Nicki And Adam's Family Blog

 We caved and allowed 2 pandemic pets to enter our lives. Biscuit and Crystal are now "ours."   

 It's the beginning of August and alas, the pandemic is in not much better shape than it was back in March/April. Over 160,000 people have died from Covid-19.  Our society, so quickly to value money over life, decided to open up the economy faster than recommended. Well, you know what happened. Cases rose, death rose and here we are...deciding what to do with our children for fall.  Luckily, in Dane County, where we live, we've had a mask mandate in place since early July. This has help our numbers way down. In fact, I think we are doing a pretty stellar job. Bars are not allowed to have people sit inside them anymore and restaurants are down to 25% capacity indoors. Outdoor dining and drinking still allowed as long as distanced.  So, the ultimate conundrum that we never thought in a million years....what to do with the kids? Certainly throwing them in a room with 25 kids unmasked and a teacher is a bad idea. But what is the best idea? We shouldn't be having to make ...

We spent a lot of time in the UP this summer having socially distanced fun!   

The State Legislature opened our state back up about a week ago now. They didn't phase anything in. Some bars were packed. Then Dane County put us back in "safer at home" until they recreated some more guidelines. Needless to say May 26th, we get a phase 1 reopening. Restaurants, etc can be at 25% capacity, etc.  Colin will go back to the Treehouse 2 days a week for 3 hours each. The kids will likely do playground program. I don't know a person who isn't anxious about all this. Certainly it brings "uncertainty" with it, but we also know we can't do this "shelter in place" forever. Most of us are doing a risks/benefits assessment. Adam and I are healthy, we take 0 medications, lots of vitamins, work out constantly, eat "better" than most Americans , and moderate our alcohol consumption (even during Covid). That's not to say we won't die from this, but the odds are in our favor. So, for our kids MENTAL health, for some sembl...

I am blessed to have been raised by a great mother. I am blessed to be around a great mother-in-law. It was a bit of an unusual mother's day, but Barb and Cliff came for a visit on the Saturday before mother's day. It was SOOOOO nice to see them. I am pretty sure we were all in tears (well, not Adam) about seeing each other. It must be a form of PTSD to have that sort of reaction to each other. I know that I am not the only one who has teared up at being able to talk and be with their family.  Charlie and Adam made me delicious SCONES for mother's day. They were delicious. It snowed (yuck), but we spent the day indoors being with each other and having a nice time overall.  Below are some pics of my "mother figures" taken at various times. 

Our "leisure" activities involve...hiking, hiking, biking, and hiking. We have explored more trails in Wisconsin than we ever have before. Colin is a beast on the trails and can easily hike 5 miles without tiring. The other 2 kids complain...no shocker there. Below are a few pictures of hikes that have kept us occupied. We also spend lots of time exploring around Epic as well. 

This is a picture of Carrie doing Ballet Virtually. Yup, she "zooms" with her teacher and other classmates and does ballet. What a world we live in currently...