When the World Paused - Day 83, The Business of Summer

June is upon us - a different kind of summer than we've ever seen before. Playgrounds are still closed. Playdates are limited, but a possibility. There are also a few conversations going on about what's going on in the world - which is challenging for an adult to process, much less a child.

But the world of the Impossible Girl is different than the adult world too. We live in a highly Military location, so many of her friends are of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. She's never been exposed to her friends being treated as 'less than'. As she gets older, I hope we're raising her to stand up for her loved ones and continuing to see others, no matter the cultural background, as equals in the world. I can only continue to expose her to a variety of humans and hope we are doing this right. History will be the judge. 

Other than that, our daily life has an ever evolving routine. This is what we've been up to - 

It's fun to learn directions and letters and know your numbers when you're out on a trail. We learn the number markers every time we pass one, in case of an emergency, it would help the services find us. Trails are still pretty empty during the week, which makes hiking an easy afternoon choice. There are LOTS of places we are just starting to explore. (Though at about 1 mile/hour, I'm not sure I would call it a work out. More like a 'walk n' talk' time.) 

We play dress up and play with Disney characters and dinosaurs. A LOT. A dinosaur makes an apperance pretty much every day. Usual a T-Rex. 

We occasionally meet up with friends for park dates. A soccer ball is a great way to play without encouraging hugs or touching. 

Occasionally Odin gets in on our super hero pretend games. 

One day, we had a car appointment, so we stopped off at Greens On Your Way  to pick up some lunch. Knowing the park would be open, but the lobby for the car would be tiny, we dropped the car off and walked over to the park to eat our lunch and kill some time. 

We met up with one of The Impossible Girl's teachers at a beach park nearly under Narrows Bridge! It was a cool location and always nice to say hi. 

And I've been doing a LOT of landscaping work. 

But while I'm doing that, the housework gets behind...It really makes me appreciate all my grandmother did for us. As a kid, both of my parents worked for most of my older childhood, and my grandmother moved in with us in 1985. She opted to help out around the house (laundry, weeding, etc.) to stay busy and man, do I appreciate that on a whole new level with 2 big dogs, a 4 year old, and My Sailor's unpredictable schedule. 

But I actually really enjoy working outside. The more sweat equity and effort I put into the house, the more I feel relaxed when we're safely within its walls. Today I was planning on tearing down and rebuilding the 3 sections of fencing that are in desperate need, but thunderstorms have been rolling in and out all day. I don't really want to be holding an electric drill with thunder close at hand. I like the outcome of working with my hands - even though it's a big frustrating to note that it's fleeting. Within a few years/seasons, Washington blackberry will reclaim parts of the yard again. 

So today, we did something we NEVER do - in fact, it's something we haven't done since Covid-19 changed our lives (or perhaps even before). I let the Impossible Girl stay in her PJs ALL DAY LONG and basically do whatever she wanted (that was safe). Her choices were to watch some PJ Masks while I did Kettlebells and Coffee via Zoom. Afterwards we ate together and then she wanted to make a fort. So we built a fort. Then she asked to watch her tablet in there. Disney +! And then she asked for me to go away, so I did.

I cleaned both bathrooms, checking back in on her (and fulfilling her request for hot chocolate - homemade but in the Dutch Brother's cup for ease of delivery. She made a little movie theater, putting her tablet inside of it to watch. When I came back to check on her after my cleaning was done, she was fast asleep. She doesn't ever get this much screen time, nor does she stay in her PJs all day, but the weather was perfect for hanging out inside. 

We ended the day popping some popcorn, ordering in sushi, and watching Small Foot together. 

Sometimes we all need a down time day.

In a couple weeks, we're looking forward to a possible Great Wolf Lodge overnight and maybe camping with the cousins. (Camping may be harder to pull off in social distancing, but some outside time would be awesome.)