Trip to Louisiana 9/27-9/28

 So my brother Marcus called us up a month or so ago and told us that he was planning on visiting New Orleans and wondered if we would be willing to drive out to meet them in Louisiana during their trip.  We don't have many opportunities to see family so that seemed like a good arrangement to us.  The kids were excited to see cousins, but less excited to miss school.  So we only went for 2 days, (Sunday and Monday) so they only had to miss one day.  Gratefully Damon was able to do most of his work ahead of time on Saturday (he worked on it all day) but they others had to catch up afterwards. 

Sunday morning we attended our ward's zoom for Sacrament Meeting and then we left around 9:30.  We were planning on meeting Marcus at 1:00 at a little Acadian Village place.  The kids were really good in the car, singing songs and being surprisingly happy without watching anything.  Of course we got to the point where we needed some help, but it was fun singing camp songs for awhile.  We listened to youth speaker at the end that was good. 

We arriving in Lafayette a bit early and looked up a park to visit.  Some of the ones we saw looked a little sketchy, but we pulled over to look at some cool trees.  They were so big and had the cool Spanish Moss growing on them. 

 Then we met Marcus at the place and learned that it was closed on Sunday.  Google Maps, and their website and the sign in front of their office said it was supposed to be open, but alas it was closed.  We went on a little walk while we figured out our next option.  

Marcus looked up another 'nature trail' nearby and we drove to it.  It wasn't a trail at all, just a patch of grass in a neighborhood knows for it's Azealia bushes.  So for our third attempt we drove to a lake that was 25 minutes away.  We had a nice nature walk along a board walk that ended at a visitor's center, that was also closed.  

We walked back to the car and then went a different direction to see if we could see the lake.  The kids were getting tired so we turned around before we saw it.  On the map we could see that there was a look out point that we could see the lake better so we decided to drive over there and check it out.  When we got there we saw that it had been roped off, private property - no trespassing.  Sigh, it just seemed that everything that we wanted to do was closed!  We did see an alligator on the side of the road though. 

By this time it was late enough that we could check into our hotel so we drove the 25 min back to Lafayette to get into our rooms.  Marcus was able to get in fine, but our room was not ready, they were still cleaning it.  By this time I was getting pretty frustrated.  Nothing was going right on this trip and the front desk people did not even appear apologetic or ask them to hurry.  We waited for 45 min, mostly outside because they didn't want us hanging around the lobby.  Finally we got into our room and we started thinking about dinner.  Our family isn't that adventurous so they wanted Panda Express.  Marcus of course wanted to try the local cuisine so we ordered a bit from both places so we could keep everyone happy.  I ordered a crab cake and Doug got a mango chicken dish.  Marcus ordered Alligator bites, banana pudding, soup, and some other dishes.  They let us try a bit too which was nice.  We brought the food back to the hotel and ate outside since it would have been too crowded in our rooms.  They had a small pool at the hotel and a half basketball court. I'm glad that Doug had thought to bring our ball.  The cousins all had fun eating, visiting, and playing ball.  We got into our swimming suits after dinner and signed up to swim.  (You could only have so many people in the pool at one time).  We were lucky that a family let us swim with Marcus, they were about to sign up but let us have their spot.  The water was cold to us Texans, and we had to keep moving to stay warm, but we all had a fun time.The kids stayed up late playing games, and watching shows.  We went over to Marcus's room to visit with just the adults.  

In the morning Doug and I went on a morning walk to a Great Harvest store to get some breakfast things.  The hotel was serving a "to go" breakfast, but it was mostly eggs so we wanted something else to give the kids.  The road we were walking by was a main road with cars going by fast.  It was so loud we couldn't really talk, and I was nervous about being so close to the cars.  They didn't have any bread baked yet so we bought some cinnamon scones and some blueberry peach bars.  They got a bit squished in our backpack walking back, but they still tasted good.  We picked up some for Marcus and Annie too.  

Since we were checking out we had to get everything all packed up before we left at 9:15.  We were hustling a bit, but we made it.  It was nice that we could leave our cooler and electronics in Marcus's room while we went out on our adventure since they were staying one more day.  

We had a swap tour scheduled at McGee's.  It was a 30 minute drive away.  We went in an open sided boat with lawn chairs spread around.  Our guide was great and told us lots of interesting facts about the area and local wildlife - and of course lots about alligators.  The tour lasted 90 minutes and we saw about 20 gators.  It was pretty cool.  When we got to the end of the route he even fed some of them so we could see them up close.  There also were these crazy fish (Asian Carp) that would get scared by the boat and jump 5-10 feet into the air.  One landed right by the boat the splash was so big that Kaylee and I got soaked.  They kept jumping all the time, it made the trip excited for sure.  Towards the end one fish even jumped into the boat.  Our guide had to throw him back out.  Crazy!  It was a great tour and I'm so glad that we went.  I was also very grateful that we went in the morning.  A huge storm was rolling in and as we headed into town for lunch the rain was coming down so hard.  The splash was so bad on the roads that it was scary to drive in.  

