The Lockdown Report: Summer 2020

I haven’t been very active in this space lately. I have photos, stories, and recipes I want to share, but alas, some of my children are rather needy and they, obviously, come first. But here is our summer lockdown report so far.

We finally made it out to our favorite little beach here in our corner of the Pacific Northwest. Between ABA therapy, lockdowns, mask mandates, and life, it hasn’t been easy to go on some of our favorite summer adventures.

Kalina, Jubilee, and Tucker all have jobs that keep them busy. The only children available on the day of our outing were Apollo and Hezekiah, so it was a small crew indeed who ventured to the beach with me.

I had plans to meet up with a friend at the beach and when I arrived, a another friend of ours was there. BONUS! Apollo got to try out kayaking for the first time and was able to to paddle and steer completely right away which was great because I really didn’t want to have to jump into the ocean in my jeans and save him if he drifted out to sea.

Apollo balancing on a pool float in the ocean — Apollo attempts to use the pool float as a paddle board.

I haven’t been on social media much (especially the big FB) because it is not a happy place to be these days. I have also been buried in food photography, a few photo sessions (now that I can finally get back to shooting people), homeschool planning, and curriculum creation.

Apollo and friend playing on pool float in ocean.

Our district just announced that school in the fall will not be in-person. I’ve been homeschooling for the past twenty years, so it’s not too big of a deal for me. It does means that one of my most challenging kids will be joining our little homeschool. And it means Hezekiah will be doing his first year of Running Start online.

We are still wrapped in our indefinitely-postponed truancy charges for our son. According to our state health department, it’s not safe to have meetings with more than five people and school has been canceled for, you know, five months with no anticipated return date. But, the truancy charges must go on…ironically, our son will be past his 18th birthday by the time the community truancy board every happens.