One day when it wasn't too hot, we headed down to Purse State Park on the Potomac River to play at the beach and hunt for shark teeth. Every 2 or 3 handfuls of rocky sand yielded a shark tooth, so we were all successful. Derek mostly just played in the sand though.
A ladybug decided to crawl up Lydia's arm, to her surprise and joy.
Mormor made this dog costume for my brother a few decades ago. It's still big on Lydia, but she had fun being a dog with Snoopy.
Virtual school started in September. Here are the kids on their first day of school:
Virtual school is much, much better than it was in the spring. The girls have 3 hours of live/synchronous instruction per day on their school-issued chromebooks. And they have about 3 hours of asynchronous/independent work per day. We have gotten into the rhythm of it now. They have an hour and a half break in the middle of the day for lunch and recess and Derek loves having his sisters to play with so much of the day.
School is virtual through at least Jan 28th. The county is considering offering hybrid instruction the second semester (starting in February), where the kids would get 2 days of in-person instruction per week, but they haven't decided if it will be offered or what it would entail. It is very possible/likely that the kids will have virtual school the entire school year. It is working out well for my kids, but I know for other families it has been a disaster. My kids even like virtual P.E. They play virtual games and do things like mountain-climbers and jumping jacks. Virtual Music class however has been really dumb as my kids don't want to sing solo into the computer. Since the kids are muted anyway because computer lags would make the combined singing sound bad, Karina and Lydia just sit there pretending to sing, mouthing the words...
Neighboring counties have started offering hybrid instruction, but it is actually virtual school at school. That means the kids sit with their chromebooks at school and participate in virtual school even though they are physically at school - i.e. no in-person teaching. Then during the long break during the middle of the day, the kids have to sit still at their desk with their own book or toy that they brought from home. There is no playing outside for recess. If that kind of 'hybrid' instruction is offered here in Howard County, I would rather just keep my kids at home where they can run around, play, and be noisy during breaks.
Derek does virtual pre-k and has one hour of live lessons per day spread over three 20-minute sessions during the day. I wish he could go in person, though he loves getting to play so much with Karina and Lydia.
Both Karina and Derek are on Team Mexico (but in different age groups/teams), and Lydia is on Team Brazil.
Lydia is our aspiring astronaut and space scientist.
And Derek wanted to wear the costume too! He is a pirate-wizard-astronaut:-)
We went to a corn maze that was themed for Harry Potter. They had lots of 'Harry Potter' themed activities, though it didn't feel very Harry Potter like. We did have lots of fun though. Here we are playing 'quidditch' by shooting 'quaffle' tennis balls into rings with a slingshot.
Lydia riding a 'Nimbus 2000' broomstick swing:
Posing by Ron's dad's flying Ford, from Harry Potter:
Nate, Karina, Lydia, and I have all taken the official Harry Potter sorting hat quiz online that tells you what House you would have been sorted to. Nate, Karina, and I are Ravenclaw (the 'smart' house); Lydia is Slytherin (the 'sneaky/cunning' house); and Derek, we assume, would be Griffindor since he is 'brave'. Pictured below, Derek is posing with the Griffindor robes, Lydia with Slytherin, Karina with Ravenclaw, and I am in Hufflepuff. We did decide Snoopy would be in Hufflepuff because he is 'loyal and kind'.
The corn maze was pretty difficult, but we made it through eventually!
Other activities that day:
Lydia has been going to virtual girl scout meetings for half a year now. She had a virtual bridging ceremony from Daisies to Brownies.
And our adorable baby Snoopy. Yesterday Lydia reminded me of the time she put peanut butter on her lips so that Snoopy would kiss her and they could be married... Silly girl.
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