COVID-19

There have been a ton of changes in our lives that seemed to come on a little more gradually where we are as opposed to the Bay Area, but nonetheless things changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The first true intrusion into our lives came when Brett was driving Griffin to baseball, for a game in which Griffin had been informed he was the starting pitcher.  They had been talking strategy when all of sudden the text came through from a few sources at once warning that all games and practices were called off for the next 3 weeks, minimum.  Then we found out that the kids had gone to their last Grace Co-op classes of the school year a few months earlier than expected.  Brett found himself assigned the first positive case of COVID-19 in our county to take care of in the hospital.  This, along with a shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment) which seemed to be whittled away a little more each day, led to him shedding his clothes into a plastic bag until they could be washed and then immediately taking a thorough shower each night after he arrived home from work before having any contact with his family.  Which leads us to our next craziness:  two days after the shelter in home was announced state wide, our washing machine of 10 years and our dryer of 30+ years died within 6 hours of each other!  Off to the hardware store, where Brett went looking for a not so sought after item (all the freezers were gone).  We paid for replacements along with delivery and setup, but they wouldn't be able to deliver for a week because of the backup with all the freezers being ordered.  When they came, the installers announced that they could not install the dryer (the more complicated of the two), because our cord feeds through the wall to the outlet in the garage.  Bummer!  Now Brett was tasked with performing this unfamiliar procedure, but it would be worth the couple of hours to finally begin to take a bite out of the huge accumulation of laundry we had.

Other impacts on us included Garrett's debate tournaments were cancelled, Garrett and Bryce's speech tournament went on-line to a massive Zoom call featuring kids from coast to coast, and Co-op went on-line as well, with Joy teaching a virtual lab to both her Earth Science and Biology classes.  There seemed to be a never ending stream of updates from the CDC, the hospital, the state, and the county on what was the right thing to do in terms of taking care of COVID-19 patients.  Some things came full circle, even.  Fortunately, for us, we know how to home school and so things continued as usual in terms of the four days outside of Grace Co-op.  With our gym closing, we had to whip our garage back into shape as a workout center so we could build some muscle and have an outlet during the stressful times we live in.  Our church has been streaming services live on YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms and we have begun meeting as a small group via Zoom.  Things have changed and some things may never be the same again.

Joy rose to the challenge of keeping communication lines open with the county physician group.

Brett prepares to see his COVID-19 positive patient in the hospital.

Our garage redesigned and cleaned up to house our COVID-10 Gymnasium.

The unfortunate demise of our washing machine took place on day #2 of shelter in place.

Final Day of Grace Co-op

 The final day of Grace Co-op at the facility in Waterford was only known after the fact.  Joy taught her usual science lab classes and the dissection of the day was the fish.  How do you do a dissection lab class without meeting in person?  Great question.

Garrett and his partner, Hannah, work on getting a good dissection of the fish to visualize all the important structures.

Bryce's earth science class took their class picture for the yearbook.

Everybody raise your hand at once...or at least half of you?

Crazy Cats

Qi'ra studies with Bryce.

Qi'ra and Kylo played hide and seek, stalking.

Qi'ra on the roof.

Darth Vader uncharacteristically relaxed in the front yard.

Spring blossoms on our fruit trees observe the active cat play in our backyard.

Qi'ra the alarm clock.

Kylo kneeds into Griffin's legs to try and wake him up.

Upside down Qi'ra plays with Bryce's toes.

Snuggling Qi'ra.

Kylo and Qi'ra nestle together as buddies to keep each other warm and loved.

The ladies play hide and attack:  Leia (above) and Qi'ra (below).

Our backyard cuddling duo:  Kylo and Qi'ra.

Warming up in the sun before it goes down for the night is Qi'ra.

Murder Mystery Night-ICC

We were invited to participate in a murder mystery night at Kevin and Esther's place with fellow ICC folks.  We were assigned our characters:  Bryce was General Sid, Garrett was Doctor Arthur, Griffin was Fred Cleaver, Joy was Mary Homebud, and Brett was George the pot washer.  What a fun evening of mystery and adventure.

I was just a pot washer, and Mr. Davies was a terrible cook!

Did you know that I have a famous daughter who could sing and I know how to wield a knife as a butcher?

The autopsy report showed that Mr. Davies was stabbed in the heart.

Best costumes:  Zach and Griffin.

The whole ICC murder mystery gang.

Joy's Medical World

Dr. Seuss theme day at work with Dr. Saini.

Joy and Domarina, working together for 16 years.

Joy takes a history from her patient

The clinic.

Kids' Baseball Season Begins

Bel Passi baseball season began the week we returned home from Arizona.  Griffin's Orioles started the year with two of their top five kids hurt, but that opened the door for Griffin to shine at 2B.  He made a number of great plays including a couple of diving stops, catching a deep pop up, and turning an unassisted double play.  At the plate, he walked a bunch, but then after Brett told him to "be aggressive on the first pitch," he lined the first pitch he saw into left center for a solid hit.

Garrett drew the starting pitcher role for the first game and ended up throwing 51 pitches, 29 for strikes, walking only one batter and getting a number of ground balls.  He was on the losing end of the decision, but looks forward to the next time he takes the mound.  He also played first base solidly and got off to a good start at the plate, walking twice in his first two games, scoring 2 runs,  and collecting 3 hits, including a roped double to left center.  He has collected the nickname, "Big Unit," as he is the "15 year old" who benefited from a rule change this year allowing those who lost a year with the birthdate change 3 years ago to play one additional season on the 13-14 field.

Bryce, joined his brother Garrett on the Angels, began the season batting 11th, but turned in a solid first game, driving in two runs.  He moved up in the order and continued to make solid contact, collecting his second hit and a walk.  He played LF and RF and recorded his first putout of the season in LF.

Griffin takes a cut a a pitch in the zone.

Garrett delivers a pitch in his opening night start.

Bryce up to bat with his brother on third.

Garrett follows through after contact.

Bryce hits the ball hard on the ground up the middle.

Bryce prepares to hit a line shot up the middle off the pitcher's ankle.

Garrett's line drive double to left center.

Joy does the laundry after the game, what dirty white pants!

Griffin in the on-deck circle.

The start of the new baseball season:  brothers as teammates.

Bryce's Angels picture, 2 games with my brother.

Garrett in his Angels picture, it all may have just been for 2 games?

Griffin the Oriole's gamer had earned the starting pitcher gig the day the season was put on hold.

Lego Masters Our TV Version

Inspired by the new Lego Masters TV show, we decided to have a timed build with the drawing of cards for our assignment from the Creationary Game.  We decided we would do this on a smaller scale since we don't exactly have 14 hours to compete in a big design.  So we had 45 minutes to produce these builds.  Here is what we came up with:

A beached whale, bleeding into the water, about to be rescued by the boat.

A crew of two paddling their way off a deserted island with a treasure chest they found, greeted by a ghost on a boat telling them "Don't stop!"

A book with words on one side of the page and a house coming to life out of the other side of the page.