The Beach Family Blog: Week 12: Quarantine Blog

Week 12 was a bit quieter than last week, and most of the news stories are just continuing from last week, so it was a nice change of pace to not be bombarded with new, terrible news everyday! Some highlights of our week were that I finally made my first trips to Target and BJ's, and some things were actually in stock, Abby finished her last science project, made us dinner & went back to the orthodontist, Ben had his last class conference call, and summer weather is here, so we're all enjoying being outside & at the pool more.

Some of the news this week focused on the docking of the SpaceX launch at the Space station, protests and curfews continuing but starting to become more peaceful by the end of the week, Trump and the infamous "Bible picture", more debates about the virus and how it's spread, the rise in NC coronavirus cases, and many opportunities to have discussions with our kids about politics, racism & health.

We're getting ready to wrap up school next week for the summer, and although we don't know what lies ahead for the fall school year, it's a consensus here that everyone is looking forward to seeing friends and getting out again... even if it is to school!

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Watching the shuttle dock and seeing the astronauts entering the space station was a fun, positive bit of news to enjoy!

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Check out this video of history in the making!

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As the astronauts expand their wings and get back out into space, we're doing the same here and expanding our social distancing bubble a bit... We're getting a little closer with a few chosen families so we can start getting back to a little more normal life and make sure that our immune systems are up and running well! First task... Mr. Brian got to go for a ride in Taylor's Cadillac!

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When we go out in public though, it's a different story... We all wear masks, keep our distance and wash our hands a lot! We still have to all do our part to see the virus get under control (and our state is NOT doing well so far, so we're still staying on our block as much as we can...). I hate wearing my mask, but for a chance to go back into Target to pick up a few things, I put it on with no problem! It felt almost a little bit normal (minus the masks, plastic dividers, one way aisles, social distancing and purell hanging off my purse...)

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Emily finished the whole Keeper of the Lost Cities books back when quarantine was starting (even Brian and I read them), and we're all a little bit "Team Keefe" here... We ordered this shirt for Emily's birthday, but with the shipping time being affected by Corona, it just arrived!

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Abby had her final science project due this week, and she and Brian came up with an awesome Rube-Goldberg coffee maker! The coffee might not have been that great, but the idea rocked! Check out her video below!:

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There has still be a lot of attention drawn to the George Floyd case, protests, riots, curfews and discussions of racism. It has been a good opportunity to talk about it with our kids and friends, but we continue praying for peace and love in everyone's hearts...

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Again, I'm not a political instigator, so I'm just putting this one out there as a moment captured in history during this time...

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Abby missed a couple orthodontist appointments during the lockdowns, and while she was hoping to be getting her braces off in June, it will be a little longer. At least she was able to get back in for an appointment the week they opened up, and hopefully things will finish up quickly for her! The email we received about the office "protocol" was crazy, but she made sure to sit in the air conditioning of the car before they came out and took her temperature to see if she was cleared to go in... Crazy times!!!

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I am personally happy to see people still taking precautions, since many people seems to be "over" this, but it is FAR from "over"... especially in NC. We are seeing record breaking numbers everyday, as we begin to see the effects of reopening...

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There has also been a lot of speculation (still) about the details of this virus and this week, it was said that most transmissions were happening at "super spreading events", they no longer believed that asymptomatic people are passing it on as frequently as originally thought (although that statement by the WHO has since been retracted...), and the notion that this is an "older persons disease" is sadly not true. The average demographic for positive cases in the US is a 30 year old male, and in NC, it is people between 25-49. Stay healthy everyone, and keep up on the latest information!

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While we've still be making it to our community pool for our 2 slots of time per week, we're so excited that our good friends in the neighborhood broke ground on their pool! I see a lot of swimming happening at the end of the summer!

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I made a trip to BJs for the first time, and was quite surprised to find toilet paper, paper towels, meat and nearly everything on our list! I still think we happened to go on a good day, but hopefully things will be in stock more reliably!

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This could not be more accurate after my time spent in the stores...

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Ben had his last conference call to say goodbye to his class, and everyone was dressed in their favorite summer attire! He will miss his teacher and friends so much!

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Abby made another awesome Home Chef meal for us, and on tonight's menu was mushroom and spinach flautas with a chipotle cream sauce! It was awesome, and I love to see how well she's doing in the kitchen!

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Summer weather here is hot, and while we're still hanging outside as much as we can, water fights with friends are definitely needed on these hot nights!

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