Sunset on the Harbor

We went down to the Outer Harbor last night to see the sunset (and some bonus rainbows) -- since all our usual plans were cancelled, Mike was eager to get out of the house!  :)  There were a lot of people there, but it's a huge space, so it was very easy to keep more than a safe distance from other people. James was a little disappointed that we wouldn't let him play on the playground, but they enjoyed running around on the rocks instead and rolling down the hill a few times before we left. 

James loves playing catch with the football. The video is at the link.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HFxhgSmxxYyqHbnZ9

Tiny Escapes

We made two short outings this week, and we were pleased that both vehicles actually started. :)

The farm market right near our house was selling fruit and vegetable boxes -- you pay a set price (in advance, online) and then get a mix of produce. (They came out and put it right in our trunk, so it was a no-contact transaction!) It was a pretty nice selection, although with more peppers than I would have liked. :)

Today we also did a "no contact" cupcake pickup from a local bakery, and dropped them off on J&K's porch to celebrate their daughter's first birthday. It was not the celebration they had planned, but it was lovely to see them in person, even just briefly and at a distance!

It was nice to get out and drive around, but it was also a bit unsettling to see full parking lots at the stores and traffic that didn't seem all that different from normal -- hopefully people are being careful enough to stop the virus spread around here!

April (Snow) Showers

 Our springlike weather deserted us and the snow returned!  Not too much of it, but still!  Of course, it didn't stop the boys from playing in the mud. :)

Family Zoom

Nora has set up a couple of Zoom calls with the family, which have been chaotic but fun. The boys enjoyed the feature where they could choose their own screen name. In honor of the old Marco Polo group in which Grandpa accidentally included Best Western, the boys started out calling themselves Best Western, then Worst Western, then Average Western, and then (Seth's contribution) Savage Crazy Western!  Daniel also provided some domino creations (and Adrian added some musical accompaniment).

Happy Easter!

 Hope you all had a happy Easter!  We were sad to miss Daniel's Easter party (which of course was cancelled like everything else this spring), but we made the best of things here. The boys had fun hunting for eggs and baskets, we enjoyed a nice walk in the afternoon sunshine, and we had a nice ham dinner. We did not have a store-bought butter lamb, so Mike sculpted one for us.  And we made it through the first half of the Ten Commandments movie. 

Marble Channel

So one of the things that has happened during quarantine is that Matthew has taught himself some film editing.  He and James have started a YouTube channel that includes marble racing videos -- both live ones and ones that James creates on Algodoo (a program that was originally designed for teaching physics but that people have adapted to animated marble races) -- and some other videos.  You may check it out here, and they would be delighted to have more subscribers and comments: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5WisvUNT97WSIIfqOcsKVA

Matthew also created a companion website, here: https://www.periodicmediatable.com/

Enjoy!

On Pause

 Well, we are still quarantined/"on pause"/sheltering in place/self-isolating or whatever term you want to use. :)

The boys have adapted pretty well to the situation. They have some online schoolwork, but they are generally able to get it done pretty quickly, which gives them more time for their preferred activities such as watching The Simpsons. :)  One of their teachers is doing a short online meeting with them on Mondays, but mostly it's just more self-directed activities.

The weather is slowly improving, which is nice -- it's generally been in the 50s or so, although we had a sprinkling of snow on the ground in the morning on Thursday or Friday. That's not unusual for Buffalo, but everyone was grumbling about it nonetheless!

We've been playing games -- Scrabble was okay, the kids/adults Trivial Pursuit is pretty good, but Apples to Apples is the kids' current favorite.

Mike got a small weight bench for the basement to try to keep working out, although it's not the same. James has done very little gymnastics-related activity -- I think it's going to be a disaster when he goes back!

We have some cloth masks now that people are supposed to be wearing them. It is probably a bit unnecessary since our neighborhood isn't that crowded -- except on the very nicest days when everyone is out, it's easy to stay more than six feet away from other people (across the street, etc.).  I don't particularly like wearing the mask -- it fogs up my glasses -- but better safe than sorry, I suppose. Mike is stubborn and refuses.

