No School Week 6: All over the place

Two things happened nearly simultaneously on Monday morning this week. 1) I found out the story about my autism support group was published in the local paper and 2) I realized my debit card was missing. 

It was 8:00 in the morning on Monday and I was trying to take care of a few things online before the kids were fully up. I was trying to buy something online, and I needed my debit card. While I was searching for that I noticed an email from Charlotte's teacher. It read, "I enjoyed reading the article in the newspaper this morning."

I hurried to pull up the Times-News website to see the article. It was about the support group I started for parents of autistic children.  And there was my smiling face appearing with the article. I was quoted a lot as was my boss and my friend Amy. 

I'd known that the autism article was coming. But I'd kind of forgot about it since it was taking so long time to come to fruition. I'd called the paper and told them about the support group after our first meeting in January. In late February I sat down with a reporter to talk about the group. He'd been hoping to get pictures of our group at our March meeting, but it was cancelled when the library cancelled all gatherings. The reporter asked if he could just take my picture instead. I agreed and posed for the picture at the end of March. The article was tentatively scheduled for early April, but was pushed back as the earthquake and more corona-virus news took precedence. 

It was great to read the article. But I couldn't focus on it for long because there was still the matter of my missing debit card. It wasn't in its spot in my wallet. I thought it might be on my desk. Maybe I hadn't put it away when I'd ordered hamburgers on Friday night. Sp I was searching around the papers on the desk. Then I remembered that I'd used the card when I'd bought the cherry trees on Saturday. Where had I put the card after the transaction?  I'd been holding the little plastic tags that matched up with the trees I'd picked.  Had I put the card in my pocket with the tags instead of putting it back in my wallet.  

But wait, I also remember dropping my bag in the parking lot. I distinctly remember my wallet falling out and picking it back up. Had my debit card fallen out too?  

I searched my bag, but couldn't find the card. I searched my jeans pockets. No card. I looked in every pocket of my wallet.  No card. 

I figured the card was lost and I wanted to make sure it hadn't been found and used by anyone. So I logged into the my bank account to check for any odd charges.  Thankfully nothing looked out of the ordinary. 

In the middle of all this I wanted to share the exciting news about the article. So I shared that on Facebook. I started getting likes and comments. 

I called the store to see if the card had been turned in there. The lady who answered said it wasn't in the lost and found. So I called my bank and had them cancel the card and issue a new one.  There went my ability to buy anything easily for the next 7 to 10 days. 

This week ended up feeling a lot like that morning. Really amazing things happened alongside some not so great things. Some days I felt on top of the world, and other days were disappointing and non-productive. 

But overall it was a good week. I have a lot of fun pictures to share with you.  

First up is one that my friend Shellien sent me about an hour or so after I'd realized the article was published. This is when I learned that the article was FRONT PAGE NEWS! 

So what does one do after they've made the front page of the paper? Well I made an attempt at home school, picked up sack lunches,  and then we went for a hike. 

Our goal for the day was to hike up to the Perrine Coolee waterfall that is visible from Centennial Park. I knew there was a trail from the road down in the canyon.  I thought that there was a trail from Centennial Park up to trailhead on the road. So we parked at Centennial Park and then followed what I thought was the trail. All it did was go to some of the zipline spots and then loop back around. 

So we went back to the car and drove to the canyon road. We passed little stream with water from the waterfall and found a pull out. We parked there and then walked back down the road to the spot where the waterfall water was.  But I couldn't see the trail up to the falls anywhere. I realized any trail from this point would be super steep. We needed to find the trail that gradually slopped up to the falls. And the trailhead for that would be further down the road. So we got back in the car again (the kids were such good sports). and drove about a 1/4 of a mile down the road to another pull out.  This time we found the trail right away. 

The trail was in really rough shape, but it led in the right direction. We followed it up to the waterfall.

The waterfall was so much bigger in person than I'd expected. The waterfall was so loud. The air in the little grotto was very cool. After the hot hike it was nice to be in such a shaded and cool place.

I hurried to take this video. You can hear me yell at Derrick at the end. My phone had maybe 8% of its battery remaining. I was worried it would die just as one of the kids would slipped on the rocks and I'd have no way to call 911. I was constantly reminding them to be careful.

The trail behind the waterfall was wide so we were able to safely walk behind the falls.

Here's the view looking at the trail with the waterfall cascading down. 

And here I am with the waterfall behind me.

We found some rocks and sat on them to eat our lunches. We loved watching the water while we ate. The kids all told me this was amazing. They were having a great time.

After a little while we decided to head back down. The kids look so small compared to that waterfall.