Our guide was nice to let the kids drive the boat for a little bit on the ride back. 

We ate lunch at a food court in a mall near another Arcadian Village place.  We drove to it after lunch and debated whether to go or not.  It was still raining pretty good and most of the attractions were outside.  We didn't really want to be wet driving home, so we decided to just go back to the hotel.  We let the kids veg and play some video games.  They had fun playing Mario Kart and Minecraft together.  Doug took a quick nap in the van and then we headed home around 4:00.  We stopped for dinner along the way at a Burger King.  The kids watched the live version of Cinderella and the Magic School Bus on the way home.  

It was a fun short trip.  It was pretty frustrating on Sunday that everything was closed and that the hotel was not being very cooperative and then it was a bummer that it rained on Monday, and I think I got food poisoning from my crab cake - but we did enjoy the swap tour.  It was also good to see Marcus and Annie and let the cousins make some memories.  

The kids had a hard day on Tuesday catching up, but they managed through it and were fine after a few days.  Fun family memories. 

Labor Day and long school days 9/6 - 9/12/2020

 Not much to report on this week.  I only took one picture for the week, so I guess that says it all.  (Or that I just forgot to take pictures)

Monday was Labor day and we had a very fun day.  We went swimming in the morning as a family.  Another neighbor happened to be there, so it was fun to visit with her.

We had a quick lunch and then met up with some friends to see Sonic the Hedghog at the movie theater.  We really had a fun time going with friends a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to go with two families this time.  Our 3 families have 19 people so it was perfect for the 20 people limit.  The kids had a great time.  

I had invited a family over for dinner last minute the night before and they said that they could come.  We were going to have hot dogs, but she said only one in their family would eat hot dogs, so she offered to make pizzas for all of us since that is what they were going to have.  So we combined and Doug still grilled a few hot dogs and we made some homemade pizzas.  They were super yummy and Tyler wants to make them again next week.  It was great to visit with friends.  We played a few rounds of WereWords, then we had some leftover maple cookies that Damon had made on Sunday.  

Tuesday - Friday was school school school.  The kids do great but there is always something they need help with during the day.  There are so many emails from teachers, Tyler still was getting some from his new teachers asking about missing assignment.  They were from before he switched over, so it was just a matter of talking to his old teacher and getting those transferred.  Damon is stressing out about his AP World History class.  He was emotional multiple times this weeks feeling stressed and overwhelmed.  I think this is the first time he is being stretched to learn something that doesn't come easily to him.  He wants to quit the class, but I would really like him to struggle through and gain that experience, but I don't want to hurt him in the process.  

The girls had a killer English day on Friday.  Their teacher assigned them to write about the story Stone Fox that they had just read.  First they had to write about 4 main events in the story and then summarize it.  It ended it up being 4 pages of writing, and Jenna and Kaylee hate to write, so it was a trying day for them.  Then, they had to write an opinion essay about if they would rather have year round school or regular.  By that point Kaylee had had enough writing and just wrote down one sentence.  I didn't push her.  She was in tears most of the afternoon, upset that she couldn't remember the story or didn't know what to write.  As parents we were asked not to help the students much since this was a major grade and they wanted to see what the kids knew.  It is so hard as a parent to watch your kids struggle and not being able to help them.  It was a very emotionally draining day on Friday - I was in tears by the end too. 

The drama with Chris right now is trying to figure out if we should send him to band in person.  My friend down the street has a daughter in his class too, so we thought they could bike together.  But then we realized that there isn't a crossing guard at that time and it's a busy street to cross.  So they we wondered if we should just drive them, or if it is even worth going right now.  They are learning about notes and music theory and since they both take piano they know all of that stuff.  And then if they do go in person they will miss some of their zoom calls for their core classes, which we didn't really like, but the zooms are more for questions than for actual instruction and the teachers said it would be ok to miss.  Anyway, there have been lots of emails, phone calls, and communication going on for that decision.  

But one highlight of the week was that I went to a ballet class on Wednesday for free!! I asked a friend to go with me, for which I am very grateful that she could go since we were the only two in the class.  It was so much fun.  I just loved going through the basics of a ballet class again and hear the familiar phrases and routines.  Stretching, barre, centers, across the floor, and reverence.  After the girls started their ballet class I got out my ballet dictionary and had fun reminiscing and remembering the terms and phrases.  I remember most, but some I had to look up.  The teacher was a sweet older lady who seemed to have a good back ground.  She talked a bit too much, but she appeared genuinely impressed with our technique and I'll admit that it felt good to be validated with my training.  We were both rusty and of course not as strong or as flexible as we once were, but the foundation was still there. 

