Hiking for Happiness: Our New Sunday Normal

I love hiking!  I love exploring and being in nature.  I could spend all day in the forest, if the kids let me and if there weren't so many ticks and mosquitos. While in social isolation other than bike riding, another way that we get out of the house is by walking around our house and straight into the forest directly behind our house.  Just as much as biking chases the isolation blues away, so does going for a quick hike.  Hiking is for sure my happy place, not so much all the kids, but they always entertain me.  They are good for a short 30 minute walk in the forest, but the wanderlust in me wants to explore.  The mountains behind our house is filled with countless trails and hiking options.  

Just in the last month we have found about 8 trails directly from our house.  The most common trail we go on is, what we have named, The Fallen Tree Trail. A little less then a mile from our house is a beautiful trail that passes a lake and then we pass a huge fallen tree that the kids always walk over.  It's fun seeing their different personalities as they walk across the bridge.  Big Sis and M&M will go as far as they can.  Little A is always apprehensive and won't go unless someone else is on the tree.  And then we have Monster, who surprisingly isn't very daring and upright refuses to go out on the tree and I have to hold both his hands and almost make him try something a little scary and new.

Another trail that explores the left side of our mountain we have named, "The Spooky Tree Trail".  This trail has about what seems like half the forest trees all fallen down.  The first time we went on the trail, it was super windy so the small trees were rubbing against each other and they were making crazy creeping noises.  Some of the trees had fallen and created a teepee, or other cool formations.  This is actually my favorite trail. It ends up shooting you out onto this super long dirt trail that one day we will take our mountain bikes on.  

The largest trail is more of a back road.  This trail has the most options for exploring more and more trails.  We have explored a few of them.  One trail actually leads to these super old Pagan Rocks and a sacred river.  There are huge rocks along the way too, which we found out have the option to repel and rock climb with eyelet holes.  There are a few lakes that we have explored too.  It has been fun seeing the forest go from just trees in the winter, to growing buds and leaves in the spring.

Since the kids don't love hiking as much as I do, we have this silent agreement, that if I don't ask to hike too much during the week, they don't complain when we go on our Sunday weekly hikes, which we usually take after we do our current home-centered sacrament meeting.  I absolutely loving being out in nature on Sunday.  I love the sound of the wind and the birds.  I love being in God's country and appreciating the beautiful Earth he has blessed us with.  I love having picnics and reading books with the kids in the forest.  I also love just being out of the house.  We have been so blessed to live in such a beautiful place whiling having to be in social isolation.  It is a blessing to have fresh air and to have such beautiful weather and a beautiful forest so close.  I love Germany so much, and I love living here.

Biking the Isolation Blues Away

During this social isolation time, we have found that taking bike rides is our happy place as a family.  For the past month, we have gone on a minimum of two bike rides a week.  We have explored and found all the amazing bike trails around our house.  There are a bunch of mountain trails that we can't go on yet, but there are three pretty flat trails that we have fallen in love with.  One bike trail is super smooth and flat, but there are a few houses on the pathway, so there is always at least two or more cars that drive on the pathway.  With Little A biking around like a drunk biker, it always makes me nervous when a car passes. The path goes directly West, so in the evening we love riding into the beautiful sunset.  

When we started riding, Monster was originally in a bike seat attached to my bike.  He fit in it just perfect, but he would get cold, especially his hands, so he would always shove his hands under my bum.  It was the most annoying thing, and when he found out how much it annoyed me, he started to do it just to get a good laugh.  The more we were riding, the most Monster started to ask if he could ride like his sisters.  We found a new trail that we call the tree path.  The entire path is more like asphalt, with a lot of potholes, but it is all covered in trees and it feels as if you are riding in the forest.  We can ride a straight 2 miles in the trees and we don't have to worry about cars on this path.

We found another path that is all forest.  The pathway is loose dirt and gravel.  This path had a lot of options for different paths that end up all meeting up.  I love this path, but it is a little too hard for Little A, since the bikes slide a bit on the loose gravel, and it takes more strength to pedal on it too.  Poor Little A is only able to ride about 5-6 miles before she completely melts into a puddle.  She complains that her legs hurt, or that the bike isn't working right, or that her legs aren't working right.  She does so well for the first few miles, but just doesn't have the endurance to go any further.

Since biking has been a way that we have found happiness as a family, and a way to get out of the house and still obey the social isolation rules and laws, we did a little research and found that we could attach Monster's bike to one of our bikes by way of a tail-gator.  The tow bar lifts his front wheel about 6 inches off the ground and we are able to pull him and he is able to pedal and feel like he is riding this own bike.  Monster loves having his freedom, and I love not having little cold hands under my bum.  All of us look forward to our bike rides.  We love finding trails that we haven't tried yet, and we love being together.  I have found that if someone, either the kids or myself, is getting crabby or stir crazy or just feeling a little blue from being stuck inside, if we just go for a short bike ride, it makes it all go away and the house is filled with smiles and laughter once again.

Hello Homeschool

On March 13, 2020 at 2:18 PM, I received the official e-mail from DoDEA Europe East District announcing the closure of all Europe DoDEA schools.  A good two weeks before the official letter, the teachers were speculating the closure and were beginning to prep the students by making sure they all knew their google e-mail sign ons.  They also started to create web based school sites and had the kids practicing signing in.  Little A brought a backpack home on Friday the 13th filled with books and school work packets and magazines.  Every day the kids would come home from school with talk about all the chatter at school from students and staff about the schools closing due to the Coronavirus.  Corona is spreading like a wildfire and has the entire world in panic mode.  People just don't know what to do about it, so they have been buying out toilet paper.  Of all things, why toilet paper, I have no idea.  No one wants to shake hands, and if anyone sneezes or coughs, they get super dirty looks from everyone around them.  