When we were almost all the way down the trail the kids stopped to play in the soft dirt in one of the large gullies in the middle of the trail. The called it the Grand Canyon. They ended up playing in that dirt for over an hour. Everyone told me this was their favorite day EVER. My phone was nearly dead by this point so I didn't take any pictures. But it really was a fun time.

We went home and the kids watched a movie while I took care of computer things. I'd received several requests from people asking to join the facebook group for the support group. I was happy to see that the article was helping get the word out.

I can't remember much about the rest of the day. Brandon came home from work and we had a good evening together. After the kids were in bed we went for a walk. When we came home Charlotte was still awake. She called to us from the window and said, "I lost a tooth."  Lydia had lost a tooth on Sunday and the tooth fairy was already on her way so we hurried and called the tooth fairy hotline again and told her that Charlotte would have a tooth waiting for her too.  (Also notice how Charlotte is not in pajamas. She said jeans were comfy enough.)

Tuesday was another beautiful day.  I love going out to the garden each day to check on everything and to water it. I was trying to get a picture of the blossoms on the tart cherry tree, but my phone camera doesn't do macro shots very well.

School kind of fell apart earlier than usual this day. Somehow Charlotte and Lydia ended up in the driveway working on a family picture with chalk. I let them stay out there. When this whole homeschool thing started I told myself that I wasn't going to try to be the "teachers pet parent." I didn't have to please the teachers by making sure my kids did all their assignments.We'd do our best and error on the side of content rather than perfect. It's been a healthy mindset for all of us. So when the kids asked me to lay down so they could trace me for my picture I happily did.

When Derrick was done with therapy we picked up lunches and then headed out on our next adventure. The plan had been to drive out to Rupert or Burley to see what there is to see there. I'd originally planned to drive on the Interstate, but I ended up deciding to drive on Highway 30. We went by Murtaugh Lake and I decided to see if the gate to the county park was open. It was! So we went there. 

The girls played on the playground for a while.

Derrick was attracted to the water.

He'd brought his little boat. I was worried about it on the open water of the lake, so we went to the sheltered water by the dock and he was able to drive it around there.

When the battery died he spent a lot of time throwing rocks.

Veronica joined him after a while.

And soon all four kids were playing together on the dock.

They'd find big rocks and then run over to the dock to throw them in.

I was walking around with Marsha and listening to the audio book of My Friend Anna while keeping and eye on everyone.

We got back from the lake and the kids watched a movie.  I was trying to get things done, but I was starting to feel weird. I felt like I was freezing so I wrapped up in my favorite frumpy sweater and wore sweatpants. (If the front page paper could see my now.)  I was also feeling tired. And I had a little bit of a cough.

Understandably I started to wonder if I had coronovirus. I found the thermometer and took my temperature but I didn't have a fever. Still I wasn't feeling great and I decided I needed to take it easy and be careful. I emailed my boss to let him know that I was playing it safe and had decided not to come into work that evening.

During dinner I remembered that the leaders for the boys activities at church had organized a parade for that evening. The would start driving by the boys' houses at 6:00. We were one of the last houses on the route and I had no idea how long it would take them to drive the whole route. So we went outside around 6:15 to start waiting for the parade.

The kids traced Brandon and finished their chalk family portrait. I pulled myself off of the porch to take a picture of the final creation. Here's the kids with their tracing.

And here is the whole family.

The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to be outside. Derrick waited patiently for the parade to go by.

It was so exciting to see the cars when they arrived. There were only four cars in the parade, but they brightened out evening so much. One car had bubbles, one car had music, and one car was handing out Popsicles.  The kids were THRILLED.  Derrick talked about the parade for a long time.

Wednesday morning I woke up at 7:30 feeling so on top of everything. I was going to have such a productive day. I was going to do ALL the projects. I was going to be unstoppable.

I made it until 9:00. At 9:00 am I HAD to have a nap. Fortunately Miss Emily wasn't coming this day and so I could just call off school and take a nap. I laid down on the couch and one of the kids brought me a blanket. I slept for an hour and the kids did who knows what, but they left me alone. I woke up around 10:00 and had a little bit of energy. But not much. Eventually we drove over to the school to pick up lunches. But we didn't go anywhere we just came back home to eat them.

The kids all got fortune cookies.  Derrick's was spot on.

It says, "Your enthusiasm inspires people."  Yep that's Derrick alright.

The kids went downstairs to watch a movie and I laid down on the couch again for another nap. At some point I took this selfie. I'd gotten ready when I felt like conquering the day, but how I looked on the outside was not at all how I felt.  I had absolutely no energy. I'd think about something I could do and immediately every bit of my body seemed to say, "nope, not happening today."

The kids watched one movie and then wanted to start another. Derrick said he wanted to watch Into the Spiderverse and I decided I wanted to watch it too. All the kids and I watched the movie and had a great time. Afterward we were talking about alternate universes and the theory behind them. I said, "An alternate universe is where things are kind of the same, but things didn't happen the way they happened here.  So it's like, what if Dad never left the Army, where would we be living if he was still in the Army?"

