Baby Steps

Life is definitely not anywhere close to what it was just three months ago, but we are definitely closer to normal compared to what life was like two months ago. More businesses were allowed to reopen in the yellow phase than were allowed to be open in the red phase. The places where I typically shop are grocery stores, CVS, and an occasional trip to a hardware store. Since all of those were deemed "essential," I haven't shopped at any of the other stores that were allowed to reopen on May 8. Most of the places that I've been waiting for them to allow to reopen are ones that can't do so until the green phase. Here are some changes that to me represent baby steps back to normalcy:

1. The neighborhood kids are playing together outside, without wearing masks, without staying 6 feet apart, and without worrying if they have some physical contact. For about six weeks the neighborhood kids didn't play together at all. Then they started interacting but still kept more physical distance than usual. Now when they play together it looks totally normal. Up until yesterday none of them had entered our house and my kids hadn't entered anyone else's house (since all this started), but yesterday Karyss had permission from her mom to play with Oliver inside our house, and today Oliver was invited into her house! Another baby step! Oliver has always been one to spend many hours playing with the neighbors. Ian was the first to start joining him more often, and now just in the last several days Nadia has been doing the same. There are three boys in our development who also just finished sixth grade (Damien, Maddox, and Trent). She's played with them. Damien in particular has really been enjoying interacting with Peppa (Nadia's younger guinea pig). The kids that play with my three the most often are Westyn, Addi, Karyss, Damien, Maddox, Trent, and Camden who are all between the ages of 7-12. Addi is turning ten on Wednesday. My kids each gave her a Mylar balloon and a birthday card today to help make her coronavirus birthday special since she can't do what she wanted to do on her birthday (spend some time at a skate park with her family and one friend). 

2. We can get curbside service from the library. Our "usual" library reopened for service today. It involved plenty of "hiccups." It took them multiple hours to get the "hold" system working again on their website today. I called and placed my holds over the phone after many failed attempts to do so online over the course of several hours. They had some of what I asked for ready when we showed up around 3:15pm. Grandma had given me $20 in my Mother's Day card and said it was to buy the kids and I a treat the first time we could return to the library. I let the kids pick where we spent the $20, and they picked Sweet Frog. They stayed in the van for the other errands, but donned their masks to go into Sweet Frog. Oliver lost his Paw Patrol mask before he ever actually wore it in public. He wore the one I bought for Nadia, and Nadia wore one of Paul's masks. Paul owns several since he wears them every day at work. In the "normal" days you would fill your container with frozen yogurt yourself and put your toppings on yourself. Now you tell the employee what kind of yogurt you want and what toppings you want. The price used to be based on weight. Now it's a flat price. I got them each a small, which cost $5 each and included 4 toppings. I opted to get myself a cup of soft ice cream at another little ice cream stand on the way home because it was cheaper and I didn't want the extra calories of the toppings. It was the first time in 2020 that any of us had soft ice cream or frozen yogurt. I savored every bit. Thank you, Grandma! When I got home I discovered that while we were putting away the groceries they had pulled 3 more books plus 1 more DVD that I had requested this morning off the shelves for me. Those four items were listed in my account as being checked out, but the six books I brought home were still listed as being ready to be picked up. What?!? I called and they said once they pull a book it's now going to be immediately checked out. They've never done it that way in the past, and our local library isn't doing it that way now so I wasn't expecting that. I'll keep that in mind in the future in terms of timing my requests more carefully. As for the books I brought home, that was their mistake and they corrected it in the system to show that I already checked those out. I usually only go to the library once per week, but I'm going to need to return sometime this week or the DVD they "checked out" to me today that is in the lobby will be due before we even get it. Now that understand the new system, I will plan accordingly. Ian was happy to get two more Paddington Bear books today. 

3. Nadia has had three different friends over for sleepovers the past three Friday nights. The next one is scheduled to take place towards the end of this month in honor of her birthday.

4. Nadia is looking forward to attending a youth group meeting in person on June 7 for the first time since March 15, and our whole family is looking forward to attending an in-person worship service on June 14 for the first time since March 8. Granted we will have to wear masks, we won't be going to our church (because our church isn't offering in person services yet), and there won't be any Sunday School classes, but still meeting in a church building instead of watching our TV at home. Paul put in a full day of work yesterday at the plant, but the kids and I watched one sermon plus the sixth episode of The Chosen. It was definitely my favorite episode thus far. We only have two more to watch. I hope they continue to make more seasons in the future. If you  haven't watched it before, you can watch it for free on YouTube. Each episode is about 50 minutes long. I'm very grateful that we only have ONE ore Sunday of church at home. I can't wait to take that baby step towards a more normal Sunday albeit I'm dreading wearing a mask for that length of time. 

5. In general ordering groceries online seems to be going more smoothly. The one thing I'm still really struggling to purchase anywhere is a box of jumbo shells or manicotti. I have the ricotta cheese, but I need some pasta to put that cheese into. Weis let me add it to my order (which wasn't the case at Walmart), but when I actually showed up to get my groceries today, nope no jumbo shells. I never dreamt trying to buy pasta would be challenging for weeks on end. The price of ground beef is also no where close to normal. Between now and Nadia's birthday I'm going to have to buy some because she wants rigatoni and meatballs for her birthday. The only meat we've been eating lately has been either chicken or tuna.

6. Reptiland's address is in Allenwood, PA, ,and Allenwood is in Union County. BUT it seems Reptiland is considered to be in Lycoming County because they said today that they are reopening on FRIDAY when Lycoming County enters the green phase! We haven't been on a field trip since March 8, and let me say we really miss our field trips! Reptiland is less than 10 minutes from our house. I think we'll be going there on Friday or Saturday! Going on a field trip (even if we have to wear a mask) is definitely going to feel like another step back toward normalcy. 

7. All the camps I signed the kids up for this summer were cancelled, BUT there will be camps in PA this summer! Last Monday the woman who runs the horseback riding camp texted me to see if we were interested in a week of camp. She raised the price from $200 per child to $250 per child. I realize that's still a very good price for 30 hours of horseback riding camp, but that would mean I'd have to pay $750 for three kids for one week. I paid $600 last year, but that was when both of us were employed. If that had been the only camp the kids could have gone to this summer, I probably would have signed them up for it, especially since Tab was willing to sign her boys up and we could have carpooled like we did last year. Since Nadia found an overnight camp the kids can attend for free this summer, I'm not planning on sending them to horseback riding camp this month. I also found two theater camps today that haven't cancelled yet. Nadia has participated in camps at the one in Williamsport before. They had multiple options. I didn't pick that one for three reasons #1 they said if they cancel you will have a credit (I want a refund), #2 it cost $75 more than the other one I found, and #3 of the five camps she could have picked between (based on the fact she'll be entering 7th grade this fall), two kids had signed up for one of the camps so far and no kids had signed up for the other four camps so far. It seems very likely they might cancel those camps due to low enrollment even if they are allowed to hold them in light of COVID-19 restrictions. The one I selected is about 20 minutes from our house. The two camps were pretty equidistant from our house albeit in opposite directions. There were only two options for her grade level. The production they will be doing is a mash up between Cinderella and Frankenstein, which certainly wouldn't be her first choice. But in 2020 with camps being cancelled left and right, beggars can't be choosers! This camp said they will give a full refund if they end up cancelling due to low enrollment or COVID-19 restrictions. They will make a decision by June 15. So I signed her up. Since VBS has been cancelled this summer as well as the camps they planned to attend, signing all three up for one week of overnight camp plus signing Nadia up for 2 weeks of an acting class (4 hours a day) seemed like baby steps toward normalcy - provided these camps do actually end up taking place that is!