A COVID School Year

 I didn't post about the beginning of the school year but this is a good time for an update. 

The struggle to make a decision of whether to have the kids stay home and do school virtually, or go back to school for face to face learning was an incredibly difficult one. I went back and forth for a month constantly changing my mind. I knew it would be good for all of us but I was so scared! I was scared that if one of the kids got COVID one of us wouldn't recover well. There was still so much unknown and differing opinions and information about the virus. Ultimately, I decided the kids would go ahead and start the school year in school and we would go from there.

 

 

 

Well, as the school year started out there was the occasional case of COVID at the school. A kid would test positive and the kids in contact with that positive case would be called to quarantine for 2 weeks. We received a phone call that Maya was a contact but were later called back to let us know that it was a mistake and she was not in contact and didn't have to quarantine. She was pretty bummed about that.

Now, 2 1/2 months into the school year, the COVID numbers have shot up and half the school was out because of being in contact with a positive person. Well, last week the kids came home with all of their books and work for the week and said school has switched to virtual until Thanksgiving. So here we are...

I'm really glad I decided to send the kids to school at the beginning of the school year. They got a couple of months of time out of the house and socializing with friends but now we can all spend time at home while we ride out this next wave. Virtual is definitely work but I'm hopeful we will all get into a good routine and figure this thing out.

Colorado Mini-vacation

 Since we drove out to support Rich for his marathon, we decided to take full advantage and stay an extra day to see some sites! 

Our first site was the obvious must...Pikes Peak! Although we chose to drive up it instead of running up it like some crazy people I know, lol!

Pikes Peak

The drive was so scary!

We got to the top and took our classic and mandatory Pikes Peak family picture.

Unfortunately there was a ton of construction at the top so there really wasn't anywhere to see the good views. It was kind of anticlimactic.

The kids got a kick out of this sign on our drive up to the top.

Molly Kathleen Mine

This was unexpectedly pretty awesome. 

I wasn't sure if Eva would enjoy it because it's a tour with a lot of talking but she really loved it. I think her favorite part was picking out rocks in the gift shop.

They warned us when we were buying our tickets that we wouldn't be able to socially distance but I don't think we quite expected this in the mine elevator...

Off we went on our tour!

The kids loved this tour and now they can say they've been in a gold mine.

Afterwards we decided to drive through this mining town called Victor. It wasn't anything exciting or special until Rich spotted a grassy field. He just HAD to stop and insisted that everyone get out and enjoy the grassy field. I tried to stay in the car but nope, he made me get out. This is one of those things I absolutely love about him. He makes the simplest things an adventure. This is what he wanted to do in that field the day after his marathon.

After our little Victor stop we moved on to our next site.

Garden of the Gods

As we were driving back from the mine we could see a huge storm coming. We made it to Garden of the Gods just before the storm hit.

We literally had about 5 minutes before the wind picked up pretty intensely and then another 10 minutes before the wind hit.

It was a super short stay but it was beautiful.

That was where our Colorado adventures ended but on our way home we stopped by one more place!

Cadillac Ranch

It happened to be on our way home so we had to stop.

 

I can't say that this whole COVID 19 situation hasn't worn on us, it has. We had to cancel our big Spring Break trip in March and haven't hardly left the house since. This little family trip was exactly what we needed. Was it different? Yes! We had to wear masks everywhere we went and were extra cautious with sanitizing but it was still incredibly fun to adventure as a family.

Rich runs Pikes Peak!

 Rich has been training like a mad man for months to run the Pikes Peak Marathon. We decided the kids could miss a couple of days of school so that we could all go out and support him!

Our motel was at the starting line so it was pretty easy and convenient to see him off. He was pretty nervous and couldn't sleep the night before but he said it all dissipated the moment he started running. This is a video he took at the start line.

I was able to track him on his Garmin which was really cool but they also had cameras at the start, summit and finish line! He also did a really awesome job of taking pictures and videos during his run. 

6 miles in

Here he is at the summit! It was so awesome to get to see him at the top! 

We were able to track him from the hotel room and when he got closer to the finish line we went down to cheer him through!

Finish line!

Our Baker family was watching from home and Julie took this video that I LOVE!

He finished! 26.2 miles with an elevation gain of 7,815. It took him 6hrs 40min and he finished number 215 out of 653. So proud of him!