Easter at a Socially Appropriate Distance

One of the adaptations to life in a pandemic for us has been online church. We are fortunate that technology allows us to stay connected in that way, and our church has also tried to keep the congregation involved by having different members record the readings for the week. Reese and John were asked to do a reading for Easter, so they had to pre-record it. One look at this picture tells you all you need to know about what it takes to look the part in a virtual world. They say a mullet is "business in the front and party in the back." Well Covid has introduced the virtual world of "professional up top and comfy down below."

As we have previously discussed, Callie was becoming quite a baker. For Easter she delved into Pinterest and came up with a caramel-filled toasted coconut delight that looked like an Easter basket. So fun and so good. She is definitely helping us up our game.

Since the virtual world has brought out our costume side, we thought that Easter sunday was the perfect opportunity to bring out our old Easter bonnets and fascinators that the girls had made years before for a Derby day. There was certainly a lot to celebrate on this day, as we took advantage of the smallest opportunities to be together with Chrismans even if it meant Easter would be outdoors and at two different tables.

 

Fortunately the weather cooperated and we were comfortable with a blanket or two for some. The spring overall was relatively warm, which made gathering outdoors that much easier. Sharon and Chris once again made a wonderful meal and we felt blessed to share another Easter with them.

It certainly helps that Chris shares a love of peeps with most of the Bowes clan. It didn't take but a few seconds for Reese to open up the skewer of Peeps that the Chrismans gave the girls for Easter. This is no fake smile in this picture.

In honor of our governor Andy, Sarah convinced the Easter bunny that the theme for this year's Easter basket should be healthy at home. The Easter bunny was happy to cooperate and, next to some candy provided a lacrosse stick, a soccer ball, a few books for reading and a one with baking recipes, and other goodies to keep them entertained within our four walls. 

Spring 2020 - Coming to Grips with Covid

In the second week of March, our worlds changed dramatically. John was on spring break and learned that EKU was going fully online for the rest of the semester. The girls were told that they would have two weeks of NTI (non-traditional instruction) at home leading into their week of spring break. So when they left school on Friday, March 13, they were going to be home for at least the next three weeks. And Sarah transitioned to remote work until further notice at the same time. It was weird and unsettling, but we decided to make the most of it. Initially that meant taking advantage of a well-timed Christmas gift, the Nintendo Switch. We were going to dance until Covid-19 dissipated.

The extended Bowes family was on top of the situation, and almost right away Aunt Suzy scheduled a weekly Zoom calls for us to connect and provide updates from our respective locations. That first call was memorable for a lot of reasons, but especially because Uncle Chris called in as Father Guido Sarducci. This Zoom point of view was one we are all going to become very familiar with over the months to come.

In Kentucky, this first days and week of the pandemic is when we fell in love with our governor who had just been elected months before. His positive attitude and willingness to make the right decisions for our community were very clear from the start. His 4pm daily updates became must-see TV and we often found ourselves quoting him - "You can't be doing that" and "We'll get through this together." Like many other families looking to spread the positive energy and to keep our kids busy, we had Callie and Reese do some chalk art on our driveway. This was also when we started taking regularly family walks to get out of the house.

In our neighborhood, like many around Lexington and other places in the country, some good person organized a stuffed animal scavenger hunt. We walked all over looking for stuffed animals that people had placed in their windows. This inspired us to do some outreach of our own to let the people we knew and missed that we were thinking of them. We wrote cards and on a couple of Sundays taped cards and felt hearts to the front doors of our friends throughout the city. This was a great way of channeling the nervous energy built up in our strange new world.

Everyone was trying to find ways to spread good energy and the messages we needed to stay healthy. One of our favorite local companies, Kentucky for Kentucky, put out a great shirt that Callie has on in this picture. Our state seal declares, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." For Covid-19, they changed the slogan to "United We Stand, Six Feet Apart." Every challenge has its silver lining, and the silver lining at this time was seeing so many people taking walks as families and being creative to pass the time.

Speaking of being creative, as the weather got warmer, Callie and Reese found it easier to spend time outside. And the tree in front of our house was just right for their hammocks. But they also discovered that they could just use their hammock straps to do some routines you might see in a cirque de soleil production. 