Tyler goes to school, Book Report, and Learner's Permit 8/30 - 9/5/2020

 Sunday the ward tried zooming church.  It would have gone a lot better if the internet hadn't been down.  They ended up using Doug's cell phone to broadcast, so the audio wasn't very clear and we could hear his phone vibrate when he received notifications.  But it was nice to 'attend' church from home.  We had our own sacrament when Doug got home.  

Monday was rough with getting back into school.  Having a 5 day break made it hard to want to do school work again.  But we made it through (with only a few tears) and Tuesday was better.  

Tuesday was pretty busy.  I signed up to feed the missionaries, which was fine, but then we changed our primary activity to be in person (instead of a zoom) and so I had to host that as well.  So it was just a busy day of making food, cleaning up, and getting things ready for the activity.  It was Jenna's turn to pick dinner so we had Favorite Soup.  The missionaries seemed to like it.  It was such a hot day on Tuesday that soup really didn't soup very good at all, but we had a salad and fruit to help us cool down.  We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy for our primary activity and had ice cream sundaes for dessert.  I had a large group of girls come, around 10.  We tried to social distance as much as we could, but by the end I kind of threw up my hands.  If the parents are overly concerned about Covid, then I guess they should just keep their daughters home - or zoom in. 

Elder Davis is very gifted on the piano and improvised a bottom accompaniment to Damon's Pirates song. 

The girls colored their baptism pillow cases this week. 

Damon and Tyler had orthodontist appointments on Wednesday and both had sore teeth later in the week. I helped clean the church on Thursday - we have to sanitized the building everyday after seminary to keep things clean so they can have class.  

We decided to change Tyler's schedule this week to allow him to go back to school.  I had been talking with his counselor about being able to attend ceramics in person.  The classes were all full so that wasn't going to happen.  Then we learned that if and when Tyler goes back to school he will have new teachers, because some teachers are only teaching online and others are only teaching in person.  So we decided that it would be better to switch classes now and get used to these new teachers sooner rather than later.  Tyler also said that he was having a harder time learning online and would prefer to go back to school.  So after talking to the counselor some more we changed Tyler's schedule and he went to school one day this week.  He said he liked it better than just sitting in front of the computer all day.  So I'm glad that he is able to go to school.  We will probably switch the girls over in October, they will get new teachers too, unless a lot of kids decide to go back and then need more in person teachers.  Damon wants to stay online all year, I wouldn't mind him being at home but I worry about him not getting to socialize.  Chris also likes staying at home.  I worry about him missing assignments and not being responsible.  All of the kids have missed assignments, by either not seeing them on the computer, or by forgetting to submit them.  So it could be a great learning year for being responsible, or it could be a big headache.  We'll see how Chris does during these next 6 weeks and go from there. 

Friday morning Damon and I went to the DMV with Kari and Drew.  Due to Covid the office online said that they are only doing things by appointment and the next available ones were in January!  It did say that they could do a few walk-ins so we decided to go and check it out.  We got there right when it opened and were about 25th in line.  They took our names and made us appointments for later that day.  We went back around 10:30 and went right through.  We had all of the right documentation so the process went smoothly.  When gathering our personal information I realized that my Social Security Card is missing, so I will need to order another one.  So now Damon and Drew have their learner's permits.  Now I get to go driving with Damon and teach him how to drive, this could be fun and scary at the same time.  Doug told me that I-45 is the most deadly highway in the U.S.  not very comforting.  I think we'll stay off the freeway if we can help it.  

We let Damon invite some friends over to play Friday evening, they played some video games and a card game from Star Wars.  Then we all jammed on musical instruments for awhile. Drew is good at the marimba so he played for us, and Austin played on the piano and Drew also showed us some cool things on the drum pad.  The girls went and got their ukuleles and joined right it.  It was loud buy fun making music together. 

Saturday we did our jobs and I went to the store.  Then after lunch we were able to zoom in to Logan's baptism in California.  That was fun to witness, especially since we had just done the same thing with the girls.  His baptism was at a pool too.  

I spent the afternoon going through my emails, I had over 300 - mostly from the school with all of the communication going on from online learning.  But now I only have 30, so that feels so much better.  I just hope I didn't delete something important.

We were going to go swimming but a thunderstorm rolled through.  We watched The Mighty Ducks instead.  The kids weren't too excited to watch it, but we told them it was a good one.  They loved it and now want to watch #2 and #3.  I forget about the swearing and questionable things that they put in some of the older movies.  Oh well, the kids probably don't notice it too much.  

Another fun thing we did this week was record the kids singing Book Report from the musical You're A Good Man Charlie Brown.  We had watched the movie Peanuts earlier and so I played the songs from the musical and they loved them all.  They really liked Book Report and wanted to do a video.  They work hard on memorizing their parts and it turned out so cute.