September 2020

Socially-distant socializing

This month, we had more time with friends than we have since March. We started off the month by having Alana and her mom, Brandi, come over to walk in the park with Annika and me; the four of us, masked up and keeping space between us, explored for about an hour and a half, and it was a toss-up as to who needed it most — we grownups or the kids! On another afternoon, the kids and I met up with Ami and Manir & Amira in the park near their house to just get outdoors (and send a bunch of stomp rockets flying) for an hour or so. Then, we got two invitations back to back: outdoor movie night at Alana’s Friday evening, with us and the Marshalls invited, and playdate in the park with the Patels and Emmett’s family on Saturday afternoon. I took the kids to both, with R. abstaining — the first one mostly because he worked until 9:30 p.m., the second because he had stuff to do after several weeks of this 18-hour-workday bullcorn (and Annika stayed home for that one too). The movie night was well-produced by the Grants; assigned seating, labeled snacks, nothing served communally. Lukas, Lawson, and Ben made it through about half of the movie before getting up to run around the yard and jump on the trampoline like maniacs, but they kept their masks on and tried to avoid tackling each other … And the next day, at the park, everyone kept pretty well to the protocols; once we’d adjourned to the Patels’ yard (nobody goes inside houses anymore), the kids were less careful about distancing but Lukas, at least, stayed masked. Whaddya gonna do, the risk was minimal (both families have been doing things right, maybe not as strict as we are — but who else is), and Lukas and his pals clearly needed to let off some steam. And we’re all fine, though R. admitted later that he really *hadn’t* been OK with us doing any of that … 

Grandpa’s latest milestone
Sunday the 27th, which should have been the day we left for Disneyland (GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!), was Grandpa’s 85th birthday! Per the guidelines, of course, we couldn’t do a big celebration — but we did go over with an ice-cream cake (his request — it wasn’t Carvel, but it was close), champagne, and presents. Here’s to another year, and to getting to make up for it all next year! 

Potpourri
What else was going on this month … well, we had a pretty chill Labor Day weekend, featuring no guests but a lot of grilling and pool time (with a new 3-man Uncle Ball record — R. and Lukas and I played after Annika declared her pool day done), and 3 movie nights. There was another round of fires, not as bad as the ones in August but enough to keep us trapped inside for another few days and push everyone to the edge of sanity. School became more routine, but still involved me having to stay on top of Lukas’s work and engagement; the fall break was an all-screens-all-the-time non-school period instead of a trip to Disneyland. I had more or less persuaded R. that we should go somewhere, anywhere (Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Monterey, literally ANYWHERE, even just to walk some other park’s paths and stare at four *different* goddamn walls for a few days, but then the fires ruined that idea and he had to work the whole week anyway so). 

Quotable
—Thanks to the magic of advertising, Lukas discovered Twinkies and asked me to buy some, so I did: "What'd you think?” "Amaaaaaaaazing!"