If Wednesday is the middle of a work week for those who work M-F, then this week is the hump week of our summer. Our summer began on May 2 and will be ending on August 29 which is a grand total of 17 weeks. This week is our ninth week, which means we have eight weeks left of summer break. In terms of our summer bucket list, we have 24 items left to accomplish from the list of 73 experiences, which means we're definitely more than half way through that list. The pool was closed yesterday because it was a cooler, rainier day so instead of swimming we stopped at a blueberry farm very close to our house on the way home from theatre camp. We only picked a little less than one pound of blueberries because she was getting hungry for dinner plus we already had cherries, strawberries, and raspberries at home. I decided it was the perfect time to make fruit pizza for the first time. I hadn't eaten it in at least 30 years, and Nadia had never had it before. Oh my goodness. We both thought it was heavenly. I used some strawberries, blueberries (we had just picked), and cherries on our pizza. YUM! I won't be waiting 30 years before I made it again!!
Nadia usually chooses to play Minecraft over watching something or she watches something from Disney+ on the iPad in her bedroom. Since we declared this to be a girl's week while the boys are at camp, the only time she's used the iPad this week has been to work on Duolingo (Spanish). We watched "I Still Believe" via a DVD from the library on Monday, livestreamed the 7th episode from the 2nd season of The Chosen on Wednesday night, and "I Can Only Imagine" via a DVD from the library last night. Tonight she wants to watch the new episode of Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney+) and also one episode of Monk (Amazon Prime). She likes the Mysterious Benedict Society show so much that she watched the first two episodes a second time on Tuesday night when her three friends were here for a sleepover. I'm very thankful for the one-on-one time I've had with Nadia this week. It's very sobering to think she might be leaving the house in only five years. I want to seize the moments while I still can! As for audiobooks this week, we had to take a break from Arlo Finch and also from Davy Crocket while the boys weren't here. Nadia and I listened to The Christmas Doll by Elvira Woodruff, and now we're in the middle of Mary Poppins in the Park, both are available through Audible's Plus catalog. I'm trying to take advantage of that during our four month subscription.
Our state's mask mandate was lifted (one year + 73 days after it had been enacted) at the beginning of this week. As of last week more than 75% of adults in our state had received at least one dose of the vaccine and about 60% are fully vaccinated (Paul and I are in that group). Of course businesses still have the option to require that masks be worn regardless of whether you've been vaccinated or not. I'm on the email list of the children's museum closest to our home, and they said they are still requiring masks for everyone over the age of two even if you've been vaccinated. Our membership expired there last year, and we don't plan to return. The library I've been using since September has never been particular about masks, but I picked up a DVD from the library near where Nadia is having theatre camp this week. What a contrast. That library still isn't even letting anyone in to browse, which isn't a big deal as I've always been a fan of requesting books/DVDs online ahead of time. But I was shocked when I stopped in to pick the DVD up earlier this week and was told that masks are still required for everyone even if you've been vaccinated. This was AFTER the Governor ended the mask mandate. The only other place I've worn a mask since I've been vaccinated was when I took Nadia to her physical. They required it of everyone. I'm not sure if they've changed their policy since the mask mandate was lifted. We shall see when I take Oliver for his annual physical in August. I didn't have a mask with me when I ran into the library so I just pulled my shirt up over my nose and mouth. Time will tell if the need to have a mask in my purse or in the vehicle ever truly goes away. I'm very, very thankful though that it's a much rarer instance to need a mask at this point. Last year when Nadia had theatre camp her temperature was taken every day, I had to sign her in and sign her out, everyone wore masks, hardly anyone was allowed to see the performance, they stayed far apart from each other, etc. This summer theatre camp is pretty much back to normal - no masks, no social distancing, no temperature taking, no limit of a total of only ten people in the audience, etc.
Most of the places I had hoped to visit during our vacation our west have reopened. Yahoo! The biggest exception would be Four Corners as the Navajos haven't begun reopening things yet. I'm just assuming we won't go there. The other exception would be the Lowell Observatory. They have partially reopened, but it's VERY expensive to go there right now. I'm hoping that in two more months they will be farther along in their reopening process and we can go there without paying an arm and a leg. One other uncertainty is whether Toyota will have resumed giving tours of their plant in Kentucky. As for National Park sites we planned to visit in July and August, that is still a problem. I've given up on visiting Martin van Buren and the three sites in Hyde Park, which might mean we'll never visit those places. We're still planning to spend a weekend in Massachusetts in two weeks. It's frustrating that we'll be in Springfield and can't visit the Springfield Armory as it hasn't reopened, but Paul really wants to go there so even though it will not be as convenient, I'm planning on including that in our New England vacation in 2023. Because of adding that in 2023, I moved the Weir Farm to this summer because it has partially reopened, and I've deleted the PEZ tour from the 2023 trip, which probably means we'll never go there. Coltstville is a new national park that is in the process of opening in CT that I think would also be up Paul's alley. I'm hoping they are open in two years. I'm also still not certain what sites we'll be able to see near the end of August in conjunction with our trip to Long Island. Ideally I'd like to stop at the Thomas Edison NHP and Sagamore Hill NHS (one on the way there and one on the way home), but neither have reopened yet. Closer to the time we're leaving I'll make plans once I see what's open at that time. The good news is that Fire Island National Seashore has reopened so we can visit that with Aunt Janet during our week there.
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