School starts on Wednesday! Summer felt very long, but I’ll be sad to get back to a real routine with virtual classes. The pandemic really changed our spring and summer, but I think we made the best of it. Dad flew out a few days before Virginia’s birthday. On the first day he was here he was able to replace our broken front door handle, switch out our master shower head so that Joe wouldn’t have to duck under it, and install a ceiling light in the living room. It was very impressive!
On Virginia’s birthday, we did everything Virginia wanted. We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast. We picked up Chick-fil-A for lunch and ate down by the water in Medina. It was so pretty out! We did cake and presents in the afternoon. Joe grilled burgers for dinner and we had a fun dinner on the patio.
On Sunday, Joe and dad installed wood laminate flooring in his office. They’d pulled up the carpet Saturday afternoon to get ready for the wood laminate. They had it installed in no time! It was cute to watch them work together!
Dad also checked out our pipes under the kitchen and let us know they looked good. It was great to have him look over the house, it gave us a sense of relief! Dad also put together the kids swing set, which they love! Dad was pushing the kids on the swings, and Virginia asked him if he’d ever pushed me on the swings when I was little. He told her, “Only for about a million hours, times 4!”
Because of Corona, we couldn’t do much out in the world. We went and looked at the Ballard Locks, where ships go up and down the locks to get from Lake Washington to the Puget Sound. The weather was great, so we were happy to be able to spend time outside. The kids loved having dad with us. When we took dad to the airport to go home, the kids asked if they could go with him to TN. Virginia said, “You can just buy me and Luke tickets to go with him!!” After we dropped him off, Luke said, “I really wanted to go with him.”
School starts on Wednesday, it will be be very interesting to see how it goes! We went to Virginia’s school yesterday for a drive by meet and greet. We got to say hello to Virginia’s teacher (we stayed in our car with masks on). The school did a great job making it fun, they had balloons put up, music playing, and bubble machines going. It was pretty cute! Virginia’s teacher seems really sweet. She gave us a bag of supplies and things to help with the virtual schooling. I think it will be a lot better run than how the end of last year went.
I talked to a speech therapist on the phone yesterday for Luke. I sent her Luke’s IEP and evaluation from last year, so we can get him set up with some help again. I’m not sure how well preschool will go over via Zoom, but I will do my best to help him!
We’re still loving our house! Having a yard and swing set has been great, and the kids spend a ton of time in their play room. Joe ordered me a a Peloton for my birthday, it was delivered last week. Joe and I have been using it every morning! I love it so much, but my legs are jello! When I was at my best, I could do 25 miles in an hour class. Yesterday I bragged to Joe about doing 8 miles in 30 minutes. He’d only done 6 miles. Today he smoked me, he did 9 miles. I could only get to 8 again. We’re getting competitive, but it’s fun! It’s going to be great having it here, because I’ve been baking a lot and I have a lot of Fall recipes I’m ready to bake!
I haven’t updated this thing in ages! A lot has happened since the last post! We closed on our house on June 16th! The home buying process wasn’t as exciting as Joe and I had imagined it to be, mainly due to buying from out of state and also due to Corona (also known as Covid, I can’t remember what I’ve been calling it here). We didn’t get to go to a bunch of open houses, we never actually met our realtor, our closing paperwork was done at our temporary house with a notary and we all had to wear masks while signing. We were still very very excited when we finally got the keys to our house!
Mom flew in right before we closed on the house. While Joe was working from our temporary house, mom and I started working on painting the house. Brittney was great and let the kids hang out with them for a few afternoons, so mom and I could work uninterrupted. Here are some before and after photos!
Virginia had a wall that was a blue shade we didn’t love, so we painted it purple. The master bedroom had a baby blue wall that we painted a shade of green. Joe’s office had a salmon colored wall, Joe picked out an army green shade for that wall. There was also a baby blue wall in the kids bathroom that we painted back to beige to match the other walls.
Changing the paint made the house feel more like our own. We had hoped that the furniture would show up in time for mom to help me get things organized, but that didn’t work out. The company we used was pretty horrible. They kept our furniture in CA in storage for about 3 weeks, instead of driving it up to be delivered on our first available date. Mom flew back to TN on the 25th. Our furniture didn’t show up until the 29th. We had three nights in the new house, and then the kids and I flew to TN on July 2nd for our summer trip. In those short two days, I managed to unpack about 90% of the house. I wanted Joe to be able to live comfortably in the house without us.
