Going backward

Today our Governor tightened up some restrictions again. Some, such as the ones that relate to bars, don't impact us since we don't drink alcohol. However the whole state is again under the yellow phase restriction of indoor gatherings being limited to 25 people. Outdoor gatherings are still under the green phase restriction of being limited to 250 people. The youth pastor at FBC had split their youth group in half in early June. Half of them come on Wednesday nights, and half come on Sunday nights. Nadia is in the Sunday night group. Including leaders there are less than 25 people each time, which I would assume will mean they can continue meeting. I had signed up for a Bible study at that church on Thursday nights that is scheduled to start in two weeks. I assume there are fewer than 25 ladies in the Bible study, which hopefully will mean it can still take place despite this change. I'm expecting to hear though that we're back to worship services only being offered online again this weekend. I would be thrilled if our church would offer an outdoor service as some churches have been doing as I believe we've had fewer than 250 people per service on Sunday mornings. We had church at home for three full months, and now we've been back at our church for the past four weeks. I really, really, really don't want to go back to church at home again, but I'm guessing we won't have a choice in the matter. I'm really hoping and praying that 2021 is a better year than 2020.

There are two funerals planned at our church this week on Friday and Saturday. I wonder if these restrictions will impact those funerals? Thankfully murders are a very rare event in our area, but two people were shot and killed at a restaurant in our area last week. The man who was murdered attended our church. A patron at the restaurant shot the gunman. He didn't kill him but was trying to make sure he didn't shoot any more people. That patron also is from our church. To me he's a hero, but some people are actually mad that he had a gun on him, even though he used it to stop a murderer?!? If I am in a public place and there is an active shooter, I will be eternally grateful if there is someone present who is able to disarm the shooter with a weapon of his/her own. 

Yesterday the kids and I went to Six Flags Great Adventure for the second time in our lives. Our first trip was in 2018. There seemed to be more people there than had been at the Six Flags in Maryland the previous week, but still the attendance seemed very low. For many rides the kids were able to get on and off the ride without any wait or they just had to wait one turn, but there was a longer wait for the roller coasters. I think part of the reason for the longer wait for some rides even though there weren't many people at the park was #1 for some rides they were cleaning the seats after every ride and #2 due to social distancing requirements a much smaller number of people are allowed to ride at one time. I spent the day with Oliver and Joel. Ian was also with us for the vast majority of the time. Nathan joined us for a short while. Nadia spent the day with Uncle Joe, Joshua, and Andrew. We were in the park for 7.5 hours. Thankfully the drive there was a little bit shorter (due to less traffic) than the drive last Wednesday to Maryland. The drive was more expensive due to toll roads. Although it was a warm day, I didn't feel AS hot as I did the previous Wednesday. Maybe there was more shade? Maybe it wasn't quite as hot? This park had people going around spraying garbage cans, benches, etc. throughout the day. It might have also happened at the other park, but I saw it a lot more at this one. At this park (in NJ) they were strict about wearing the masks while on rides, but they weren't as strict as the one in MD about wearing them when you were walking around the park. The biggest disappointment was that some of their favorite rides were closed (due to COVID) including the Justice League (a ride that is similar to the Toy Story ride at Disney that is a bit like playing a video game), Cyborg, flume, and rapids. Also you can't walk through the safari this year. We didn't have special reservations so we didn't drive through the safari. I rode more rides yesterday than I did last week. The kids had a blast. They love to spend time with their cousins, and they love riding rides. Driving that many hours in one day is not something I relish. I am grateful it went smoothly, and I'm thankful the next lengthy trip isn't supposed to happen until August 2 when I drive out to Long Island. We're praying that PA stays off of NY's "bad state" list. I did see that the US/Canada border closure has been extended through August 21 so we made the right move in cancelling that vacation.

I was very hungry when we left the park because I had eaten an early lunch in the van before we entered the park. You can't make a left turn in NJ, and the fast food places near the park were on the side of the road that would have necessitated a left turn. So I decided to stop at the first service station we came to on the toll road. That didn't end up happening until 8:15pm. I am not sure if they have reduced hours due to COVID or haven't reopened yet, but when we went in only one convenience store plus the bathrooms were open. All the restaurants (Starbucks, Auntie Anne's, Roy Rogers, Cinnabon, etc.) were closed. We were very disappointed because we were very hungry at that point. We went through a drive thru at McD's at 9pm as we got off the turnpike. My dinner last  night consisted of one hot fudge sundae. I just couldn't bring myself to eat a meal that late at night.

We stayed home this morning. This afternoon I took the kids to a program at the library. The boys enjoyed it. Nadia felt like it wasn't appropriate for a twelve-year-old even though it was advertised for ages 5-12. Ian won the first game all the kids played with balloons; no one popped his balloon! After eating dinner at home, I took the kids swimming for a little less than 2 hours. When we got home we watched a DVD I had gotten at Redbox called Four Kids and It. I had read them the book Five Children and It awhile back, and this movie is loosely based on the book. Tomorrow we only have two things on our agenda - picking blueberries (at a farm about 1 mile from our house) and swimming at the pool. I didn't get any exercise today so I'm planning on walking to the blueberry farm tomorrow. I've lost 14 pounds in the past 8 weeks. If I lose 1 more I'll be back to where I was last July. If I lose 6 more, I'll be back to where I was in 2007.