Coronavirus Quarantine Week 1: March 15-21

Contactless delivery. Tip on cc or tape cash to mailbox. Leave the food on the porch chair.
  I was trying to get Makai out on walks every day. We saw this moss growing under the train tracks.

We also often pass by this memorial bike where Carla Aiello died on Milwaukee and Kilbourn.

We kept passing by this. We sent the photo to dad and found out it’s milkweed.

In our Chicago office we were told to go home on March 12 and not come back for…… at least through the end of March. In Chicago, we got the official order to stay at home starting March 21, but our family started on March 15. My first work station was too close to the refrigerator. 

This is what happens when you put me in charge of quarantine grocery stock up.

We played a lot of games.

Subway.

I had a mental breakdown when I saw this school schedule on top of my incredibly busy work schedule.

Luckily, Makai’s teacher, Mrs. Benedict was completely understanding.

Can’t go to restaurants, so I had to hire a personal chef.

A lot of companies and people all over the world were doing a lot of cool things virtually. Access to museums and parks and animals and all kinds of things. People had a million ideas of how to keep kids occupied. Keeping kids occupied was not my concern. I did not have the time to direct activities while I was working. It was all TOO MUCH.

Scootering at the park.

I was feeling quite good about getting in a walk over lunch and then I tripped and fell and skinned both knees.

One of the kindergarten moms did virtual story time.

Exercising.

I needed to set up office space. We had a spare room in the basement that was just stuffed with junk and boxes from our move (1+ years ago). I ordered and set up a chair. It was a start.

More virtual storytime.

Trump is such an idiot. I really do miss Obama.

Looks good to me!

FaceTiming with school friends Penny, Sawyer, Ben, and Otis.

Quarantine fish. His name is Baby Luigi.

Snotsy + Baby Luigi.

Any limitations around screen time basically went out the door.

Virtual storytime + germ experiment


The IRS doesn’t want their money? This must be serious!

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announcing school is closed until April 20. (It ended up being the entire school year).

For real happened. Lots of TV some days. I tried not to beat myself up about it, but it was hard.

Some people really thought Coronavirus had something to do with Corona beer.

Governor J.B. Pritzker announcing “stay at home” order

Makai and Otis used to trade Pokémon cards every day at school. Now they talk about Pokémon on video chat.
Alton Brown’s recipe. They’re amazing. And we can’t share

Playroom exercises.

My boss’s boss, Chuck, keeps getting visited by his cat!

Virtual piano lessons with Ms. Katie from Upbeat Music via FaceTime.

Sara drew coloring pages for Makai!

When I look back at this photo I remember the feeling I had when I took it. I felt like a failure. In almost every aspect. And I felt like I was big time failing my kid. Things could always be worse, but I still felt an enormous guilt that we couldn’t hang out with him or keep him properly occupied while we’re both working and he couldn’t comprehend completely what was going on.

I bought a desk and Dallas helped me assemble it.

My little office looks like it’s coming together nicely as long as you crop the photo right.
 Family movie night. Onward was released straight to our homes on Amazon Prime Video since movie theaters are closed. Potentially a long-lasting change to the movie industry?

Stores closing. Only essential stores could be open.

We approved of how JB Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot were handling things. We eventually had to agree to put our trust in them in order to settle different points of view and arguments in our home.

Hawaii 2019 Day 10: Bishop Museum

 Billy surprised us with malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery for breakfast! SO good.

Ging also has a family pass for Bishop Museum, so I took Makai and Damien there. I’d been one time, but it was years ago! And Ging let me know they were having a lego exhibit. Damien LOVED it. Like, he didn’t want to go to any other part of the museum!

After lunch, Damien wanted to either go home or go back to the legos, but then when he realized he could be the expert, he got into it. He was pretty much our personal tour guide and he told Makai all about Hawaiian culture and history! We also saw a show about moons in the Planetarium.

Here are things that Makai and Damien had heated discussions about:

  1. Duplos. Are they the bad guys in the Lego Movie?
  2. What is a pali (cliff)? Makai swears he’s right and Damien finally says “Hey! I LIVE here!”
  3. The keiki menu. Makai ordered from it the day before and Damien teased and said he never would. Then Makai had to point it out the next day when Damien got a keiki meal for lunch.

We planned to meet Ging in Honolulu after she picked up Hoku from school. We got there a little early, so we wandered around the Dole Cannery. Damien REALLY wanted to go to this place called Armchair Adventurer. We played a game while waiting for Ging. He wanted to get a game so bad, he asked me to take this photo of him and Makai.

We met Ging and Hoku at Wild Tiki Fun Zone arcade where the boys all played laser tag. It was Makai’s first time and I wasn’t sure he’d like it but he LOVED it! And every time they came running out, the cashier let them go back in! We had to cut them off because we had to get going!

On the way home, I took Damien, Makai and Hoku with me while Ging went to Costco to get some things for dinner.

Dallas and Billy took all of the kids to the beach quick. They only stayed for a short time before it started raining again. At home Damien, Hoku, Ka’eo and Makai all jumped into the hot tub! For dinner we grilled steak and ate outside.

Paella and Yahtzee at Stacy’s New House

Last year Stacy, Sara, Jess and I successfully had  dinner together once/month, every month except for one, I think. In January, Stacy invited us over to her new house that she’s been remodelling like crazy. I thought we were going to order in or something but Stacy made paella from scratch! It was SO delicious! For “dessert” we had wine and Yahtzee (I won!).