We really went back and forth about whether or not to go to TN. We were worried about the risk of Corona, but we really wanted to get to the farm and be able to hang out. The rates of Corona in Wilson County were pretty low, especially compared to King County. We knew we wouldn’t be going out anywhere, so the biggest risk was flying. We decided to go on the trip as planned.
The kids were great about wearing their masks at the airport and on the flights. We made sure to wash our hands every chance we had, and the kids did a good job at not touching anything that wasn’t necessary. Callie and Lillian picked us up from the airport and we went straight to Sonic for slushes. Always a great way to start a TN trip!
Meghan drove up for the weekend of July 4th. She had also been quarantining for the most part, and was excited to see people. We went to grandma Jeri’s pool on the 4th to swim, and celebrated Lillian’s 5th birthday on the 5th. The kids had so much fun running around, playing on the play set, jumping on the trampoline. We went down to the creek a few times, the kids have become more brave and will swim/wade in the water.
We had Christian over for as many nights as Patrick’s parents would let him. He’s almost as tall as Virginia, and is a real sweet kid. He seems to be doing okay, despite his situation. I didn’t see Rebecca while we were home. I’m pretty sure she avoided seeing me. At one point I was driving Christian back to his other grandparent’s house, and he pulled me down to his level and asked me if he could come live with us in Washington. He was so sincere, I just gave him a hug and changed the subject. I think the poor kid is so confused, and none of the adults will be straight with him. It’s not my place to tell him what’s going on, but I wish I could do more for him.
We spent a weekend with Cindy, Rick, Gracie, Matt, and Ella. I got a wicked stomach bug and spent the weekend in bed, but the kids had fun with everyone else. The kids love taking Missy on walks, which Ella also loves! Joe flew in for my birthday weekend. We spent a night with his family, and then on my birthday we drove up to Maryville. We spent the night at Tim and Jean’s lake house. We floated off the dock in the lake, Tim let the kids “drive” the Seeedo. We had a great dinner outside, and took a boat ride before cake and presents! In the morning we got back in the water for a bit after breakfast. Joe and I got on the stand up paddle boards. I did alright standing, but then Luke climbed on the front of the board and I paddled us around. Virginia got on Joe’s board, the kids loved it. We had a great time visiting with the other Blackburn’s.
We came back on July 24th. It was great to have time at the farm, but it did feel a bit weird compared to other visits. The kids were so sad that we couldn’t go to Cracker Barrel, but I was too worried about taking the risk of going to restaurants. We didn’t go to any play places, parks, or do any activities of that sort. It was a pretty relaxing visit though, and the kids had a blast playing together. We were excited to get home, see Joe, and get our house organized.
We’ve all been in the house together for a few weeks now. The kids are sleeping in their own rooms, which we are happy about. Luke is sleeping on the top bunk like a big kid, and we bought Virginia a cute white bed frame with storage drawers under it. Virginia loves her purple wall, and we put up cute Mario sticker decals on Luke’s wall.
I love my kitchen, and my pantry is life changing! I don’t have a gas stove anymore, but my electric oven works really well. The kids love having a backyard again. The weather has been great since we’ve been back, so we have been outside a lot. I bought a dog pool for the kids, it’s working out great! We have bunnies that we see on a daily basis, and lots of birds.
We are so happy to be in our own home. I am so proud of all that Joe has accomplished in his career. He has worked so hard and done so much for our family. We bought our first home at 31 and 30, in a ridiculously expensive and crazy housing market. I get to be a stay at home mom, and take care of our babies. I know we are so so lucky to be where we are. Especially in this midst of this pandemic, which doesn’t seem to be getting better in the US.
I was going to end it there, but I figure I should give an update on the state of the virus. Washington has been doing a decent job at keeping the virus at bay, but it keeps spiking randomly. People in the south were acting like it was a normal summer, and photos of packed beaches and lakes were constantly being shown on the news. People are refusing to wear masks saying it “infringes on their rights.” It’s pretty maddening. Science has shown that if everyone would wear masks in public the virus rates would definitely be manageable. For our part, we are staying home, keeping the kids at home, and trying to limit going out as much as we can.
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