country season

All summer, Jacob and Claire have been working out with the cross country teams in summer conditioning. They've been able to run at the high school, Sharon Woods (until the boys got kicked out because apparently someone complained), and Symmes Park, and they began their high school cross country season in really good shape. 

The Loveland meet was the first activity of any size that any of us had participated in for a long, long time. Even though we had to wear masks, it felt great to be able to do something that resembled normal. It was also striking to see how much Jacob and Claire have grown and physically matured! They aren't little junior high kids any more!

 

  

Attendance at different meets had different rules. Some of the meets were televised via YouTube, with various video quality. It did enable other family members to be able to watch as well. We watched the Loveland meet this way and the Moeller meet (a night time meet in Mason). Some meets, like Princeton, didn't allow any spectators.

The prettiest meet was in Eaton, Ohio, southwest of Dayton, in a state park. It was fun to run around the park cheering the boys on. It was there that we discovered the Anika Busby cheering experience - very loud and enthusiastic!

  

The girl's and boy's cross country teams were able to do the pre-game pasta dinners. They did them a little differently than normal, but it was a good bonding time. Claire made good friends with a group of senior girls, and Jacob played a lot of basketball with the boys after their pasta dinners. They loved it.

Sycamore hosted a meet near the end of the season. Coach Shomo was very excited for the course, mowing it extra short, and deciding it was going to be a great PR course.

Jacob's favorite meets were Eaton, Princeton, and Sycamore (because he ran the fastest there - and because he finished in the top 15 and got a t-shirt). Claire's favorite was Sycamore because it was fun to run on their home track in front of a home crowd.

One of the things we appreciated a lot about the approach the coaches took was that they set the expectation that in order to do the they wanted (have a cross country season), everyone would need to make a few small sacrifices (wearing a mask, running in smaller groups, not doing some of the traditional activities). Instead of feeling like victims, they taught the kids the lesson of teamwork and making worthwhile sacrifices for the team.

Back to school!

It is time to go back to school! Sycamore has decided to offer the choice of learning in person or virtually. For those who chose virtual, they would have teacher-led instruction mostly from entirely virtual classes, though some high school classes will broadcast from the in-person classroom. About 1/3 of the school decided to attend virtually.

 

We decided to send our kids in person. This means that they would need to wear masks throughout the day and that desks in the classrooms would be spaced apart about 3 feet. If someone tests positive from COVID that is seated next to you in the class or at lunch (there's assigned seating) or on the bus, you will need to quarantine for 2 weeks.

We also decided that Dani would drive our kids to and from school to avoid the chance of needing to quarantine from exposure on the school bus. Dani spends a lot of time in the Maple Dale line for both drop off and pick up (she's listened to a lot of audio books!), but she gets to hear all of the stories on the way home - which typically is a pretty constant stream of thoughts from Liam and asking to get on the computer or to get a popsicle!

Additionally, while we originally signed Torin up for full-day kindergarten, we decided to send him to half-day kindergarten so he wouldn't have to be in a mask all day long.

Because the afternoon kindergarten school bus picks up only his class, we decided he could ride the bus to school. Jared typically takes Torin to the bus stop, where they play various games of soccer. At least that's 1 less trip to Maple Dale! Torin is so excited to begin school!

While wearing a mask is inconvenient, our kids are really flexible and are just excited to get back to school to see friends. 

And thus ends the longest spring break ever.

Outdoor theater

We set up our outdoor theater for the screening of Mulan. 

We invited friends over and set up popcorn as well. Meanwhile, 2 houses down, they were setting up for a wedding, and Dani was worried that we would be distracting to them. Instead, their DJ was pumping some great tunes that overpowered our speakers, including playing YMCA during a high emotional scene in Mulan. It was pretty funny watching everyone dancing along.

Since then, we've set it up for Jacob and Drew to watch baseball and the NBA playoffs with a few other of his friends. It is a good "socially distanced" activity for the boys.

Date afternoon on the (shallow) Little Miami

Labor Day was sunny and beautiful, and Dani and Jared took advantage by paddle boarding the Little Miami. Jared always calls paddle boarding his happy place. We shuttled, dropping a car off in the Kelly Nature Preserve and putting in up river.

The water was super calm, the sun was out, there wasn't a lot of wind, and it was really an ideal day for paddle boarding.

Except when we discovered how shallow the river becomes in a number of spots! There were a few spots where the river widened and got super shallow. It was a challenge to stay up as our fins bumped off of and got trapped by rocks. We found that if we got on the very front of our boards, the fin would lift a little. Eventually, though, it was just easier to hop off and walk the board through the shallows, but it was really funny. Jared refused to get off his board and gave a few kayakers some entertainment as he tried to make it all the way through on his feet.

Dates during the day are an extra special treat for us!