So, just like that, we are now homeschooling all the kids, in fact, pretty much the entire nation is now in mandatory homeschool status as everything is shut down and closed, from schools, to churches to businesses.  We don't have enough devices for three kids to be on the computer at once, so luckily the school provided the opportunity for families to check out Chromebooks.  I checked out a Chromebook for Big Sis, M&M is using Kevin's laptop and Little A is using the old laptop.  Every once in a while the old laptop protests, so luckily I have an iPad that I was able to download all the needed apps for her homeschooling and we are able to use that when the computer freezes. So this is what our morning looks like, every school day now, Big Sis is in her room doing her google meets all morning, M&M is either at the table, on the couch or in her room working on her school work and in google classroom meets, and Little A is at the table, with me by her side to help her get through all her school work, and Monster is protesting as loud as he can because he is getting ignored.  He just doesn't understand why all his siblings are home, yet all of them are on a computer and totally ignoring him.  I think it has been the hardest on him.

I think the only family member who is in heaven with the homeschooling is Bailey, our toy poodle.  She now has attention 100% of the day.  One of the kids always has her on their lap while they are studying and working on school work.  She is getting so spoiled right now, and is loving every second of it. 

I have been super impressed with the district and with all of the teachers.  They have worked really hard to create a virtual classroom and school work that meets the needs of the kids and the families.  Things have been altered, and revamped and changed a few times to make it easier on the kids and families.  We are one of the lucky families who has really good internet.  Most families in Germany don't have good internet, so they can't accommodate more than one child being on a google meet classroom at a time.  The school had to change the virtual school schedule to accommodate for those families.  They created school block learning times, so the middle school and high school aren't in google meets at the same time.  So M&M has home work and school work all morning now, and her google classroom meets start at 12:30.  Big Sis is in Google Classroom Meets all morning and ends at 12:00, then after 12:00, she just has school work and individual work to do.  

We have had some really amazing great things come from this mandatory homeschooling.  For one, I finally am getting an understanding of what Little A comprehends and what she doesn't.  I have been able to sit down with her and help her understand math and have been helping her memorise multiplication facts.  Another great thing is that Little A is reading more now than she ever has in her entire life.  She has really gotten into the Magic Tree House series, and reads about one book a day.  Luckily, Christy Turner in our church ward had the first half of the books and dropped them off on my doorstep.  Once Little A finished those, we found the rest of them on MackinVia. I love MackinVia and I am so glad the school has an account. It has been wonderful seeing the love of reading grow in my little girl.  Another great thing that has come from homeschooling is Big Sis has grown a love for her violin that has become deep.  She practices now more than she ever has her entire life.  I don't have to ask her to practice ever, and I am always hearing the amazing sound of her violin.  She sounds so great and I love hearing it.  I will miss the violin greatly when she is gone at college.  I would say the absolute best thing that has come from homeschooling is the time to study our scriptures.  Every single day, we are all studying our scriptures and then talking about it together. This is the first time Little A has consistently done scripture study.  She is gaining understanding in the scriptures like she never has before.  I also spend the time to read the scriptures aloud to Little Monster too.  It has been a wonderful spiritually growing experience for us all.  I have loved watching my kids grow secularly and spiritually. I have loved the spirit of love and peace that has grown in the home since we all started putting the Lord first.  I love the understanding of the gospel that each and every one of have been deepening and strengthening.  I know that with the Lord on our side, all things are possible, including loving homeschool.

'Rona Ruins Monster's Birthday Party

My crazy little Monster turned 4 a few days ago.  I was hosting Joy School this week and had planned a big party for him during Joy School.  We were going to play games, have cupcakes, and let all the kids dress up.  Monster was really looking forward to Joy School and to his birthday Party, and then COVID-19, aka 'Rona, decided to sweep the nation and make it so no one could come over.  Starting on Monday, Social Isolation was started, businesses started closing their doors, and people stopped leaving their houses.  The numbers were very quickly beginning to rise in Germany, more than double every few days.  I asked the moms if they still wanted to do Joy School and Monsters party, but everyone was a little apprehensive.  Poor Buddy Buddy was excited and kept asking when his friends would come over; try explaining a world pandemic to a 4 years old.  Needless to say, he didn't really understand and was so sad his friends did not come over.  Little did we all know that this social isolation would continue for the next few months.  We didn't know at the time that last week was the very last week of Joy School for the year.  Last week was the last week of school for all the kids as they knew it.  Last week was the last time we would see our friends for a long while.  

We still had a small family party for Monster.  We had his favourite meal for dinner, pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.  He absolutely loved whipped cream, and would be just as happy just having whipped cream for dinner. We used the Disney's Cars plates, cups, and napkins that I bought for his little party.  Monster actually picked out the plates, cups and napkins himself.

Monster requested strawberry cupcakes, so we stuck two candles in two cupcakes for him.  He even had a huge strawberry on one of the cupcakes.  Normally, I would have done a cake, but since he was supposed to have a bunch of little friends for his Joy School party, cupcakes are always easier with the little people.  Instead of having all of his Joy School friends for a party, he only got 'Rona ruining his party.  Luckily, we made the best of it and he still had a great family party.

Monster was especially excited about all his gifts.  He loves cars, and all things with motors and wheels.  Kevin loves shopping for Monster because Kevin loves cars and he just goes to the store and asks himself what he would want to play with. Kevin picked out a really cool remote control car for Monster.  The car that has huge wheels so if it bumps into something it can just go over it, or will bump it and turn upside down and turn around.  The car it pretty indestructible, which is exactly what our little Monster needs.  He spent the rest of the evening playing with all his cars.  In the end, he had a great birthday despite the circumstances in the world.  I'm glad we were able to still make this day special for him.