New Bikes!

Our Big Spring Break Activity was getting snazzy new bikes for the kids. We've always made do with heavy old repeatedly-refurbished kid bikes, because kids grow fast and bikes are expensive! Now that Jay and Rose are big enough to ride adult sized bikes, we decided it was Time to Take Some Action. As the lucky youngest child, Amber snagged a new bike too because we want her to be able to keep up with all of our sleek wheels. 

Spring Break

Last week was spring break. We stayed home, home, home and relaxed in non-scheduled, commitment-free comfort, which felt extra decadent after months of filling cross country coaching commitments. Jeff went to track practice four days. I ran, biked, and read fluffy books at home. The kids earned their daily screen time with equal outside time. Our tulips bloomed! The wind blew too strong for too many days. But the sun also shined a lot and we enjoyed that happy vitamin D in and around the wind. The girls did a lot of trampoline-jumping. All of the nearby neighbor-friends went out of town, so our house was even more of a quiet haven. We slept in past 7am more than once. On Tuesday, we went to Richland to get the kids new bikes (that's a separate post). On Wednesday, I did my longest-ever mountain bike ride, 21 miles! On Thursday, we had three friends over--one friend for each kid--and they played happily all afternoon together. On Saturday, Jeff went to coach at a track meet jamboree. 

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was also General Conference weekend and the first weekend of spring break. We made tentative plans to repeat the trip we took during last General Conference Saturday to Walla Walla for a family bike ride and lunch at Fast Eddy's, listening to conference on the way there and again on the way back (it's an almost perfectly timed driving distance from our house). The aftermath of our second round of Covid shots ended up being much more intense than the first round, so we stayed home. Jeff woke up on Friday morning feeling feverish, achy, and exhausted. Somehow my body handled both Covid shots like a champ and my only symptoms were a super sore arm and very slight fatigue (which could've been just general tiredness, not vaccine-caused tiredness, it was impossible to tell). But Jeff was down for a full day after shot #2 and only feeling about 50% better on Saturday, so we stayed home rather than venturing forth on a family bike ride. 

Season Finale and the Pink Frosting Plague

Last week held the busiest four days that we've seen in over a year. Everything we did was worthwhile and good; it just seemed to happen all at once! 

Monday: In-person school for the kids during the day, cross country practice in the persistent wind that afternoon, then the team banquet and awards ceremony that evening. Since the wind was making the temperature quite cold, I layered on two thick wool shirts underneath my team apparel shirt and wore my flannel lined jeans, wool socks, plus a lined jacket. The wind did not die down in time for us to hold our traditional team bonfire and weenie roast outside, so we piled into the large home of one of our team captains and roasted hot dogs in the fireplace in their family room (it was super weird wearing a mask inside a house). When I walked inside their house, I was immediately too warm in my many layers. I shed my jacket but couldn't get out of any more layers, and spent the evening on the edge of overheating in all of that wool. Jeff and I spent a feverish 15 minutes organizing all of the certificates, varsity letters, pins, and awards for the team before presenting them one by one with much clapping and warm hearted smiles (Jeff did all of the talking, I handed him the papers and pins). We stayed till after 8pm socializing, which is late for us homebody introverts. We love our team and their parents.

Weekly Words

My words for this week consist of captions for 25 pictures:

We love our wild, carefree Amby!

Crocuses, Clouds, and Leprechauns

Springtime is here! The sky in our valley is at its best in March: rich brilliant blue hues with just enough cottony-soft clouds to give it a fascinating depth. The bulbs we planted five months ago are beginning to bloom all in a cute crooked row along the front of our house. Sixty crocuses sure seemed like a lot when we were digging holes to plant the the bulbs, but now that they're blooming, the row looks so fragile and thin. Numbers notwithstanding, the blossoms are beautiful and feel extra hopeful coming through that gray ole dirt. This was my first time planting flowers, and watching them grow has been more fun and satisfying than expected. The canals were filled this week, flooding the veins of our dry valley with life-giving water. The asparagus fields have been plowed (and maybe planted? I can't tell). The Yakima Valley is poised for growth and greenery!

