Monday, March 20, 2023

 Last week was Spring Break. My mom took the kids up to the cabin on Monday. I worked on Monday night so I slept Tuesday during the day. Garren went out for dinner and then took Sugar for a walk. Then we we watched the Elvis movie, which wasn’t what I was expecting. It was good, but not what I was expecting. The guy that played Elvis was cute, so it’s all good. Didn’t like Tom Hanks in it. And that’s my review for you!

The turtles woke up from hibernation and then immediately did this:

Like they missed each other or something. Needed to be all bundled up together. 

Sugar was outside for a whole day again during the renovation and did this:

I don’t even know what to say. Again, here is what it looks like before she messes it up.

I drove up to the cabin on Wednesday. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground so we didn’t do much. I think that’s exactly what we need, though. We watched lots of movies, played games lie “what if” and Pictionary. We played slap jack and Sugar tried to play with us! She’d sit next to us and watch as we put the cards down. Then when we’d slap shed slap her paw on the pile too! We got it on video, but it’s on Miriam’s phone. I’ll have to get it from her and upload it here. Miriam and I crocheted, colored, and shopped! We found a gem store. Miriam is getting into astrology and that sort of thing. I went to my favorite store, Pinetop Olive Oil, and got new oils, vinegars, and a cook book! One of these days Garren is going to cut me off on the cook books! Well, maybe he won’t, but he probably should. . . 

Here is where we are at with the bathroom renovation. 

It’s going to be gorgeous! It’s taking a little longer than we ever imagined, so Garren had a “Come to Jesus” with our tile guy yesterday. He’s been here for two hours already this morning and has done a ton. So I think Garren got through to him. We decided to do a wood look tile on top of the bench so that it could tie in with the floor tile. We had him arrange it in a herringbone pattern like on the main floor tile. 

This tile is the same colors as the main floor tile. I was worried about the main floor tile not matching what we chose for the shower, but I think this will make it tie in nicely. 

Now for the upcoming week. I have a simulation today at school, which I expect to be spectacularly boring. Then grandpa’s funeral on Wednesday. Introduction to Electrolytes on Thursday. Yea.  . .  Then my first clinical at a long term care facility on Friday. Yea. Miriam has another swim meet on Saturday, though! That will be the highlight of the week!

As always, this post is brought to you by Sugar, the lap dog. 

Flash Back Friday Spring Break 2020 The Day Disneyland Closed for Covid

 We were at Disneyland i for Spring Break in March 2020 when it closed for Covid. Covid had become an issue that we started taking seriously a few weeks prior to our trip. My mom asked us not to go to Disneyland. It was my family, my sister, Ashley, her boyfriend (at the time, Daniel, who would propose to her on this trip) and Daniel’s daughter and niece. We debated whether or not to go, but decided to risk it. It was very strange. Disneyland usually has smells when you walk down Main Street, like cookies baking. But it smelled like hand sanitizer! It was so weird. Very un-Disney-like.

Many people canceled their trips because of Covid, so the park was empty. We went on the train that goes around Disneyland and we were practically the only ones. 

There were no lines for anything. It should have been great, but in reality it was unsettling because you knew it was because a deadly virus and fear were keeping people away. It made me wonder if I should be scared. I recall that I was concerned, but I didn’t feel scared.  . . Yet.

All the Disney cast members were wearing gloves. Even though they were white and looked innocent, it was unnerving. 

They were installing signs in the bathrooms while we were there: “Wash hands for twenty seconds.”

We tried to have fun, but it was all so un-Disney-like. The water in the water rides like Pirates and Splash Mountain smelled like chlorine. We still had a good time, but I think inside we were all becoming very worried. 

Only Miriam’s hands. Haha. She’s a thrill seeker!

It rained on our second day. We bought four day tickets, but if I recall correctly we only planned to go for three. I got some kind of deal and getting the four day ended up being cheaper than three day.

Joshua finally rode Space Mountain! He doesn’t like these types of rides. 

We got to experience Star Wars Land for the first time. It was very well done! Oddly enough we ran into Joshua’s friend from school (Kayden). So Josh and I went with Kayden and his grandmother on the “rogue” ride (I forget what it’s called). I think they was nice for him to get to experience that with a friend who shared a similar “like” of such things. Then we went on the other new Star Wars ride together as a family. They were both incredible! Well done!

Josh doesn’t like Splash Mountain. So I went with Miriam, then Garren went with Miriam, then Ashley went with Miriam. Haha!

I got Cinnamon this cute Minnie Mouse collar. She wore it until she died. 

I can only ride one fast ride a day because it make my joints hurt. So I rode Space Mountain. Miriam really wanted to do the one that goes upside down in DCA. So Garren, Ashley, and Daniel went with her. 

Josh loves the Autopia. I think he and I did that one about 6 times! When The others went to DCA to do the rollercoaster, Josh and I went on Autopia. Those were the last rides we did at Disneyland. They had announced earlier in the day that they would be closing Disneyland due to Covid concerns. So we knew it was our last day. We only used 2 of our 4 days. 

