What a whirlwind life has been since I last wrote to you. Coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken us on a crazy journey we never before anticipated but we are definitely trying to make the most of it.
First, you haven’t physically been to a day of class since before spring break. The virus essentially shut everything down except essential businesses and we went to giving you school work ourselves with the help of your teachers via video and email. Also, dad and I started working from home and we had Cierra come most weekdays to take care of you and help with school work. We did zoom chats with your classmates a couple of times but all contact with anyone outside the house (except Cierra) came to a screeching halt. This part has been very hard for you. While we’ve enjoyed the lack of rush (rushing you to school, then Evan, then to work, then to pick ups and soccer and dinner and homework), you and your social personality have struggled without friends to engage with (other than Evan). You long for a normal day at school and you’ve written us notes about how sad you are because of the restrictions related to the virus. You can’t go shopping with us, not even to the grocery store - much less to the park or to play with the kids across the street.
We’ve tried really hard to balance the social distancing required with pool time, new toys/games, FaceTime with cousins and grandparents, walks through the neighborhood, fort building and camping. But we also know we can’t replace your friends. You’re holding up and we are fortunate both dad and I didn’t have any hiccups in our work pay or ability to work remotely (a lot of kids are much worse off) but we hope to get to the point where you have a normal day again soon.
There’s also been a big fire caused by lightning on the Catalina mountain range right next to our house. We are fortunate the firefighters worked hard to contain it for over a month already and it’s getting close to fully contained (but almost 200k acres were burned)! The worst we got was some heavy smoke, thank goodness.
May brought your soccer birthday (with a canceled party) and an end of school car parade where we were able to drive by and see your teachers from a distance one last time before summer. We were also able to do a quick trip to Pinetop Lakeside to stay in a cabin for a long weekend - a welcome getaway!
In June, you lost your first tooth and had another wiggly one start to get ready to come out (which just came out today so the tooth fairy is planning to visit again tonight!). Also, dad took a huge leap and quit his job to be able to be a stay-at-home dad! You and Evan are so lucky to be able to get all this time with him!
It’s now July and we just got back from camping at Kaibab Lake near Williams Arizona. There were no formal fireworks for Independence Day in Oro Valley but we did sparklers and glow sticks. While camping, you learned to fish and had fun “in nature” as you say - including some pretty cute dance shows you did with your brother. You were scared to go camping on a mountain, as no matter what we told you or what pictures we showed you, you were afraid of falling off the mountain (kept saying you were scared of heights). You wound up really enjoying the experience and it was a great escape from the 100+ degree weather (20 degrees cooler). You came back from camping with scraped knees and dirt under your fingers and you were sad to leave!
That’s about it for the recap of what’s been going on the past few months - here’s your life in pictures...
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| Play dough fun....also, one of your favorite outfits (mine too)! |
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| New fishing poles to help you learn to cast! |
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| Your toothbrush game lets you take silly pictures - this is one of many (we allow you to take them when you get a high score brushing your teeth) |
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| Getting the tooth pillow ready! |
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| Fourth of July crown! |
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| Fishing in style! |
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| Camping! |
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| Action shot! I love everything about this picture. |
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| How do you look like such a big kid?! |
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| Lots of pool time lately |
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| Learning how to wear a mask with dad's help! |
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| Another tooth brushing pic! |
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| Aaaaand the first one's out! It starts! |
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| Happy Birthday USA! |
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| Three peas in a pod! |
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| We also went to Bearizona and saw some fun animals! |
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| Your birthday.....glow sticks in the pinata for the win! |
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| We've been trying to be resourceful so you guys always have something "new" to you to play with. We had some leftover sand from your birthday party when you turned four so we just got a small pool to play with it! |
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| Sibling love! |
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| Our new reality...these are cool masks but it does make me sad that this is where we're at right now. |
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| Your first tooth to fall out! |
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| at Bearizona |
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| Birthday gifts! |
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| You got a lot of dolls but this one was special - you got an entire Barbie play set, including Barbie dream house! |
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| Soccer ball pinata! |
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| Video chatting with Grandma Gail! |
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| Reading together! |
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| You LOVE science experiments and it's all I can do to keep up with you and encouraging this fun! |
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| Worn out time with dad! |
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| Painting |
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| Where's Avery? Hide and seek while camping! |
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| My favorite....nap time! |
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| Painting rocks while camping |
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| Another experiment! |
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| This was at the cabin in Pinetop - fun swing and fun area |
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| Camping on the floor of the cabin |
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| Smores at the cabin! |
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| Horseshoes at the cabin! |
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| Action shot! |
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| "I feel sad".....a note you left for "mom and dad" because you are a social butterfly but can't spend time with others right now (can you hear my heart breaking for you?) |
Oh my dear, sweet Avery. I know this isn't how you want to spend your time (100% with your family, no contact with others). But we're doing our best to make the most of it and dad and I are really enjoying the extra special time we get with you and your brother. I think for the most part, you're doing well but there are times you long so much to return to school. For your sake, I hope that's soon (I just want you to be safe when you do go back).
All my heart,
Mom
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