I know, I know, it's been ages since I posted. To be honest, we've had to deal with so many covid-related cancellations and disappointments that finding the motivation to write up a post has been difficult. (Two off-island trips cancelled; additional visits from family cancelled; track & field, soccer, and cross-country seasons all cancelled; homeschool meet-ups cancelled; in-person church activities cancelled; and occasional periods when they're not even allowed to play outside with friends. Even things that weren't outright cancelled now have so many restrictions in place that some of the joy not to mention the ability to make new friends has been taken away. *sigh*) 

Our neighborhood still allowed trick-or-treating, and the girls made awesome costumes this year! They even incorporated the required masks. Sadly, we were not allowed to make it a social event and meet-up with friends as usual. We did come home with a ton of candy, though. 

A griffin, a phoenix, and unicorn

Thanksgiving was also an immediate family only event. The girls decided they weren't up for cooking a traditional feast just for us, but we still wanted to do something special. Then Daddy found inexpensive mini crock pots, and we decided to create a fondue feast instead! 

This past week and half was particularly tough for the girls. One of their best friends tested positive for covid two days after they spent the afternoon together, which meant they had to quarantine for two weeks past their contact. Fortunately, their friend was just a bit under the weather--not seriously ill--and the girls not only remained symptom-free but tested negative (so neither Brian nor I had to quarantine). However, not being allowed to go outside for a week and a half is really difficult when you're used to spending hours outside everyday. We tried to take the edge off the restlessness by having the girls do an intentional period of exercise everyday. They rotated between zumba, yoga, and HIIT workouts (thank goodness for YouTube!). This was sufficient for Monkey and Bug, but Lion--poor little extroverted long-distance runner--was quickly sinking into mild depression symptoms. WiiFit to the rescue! We were thrilled to discover that our hand-me-down WiiFit has a running program that she actually liked. At least once a day, Lion spent up to an hour running in place with that thing! Strange as that sounds, it proved to be an incredible mood booster for her. She cannot wait to outside again!

Everybody Zumba!

Still running

While the local track and cross-country seasons were cancelled, USATF still hosted a nation-wide, virtual cross-country race series. Running alone on streets doesn't have the same satisfaction as passing other runners in a real race, but Lucy still won second place in the 3K and first place in the 5K, 10K, and 12K! (Participants had to have their times validated through a tracking app. Fortuanately, Daddy had purchased a GPS watch a while back that worked very nicely.)

Sporting medals for three out of four races!
(Still waiting for the last one to arrive)