These pictures were from earlier in the day, but we rode it for the last time at night. The others were on that ride in DCA and it shut down while they were on it!!! Like, way up high!! So they all had to exit the ride by going down those sketchy looking stairs! In the dark! And it had been raining all day!! I was glad I wasn’t there. I probably would have peed my pants. 

This was Disneyland as it was closing. They had to cancel the fireworks show because of wind. But they still did the show they do where they put up video projections on the buildings on Main Street. It was very sad and emotional. All the characters, and I mean ALL the characters came out and lines Main Street and were blowing kisses to everyone as they left the park. I’m even crying right now writing this. It was so sad! And scary! 

The next morning, Disneyland was a ghost town. So strange to see it “sleeping.” We walked around for a bit, I think because we just didn’t know what to think, how to feel, or what was to come. 

We drove home that day. Since I booked through Disneyland we got a refund for the hotel. I opened to keep the tickets though because we thought we’d use them later. They anticipated being closed for two weeks. They ended up closing for a year. We didn’t know that at the time. We thought Covid would die out over the summer and we’d go back over fall break and use our remaining two days on our tickets. Little did we know. . . . 

I think for our family this is where our Covid experience began: The Day Disneyland Closed. 

Flashback Friday! Flashback to March 2019BC (Before Covid)

 I have a hard time with memories and pictures. My struggle isn’t in remembering, it’s in the feelings that accompany the pictures or events. Sometimes it’s the feelings that come with acknowledging all that has happened since. . ..and all that hasn’t. Sometimes I feel regret when I look back at old pictures and think about things from the past. One day my children will find this and I want them to know that I did cherish every moment with them. So I thought I’d start doing Flashback Friday and be accountable to my memories. . .  acknowledge all the goodness in my life.  As I’m starting now in March, I think I will move forward doing the current month, but a different year in the past. For this post I will catch up a little and start in January. So here is January -March of 2019BC (Before Covid)!

January 2019 

January started with a trip to the zoo while the kids were still on Christmas break. I remember having Seamus over a lot because Cyndie was being an absolute dud. This was ten months before she died. She was in a really terrible place. I think the month prior was when she lost custody of Seamus because she overdosed and he called my mom, his dad, and eventually his dad (Tim) called the police. It was awful (this is one of the moments where I look at these pictures and see that I provided a day for Seamus where he felt loved by his family, but what I feel when I see these pictures is what I felt at the time when Cyndie was at her worst).

February 2019

Joshua was in a hiking club and we hiked Piestewa Peak in Scottsdale. I remember that it was challenging and I didn’t make it all the way to the top. But, I also remember it being one of my favorite hikes! The trails wrap around the peak so that you see Scottsdale from different points. Absolutely beautiful! To be honest, though. . .  I didn’t actually make it to the top. :) I only have pictures of Miriam and I because Josh and Garren were so far ahead of us.

Josh also went hiking often with his scout group. This is a hike in the Superstition Mountains. 

I’m glad I wasn’t here for this one. This picture freaks me out. 

Then at some point in February we went to the Biosphere 2 in Tucson. It was fascinating and unhinging all at once. We learned that we are all doomed because of global warming. Well, that’s the short version of what we learned. The took us into this room where I took this picture. They told us it was used on an experiment to see how much CO2 plants could actually process and turn back into breathable air. They pumped this room full of CO2 and observed the plants over time. The plants got to a point where they basically quit and started also producing CO2. So. . . .  That is our future. Yea!

Then we went home and played and tried to forget that we’re all doomed to die a terrible death.

March

Miriam had a birthday party the first weekend in March. I hired a lady to do balloon animals. She called me a half hour after the party started to say she was sick. I was so furious. She did finally show up after an hour, so I gave her $20 instead of the agreed $100. I was so mad. I remember trying to make up games with red cups! At the time there was a game show on Netflix where they had a bunch of games with red cups. So luckily all the kids were familiar with it and were on board for playing cup games. 

Then over the kids spring break I took them to the Hoover Dam where I discovered that Joshua talks in his sleep. The funny thing is, I remember what he talked about: Airplanes! This is funny because he was 12 at the time and now he is an aspiring pilot. We stayed at a hotel in Boulder City. It’s kind of sad to look at these pictures now because we are currently in a water crisis. The water levels are so low in Lake Mead that they will start cutting water to one state at a time over the next few years. The first state to be cut off will be New Mexico. We had no idea then. . . 

Since we were only about a half hour from Vegas, I decided to drive them there to see some of the sites they see in movies, etc. I took them to the Belagio to see the ceiling. We saw the Mirage Volcano (which is going to be demolished soon). We saw the flamingos and Koi fish at the Flamingo. We also saw the Venetian waterways and gondolas. We shopped at the M&M store and got ice cream. It was a fun trip. Simple and memorable. I do wonder what the Hoover Dam tour is like now during the water crisis. Maybe we’ll go.

And last but not least, remembering our dog Cinnamon. She was such a good mommy dog. She was so good and playful with our cats. At the time we watched dogs for extra money through Rover.com. She was always so good with the dogs and would let the little guys win at tug-of-war. She was just the best!