April 2021

Vaxx attaxx

R. and I were finally, FINALLY able to get our first shots this month! I wrestled with the ethics of snagging an appointment as a “caregiver,” based on a friend’s recommendation because I do the grocery shopping for Grandma & Grandpa, but ultimately couldn’t get over myself — but as the general eligibility age dropped to 50, I got closer to willingness, and finally, since there were suddenly abundant appointments, I jumped the queue for 40-plus by two days and went to get my Pfizer shot at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. R. got his two days later at Levi’s Stadium — ethical as always! — and so we both got a little closer to freedom. 

Spring socials
Something must’ve been in the air, because suddenly, people started Doing Stuff again — all masked up and distanced and outdoors, it should go without saying by now, but still: stuff! We had park and bike-riding adventures with Manir (and the rest of the Patels now and then); Annika went to Alana’s birthday party at their house (and Lukas and I tagged along); we had park meetups with Sam and with the Carneys; Annika went to Raina’s outdoor-movie-night birthday party (they saw Legally Blonde, on her sister’s recommendation); and we did an outdoor movie night at the Grants’, along with the Jacksons and another family from Los Alamitos. 

Only in April
April Fool’s Day was full of funney joaks and pranks (mostly generated by Lukas), and just two days later, we celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary by ordering a bunch of Indian food (as is now tradition). Easter was the very next day; the kids and I had dyed a bunch of hard-boiled eggs Saturday afternoon, and R. and I hid a truly unreasonable (but fun!) number of filled plastic ones that night for the kids to find in the morning. We didn’t try very hard to pretend it was the actual Easter bunny — Lukas is pretty much onto us about stuff like that now — but it was fun to just ignore that and hunt eggs. 

Facility upgrades
Two exciting things happened to the house and grounds: First, Lukas commandeered the box that my NordicTrack treadmill came in — which box is about 8 feet long, and almost sturdy enough to actually live in — and with R’s help, pulled it into the movie room and made himself a fort. It has a little coffee table, both of my raggedy little lumbar pillows, a couch pillow, blank, a copper string of fairy lights all around its perimeter, and a light-up marquee sign that now reads “SUBSCRIBE TO LTG” (which is his imaginary YouTube gaming channel, Lukas The Gamer). He now spends most movie nights watching from the box, with the rest of us on the couch, unless there are scary parts that necessitate cuddling with Daddy. Second, the pool is starting to look like a pool again! The surface is a looooong way from finished, but the coping and waterline tile are in, the wall is almost built, and the trenching has been done for pipes and for the travertine tile decking to be laid soon. Woooooooooooo!!!!!!!