Week 6 Social Distancing

Wow, time is quickly marching on. Week 6 brought more sunshine, some social distancing with friends (it does a load of good to see other people, even if from a distance), nature and our first camp out in our tent! 

Day to day, we are having fun and are growing into acceptance of this reality. Without the stress of a job while parenting, I am enjoying the playing, baking, crafting, learning (albeit with a good dose of me time built in). And having every night free is such a change that I am finally catching up on lots of TV shows with Pete. 

Gathering with friends to send off Yoko and family. It was really hard not being able to give her a hug. 

Pete's coworker lives on de Poel and has an inflatable kayak that she let us borrow. It was a squeeze and the kids were not loving it, but any change of scenery is great, no matter the whining! 

These two just passed an entire chorizo sausage back and forth to each other the whole time. Its a miracle it didn't fall in ! 

Over the break, I printed out schedule cards courtesy of Simone, hoping they would help motivate our morning routine. I had also been following a fellow expat mom here in Amsterdam in awe as she posted her daily schedule with the kids. I listened to a great Goop podcast over the break about reducing anxiety in children during this time, and they spoke about the importance of schedules, so I thought we'd give it a try. I made post it notes for all of the activities that Jude is assigned (math, reading, writing, unit of inquiry, specialities) and then made a bunch with other at-home and neighborhood activities. The kids are meant to choose what they'd like to do and when they'd like to do it to give them ownership of their schedule. I do think it helped in those first few days back from break, but we haven't been regularly doing this, ever since we woke up and the kids had added two more important things to the schedule (candy and butt poop)!

Some scenes of distance learning this week. I am getting screen fatigue big time, especially with Maeve. It is just not an ideal way for her to learn/play. 

Highlight of her school week was the "Not-A-Box" story and playing in her own. 

Eggcelent Earth Week activity

On Monday evening after the kids were asleep, I fought the temptation to plop down on the sofa and took a walk in the neighborhood instead, listening to Peter's side of the story on my bacholer podcast. 

I guess the sheep shearer is not available during quarantine either! 

Tuesday, we counted down the hours until 7pm when the Prime Minister gave a press conference about which social distancing measures would be lifted. Big on the agenda was the reopening of schools. After receiving the translations, we learned that Dutch primary schools and day cares will be opening part time and full time, respectively on May 11. How, in practice, this will work out, was left up to each individual school. As ISA is private, it is not governed by the Dutch laws so they are not obligated to open. I went from a high of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, to a low the next day when I realized that school for our kids might remained closed. All week, we awaited word from the school as to their plan. Finally, on Friday we received an email, but it simply asked for us to reply to a survey "yes" or "no" if we would send our kids back. A similar survey was sent to teachers and now they are figuring out if the numbers line up and how it could be implemented. I am still holding onto hope (while also fighting the internal anxiety of not knowing if this is the best decision- of course no one knows, which is the problem). 

We had a lot of fun later in the week to take our mind off the news/anxiety. In an effort to do something, anything different from the monotony of the first 5 weeks, we set up our tent in the garden as an extra play space. Of course, then Jude really wanted to sleep in it. Despite the forecast of a low of 45 degrees at night, I gave in and spent the night shivering with the kids (Pete is on duty next time). They did great, though and I'm relieved our first "camping" experience is under our belts. 

Thursday was a gorgeous day, high of 73 and we spent the afternoon at Katwijk with a friend and her kids, celebrating Pete's seniors finishing their year. We could pretend we were back in Spain and not in the middle of a pandemic. It was really good for the soul. 

Tulips still in bloom along the drive home.

Another warm day Friday called for a trip to the ice cream shop with daddy. 

One late afternoon, I took the kids out to the playground, Jude on bike and Maeve walking. We had to go to 3 playgrounds until we had one to ourselves. We were in a part of our neighborhood where we don't spend that much time. Heading home, we crossed over the canal and Jude took off on his bike with me yelling after him the directions home. By the time I got home with Maeve, shocker, Jude was not there. I don't tend to worry here about anyone doing harm to the kids, but I do worry about all of the open water. I headed back to the canal and there, biking back over the bridge was Jude, in tears over being lost. A very valuable lesson learned and thankfully no harm was done! 

