COVID Life.....

 So I have been tossing around spending time behind the computer and putting up a blog post about what life has been like during this pandemic we have been living through.  I wasn't sure how to put the right words down about the whole situation.  I actually wrote this whole blog post once before, deleted it and am trying again.  The reality is this is a historical event in our lives that we are living though, so I thought for my own purposes and maybe for my kids purpose I would spend some time along with posting photos of what life looked like for us during this historical event.  My overall thoughts on the Covid-19 pandemic are to try to live through it not on our own merit, but with God's grace.  God knows what we are walking through and this is no small happening to Him either!  In all honesty I can't see his plans for what the full picture is, but I am trusting it is turning into something awesome!  So even though we have experienced some disappointments and a lot of uncertainty I trust something good is happening.



So in actuality I hadn't shared a post since February when the world just began talking about something called the Corona Virus, but I chose to not think about it a whole lot yet!  So here are photos from February up until June....

 

This photo fascinates me! A flower skeleton found in the garden before spring clean up.

I was sent to a conference in Vancouverish area.... my first work trip over night and it was so nice to connect with some of my teammates and learn a lot of things while away!  I will not deny that a work trip has some perks, but when your brain is in over drive from all the learning, the perk of not going home after a days work was really really nice.  I took a photo by this restaurant for a certain someone who shares this name :). May have to take him there for his birthday or something.

Before distant learning became a thing I played against our second child in a friendly basketball game at school.  Mom's vs. daughters......I will leave it to your imagination of who won.

When life began to shift very suddenly there was a lot of decisions to be made for this man.  It was also a sudden stop to our travel plans due to border closure or having to self quarantine about arrivals of both destination.  So we chose to find a place in our own land to get a way from our emails for a few days.  It was so good to spend some time together as a couple as well.  

Hiking at sunset along the west coast!  The ocean is one of my favourite places to be!  

Sunny Spring days!  Two brothers having a good chat!

During our kids spring break and we had already made plans for hosting some visitors. It was at this time that more rules were being put in place about social distancing and every day something new was happening.  You would wait for the Prime Minister to come out of his home to speak and then you wait for the top doctor in your province to speak.  What were they going to say, what new rules were they going to put in play and how is it going to affect your life.  

This photo was taken just before the parks were all locked up  and things were much nicer!  It didn't take long for the cities to rope off playgrounds and lock all the courts or remove basketball nets so all that was left was to walk around in the parks.

During the pandemic you couldn't gather with over 50 people in our province in some things.  So church was cancelled.

Also in your homes you shouldn't really invite anyone over......so no birthday parties.  Out comes the creative mindset to try help make someones birthday a special occasion.  Twice we went to the same property to let all the neighbours know about birthdays happening in this house!  Sneaking out at night, or coming early during the day to set these up was fun planning!

A benefit of being home all the time is the need to get out.....with not many options but exploring the great outdoors thats what we did!  Hiked with the kids and my sister to a waterfall.  

And somehow that youngest kid thinks he's a king....I wonder why he would think he isn't a king :)

Spending time with family brought along a lot of great fun!  We painted and had spa experiences at home.  We ate a few yummy new desserts and made lots of great memories.  Played games with our cousins who we adore!  

Even if at times we had to be extraordinarily quiet so that some people could get their school work or office work done.   D was working at his new home office and during zoom meetings our house could sound like a loud windstorm of noise.

Since kids can't be noisy indoors they decided the vehicle could be sent outdoors and this would be the new hangout location.  We couldn't hear them in the house from here anyways.

This was our April fools joke this year! 

During this pandemic we spend a lot more time outdoors.........including a few bike rides.

Sharing love for our front line workers.  Was anyone else's streets super noisy at 7:00 pm each evening.  Often our kids were out there along with many neighbours banging pots, honking horns and cheering for our front line workers.  This is one of those details you kind of want to remember....unsure if such an event will occur again.

Some young man celebrated his birthday during this pandemic.  Again no parties.  He did however have drop off gifts all day long.  His friends and family also sent in video clips to wish him a fantastic day!  He laughed so hard from some messages and just was thrilled to see his buddies faces even if it was over the screen.  Everyone once in a while i catch him watching his video again.

His grandparents came for an outdoor dinner and pinata hitting  Overall I think his birthday was super special.........even if he asks for a party still.

Sometimes the sunshine came out and was super hot so lots of water events happen both in our front yard and our backyard.


Since there was no gathering of large crowds the school doors were closed and the distance learning began.  A little rearranging of the house and a lot of help from each other and every day we managed to get our school work done!

More time at home means more time learning new skills and getting things done you really want to do.  This girl managed to rearrange her whole bathroom...from painting it, to making shelves and decorating it just the way she liked it!  Super fun to have some goals.

Also many hours in the kitchen because you consume so much food.  These two are fantastic chefs and bakers and many times I was given the night off from cooking.  So great!

One thing we did a lot of was meet friends outdoors physically distant.  This so happened to be an extraordinarily sunshiny day including a bursting of yellow on the ground :)

We hiked through the forests....and saw new life.  

Continued to work on this hobby of mine....

Coffee beverages are a great way to stay awake while home and to work on those creative ideas.........here is me spoiled with our new coffee machine that has eliminated the need for about 4 other machines off my counter.  Also the trends of covid-19 included making sourdough bread (which we only consumed from a lovely family member and haven't made yet) or making whipped coffee aka Dalgona coffee.  I am sure there were other food trends happening, but these were the two that I heard of the most!


Found this hike in our backyard with 360 views...

This was our first few months of rearranging our lives.  What the next months look like I do not know, but have we ever known? 
*Disclosure  this post may be out of order somewhat and missing many elements, but it is what it is.