We got the news that after spring break the girls would not be going back to school but would officially be in NTI for the foreseeable future. The schools kept waiting to make it a permanent call, but we were pretty sure that they were not going back in person for the rest of the year. So as the teachers from Cassidy prepared to do a drive-by parade for their students we made the girls redo their back-to-school posters from the beginning of the school year. The reality of things had begun to slowly seep into the adult's minds at least.

That didn't mean that all was doom and gloom. Inspired by Guido Sarducci and Sarah's bins of Halloween extras we tried to bring the funny and unexpected to the weekly family Zoom calls. It definitely sparked some good conversations, if nothing else.

Puzzles, they were a big thing. When people tell the story of Covid in the years to come, puzzles will definitely deserve their own chapter. We had a pretty serious puzzle phase in the first couple of months and completed at least six or seven 500 piece or more puzzles. We knew we had to provide some manner of balance to all the screen time everyone in our house was dealing with at that time. Again, puzzles brought our family together in ways we hadn't seen before. Another silver lining.

As Covid began to take lives in Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear asked Kentuckians to show compassion by lighting their houses green to memorialize the lives lost. It is a simple and yet powerful gesture, especially when it happens on a large scale. John started counting all of the green lights he saw on his morning runs, and as the days went by the number of green lights grew exponentially. What started out as 20-30 lights turned into nearly 100 within a couple of weeks.

No matter what color the lights were outside, things were getting a little crazy inside. Our family had never spent so much time together and all rules were starting to get thrown out the window. One night the girls decided to see if they could eat with their feet. And for some reason we let them. And not only did we let them we took numerous pictures. This is definitely not the only picture taken.

In other flexibility news, Reese spent hours on end mastering yoga poses. However, the ones she enjoyed the most were the tandem yoga poses she found on You Tube. Sarah was happy to work with her on all sorts of circus tricks. We have a few pictures of Callie trying similar poses with somewhat less artistic results. Callie is heavier than Reese and definitely not as flexible.

But Callie did develop into a better baker than her sister. After we scoured the town for flour and yeast, Callie was able to produce some very tasty desserts as well as bread. The kitchen was a mess more often than not, but the products of Callie's labor made it worth it.

All in all, this picture kind of sums up what was going on in our house. We were spending a lot of time together, making do with what we had on hand, and being creative as possible. By the way, who knew we had that many hair ties in our house? There were lots of things to be disappointed about. No in person school and the NTI was not challenging or engaging. Their spring soccer seasons were cancelled and they didn't get to see their friends. But Callie and Reese handled it all as well as we could have asked, and the entire situation reinforced what we have always known - these two girls love each other a lot and have a bond that is truly unbreakable. 

Winter Fun Pre-Quarantine

Excite Night typically kicks off the winter sports campaign in the Bowes household, and as the years have gone by it has become an even bigger event in Lexington too. Now it is held in Rupp Arena, and Callie tends to go with her girlfriends instead of her family. Reese her invited her friend Ella to go with us and spend the night, which made everyone happy even though Reese and Ella didn't get a picture with Scratch.

The next morning we showed Ella a little bit of how we have fun in the Bowes household and why we have never chosen to fully furnish the front room in our nearly 13 years in the house. Nothing beats a good, competitive game of soccer before pancakes!

Reese and Ella also spent time together for the second year as teammates in the I Am 3rd basketball league. They were lucky enough to have some other good friends on the team and had almost too much fun in the process.

Basketball tends to be seen as a big person's game, so it can be tough to score when you are still under 5ft and only developing your game. Like many of her teammates, Reese had the energy and attitude necessary to do well, but just needed to work on some of the other basics you need to get the ball in the hoop. Every game was fun to watch and this team certainly had the will to win.

Although the Mystics lost almost every game in the regular season, they went on a Cinderellaesque run in the playoffs and made it to the semi-finals before falling in a tight game. Their two coaches were pleasantly surprised with how their team exceeded expectations and enjoyed the ride. Perhaps the only person who didn't enjoy the ride was the mother of the girl who was injured and couldn't play but still insisted on coming to every playoff game. That's some dedication.

