Saturday, June 13, 2020

All the Fall Things, 2019

Dear Leah and Logan,

(I have no idea why this blog is chronologically out of place!!!)

First Day of School, Fall '19
This fall was nothing short of crazy with everything we had going on. Birthday parties, and sports, and horseback riding lessons, and living with Amanda and Dylan- there was never a dull moment.

After a 2-year run at etc's Li'l Ninja, you both decided to give it a break. I'll always be super grateful for what that class did for not only your strength and speed, but also your confidence.

The school year started in August, and Leah you got Mr. DeMario and Logan got Miss Owens.  Leah, you had a rough first week because you weren't crazy about having a male teacher, but it didn't take long for you to warm up to him. He had a strong math background and quickly saw how good
you were with numbers.


Shortly after school started, I took you guys on my favorite waterfall hike in Tennessee: Cummins Falls. You guys were champs with the hike and loved every minute of swimming by
the waterfall.

Logan, we switched you over to Murfreesboro Soccer Club for your soccer league, and the competition was quite superior to the YMCA. You got on a really good team, and a couple of the kids on the team were able to push you to a be a better player.


Leah, you had a solid few months with Lucky Fox Farms riding lessons. All of the instructors push you every single week to be a better rider and challenge you with different horses and skillsets.

Halloween brought along pumpkin carving and costumes, but then it was 30 degrees the night of trick or treating. Leah was about to check out after 20 minutes, but then she found Caprice and the world


was right again. Leah, everyone was super impressed with your Pennywise make-up that you did yourself.

We also did a giant camping trip with the Fontanetta and Graham families. We went down near the AirForce base and Woods Reservoir, where we had 3 awesome lakefront cabins. The weather treated us to 2 days of monsoon rain, but that didn't stop everyone from having fun.
Leah had her birthday party at Urban air, which has proven to be our favorite. A few school friends came along with the Chiltons.

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Last but not least: the 3 of us knocked out a Tough Mudder Race. We were all surprised that the kids race was a full race....and the mud, of course, was everywhere.

Not bad for 3 quick months!! I continue to stay impressed with how busy we stay...it sure keeps life interesting!!


Love,

Dad




Logan's 8th Birthday

Dear Leah and Logan,

The location we setup for Logan's 8th birthday ended up being quite the hit...for both of you.  We rented out the Patterson Park pool, and each of you was able to invite a gaggle of friends to the party.



We went with the Fortnite theme, but all of the kids were so caught up with the pool and waterslide, they didn't really want to come out of the pool for anything else!

I have a feeling that pool will be the location for several more birthday.

Another great event you both to got to enjoy with your friends.

Happy Birthday, Logan!


Love, Dad








COVID-19, Spring '2020

Dear Leah and Logan,

Spring 2020 might prove to be the strangest 3-month period of you're entire lives. But if it's not, I cringe to think about what the future might hold.

As the year 2020 started, a new virus (COVID-19) slowly crept into our lives. One by one, major events started getting cancelled, including March Madness, which is my personal 3-week holiday every year. In the middle of all that, school got postponed. First it was 3 weeks. Then it was extended to 2 months, and before we knew it: the rest of the year was cancelled.



The effects of COVID-19 went well beyond school, though. Logan, your entire spring soccer season was cancelled- right along with Leah's horse lessons.  'Social Distancing' became a thing where every person on the entire planet was advised to stay 6 feet away from other people at all times. Restaurants went to take-out only, and the whole world was wearing masks. All live sports on TV simply went away.

The second school was cancelled was the moment that I (Dad) instantly became a stay-at-home home-schooling teacher. Not to mention the fact that I had to play teacher while figuring out to work from home.  Let the fun begin!

Last Day of COVID-19 School May 27, 2020
Bring in my dry-erase whiteboard.  I think both of you would admit that I was pretty committed to my new teacher role the first month. Daily math problems. Mixing up the assignments and challenges. Empowering you to do research.  After a month, I was really missing your teachers (Miss Owns and Mr. DeMario).

The official school year ended in May the same way COVID-19 started: at home. So we did a school year photo-op and remained hopeful for a normal start of school this fall.


Looking back, I honestly consider the time invaluble. Several weeks of being an 'at-home' dad with the both of you...all the while, us trying to figure out the 'new' or 'temporary' world. That may never happen again. We learned new things...we ate a ton of take-out and delivery food. We played chess. We challenged each other in math. We watched Tik-Tok. We watched You-Tube. We watched Netflix. We did tons and tons of video calls. We stayed up way too late and slept in way too much. Not all terrible things...and better yet: We survived!

Love you both! Maybe we'll have a normal(ish) summer!

Dad
6/1/2020