School's out for the summer!

Here we are at the end of June, Spring has come and gone in isolation and things are starting to open up here in Washington. King County made it to first Phase 1.5, which meant limited openings of restaurants, hair dressers and dog groomers (finally!), and we are now officially in Phase 2. The difference between 1.5 and 2 hasn't been much, it's more just that we would be eligible to get to Phase 3 as early as 3 weeks later (which is when lots of stuff will open). It's not looking like we are going to be getting to Phase 3 in any hurry, cases seem to be going up again everywhere, and I don't know if it's 100% clear why that's happening but of course people are coming to conclusions about it. Is it because of the racial injustice protests? It doesn't seem to be, most of those people were wearing masks and there hasn't been any reports of any major outbreaks happening because of that. It could be because people are generally more out and about now, I don't know. In any case, I don't think Phase 3 is happening any time soon.

Also, it's looking very unlikely that there will be an opening of the Canada/US border anytime soon. This seems like a good move for Canada, even though it is personally disappointing to our family:-(.  Canada seems to be getting a grip on this virus while the US in general does not. There are many states that are only peaking in cases now, so many months after it started, and there is no consistency between states or even regions within some states on how it's being handled. For instance, all public pools are still closed in Washington, they don't open until Phase 3. However, the water park at Great Wolf Lodge is open. How does that make any sense??

Speaking of which, Brian and I took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge this week for a little break for one night. Honestly I was not 100% comfortable with the idea, but Brian took the week off from work and the mid week price was really cheap...they were only supposed to be running at 50% capacity...I thought the kids deserved to have some fun after being stuck at home for 3 months. They had a great time, but I'm not sure if that place should be open right now. We were trying to keep our distance from people as much as is practically possible, and actually the water park wasn't that crowded so you sort of could, but it was clear that most of the people that were there were not concerned about the virus at all. I think that was the most disconcerting thing. I think if everyone there was really conscientious about giving space - even just the adults - it would have felt a lot safer. It was predictable of course that people that would go there wouldn't be super concerned about the virus, and I'm not trying to be a hypocrite because obviously we went there with our eyes open, but in hindsight maybe not the best idea to go JUST because it's open. I guess we will find out in the next few days if we got away with it, so far so good!

We are planning to lay low this weekend after our big adventure out into the world, and thankfully we have plenty of our own backyard fun:-). The kids have really been enjoying the pool, and yesterday for the first time, the water was actually at a completely comfortable temperature! Our poor solar heater has been working hard to slowly but surely heat up that tepid water and yesterday it got to over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It will probably get to be even warmer today. Adam likes going into the pool but the cold water has deterred him from staying in too long, maybe today he will have more longevity! So far he has only gotten in once per day, I thought he would be getting in and out often throughout the day but that hasn't come to fruition just yet. Maybe now that the water is warmer it will! Jasper also loves getting in the pool, he just floats around on one of the inflatables. Rough life!

I want to talk a little bit about Adam's repetition. I mentioned a few posts ago how it's evolved into other people's actions now needing to be repeated, and this is something he has latched onto. He is heavily focused on water taps and doors. Some days it's pretty manageable, but there are definitely days where it is out of control. Someone across the house has turned on a tap and he somehow always knows who it is, and that same person must go back and do it again. Funny enough the verbal repetition has subsided somewhat, but I really don't think I like this any better. It is funny how on the days where he is more mellow I have a much more optimistic outlook on the whole thing, like even as I'm writing this I'm thinking, "it's not that bad", but that's only because he had a great night's sleep and woke up in a very mellow mood and I've hardly heard him today. On good days, you quickly forget the bad days! I guess that is actually a small mercy, isn't it.