We find ourselves these days in some pretty crazy times, with the news changing by the minute, businesses closing down, schools closing and rules being set about social distancing and quarantining our families due to the global threat of COVID-19. This is most definitely an unprecedented time to be living in, and who knows what the "right or wrong" thing is at this time... I hadn't planned on documenting the process, and I don't know how long I'll feel like doing it, but for now, I'll make a weekly post to keep everyone up on some news snippets I've captured, give y'all a glimpse into our quarantined family life at the Beach household, and share some of the best memes to keep a little humor in our lives... This is serving as a bit of a "journal" to keep for my kids to keep track of this time in history that their kids will be reading about someday. My prayer is that you all stay safely in your homes and stay healthy! And when you have time, feel free to drop a text, email, call or Facetime... heaven knows I have nowhere else to be! Feel free to check out our story from the beginning:
These past two weeks went pretty quickly with the end of school & our trips to the lake and the beach with friends, so I put up a few extra blog entries for everyone to catch up on our fun activities!
The news has been pretty slow, although it's started ramping up again with the increasing cases, travel bans, mask mandates, states shutting things back down, political and racial differences and the readying of announcements about what schools may look like in August. One thing is for sure... this virus is not going anywhere in a hurry...
I've captured a few of the highlights from the past two weeks to keep everyone up-to-date, but don't forget to go back and look at the more "fun" posts about the end of school and our trip to the beach... They are way more fun to look through than the crazy news out there these days, and gave us a chance to feel "normal" again for a short time!
The US has clearly not contained the coronavirus, as the number of cases continue to rise everyday, and we've seen an increase in the last two weeks due to the lifting of restrictions, opening things back up, and unsafe practices during political & racial protesting. While some states are doing better than others, North Carolina, is one of the top 5 worst states right now, with cases surging as summer begins and the beaches begin opening up.
A lot of news has been available about what activities are safest to do during this time, and it's pretty clear to me that we should all keep staying at home, or at least distanced outdoors, and wear our masks!
Raleigh set a mandatory mask rule last week, requiring everyone to wear one indoors and outside in public spaces where social distancing is not possible.
There are a lot of infographics out there to help us understand different aspects of this virus, and I found this one to be helpful in understanding what level of protection we should be taking...
In my opinion, our governor moved us into Phase 2 too quickly, but has since done a good job of not moving past it. He cancelled the RNC set to take place here in August, and he has been vetoing bills set to reopen things too quickly... We're not ready to open any more than we have based on our numbers, and hopefully setting more limits will help reverse the trend.
On a completely different note, Abby's been cooking away our "Home Chef" meals, and this week was a delicious fish cake and salad she made completely on her own. I could totally get used to this...
We had the opportunity to go to the private beach house (and beachfront) of our good friends, and it was a wonderful and safe way to enjoy the start of summer! Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us, and we dealt with the effects of this tropical storm almost the whole time we were there. We did get a few moments in the sun, and went to the beach even when it wasn't sunny, and we were just happy to have a change of scenery for a few days. Check out all the pictures from our trip here:
We made it back from the beach in time to celebrate Father's Day weekend, and Abby celebrated with Brian by taking him out to their first restaurant in months! There were masks, hand sanitizer and socially distanced outdoor seating, but he was so happy to get out again! We also made him a delicious dinner with creme brulee for dessert, and gave him his drink smoker set, for him to elevate his old-fashioneds!
As if Covid, murder hornets and hurricanes aren't enough, the world has decided to add on a massive dust plume and some fires in the Arctic to the list... I'm definitely ready for 2020 to end...
In political news this week, one of the biggest stories was Trump's first public rally scheduled in Tulsa. The uproar of many was that social distancing precautions were not being followed, and we're still waiting to see the result of that in their case numbers next week. I suppose it was a good thing that it was a "flop", and not many people ended showing up (there's some talk of TikTok and K-Pop fans skewing the registration numbers... Who knows what happened, but I'm glad it wasn't too big in the end)!
Just when we started talking to people about MAYBE seeing them this summer, this happens... Apparently no one wants North Carolinians traveling to their states (and I don't blame them), and NY has gone as far as setting a 14 day quarantine for anyone who comes from here or returns from visiting here. I guess we're going to have to keep up with facetime for now!
And speaking of masks, our governor finally made the announcement that NC would NOT be moving into Phase 3 for at least another 3 weeks, and masks were now required EVERYWHERE where social distancing is not possible. I REALLY hope this starts to turn things around and people will stop fighting the issue and just wear their masks...
Looking ahead to what next week brings, we are looking forward to the 4th of July celebrations (although apparently it will be mostly "virtual" this year), and the announcement about the upcoming school year will be happening. Stay home, stay safe, and WEAR A MASK!!!
Our last full day started out much like the others, but we got a break in the rain to go for a morning stroll on the beach...
The sun popped out for a few minutes so we took advantage and spent a little time on the beach... Emily must have thought it was WAY sunnier than it actually was...
Get that skinny kid some ice cream!
Luckily, the Sunset Slush ice cream man strolled down the beach with his cart! It was a great way to end our time together!
We had an awesome time making new memories and starting our summer off with a bang! In fact, it's all we have planned this summer, so we're glad it was fun! Thank you to our awesome friends for the hospitality!
