Quaran-time

Just before the week of spring break, we were told that the kids (and Daniel) would not be returning to school when the break was over. So basically, spring break lasted for about 4 months. 

On the first Saturday of break, we basically lazed about at home. On Sunday, we went to Nana's and Papa's house. Aubrey got out the sidewalk chalk and made this awesome skyscraper.

She put the sun at the top to show how tall it was, hehe.

Best of all though was this sweet note.

I have no idea what we did on Monday, because I have no photos from that day, haha. But we did make it out for a "hike" on Tuesday. (I put "hike" in quotation marks because it was a flat walk through Waterton Canyon.) The place ended up getting closed the next day because of the virus, so we had good timing. 

This hike was the debut of Clara's new-to-us hiking backpack. Doesn't she look so cute?

 

Not too far into the hike, we spotted some bighorn sheep. You can see them up on the hill behind Aubrey and Carter.

The canyon trail ran along the river, which was pretty.

There were also a lot of cool rock formations. None of my photos do them justice though.

See what I mean about it being super flat and non-hikey?

The kids (mostly Carter) ran out of gas, so we turned around after a couple of miles. But first we took a break to throw rocks in the water, obviously.

It was an in-and-out kind of situation, so we had to go back as far as we had come. That didn't turn out to well for Carter, who slowed to a glacial pace. I ended up carrying him on my back for awhile, until I couldn't anymore. But we made it, and it was pretty. 

It became pretty clear that we weren't going to be able to do any of the other fun things I had planned for the week. So we did a lot of hanging around the house. We all got a little stir-crazy...

And the kids had to find new ways to entertain themselves. Not gonna lie, things got weird...

And then it snowed! So we had a nice, new diversion.

We took the kids sledding on a hill in our neighborhood, just a short walk from our house. Naturally, I got no photos or videos of them sledding. In my defense, I was a little busy holding this sweetheart lovey.

She wasn't a big fan of the snow. She cried during our whole siblings-in-the-snow photo shoot. Oh well.

Truth be told, there was a lot of video watching during this time. I thought this photo of Aubrey and Carter snuggled together was pretty dang cute.

Eventually, we got Aubrey set up with virtual learning. It was... interesting. She was into it except for when she wasn't, and nothing could get her to participate if she didn't want to. We decided not to push it, seeing as how we weren't at all worried about her academically.

Carter's preschool teachers brought over a package of things for him to do. He was really not into it, which made me sad. He did a few things at least.

During this time, a couple in our ward offered to do family porch photos. This was ours.

And the days dragged on. The kids played well together sometimes, but then it would always end in someone getting hurt or sad or angry. Carter became pretty difficult (and hasn't gotten easier). I feel like this video does a good job of summing up our situation. 

We ended up getting another chance to get out of the house when we went to Garden of the Gods for a little stroll. It was still early in the pandemic, so I was amused by this sign. Now signs like that are totally commonplace; I don't even notice them anymore.

The kids loved rock scrambling, as usual. 

Except for Clara, who took the opportunity of being carried around to take a quick nap.

And though I've been there several times now, I always have to take some photos. So pretty.

We even got to see some deer. It happens a lot here in Colorado, but I'm still always excited.

And though it wasn't hot and the walk wasn't that far, Carter just couldn't make it. I LOVE how dramatic he was about it. "Moooom, waaaait! I have to reeeest!"

Anyway, more early quarantine time updates to come!