Either Charlotte and Lydia said, "what would it be like if we didn't have coronavirus, what would we be doing right now?

I said, "well it's almost 3:00 so I would be picking Derrick up from school. And you guys would be almost done with school."  And then I stopped. "No that's not what we would be doing today. I wouldn't be here today. I was supposed to be at that special needs parent retreat at Bear Lake this week. Bestemor and Bestefar would have been picking you up from school."

We were all a little bummed to remember what life would have been like this week if coronavirus hadn't cancelled everything.

I was feeling like I had some energy back so we went upstairs and I asked Derrick if he wanted to help make the cookie mix that my friend Justine had given him for his birthday. He said yes. He was very helpful. He scooped all the cookie dough onto the pan and I showed him how to squish the cookies down with a fork. He did a very good job at that.  He helped put the cookies in and take them out of the oven. He was so excited to use a hot pad. And he also loved getting the cookies off with the spatula. It's moments like these that make me glad we are home together right now.

I thought I had enough energy to make lasagna for dinner. But by the time we were done with the cookies I was feeling exhausted again. So I put chicken nuggets in the oven and laid down again until Brandon came home and we had dinner.

After dinner Brandon had my lay down in our room. He took my temperature and it was something like 98 degrees. I felt like I was freezing. I fell asleep for another hour. When I woke up again I was sweating. I took my sweater off and felt better.

At 8:00 I hosted a Autism Support Group via zoom. We had 8 people total in the meeting and it lasted almost 90 minutes.  It was so nice to talk with other parents who "get it."  There were some really good suggestions for how to handle this whole at home learning thing

I wondered if I'd be able to sleep at all that night after sleeping the majority of the day. I did sleep well.  When I woke up on Thursday I felt much better. I still had a small cough so I didn't go to work on Thursday night either. But overall I felt better.

So what was that all about?  Did I have coronavirus? I don't think so.  I never had a fever. Instead I think I was reacting to all the junk food and late nights I've had over the last month.  Apparently those things aren't so good for me either.  So I resolved to eat healthier, go to bed before 11:00, and keep trying to stay active.

We made a better attempt at school on Thursday. Veronica is learning about being a helper this week. One of her assignments was to draw a picture of how she helps at home. She drew a picture of cleaning up dog poop.  This is true. She and the other kids are very good about this.

I've mentioned this a little bit in another post, but Brandon and I have decided to put together a guidebook about Yellowstone. We worked on it off and on all week. (when we weren't distracted by binge watching Stranger Things.) I've asked my mom to help proof read the book and she agreed. She was looking at what I'd written about the Lamar Valley and she asked me if it was similar to the Hayden Valley. I realized I should write a chapter comparing and contrasting the two valleys.  Then I realized that Charlotte LOVES to write compare and contrast essays. So for school on Thursday I asked Charlotte to help me write the chapter comparing the two places. She was so honored to help. She showed me the spider diagram she uses to come up with ideas for essays.  

Lydia also came onto the book team. She'd already been helping Brandon with ideas for the cover. She sat down and started drawing ideas for some other drawings in the book. 

This book may end up as nothing more than a family project to keep us all busy during quarantine. But that's not half bad. It's fun to have something we can work on together. 

I was a little worried about running out of energy so we didn't try to go anywhere for an adventure. I did get the lasagna put together this time.  And the kids and I watched the movie "It Takes Two" and had a fun time laughing during that.

In the evening Brandon and I hashed out some things for the layout of the book while the kids played.  After bedtime Brandon and I went on a walk. When we came back home we found Derrick and Veronica sleeping in the living room. Silly kids.

On Friday I woke up at 6:30 and went for a walk. I'd been complaining to Brandon that if I get up early the kids always wake up and bug me. So I just lay in bed and think about all the things I could be doing if I didn't have to worry about waking them up. I've complained about all this before, but this time I said, "I'm just going to get up and leave the house every morning. They can't bother me if I'm not home."

It was so great to go for a walk that early in the day. The sky was so pretty. I called my mom and talked to her about the book and how to make proof reading go smoothly.

I made it home in time for Brandon to leave for work.

Derrick was awake and was SUPER chipper.  It was Miss Emily's last day and she'd planned a treasure hunt for him. On Thursday night she sent me a text saying she'd found a treasure map and the she needed Derrick's help with it. He was so excited to do that.

