I am so happy I am able to be back in person for school and I can go to Cheer!!
He said
Well our self-quarantine came and ended without incident. As of Thursday at midnight after having negative COVID tests twice in the last week and a half for the entire household, we were cleared of our self-quarantine. Emelia returned to school Friday morning happily able to see her besties face to socially distanced face. It was super hard on her and we were so upset for her missing out on so much—the biggest disappointment in that was of course missing being part of the recording of the entry for the Provincial Cheer virtual competition. But it also didn’t help that her time of quarantine was also amidst some unseasonably warm spring weather. It was definitely hard on her, and we’re so happy she’s free from that.
The other good news this week with coming out of our self-quarantine was that I could get back over to visit Mom and Dad and help them get some more settling done. The last couple of visits, both Shawn and I have helped them with getting more photos up on the wall. With the pics of family and memories finally getting up on the walls it is finally starting to feel like their home. Mom even said that to me today when I was there. The boxes they used to shuffle around are less and less and the personality and identity of their suite is starting to take over. Every time I go visit it feels more and more like their space. And I know they are both feeling more of a connection to this new place they call home. I look forward to a time – hopefully sooner than later – when more of the family than just Shawn and I can see them in their nest.
With the challenge of being stuck at home, we turned our focus on things we could do at home with us being tethered to keeping at the house. Of course the biggest part of that was maintaining our focus on fitness. We’ve all found our sweet spots in the daily for workout routines and it’s helping us cope with this challenging last year but also helping us feel better too! This week I moved to under a pound from being officially forty-five pounds lighter than I was just over a year ago. The bike has been such a huge part of that for me and I love riding it so much it doesn’t even feel like a workout. This week I managed to do the Big Kahuna ride I haven’t done probably in ten years. I took the Thames Valley Parkway all the way out to Byron and back. The whole trip is 30 km and took an hour and fifteen minutes. And it felt so awesome to do it again.
With the calendar flipping to April in the next week it means we’re officially one month from trailer season! I have the first week of May booked off work so that we can get the trailer up to Auburn and situated on the site and set up for the season. And then I spend the week there getting Wolfie III ready for the season. It’s super exciting to know that we’re that close to campfires and laughter again. And I will be super excited to back out on the G2G Rail Trail for a rip too! With Covid impacting vacation plans camping has become insanely popular alternative, people are finding it impossible to find camping locations in provincial or national camp sites as well as private ones. We are so fortunate to have found Auburn last year and locked it down for another year—apparently they are already completely booked for the entire season in every last one of their sites.
She said
We are so happy that the challenge of the last two weeks for Emelia is behind her for now. By the end of last week mentally she was spent, the isolation really took its toll on her mental health. She was feeling it hard and it broke our hearts to say the least. The impact of this pandemic has been so far reaching and will be for a very long time. It has really impacted people not only physically and financially but mentally. It isn’t a natural way to live. We know why we have to but its been really hard especially on kids.
On Friday Emelia was able to return to some sort of normal, she was able to go back to school and she was able to see her friends face to face. Emelia and her best friends Anna and Grace have a weekly tradition to watch their favourite show, RuPaul’s Drag Race together. The girls have been so happy that with some restrictions lifted that they can do this face to face. Our house as become the hub of this Friday tradition. The girls grabbed their snacks and head to Emelia’s room to watch, there is usually a lot of laughing and the girls have a blast. The three girls really needed this, they needed that connection and for an hour to be normal teenagers.
The other big return for Emelia today was to Cheer. She missed her last competition so there was a bit of catch up for her to learn the new routine to assure they have it clean for the hopeful taping of Nationals in a few weeks. The covid numbers are rising fast again so we aren’t hopeful that Nationals being taped on time but we can cross all our fingers and toes that the kids don’t miss out on even more. Because god knows they have lost enough.