After being quarantined at home for 7 weeks (March 16th - May 2nd), we were ready for a change and decided to drive down to Mimi and Mormor. No school, no play dates, no stores, no playgrounds, etc. had been really tough on everyone including the kids. For the first 6 weeks of the home quarantine, we did homeschooling with no input from the school system. On the 7th week, schools starting rolling out 'distance learning', which was too bad, because my homeschooling of the kids worked much better. So after being stuck at home for so long with no end in sight, we decided to drive down to Miami to visit Mimi and Mormor and continue our quarantine at their house. Then we would get to see them and play in their pool every day. So the first Saturday in May, we drove down to my parents' house in one long stretch. Google Maps says it takes 15.5 hrs with no breaks. Door-to-door, including stops for lunch, gas, and bathroom breaks, it took us 16 hours! (4am to 8pm) And that included a 20+ minute delay at the Florida border checkpoint to confirm we weren't coming from coronavirus hotspots New York and Louisiana. Nate drove fast; the kids were well-behaved; and there was absolutely no traffic with roads empty. We stayed at their house for 3 weeks total, though Nate flew back to Maryland the last week to not burn his vacation time. And there were only 20 people on his flight, an empty security check line, and only 7 total flights showing up on the departure board at Fort Lauderdale! Then he flew back to Miami to drive us home. Nate has luckily not had to work much at all during coronavirus. He has gotten many weeks of admin leave because he is not allowed to telework, and the number of people in the office is severely limited. When Nate is home, he is in charge of Derek's homeschooling, and I help Karina and Lydia.
Seeing Mimi and Mormor was great, and a change of scenery was great too. We went swimming every single day in Miami. Karina and Lydia are like fish in the water. Derek is fantastic with his floatie on. He practiced some without the floatie too and made progress with back floats, jumps, and doggie paddle.
Derek watering Mormor's plants and Lydia doing yard work with Mimi while he trimmed palm trees:
We brought our soccer goal and three soccer balls down with us, and the kids played soccer every day with Mimi and occasionally Nate.
Derek is getting much more coordinated:
This raft was my favorite spot to relax in the pool.
Relaxing outside was good too:
Snoopy celebrated his 15th birthday in Miami!! This precious pup is everyone's favorite. My mother made a cake (Snoopy only got a little taste and a big sniff of the whole cake). We sung to him, gave him lots of treats, and showered him with attention on his special day.
The kids love to squish and cuddle with Snoopy:
Derek loves using the hose, so he 'helped' Mormor water her plants again (initially with the high pressure setting).
Lydia lost her 2nd top front tooth in Miami. The tooth had been very loose for days/weeks, but she refused to do anything about it. Her adult tooth had already popped out underneath the loose baby tooth, which was unfortunate. I finally got her to take it out by promising her $5 if she pulled it out that day. Mormor matched my $5 incentive. Magically, the tooth was out within 5 minutes... With the contributions from the Maryland tooth fairy as well as the Miami tooth fairy that Mormor alerted that night, this was likely the most expensive tooth she will ever lose.
Snoopy loves to be at Mimi and Mormor's house and it is great with the doggy doors he has to get outside in his territory at his vacation home. Karina apparently thinks she is Snoopy too coming in from the garage where the kids had built a fort/hide out.
Derek helping again with yard work, with raking and more watering plants:
My car was filthy from the drive down. The front was covered in bugs from driving on the freeway. The kids enjoyed washing it with rags and took turns with the hose.
I got to see my friend Nalina a few times while we were in Miami which was great:
We played Pandemic most days, just like at home. Lydia loves to play. Mimi got dragged in a couple of times, but I don't think he ever learned the (complicated) rules. We had fun though.
More the come in the next Miami post.
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