COVID Comedown

In an attempt to "clean house", I recently pulled all of the yet-to-be-saved photos and videos - those taken/recorded between the middle of March and now - off of my phone. And because many of them are fun, funny, or sweet (maybe only to me? Maybe because we've all begun going quarantine crazy?), I decided to share them here - maybe you too could use a little fun, funny, or sweet in your life right now.

Hallie teaching herself how to put her own hair in a bun was one of her/our greatest quarantine accomplishments. Her buns may not be performance ready, but she saved me from doing 35-40 of them throughout March, April, and May and made her feel incredibly good about herself. 

I forgot to include - in the Adulting 301 post - the pics of Will and Hallie learning CPR. I used to teach CPR and a variety of other classes for the American Red Cross, so it was fun for me to pull out and use that skillset again after so many years. (No children were harmed while learning CPR. They used each other to find the correct location for compressions and to practice some of the skills, and then used a pillow to practice giving compressions.)

We're still quite happy with our backyard pool. I wish it were a permanent, in-ground pool, but on days when we aren't swimming with friends, we're thrilled to have an option other than the hose and a sprinkler for cooling off.

I shared a bit about Hallie's Red Carpet Experiences (our dance studio's replacement for this year's recital), but I didn't download her actual dances until now. (Please forgive the poor filming - it's hard to watch and film simultaneously.) Hallie would want me to note that much of each dance was learned while in quarantine, none of these dances were meant to be solos, and all of these dances had a place in a larger story. With that, here we go: Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary.

On a related note, I took a few pictures of Hallie during the in-class recitals for the classes she assisted. She LOVED the opportunity to help and guide these little dancers for the first time this year!

This two got along remarkably well during quarantine. That changed once summer break officially started, but I'm so grateful they gave me almost 10 weeks of brotherly/sisterly love!

Today's post is named in honor of one of my favorite follows on Instagram: Laurel Bristow, otherwise known as kinggutterbaby. As an educated, knowledgable, honest, straightforward, and no-nonsense infectious disease researcher (she's been as "boots on the ground" as anyone during this pandemic), she has kept me informed throughout the last three months and has helped me better understand what to look for when sorting through and determining the validity of journal articles, study results, etc. She provides scientific information most nights of the week, but on Saturdays, she hosts "COVID Comedown", during which she answers random, non-COVID-related questions from her followers. Thanks for the title idea, Laurel!