Coronavirus Quarantine Week 4: April 5-11

Something fun and different to do when the weather was nice.

Update on the ant farm.

Makai told us that he “felt weird” and he didn’t know why and started bawling. It shook me up and I took some time off work. Dallas and I started to rotate taking off one day of work every other week to help Makai with school and to just pay attention to him.

Stacy works at Fortune Fish. She had to go into the office one day and we were able to place an order with her. With so many restaurants closed, we were able to get some really great seafood. We LOVED IT. Makai liked playing with the stone crab more than eating it!

We had ahi and prepared it 3 ways: Sashimi, poke and grilled.

Breaded and pan-fried halibut.

Wow. Check out the date on this.

We’d had this unassembled cabinet in our house for months and had run out excuses to not assemble it. It’s nice to unpack some boxes still hanging around from our move. My office space is coming along. It’s also nice not to sit next to a pile of boxes and random stuff all day long.

Makai took a virtual tour of Yosemite and was excited when he found a parking lot.

There are  zip tie locks on the soccer and tennis court doors. And signs on the playground and field house banning use. When I saw this tape on the entrances, I freaked out and thought the whole park was closed. I found out later they were doing construction in this part of the park.


FaceTiming with cousin Stephanie on her birthday.

Early morning walk around the block after nighttime showers was so refreshing.

Lunch break. We try to check in on Makai between as many meetings as we can. Some days are really hard. Some days we might get a game of soccer in.

EVERYTHING is all about “contactless” now. Lot’s of this going on at work for contactless pizza delivery and curbside pickup and paying for everything, including tips, online.

Where else do you see a billboard in polish right next to a billboard in Spanish?!?

Cross stitch update.

I can’t imagine what all the front-line workers are going through.

I’ve been having the best lunch dates!

Makai and Dallas watching TV.


I can’t believe how these retailers have already started to evolve and cash in on this.
Try to take a 5 minute break with a mindless game and you can’t even get away!!

Banana blueberry bread.

We put a bird feeder out earlier this week and got our first customer today.

Deep thoughts…

Dallas made hamburger steak for dinner.

Playing dino trax.
I’ve been taking short morning walks this week with Makai. I was afraid our park was closed but I think the tape was up because they’re doing construction in one area of the park.

I lost 2 in a row.

  Sitting on the back deck watching a hawk soar over the park.

Quarantine day 28 was not good, but we managed to have a fun time dying eggs for Easter. We also got Burt’s Place pizza delivered (SOOO delicious) and watched the new Trolls movie. EB made a late night delivery.

Dallas made homemade blueberry pancakes.

One of the many things that were cancelled. I got Dallas Ricky Gervais tickets for his birthday, I got my mom Cirque de Soleil tickets for her birthday, we had tickets to visit Next restaurant, Dallas had tickets to see Rage Against the Machine, our Spring Break vacation to see Jordan + family was cancelled. So many things we were looking forward to.

A Family Visit to Our New House

Makai was so anxious and excited to see everyone. When he heard the plane landed and they were on the way, he sat out on the front porch and steps and asked what color the car rental car was. When they arrived he was SO HAPPY!. He had not seen  his Hawaii Grandparents since Dec and Aunty Caroline and Cousin Gracie since Oct! 

Gracie and Makai immediately picked up where they left off. Playing and joking around in the house!

 Kathy, Caroline and I took Gracie and Makai to the Shedd Aquarium. We all had so much fun. We are so lucky to have such a world-class aquarium right here in Chicago.

Meanwhile at home, Dallas and his dad mounted 2 TVs and installed these shelves. Turned out amazing!

The next day, we went back to Museum Campus to go to the Field Museum. Aunty Laura is a volunteer there on Fridays and totally hooked us up. Makai LOVED it.

 He LOVED the animal section and would yell “OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THIS” at every turn. He SUPER LOVED the dinosaurs. We went on a dino tour that was geared towards kids. The docent let Makai hold a replica tooth and he took his job very seriously. Gracie tried to get it and Makai was all “GRACIE HE TOLD ME IM IN CHARGE!”

We bought this $6 plaster egg to bring home. Gracie and Makai had to excavate the dinosaur. The kids took turns and worked at it for almost an hour. Totally great return on investment! Makai was soooooo excited to get the dinosaur out. He loved our trip to the Field Museum so much that the next morning when he woke, he ran into our bedroom and the first thing he asked was if we could go back to the museum that day!

 It was HOT outside. Makai and Gracie had tons of fun playing in the sprinkler.

 Kathy wanted to bring something local back for friends so we went to Intelligentsia in Logan Square and got some bags of coffee. We also got some coffee drinks and breakfast pastries.

 We needed to get some dessert for later in the day, so we went to Roeser’s Bakery. Totally old school bakery in Humboldt Park. I’d heard a lot about Roeser’s. I’d had their donuts once when someone brought them in to work. And I had their cupcakes at a party once. Glad to finally go! We got cake bites that were amazing and also some assorted cookies.

We hosted our first barbecue and loads of family came over from the suburbs and a few friends too! Jen + Chad; Kristin; Aunty Laura + Bill; Aunty Gail; Aunty Glenna + Uncle BB; Heather + Jeff; Doug, Naoko, Tommy, Kenji, Eddy, Hanako.

The next day we headed out to Aunty Laura + Bill’s house and saw even more family! Aunty Gail; Aunty Glenna + Uncle BB; Heather + Jeff; Brad, Amanda, Tyler + Carter; Aly, Evan [it was his birthday!], Lexi + Charlotte; Danny, Caroline, Rory + John.

The next morning everyone had to leave our house very early in the morning to get to the airport. We had such a fun time and it went by way too fast!

Dinner at Steak 48

While Makai was in Wisconsin, Dallas and I went out on a dinner date to Steak 48. I’m not huge on big expensive steak houses, but I’d heard so many people talking about Steak 48 and how great it was, I had to see what I was missing out on. And since I never go out and get steak, Dallas talked me into getting the wagyu filet! It was SO. GOOD. We were going ALL OUT so we also got crab mac n cheese, martinis and check out how huge the burrata servings were on this app! Oh yah. We got dessert too. I was so stuffed at the end of this decadent night! Dallas wanted to go out and meet up with people but I just got an Uber home, took my pants off and laid in bed. Oh, my belly!

Also, Dallas will never let me live down the fact that when I made the reservation, I accidentally booked the Steak 48 Houston location. Luckily they made space for us, but when we got seated I had to call Steak 48 Houston and cancel my reservation!

Before dinner we met for a drink at Watershed, which is in the basement of Pops for Champagne. I loved the vibe down there! Definitely want to go back.

Writing on the Walls at The Crab Pad

Makai gives it “13 thumbs up!” based on:
1. Writing on walls is encouraged
2. Hand washing in the middle of the dining room
3. Hot chocolate with sprinkles made by very attentive waitresses
4. Custom-made popsicles
5. Murals by one of his favorite street artists [Angel Once]
6. Everyone wears bibs, even daddy