It’s mid-September and the air has a chill to it. This morning our furnace kicked on, but the fans are still in the windows. I wore leggings to church instead of a sun dress, and I needed a sweater on in the house. Leaves in the garden are starting to turn and I’m harvesting the last few pickings of strawberries, beans, tomatoes, and raspberries before the weather truly turns cold. Oh, and the chickens are molting which leaves my back yard looking like someone had a pillow fight on my lawn.
Earlier this year, before any of knew anything about what 2020 was going to hold in store for us, the kids and I started a list of all the places we wanted to go for our summer field trips. Field trips are always kind of the highlights of the summer; and although the kids had a great summer filled with crafts, games, and lots of time together, we mourned the activities planned, but not realized.
Some of the places were local, like the Redmond High School football field, Hartman Park, Cold Stone, Vertical World, Meadow Park, Tuesday morning movies at Bella Bottega. Others were typical area touristy spots, Century Link Field, Pacific Science Center, Heritage Museum, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, Cougar Mountain Zoo, Kelsey Creek Farm. Some were new places we’d never been: Bremerton Historic Ships, Sammamish Animal Sanctuary, Imagination Museum, and some were favorites like the Monroe Fair, Roller Skating, Bowling, and Seattle Children’s Museum.
I’m keeping the list for next summer in hopes that we can return to normal summer activities; but who knows what next month, let alone, next year will look like as far as restrictions and ‘normal’. It’s hard to accept that September doesn’t include the daily rotation of school drop-offs and pick-ups, and the traditional back-to-school activities that filled up the calendar in the fall. Instead I spent Labor Day weekend painting; changing one of the bedrooms into a ‘school room’ so the kids have a place to study and have their Zoom or Teams meetings. Remote learning is in, complete with passwords, wi-fi challenges, online PE and technology learning curves.
Thankfully, the kids are resilient and flexible.
Paige's Place 