Spring break day 3, Monday, April 6
This was the first school day of the break for the girls. Since e-learning began, one of the girls had been setting her alarm every school morning to be up by 8:30 am (her choice, not my requirement) to start her e-learning then. Since the girls don't have to do e-learning during spring break, no one set any alarms. Side note: I usually wake up when Donnie's alarm first rings and have been able to fall back asleep for about half an hour. I wake up for good when Donnie is getting ready in our room before work. We talk while he's getting ready. Then, when he goes downstairs to prepare to go to work, I go downstairs with him or shortly thereafter so I can see him when he leaves. I like having a fairly consistent wake up time (plus or minus a few minutes) and "start of my day time."
I had a couple of errands to run but then realized that I could condense both errands into one. I wanted to pick up a few more items to deliver to our church for the food drive and I needed to send a package. I was able to do both things at Drug Mart (they have a post office service that I forgot about until I got there).
The day was turning out to be lovely; a nice day weather wise was predicted and the predictions came true. By mid to late morning it was fifty degrees but with the sun shining, it felt very comfortable to be outside. We'd decided to go and walk around Cox Arboretum. I checked the website and it said that Cox was open but that parking was limited and once one of the parking lots was full, the park would not allow any more cars to enter it.
I was worried that the parking lot would be full when we got there around noon but it wasn't. There were a number of cars in the lot but thankfully it was not filled to capacity. The weather was just about perfect. We felt very comfortable in long sleeve shirts. Cox Arboretum has many paths, several water features, a huge greenhouse, a nature center, a butterfly house and many other features. (All of the indoor facilities were closed so the only thing visitors could do was to walk the paths/ trails.) It was very pleasant to walk around and enjoy nature's beauty. We didn't stay too long though. None of the state or city parks that are open have bathroom facilities that are open. That has a deleterious effect on the amount of time we stay at parks. While we enjoy being out in nature (especially when literally no other options exist besides being at home), when our nature calls, we need to be at home :).
We stopped by the church on our way from Cox to drop off the food items we'd collected. Someone from the church came out to our car to retrieve the bags for us so we didn't have to leave the car.
I made chili for dinner. It was not really chili weather but I didn't really care. I wanted to make a meal which always results in leftovers and making a huge pot of chili ensures we have leftovers. It's one of the few meals I make that always results in enough leftovers for a second meal plus I hadn't made chili in a really long time. No one complained about having it... Side note: the kids have been really good lately about not complaining about meals. It's not because they love everything we're having for dinner, I'm sure. With all the corona virus angst in the world, they seem to realize that they have it well here at the house. No one is sick, Donnie has his job, we have plenty of food and the means to buy more when we need more. Or maybe the meals I'm making (with the kids' occasional help) are that good (but, no, it is not that).
After dinner, Alyssa and I played a game outside for a while and then after we went inside, Abby and I decided to take a short bike ride. After that, I talked on the phone with a family member for about an hour and then went to bed.
While it would have been nice to be in Florida this week for spring break, nice weather here in Ohio today and spending most of the day doing fairly fun (albeit not exciting) things with family made
missing our beach vacation a little less painful.
Photos from the day: I forgot that Alyssa finished this puzzle (minus the missing piece...) on Monday. It was so hard. I want to order this cool looking puzzle I found online but it costs $50 so I don't think I will :(.
At Cox Arboretum
I had a couple of errands to run but then realized that I could condense both errands into one. I wanted to pick up a few more items to deliver to our church for the food drive and I needed to send a package. I was able to do both things at Drug Mart (they have a post office service that I forgot about until I got there).
The day was turning out to be lovely; a nice day weather wise was predicted and the predictions came true. By mid to late morning it was fifty degrees but with the sun shining, it felt very comfortable to be outside. We'd decided to go and walk around Cox Arboretum. I checked the website and it said that Cox was open but that parking was limited and once one of the parking lots was full, the park would not allow any more cars to enter it.
I was worried that the parking lot would be full when we got there around noon but it wasn't. There were a number of cars in the lot but thankfully it was not filled to capacity. The weather was just about perfect. We felt very comfortable in long sleeve shirts. Cox Arboretum has many paths, several water features, a huge greenhouse, a nature center, a butterfly house and many other features. (All of the indoor facilities were closed so the only thing visitors could do was to walk the paths/ trails.) It was very pleasant to walk around and enjoy nature's beauty. We didn't stay too long though. None of the state or city parks that are open have bathroom facilities that are open. That has a deleterious effect on the amount of time we stay at parks. While we enjoy being out in nature (especially when literally no other options exist besides being at home), when our nature calls, we need to be at home :).
We stopped by the church on our way from Cox to drop off the food items we'd collected. Someone from the church came out to our car to retrieve the bags for us so we didn't have to leave the car.
I made chili for dinner. It was not really chili weather but I didn't really care. I wanted to make a meal which always results in leftovers and making a huge pot of chili ensures we have leftovers. It's one of the few meals I make that always results in enough leftovers for a second meal plus I hadn't made chili in a really long time. No one complained about having it... Side note: the kids have been really good lately about not complaining about meals. It's not because they love everything we're having for dinner, I'm sure. With all the corona virus angst in the world, they seem to realize that they have it well here at the house. No one is sick, Donnie has his job, we have plenty of food and the means to buy more when we need more. Or maybe the meals I'm making (with the kids' occasional help) are that good (but, no, it is not that).
After dinner, Alyssa and I played a game outside for a while and then after we went inside, Abby and I decided to take a short bike ride. After that, I talked on the phone with a family member for about an hour and then went to bed.
While it would have been nice to be in Florida this week for spring break, nice weather here in Ohio today and spending most of the day doing fairly fun (albeit not exciting) things with family made
missing our beach vacation a little less painful.
Photos from the day: I forgot that Alyssa finished this puzzle (minus the missing piece...) on Monday. It was so hard. I want to order this cool looking puzzle I found online but it costs $50 so I don't think I will :(.
At Cox Arboretum
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