The Beach Family Blog: Week 3: Quarantine Blog

We are officially in Week 3 (or maybe 4?!?!?!) of COVID-19 quarantine here, and our world is looking quite a bit different these days... The virus is spreading quickly, and supposedly not even supposed to peak for a couple of more weeks, unemployment rates are skyrocketing, gas is at an amazing low here of $1.49 (even though we can't go anywhere...), grocery stores are still out of MANY items (and each trip involves a lot of social distancing and disinfecting things when I get home), many shops have closed and even more are limiting the number of people allowed inside. Our medical personnel are all of the heroes these days as hospitals are popping up in parking lots, Central Park & even on ships... We are being told that wearing masks when we're in public is recommended, and we are all supposed to keep staying home as much as we can.

On the upside, I have learned many things this week: How to build a world in Minecraft, how to cut my children's hair, what the best building model is for an egg drop, that the top rainbow of a double rainbow has its colors in reverse (who knew?!?!?), I've brushed up on my triple digit subtraction as well as adverbs vs. adjectives, and oh, so much more!

We have been making the best out of our family time alone. Brian's been busy working in his new role at Amazon while I've become the homeschool teacher here, and we've had a lot of family fun together each day. Games, neighborhood walks, family movies, homeschool activities, & minecraft are becoming normal events at the Beach house these days...

How are all of you holding up? We've managed to talk to most family this week, and will keep up to date with everyone! Hope you are all well, and here's a glimpse into our past week...

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We started this week out with "virtual church" and a cup of coffee on the back porch...

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Abby's assignment for science this week was to make an egg drop mechanism that didn't fully enclose the egg, but had a "drop in/take out" feature. She and Brian were up to the task, and even resorted to using a box from Lou Malnati's, an empty bag of potato chips & the sewing machine!

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Abby's Egg drop adventure video (and stay tuned for part 2 next week!:

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Abby tried my neurofeedback to see what all my "alien running" is all about... turns out I'm doing better than I thought! Whatever helps the anxiety, right?!?!?

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We haven't been watching the news on a regular basis here, as it causes more anxiety than we need, but we do turn it on occasionally to get caught up...

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A good way to explain this all to the smaller kids...

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A few news snippets and pictures in the news from the week...

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We have been enjoying Facetiming with everyone! Quick check ins, coffee dates, and even virtual play dates and sleepovers!

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There are a lot of fun things going around the neighborhoods these days, and one from this week was a take on the book, "Going on a Bear Hunt"... A bunch of neighbors put bears in their windows, and while you go around the neighborhood, you get to find as many as you can! We found 16 on our walk one day (although one person had 8 bears at their house, so it definitely helped our numbers...). We even Facetimed with Mor-Mor for a bit so she could get "outside" with us too!

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Our school is technically starting virtual learning after spring break, but they have been "practicing" these past couple of weeks so it runs more smoothly, so we had a lot of work to keep us busy!

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We all had a couple of google "meetings" this week, and Ben's teacher even showed a video of someone reading his favorite book: "The Book With No Pictures"!

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Ben had a few lessons on how to write a proper letter, and had to practice with one to his teacher, and one to a family member... Everyone better get ready for some mail!

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Another one of his lessons was on maps, and he had to make a map of his own room... so of course, he chose to make it on Minecraft! It was a pretty neat!

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This about sums up my weeks...

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Other stories in the news from the US, and some stats from NC at the moment:

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A good reminder for us all while we are quarantined...

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So while we are safe at home, we will keep on, keeping on... Puzzle #3 went down in the books, and it was a HARD one!

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With nothing to do, and not a reasonable alternative, we decided to cut the girls hair! I managed to "trim" 3" off of Abby's hair and she cut the "ends" off Emily's! I'm just going to have to grow mine out, and I might need to check out YouTube before I attempt Brian's or Bens!

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The highlight of Ben's week was DEFINITELY teaching me how to build in Minecraft! I managed to make an outdoor movie theatre with his help, and we have all been playing together at night! I don't totally "get it", but it sure makes him happy, so I'll go with that...

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The girls have had fun recreating their favorite book covers:) (Oh, what we will do for fun!)

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We had an awesome night playing "Quiplash" and "Guesspionage" on the tv together... Ben's answer was always "poop", but what do you expect from an 8-year-old boy???? I have to say though, that despite a lot of our answers being "Corona" related, the disinfector won in the end!

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Ironically, this is the question Dad got and what he "thought" the answer should be... and the real answer after it... We always tell him those Q-tips are no good for him!

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Our driveway circle has gotten quite a bit wider (I like more than 6 feet between us at this point), and Brian brought out a round of shots for the guys, but since we had to use our own glasses this time, they were returned to us all clean in a ziplock baggie!)

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Now that April has arrived, so has April Fools Day. I don't usually prank the kids, but it just came naturally this year...

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The newest recommendation is that we wear masks when out in public (but NOT medical ones, because we don't want to take away the health worker supplies), so we had a couple made for us!

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When the mail or groceries come in these days, it has to pass my "disinfection station" first!

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The grocery stores all now have tools to help you with social distancing... I wish it made going out to the store less stressful!

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The numbers at the end of the week weren't too encouraging, and the ones in the weeks to come don't seem like they will be either, but eventually, I KNOW we will flatten the curve and find ourselves back to our "normal" lives:)

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Stores are changing policies here and are either closing, going to curbside delivery or limiting the number of people in and spaced out 6 feet apart...

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