Just a Day at the Beach

 Friday April 10 was our last day of Spring Break. It was a glorious, sunny day.  It was also the day of the Worldwide Fast.  I was not sure that fasting and going to the beach was a good idea, but it worked out beautifully.  We drove out to Sand Dollar Beach.  It was easy to do social distancing because we were pretty much the only people there.  We saw 2 or 3 other people, but none close enough to even say hello to.

Marian had this big yellow duck float that she wanted to play with.  So we did.  I would have gone closer to the inlet, where there was more  mud and less coral, but they said it was too shallow there.  So there were some minor injuries from falling onto coral.  But a very good time was had by all.

And no one complained about fasting and everyone fasted the whole day and was really just fantastic.  I had BBQ pork in the crock pot and made rolls when we got home and potato salad for when we broke our fast that evening. It was a great day!

Cupcake Decorating

I realized that the cupcakes needed their own blog post.  So there will be a few photos from the last post, but I have put ALL the lovely projects here.
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The girls decided to stave off boredom with a little cupcake decorating.  We issued a virtual invitation to the YW to join us in a cupcake decorating contest.  No one else wanted to play.  But that did not stop my girls!!  They baked some cupcakes and whipped up some lovely buttercream frosting and went to town!  Please enjoy their  very creative results.

PS.... Marian was particularly pleased with her "covid-19" cupcake, so see if you can figure out which one that is.

How We Isolate

 We are not fully quarantined, and don't have strict stay-at-home policies. We do have strict stay-away-from-people polices that we adhere to to varying degrees.

Since we are not allowed to minister to people in person, we made a bunch of ridiculous poster-boards for families in the Branch.  They were a lot of fun to make, but the kids were skeptical when I said we were going to drive to their houses, run up to their windows, tape them on, and run away.  I said it wasn't suppose to be covert, since we HAD signed our name on it; it was just suppose to be fun.  And it was!

Sometimes, having 6 people in the house got to be a bit much (Dan is working from home most days now).  Callie took a break and went outside in the rain to read her book on the swing for a bit. Yes, that homemade swing they created!

I had a dental check up and they let me come in for it (they won't do any work or cleaning, but they will do a look-see).  I giggled at the socially distanced chairs in the waiting room.  And I was grateful they let me keep the appointment.  (No cavities!)  

The girls steal my phone and I find all kinds of odd things on it.

Rylee had an assignment to make an instrument for her music class, and she crated this drum set.  And then it got played.... and played....

We made masks.  Lots of face masks.  All Marines are required to wear them and families as well.  So we sewed about 50 for other people, and we are still sewing.

The girls wanted to have a cupcake decorating contest.

So they made some sweet concoctions.

I was impressed by their ingenuity!

They were very clever and creative.

Last Dog pix, I promise!

The girls have very much enjoyed Oreo. 

He has been a great little buddy. 

 

And he doesn't complain when Rylee messes with him.

 Maybe because he loves snuggles so much.

Have I mentioned how good-natured he is?! 

Callie does love him so much!

And he is just the cutest. 

We introduced him to the dog park and he learned to fetch. 

And he learned to play with the big dogs.

And then.... he went into Trial.  A family is trying him out to see if he is the right fit for their family.  In 2 weeks they will decide if they will keep him or not.  I think they will, because he is an awesome little dog!  But I am sad because he IS an awesome little dog and our home feels so empty without a dog in it. 

Just a little fire

 The girls wanted to burn some stuff.  Dan also had some papers to burn. So they busted out the fire pit and lit it up.  They burned the stuff they wanted to burn and then roasted marshmallows and made some s'mores and had a lovely time.  I do not like fire and flames and smoke-stink, so I huddled safely inside. And I found 500 photos of the event on my phone later.

Ps... the funny thing is that the only kid in the photos is not even my kid!  The neighbor gang ran over to get in on the fun.