Little Falls

 We can't go much of anywhere this summer, which is a bit depressing, but we did make it out to Akron Falls park for a bit.  It's a really nice place with a creek and some trails -- it's relatively big, but we just walked around a small part of it and dipped our feet in the refreshing water. :)

James got new hearing aids recently, and his audiologist gave us a remote microphone device (a Roger device). This was super nice of her because usually they are very expensive, but another client had given it to her because he couldn't use it.  It turned out to be awesome at the park because James could hear us (well, whoever was holding it) at a distance with it, even over the sound of the running water!

Puppy Trim

Elsa finally went back to the groomers!  PetSmart was booked up for weeks, so we tried a new place just down the road from us.  They did a great job, and Elsa came back with pink bows in her ears, a pink bow on her collar, and her disco-pink bandanna!  I guess they really wanted to make her feel like a princess.  :)
Mike asked about doggie day care there, and it turns out they don't let the dogs play with each other, but it's more like a dog spa -- they can sit in front of a fireplace, watch TV, get massages, and drink "pup-tinis."  (Mike said he would just dress up in a dog suit and go hang out there...)

Heat Wave

 Buffalo had record setting heat last week (highest number of days above 90 degrees -- usually very rare for us!)  We went out for ice cream with our friends, but even in the shade it was so warm that the ice cream melted almost as fast as we could eat it!  We were thinking we might take a walk in the park next to the ice cream place, but we were melting too, so we skipped it.  :)

Trim

James has needed a haircut for a while, so we finally braved the haircut place. They have new procedures where people wait in their cars, wear masks, etc., and we picked a non-busy time. And we're happy with the results!

Marble Relay

So it turns out that marble racing is branching out into a variety of events. (The Marble-lympics that Jelle's Marble Runs does has sixteen events this year, including ten new ones, as James informs me. There are balance events, long jumps, and more.)  Here, James has set up a marble relay race with Hot Wheel tracks and Legos. :)  Some of the races are close so he records them with his iPad so that he can watch the replay in slow motion. 

Coding Games

Matthew and his teammates won the nationwide Coder Games contest!  (He told us they did Coder Games at the Coder School online event that he did, but we didn't even realize it was a competition until the Coder School owner emailed us to let us know his trophy had arrived!)  We are very proud of him!

End of Fifth

 The boys had their last day of fifth grade on June 12 -- the school year ended a little earlier than originally scheduled because of the coronavirus. They were glad to be done, but it was kind of anti-climactic!

On the 15th, we went over to school to pick up all the things from their lockers, and then they had the gym set up for picking up art projects, turning in library books, and so on. (The school had set up different days and times for pickup based on last names.) Masks were required, of course, but the building was pretty empty.  It felt a bit strange and sad to me, but the boys didn't seem too bothered.

James's teacher left a nice end of the year envelope with a letter to them, and Matthew's teacher (and assistant teacher) actually came by the house to say goodbye!  It was a quick visit but really nice!

Happy Father's Day

 Hope you all had a happy Father's Day!  Mike had been wanting to go to Olcott Beach, so we took a little trip up there for Father's Day.  It was nice and sunny.  There were a few people out and about, but it wasn't too crowded.  We walked by the lake for a little big, and then stopped in to a couple of the shops -- they only let in a few customers at a time and required masks (and had spray hand sanitizer available), so it seemed okay. We ended up with some delicious carmel flavored popcorn! Then, back home for homemade pizza for dinner. 

Quarantine Projects

Well, one silver lining of being "on pause" or quarantined is that Mike got the garage cleaned out and largely organized to his satisfaction. :)  However, he is also happy that he can now go into stores again. (Previously when he had suggested it, I demanded to know what was so important that he was willing to kill us all, etc.)

He has taken advantage of his newfound freedom by going to the bike store and the liquor store. :)  James had outgrown his old bike, and so now he has a new one -- although apparently there is a nationwide bike shortage (in part because more people got interested in riding bikes and in part because the supply chains got disrupted). So, we were lucky that they had a used bike at the store that was the right size.

Governor Cuomo has been doing daily news conferences since early in the pandemic, and Friday was his last one. Each day he would give the number of deaths and hospitalizations in the state, and I remember being relieved when the deaths dropped from the 700s (per day!) to the 600s, and now it is down in the 20s -- which is obviously still sad, but so much better than it was.  I will kind of miss the briefings -- he was direct, reassuring, focused on the facts and science, and reminding everyone to work together and be New York Tough (which he specified also meant smart and loving).  It was such good leadership, especially compared to the disasterous and divisive approach from the White House.

Social Distance Dinner

 Western New York has moved into the second (and now third) phases of reopening. There are still COVID cases in our area, but the numbers have been going down. So, last weekend we did a socially distanced dinner with our friends Jake and Kelly -- we picked up take-out from Andersons and ate out on their deck, seated an appropriate distance apart. :)  Their dogs, of course, ignored the distancing in favor of getting pets and the occasional dropped french fry. :)  It was fun to have a somewhat more normal get-together!