A New Way To Play: Coronavirus Week 7

To keep the kids entertained and give them a way to play with their friends from afar, last week we began a Lego challenge in which one day our kids choose a challenge for their friends Travis and Emmett to complete with Lego bricks and the next day they show us what they made via Zoom and return a challenge.  So far, the girls have completed the challenge to make something that flies, something from just 4 bricks, something blindfolded and they jointly tackled the challenge to build a model of their house.  This last challenge took them most of a dreary day to complete, but the results were pretty great!

 This is our dining room...

 view from the dining room into the kitchen...

 the girls' bedroom...

 the bathroom...

 the front yard...

 upstairs, including Daddy's office and our bedroom/bathroom...

 Another look into the kitchen...

 the living room...

 our play barn and swingset!

Much of our week was school and work, with a few zoom meetings thrown in.  Elam helped Daddy check out under the truck one afternoon, however, and that was fun for him.

Friday was a MOPS day, as had been previously scheduled, we went ahead with our Tea Party, just on a virtual platform.  Many of the mamas dressed up and wore their tiaras, we all enjoyed tea/coffee in our favorite mugs, learned about loose leaf tea, watched a video about loving our lives and just enjoyed the time together.  It's been a challenge to continue this ministry where moms need the time together when we are forced to be apart, and we've been forced to get creative along the past two months, but I am ever so grateful for this ministry, especially now!

 Friday night, we did our new usual - the kids watched a movie together via dual laptops - one playing the movie in sync with their friends' and the other set up for zoom so they could talk while they watched the movie.  We hung out with our friends virtually via zoom as well, playing some games like Wheel of Fortune remotely and having some fun with backgrounds.  It's definitely not the same as having our people in our home, but it's the closest we can get right now.

 We had a week of rain and wet, cool days, so by Saturday, when we finally had a beautiful, warm day, we all wanted to be outside the whole day!  As the day wore on and the temperatures climbed, the water hose which had been used to water our new grass suddenly became a game for the kids.  Elam especially had a blast with that hose!

We went for a drive on Saturday evening to Vriesland to check out the Moo-ville shop via drive through, and enjoyed an ice cream treat!  That night, we set up a a fort of blankets  across our bedroom and created a tent for the girls to camp out in that night.  They were awake far too long, but eventually they fell asleep in their fort.

Sunday morning, we attended our 8th at home church.  The kids watched a Minno service and then we tuned in to our pastor online.  I had some cozy company from my sunny position next to the open window.

That afternoon, we loaded the kids up in the truck and set of on an adventure with Kathy, Travis and Emmett following us.  Our destination: The Allegan Forest near Great Grandma's house for some 2-tracking.  We drove around in the forest for a while before heading out to meet up with Jay & Becci on some family land nearby to hunt for Morel mushrooms.  The kids struck gold in that department almost immediately upon getting out of the vehicles.  We looked around for a bit, found some more, then hiked into the woods to further our hunt and explore.  While we didn't find any more mushrooms, we did enjoy the warm sunny day and the chance to be outside and still together with our friends.

Following our mushroom hunting, we headed back into the forest, this time to tackle some mud holes we had seen earlier but not tried out.  

The kids had a blast!!! 

They didn't want to stop or go home, even when the clock neared 6pm and we were making our way out of the forest. 

We were very grateful for a weekend that allowed us the chance to be with our people again.  That is surely one of the hardest things for all of us amid this stay-home order.