Reese's teacher in third grade was Miss Schenning who has turned out to be a fantastic teacher. She makes learning fun and is always finding new ways to keep her students engaged. On this particular day she had set up a red carpet event for the authors who had written and illustrated their own twisted fairytales. This picture was taken right after we had all managed to get through the paparazzi and listened as Reese read "Goldi Sports and the Soccer Family." The entire event was fun and it was obvious that all the kids ate up all the attention and were proud of their work.

Speaking of proud, we had a great time watching Reese and her school friends play on the Cassidy indoor soccer team. Mr. Mahan came back from retirement for the second year in a row to coach the girls to another league championship. The great thing about this team is that it brings girls together who are on the highest club teams with girls who have hardly played at all. Reese had fun and worked her bum off to ensure her team's victory. We were very proud of her efforts. On the night this picture was taken parents were talking about what was going on in the outside world, wondering if we should shake hands when we saw each other. It was March 11, so we hearing about the growing number of cases of Covid-19 in the U.S. and wondering what it might mean for us in Kentucky. Like most people who aren't epidemiologists or Dr. Fauci, we had no clue what was about to unfold.

Perfect North with a Perfect Group of Friends

For ten years now we have been getting together with the same three families a half dozen times a year to drink wine and talk about life. We call it our wine club, though we don't feel any wiser about wine than we did ten years. But we certainly have made some good friends. We kicked off 2020 by heading out of town for an overnight trip to the mountainous wilds of southern Indiana. There is a place called Perfect North and it was calling our names for some high quality tubing. Despite the fact that our chosen day was in the 40s and rainy, we had high expectations and decided to make the most of it.

After riding a moving walkway up the hill, we decided to get a group photo before the fun began. When we first started getting together Sarah was pregnant with Reese and the oldest three kids were still in elementary school. Now the oldest are juniors in high school and Reese is in third grade. Time sure does fly.

You want to know what else flies? These five people on tubes interconnected to maximize their velocity and overall thrill. It was a lot of fun and you could definitely build up some speed despite the conditions. 

Unfortunately, if you went solo and weighed less than 50 pounds you needed a little more effort to get to the finish line. Poor Reese came to a stop well before the landing pad and did her best to run to get out of the way of the next crew heading down the hill. After a couple of hours we headed back to the hotel to change clothes, get warm, and settle in for a fun night.

We definitely came prepared for the evening. Our room connected to the Abrahams' room, so we had some space to maneuver. Sarah was going to singlehandedly make sure no one went hungry by putting more than 90 Swedish meatballs in the crockpot in our room. Our group of 16 divided up nicely into four teams for an epic game of Telestrations, and it is somewhat surprising that no one else in the hotel called in a complaint to the front desk about us. This is just a great group we are lucky to have as friends. We can't wait to make more memories with all of them.

A New Year in NYC

After 13 years of bringing our kids to New England for the holidays we finally thought they would be deserving of a trip into the Big Apple. It is so easy to jump on a train in New Haven and end up in Grand Central Station. We were excited to show the girls the city during the holidays especially. Grand Central Station certainly impressed them with its size and constant activity. They have been to a few cities in their day, but NYC is different.

We headed right to Rockefeller Center because we knew we wanted to see the Christmas tree and the store displays. The tree looked great, but the stores had already moved on from Christmas, which was definitely a bummer. But it didn't keep us down long. We were off to the next sightseeing activity.

We knew we wanted to see Central Park before the sun set, and as we approached it Sarah got to talking with one of the many pedi-cab guys hanging around. Before we knew it we had negotiated for a ride around the park. Although it is fun to walk around, sometimes when its cold it's nice to ride around with a warm blanket over your lap. And we got to see a lot of the key spots in park, or as our driver kept telling us, all the various spots where scenes from Home Alone 2 and Ghostbusters were filmed. However, the girls were quick to point out that Elf was also filmed in a few locations there too. 

Our driver was such a delight to spend time with. He had different songs queued up for the different parts of the tour. We heard the Friends theme song when we stopped by the fountain from that show's opening credits, we heard Imagine when we stopped by the shrine to John Lennon, and he played Country Roads by John Denver as we wrapped things up. Maybe because we are from Kentucky? It made for a great experience overall.

