New Normal

 Hello! 

I'll kick off this installment of the blog with a picture I love taken by Quinn's 2nd grade teacher the other day. The class was practicing reading to a partner in a creative way with social distancing. 😂

While there are plenty of things going on now that we don't want to embrace as 'normal' for the long term, I do believe that we've learned some incredible things about resilience and adaptability of human beings in the face of major change. 

Some thoughts below:

1. 99% of the people I come across are following the rules, wearing masks in public and attempting to social distance in public places. There's a country song called something like "most people are good" by Luke Bryan and I really think he's right.

2. Our ability to connect and interact over video conference is really huge and actually quite authentic. There is such a difference when you can see someone's face vs just hearing their voice. I've noticed that folks of all ages and walks of life are learning how to connect better this way whether at work or in their personal lives. 

3. I am hopeful that this time will usher in a new focus on health, wellness and hygiene that will keep people safer and healthier in the long term. Though I do definitely worry about all of the disposables and carry out boxes being used now and the impact on the environment from that.

4. More people are staying home and cooking, learning new skills and connecting with their neighbors. I feel a long term impact from this may be a revitalization and resurgence of smaller towns.

Back to our family experience during this Summer of Covid, the kids had a great Summer despite some interruptions but we all rolled with it. They did several hockey camps and even had a partial swim team season. Both kids are now voracious readers of chapter books. Murphy got to jump in the pool during the last day of the season, what they call Yappy Hour.

This Summer, Jason was in the thick of the car wash build. Here's an aerial view of the project from back in June. We all spent a lot of time at my parent's house in Cascade. S'mores, hiking with friends who joined us on one of the trips, going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to feed the giraffes and elephant were all highlights!

We took the camper out a few times and had a great time in western Colorado at Ouray and then explored some other places in southern CO. We took side by sides up Imogene Pass, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. We also did a trip back to our fave spot on the White River in Arkansas.  

It was freezing at the top of the pass, over 13,000 feet. 

Jason and I cracked open a beer before heading back down!

This is the most beautiful flagstone stream you can imagine.

Olivia won the prize for catching the biggest fish AND the smallest fish. 😂

Quinn finally got to pitch his first tent!

The kids started school 'in person' on Aug 15th, and so far it is going well. I say that even though Olivia's class was just asked to quarantine at home for 14 days, which is a bad break but we've made the best of it. The e-learning program the school is putting on is so much improved, night and day better. The school upgraded the underlying tech over the Summer and also issued the kids iPads which are pre-programmed with Zoom links which is fabulous.

The picture above is Olivia on the first day of 3rd grade. I can't even believe how time flies and how big the kids have gotten! Mask in hand, she is ready to take it on. I'll say both kids have adjusted really well to the mask wearing, almost to the point that when they get home, I have to ask them to take them off!

Another bright spot is how much the kids truly appreciate the oppty to go to school in person and learn alongside their peers. Like I said, we have been home doing e-learning for almost 2 weeks and they can't wait to go back to the classroom and be with their friends.

Signing off for now. 

xoxo 

Claire & family