February Books

February was a month for literary fluff. Fluffy February! I did manage to sneak in a few more substantial books into my intellectual diet, but for the most part I floated forward on fantastic fluffy fun. Part of the reason for the quantity of easy reading was a free trial of Kindle Unlimited. My free trial ended on February 27th, and I had assembled a whole list of guaranteed safe authors to try during the trial. I didn't even have time for any re-reading--I read all new-to-me books in February. I downloaded a pile of books from Kindle Unlimited and read like wildfire. By the end I did suffer from a touch of genre fatigue from all of the regency romances that I crammed into those last two weeks, but it was worth it because tucked into that pile o fluff were some hilarious treasures. 

Vaccination Elation, etc.

Two weeks ago our governor adjusted the COVID-19 vaccination schedule, moving school district employees up several rungs. As an assistant coach contracted to work a mere 90 hours per year in the Sunnyside School District (SSD), I wasn't sure if I would fit under the umbrella of "school district employee." That umbrella ended up being bigger than I thought, and all of a sudden, Jeff and I both qualified for the vaccine! Jubilation and relief! I did feel a little guilty because I got the vaccine before my own mother, but she lives in a different state and is subject to a different vaccination schedule. Our school district held a vaccination clinic in the gym at the district office on Wednesday, March 10th, so we put our names on the list and filled out the paperwork. I got my first shot around noon and Jeff went around 2pm after teaching his last class.

No Trespassing

Finding fun exercise locations in and around Sunnyside generally involves a wee bit of trespassing in one way or another. Some trespassing isn't really trespassing because canal roads are public property and while many orchard roads are private, other orchard roads are unmaintained county roads. But which are which? I am never entirely certain, but I cling to my ignorance and continue in bliss, waving at any farm workers like I belong. They are so nice, it feels like I belong.

The Weekend

Weekends during cross country season are always busy. On Saturday (March 6th), we had our first out-of-town cross country meet. The farthest we have to travel during this pandemic-dampened season is 45 minutes to Yakima, so it was only moderately tiring. Jeff and I were only away from home for a scant five hours for the meet on Saturday. During that time, Jay stayed home and watched Amber; Rose was at a cousin sleepover. Having big kids is awesome! 

Due to pandemic restrictions, each of the nine teams at the meet was limited to 12 boys and 12 girls. That was not a problem for our tiny 6-person girls' team! And we only had to leave a few boys home. It was fun to be at a familiar course doing the multi-school cross country meet thing again on a Saturday morning. Covid really has simplified so much. We weren't allowed to bring big water jugs or any of our other communal team supplies beyond the team shade tent, so our gear loading was easy-peasy. The runners even had to pack their own lunches since we couldn't stop for food on the way home. Some of the usual routines I missed (team huddles, full starting lines); other parts I did not (lugging ten gallons of water, eating McDonald's afterwards). 

Dressing Up

Spring began warming us gently this week, giving our winter wardrobes a welcome break and providing our skin with some welcome vitamin D. Our week was full of dressing up for at least five different reasons.

I. Dr. Seuss Week: An excuse to wear costumes to school. The elementary schools celebrated Dr. Seuss Week during the first week of March. Was that even a thing when I was a kid? I can't even remember. A quick internet search reveals the root of the week to be March 2nd, Read Across America Day, established on Dr. Seuss's birthday. I guess dressing up each day of the week around March 2nd is kind of like elementary schools' homecoming week-- a chance for faculty and students to have a little fun being silly. Rose and Amber enjoyed it. Each day, Rose and Amber selected their themed dress-up gear. I was impressed that they even dressed up for their Zoom meetings on the three days of online school. 

Good Monday

Monday, March 1st was a GOOD DAY. Generally, any potentially good day seems to have enough low points to temper that good day back down to "normal day" status. That didn't happen on Monday! It was one good thing after another from sunup to sundown. Every time another good thing happened, I was surprised that my luck was continuing to hold! It was a lovely line of successes, with a burst of happiness accompanying each good thing.