The cases continue to rise in our county (1506 confirmed as of today, and that's with still a pretty severe lack of testing, and 57 deaths).  But they're rising at a slower rate now and they think that as long as people keep staying home as much as they can that the hospitals will be okay and have enough capacity.

I've been listening to Governor Cuomo's press conferences some of the days. I was not a big fan of him before, but I think he's done a great job with all of this. His calm, competent, thoughtful leadership has really been great to have.

(I had also never heard of the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, before all this, but there are a ton of hilarious memes out there with her telling everyone to stay home!)

We've used Instacart for grocery delivery which has been okay so far -- it just requires planning ahead a little because delivery slots are often several days out. The first time we used it I got lucky and kept refreshing the page and ended up with a same-day spot; this time, I placed the order on Monday or Tuesday for a Sunday delivery. We've also been doing HelloFresh meal delivery -- we almost cancelled it before all this happened because we hadn't been using it very often, but now we're glad to have it!  They send the fresh ingredients for three dinners a week. 

Aunt Nora sent us tiki glasses and kiwi syrup and paper umbrellas so that we could make Green Geckos, one of our favorite drinks from Hawaii (sprite, kiwi, and lime juice), which has made our quarantine much more festive!

Hello

Hello from deep quarantine in Western New York.  Picture is from a rare sunny day earlier in the week.

April Fools

I think people were not so much in the mood for April Fool's jokes this year, but the boys put the Halloween spider to good use to try to prank us!

The Plague Diaries

They announced the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Erie County a couple of days ago (three at first and now up to seven -- all people who had traveled elsewhere, mostly New York City). I taught my last in-person class of the semester last Thursday (which seems like a million years ago now), since the governor ordered all the SUNY schools to go online starting this week (except this week is Spring Break for us, so it will be next week for me). The New York city area is experiencing a pretty big coronavirus outbreak, but it seems like almost every college has gone online now.

They announced this weekend that the boys' school will be closed until April 20.  I think they are trying to arrange some kind of online/distance education for the kids, but no specific details on that yet. At the boys' school, all the kids are issued Chromebook laptops, and I suspect most families have stable internet access at home. 

James's state gymnastics meet which was supposed to be this past weekend was cancelled (well, postponed at least), though he was perhaps even more disappointed that the Pi Day celebration at UB was also cancelled. Matthew's coding classes are going online. :) 

Just today the governor ordered all gyms to close, so Matthew can't swim at the Y for a while, and Mike is VERY disappointed that he can't go to his gym and lift weights for a while. He's been working with a personal trainer and making great progress. 

Matthew made up a schedule for the days away from school that includes reading, online math, online Spanish, and other activities, and he diligently followed it.  He and James also did a great job of cleaning up the playroom today. So, a pretty good start! The weather is gradually starting to improve, so it will be nice that hopefully they can get some outdoor playtime (although they claim it's no fun since their friends can't come over).  Elsa will probably be getting more walks, since we're all supposed to be staying home!  We took a little drive today to drop off some tax paperwork and put gas in the car, which did not involve being near other people. :)

The Weatherman!

Do you watch American Ninja Warrior?  There is a pretty popular ANW named "Joe "The Weatherman" Moravsky.   Two weeks ago "The Weatherman" worked out with some kids at the local Ninja gym.   James was thrilled to be able to show his skills to a Ninja Warrior who has appeared in 6 seasons of the TV show.  Click the link to see two videos from the event.  One of them is a 1-minute clip of James completing a short course that Joe set up.  James was the only kid who made it all the way through.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pzs8Q43NnNWyAsT17

Midwinter Break

 We spent some of the boys' midwinter break from school in Florida. James had a gymnastics meet in Orlando, so we were down there for a day, and then spent the rest of the time in Gainesville. 

Matthew did logic puzzles with Grandma, but also spent quite a bit of time making paper airplanes!  James played with his marble runs, and then they combined it by having the marbles fly in the paper airplanes. This was all well and good until they tried a "transatlantic" flight over the pool, and the marble fell out and had to be rescued from the bottom of the pool (by the drain, of course).  And while James went to practice at Sun Country gymnastics, Matthew wanted to go to to the art place to paint a portrait of a paper airplane. :)