After our tour of Central Park we checked out FAO Schwartz - new location and smaller size, but still loads of fun. Then we went to the M&M store for some must have candy rewards and a bathroom. Both were very welcome at that point in the day. After that we headed to Times Square to check out all the lights before heading back to Grand Central Station. We did our best to pack as much fun as possible into the quick trip, and we were pretty happy with the results. On our next trip we will have to see a Broadway show.
 

Christmas in CT 2019

The day after Christmas was filled with packing and getting ready for our trip to Connecticut. But for one last event we went to a Christmas party for Reese's soccer team and then drove up to Cincinnati. We had an early flight the next day and decided to try something new. Instead of getting up at 3am to drive to the airport, we slept in until 5am and took a shuttle. Long story short, we were in CT by mid-morning and the girls were able to go on a hike with their cousin Zoey by early afternoon. All was right with the world.

Fortunately for us the celebrations were only just getting started. That very evening Katie and Chris hosted their annual Christmas party and so we got to see a whole bunch of folks. And it was especially momentous because of how many Skonieczny's were in New England for the holidays. Only Steve, Barb, and Simon were not there, so we had to make sure to memorialize the occasion with a picture of the Sketch's who were there.

The very next day we all hopped in our cars for the drive up to Bethel, NY, and what has become a fantastic addition to the CT Christmas traditions - spending the night at Tommy and Terry's house. Since this was our third year doing it we have been strategic in wearing layered or cool clothes because they keep their place hot, just the way Sarah likes it. 

As always, our magnificent hosts put an incredible spread together with stiff drinks for one and all. It is truly a special thing to all be together and have our kids get to know Tommy and Terry in this way. It is just a great time through and through.

And Tommy and Terry are so generous in opening up their whole house to us and letting the kids roam free. This year it meant that they allowed Reese and Zoey to decorate their bedroom in a winter wonderland themed extravaganza. Later in the trip it even turned into them giving tours to everyone who was there. Terry didn't take one thing down until the girls left, which just showcases her sweet, sweet, heart. After some very good meals, a good night sleep, and some fantastic conversations, we headed out. Our drive home was made slightly more exciting when Reese threw up in the car about one hour into the trip. Poor Zoey was a bit traumatized and our rental had a wonderful smell the rest of our time in CT. 

Fortunately it didn't keep Zoey away forever and we didn't spend a lot of time in the car. We took a hike and spent some time at Hammonasset State Park, which means a lot to this landlocked state family. It was definitely cold, but the girls enjoyed hopping on rocks and hanging out with each other.

We even managed to grab a good family picture, which took a little bit of time because of Reese's goofiness. And Callie wouldn't let Sarah be the only one to get some real estate on the rock. Any time she can showcase her height in comparison to her mom she jumps at the opportunity.

These five just so happened to be sitting next to each other at our Christmas dinner celebration, take 17. We obviously had to make sure we got a good photo of the original five who started this expanded family. They are still looking good after all these years.

Because we don't get back to Madison all that often we try and make sure we spend as much quality time with family and friends as possible. It's hard to get dedicated time with everyone, but the Skoniczny family certainly gets top priority. The girls never complain about this because they love spending time with Ella, Ethan, and Eli. What better reason to get together than celebrating the new year. This year the celebration included an epic nerf gun battle in the basement. Everyone was involved and there was the right balance of intensity and eye protection. After their initial hesitance both Callie and Reese got into it and we brought in 2020 in style.

The action didn't stop there, however, and we were lucky to have the chance to see the UConn Women's Basketball team play in Hartford. The whole family made the trip up to see this legendary team in action, and it was a fun outing and certainly one that we hope to repeat in the future.

Nana Banana and Sport are big time UConn fans, so this was not their first game by a long shot. But they were especially excited about being able to share the experience with their granddaughters. And both Callie and Reese appreciate watching women's college basketball even more now that they have seen quite a few games in Lexington.

Since we hadn't yet gotten a picture of all the grandchildren with their grandparents, we chose what we thought was the perfect setting. This is a great group of folks right here, and it is so cool to see how well they all get along.

The grandkids even displayed a willingness to recreate a picture from years' past. Not sure whose idea it was, but everyone gave a good effort at trying to capture their persona from that years before. The only one who had real trouble was Zoey, who needed to be crying if she was going to be true to the past. But Zoey was just too happy to get into that headspace. We're okay with that and can't wait until we all get to be together again.