Easter and Spring Break: Week 5 Social Distancing

Good Friday started our 10 day Spring Break, which turned into our very first "stay cation" of nearly 6 years in Europe. We treated it like we were really on vacation where the kids get pretty unlimited screen time, so Pete and I got lots of breaks and rest, too. The Netherlands has remained open and free during this time, with keeping 1.5 meters from people not with your family being the only legal requirement (or risk a fine, which are freely being given out, children under 12 apparently exempt). Parking lots for beaches and recreational areas were reported to be blocked off on the weekends to prevent overcrowding. The tulip farmers decided to head (chop down) the tulips earlier than usual to try to dissuade people from coming, with concerns about too much car traffic on the smaller roads leading to congestion for the walkers/runners/cyclists- forcing them to get too close together. We had beautiful weather and peak tulip blooms most of the week, so we got out, but as responsibly as possible, visiting midweek, staying on main roads and not coming into close contact with anyone. It is much harder to avoid people staying close to home, just going to local parks, given the crowds.

Easter was a really fun day. The kids loved their egg hunt of course and then we biked into the city to drop a birthday present off at Jude's friend's house. Another friend arrived shortly after to do the same and it was a breath of fresh air to talk face to face (from a distance) with other adults. The kids ended up running around together on the sidewalk and we were more relaxed about it than maybe we should have been. Later, we sat 1.5m from a set of friends in Beatrix Park as the kids splashed around a giant mud pit. Just being honest. Judge if you'd like, but hopefully we can all cut each other a little slack as we try to make the best decisions in these crazy times. The Dutch government has been conducting a study on if/how children transmit the coronavirus and they'll use the results to determine if schools can open (announcement expected tonight!!).

Jude helped Maeve find eggs, counted to make sure they had an even amount and gave her his eggs when they were not even. 

Can't go out to Easter brunch? Cook yourself a feast- cheddar cheese scones, bacon, pancakes, scrambled eggs, banana bread and hash browns! 

She took advantage of us being distracted talking to friends to sneak Easter candy from the bakfiets! 

Mud pitting

An ISA mom friend made and sold these cookie decorating kits. YUM! 

When schools closed, Pete's parents offered to send us some things to help entertain the kids. Oma choose a puppet theater and a puppet making kit, which were excellent choices. We saved the surprise for Spring Break. Jude dove right into the project, designing characters and coming up with a story to perform. He decided he wanted to invite people over to see the show. When I reminded him that people couldn't come over right now, he replied, "I know! We'll put on the show for friends in the garden." Then he wrote and delivered invitations to two neighbors with young kids, inviting them on different days to come see the show. The first showing was the following afternoon! We lost a certain puppeter at the last minute, but were able to rework the plot line without two of the characters ;) 

The reviews were in! 

I posted the project to instagram stories and one of Jude's teachers who is a friend, asked if she could bike down to see it with her son. Jude was so thrilled!! 

Anyone local is invited to come to a viewing!

We got our car back on Wednesday and made straight for the tulip fields! My favorite day. Mostly a drive by this year, but we stopped in one field for our annual family pics (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019). Friends went on Monday and pinned a location off of the main road for family pics. We were worried we wouldn't find any fields still intact, but there were still plenty.

Our Sassafrass near Sassenheim

The heading tractor at work on the pink field

Thursday afternoon we were back at Katwijk, to the Northern section of beach where there was a nice tidal pool for the kids to splash in. I forgot their swimsuits! We saw people go by on horseback and later, two people being pulled in a cart by a pony. Strange times indeed. 

These lovely strandhuisjes (beach houses) were empty. If only we could have rented one for the week! 

The prettiest field off the highway on the drive home

I hung this print about a month before all this and I find myself staring longingly at it daily. 

Love these fringed tulips and especially the mutant white one!