Miss Emily wouldn't be at the house until 9:00, but at 8:00 Derrick turned on the computer and started doing his I-station math all by himself. Earlier in the week I'd asked Derrick's teacher if it was possibly to reset his I-station math level to something simpler. He'd gotten to a point where Miss Emily had to help him through every math problem.  It had been reset to the beginning of the second grade level and Derrick was so happy to be reviewing concepts.  The other kids gathered around him and helped him when he got stuck. I'm pretty certain this is the 21st Century equivalent of a 1 room school house.

Charlotte took Marcia on a walk and came home with a big feather and a round leaf. She was so happy about her finds.

Derrick went on his treasure hunt and had a great time. Miss Shay, his new therapist, was also with him. We were sad to say goodbye to Miss Emily, but I'm happy we have another person ready to take over.

For lunch we went to the walkway by rock creek. We were last here for Derrick's birthday. The water is much higher now.

Here's Veronica eating her lunch.

Charlotte and Lydia played in the "Easter Grass."

There was much tree climbing.

And stick finding.

After we left the parkway I wanted to see the other parking lot where I'm pretty certain the trail meets up. So we drove over there. We'll have to check it out in detail next week. Our exploration lead to a trainyard and the kids watched an engine drive by. Then we tried to wait for it to cross a road so we could see the train gates go down, but I guess it wasn't ready to leave the train yard. This is the kind of fun stuff I remember doing with the kids when they were pre-school age.  Here we are enjoying it again.

When we'd picked up lunch we'd been given two bags from the food bank. I'd said we didn't really need the food, but they gave it too us anyway. I'm glad things like this are available.

At 2:30 I called my mom and we went over the edits to the latest chapter she proof read. It was really fun for us to work together on that.  She's kind of where this book idea came from. She'd read through every post on my travel blog about Yellowstone and told me, "Valerie, we have to do something to make sure more people read this."  At the time I was super busy and was like, "oh it's doing well enough."  But the idea stayed with me and popped out as the decision to put together a guide book.

I made pizza for dinner and as soon as we were done eating we went downstairs to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  We'd borrowed it from our neighbors.  The kids liked the movie, but again I was wondering if anyone could understand the movie if they didn't read the book.

We put the kids to bed, went on a short walk, and then came home and watched the last three episodes of the third season of Stranger Things.  We've loved watching that show the past two weeks. It was such a joy to look forward to that show every night.  Now we are eagerly awaiting Season Four.

Brandon had been scheduled to work on Saturday morning. But he told his boss he needed a mental health day and would not work a fourth Saturday in a row. So we had him all to ourselves on Saturday.  We'd talked about maybe going on an adventure, but really we just stayed home and cleaned the house and then spent the rest of the day in the yard.

I organized my garden shed and took care of some small things.  Derrick helped me with adding root stimulant to the cherry trees and an iron supplement to our shade trees. He also helped water the garden and all the bushes.

We put bark chips around the cherry trees and they look like a million bucks.

We had a shrub that was basically dead and I dug it out.  Next year we'll put a peach tree in its spot.

Brandon put up a hammock for the kids and they played with that for a long time.

They all laid on it together.

The girls wanted Brandon to make a little table from some wood they found. He screwed it together for them and they thought it was the best thing ever. Brandon helped them get graham crackers and milk so they could have a snack at their table.

The tree leaves are starting to come in.  This tree house is going to be so fun for everyone this summer.

I sat up in the tree with the kids and took some pictures. Here's Derrick on the hammock.

Charlotte on our other swing.

Here's the view of the garden from above.

We had a wonderful time outside. We stayed out there right up until bedtime at 8:00. We put the kids to bed and then kind of felt lost without Stranger Things to watch. Brandon ended up drawing something for the book and I talked to my sister Linsday on the phone.

This morning we were able to sleep super late. (8:30).  The kids just kind of took care of themselves and got their own cereal.  When I got up Derrick was rolling himself into his blue blanket.

Last week Charlotte had the idea that we should take an updated family picture that included Marcia. I said that sounded like a great idea. I told her we could get dressed up for church and take the picture either right before or right after our home church. This was good motivation for the kids to actually get dressed this week. (Lydia had worn a skirt over her zebra onesie pajamas last week.)  We had them take baths this morning and brushed the girls hair really well. 

Charlotte and I wandered around the backyard looking for a good spot, but we couldn't find anything that would make a great background. Plus the light was really harsh. We thought about doing a front porch picture like a lot of people are doing right now, but our porch isn't super cute.  So in the end we just did it on the couch.  

Brandon told the kids he'd give them each a dollar if they smiled and sat still. That motivate them to cooperate. The picture turned out really cute. 

Our at home sacrament service went well too. Our neighbors came over and it's always good to be with them. We had the window open and a nice breeze blew into the house the whole time.

The rest of the day has been really relaxing. The kids played outside and in the tree house almost the whole time I worked on this post.

This week didn't go exactly how I expected. But it ended up in a pretty good place.