First Day of School 2020-21

 First day of school for 2020-Luke and Liam are 7th graders 

                                       

 First day of school for all four boys

      

In case there is any question about whether Luke has passed me in height...

Finn's first day of first grade

                                                              

  Aiden's first day of 5th grade

                                                            

We started a new school year on Monday, September 14th.  This marks 6 months that we were away from school as March 13 was our last full day at school.  We have not physically returned to school because the plan is to begin in distance learning at home and then hopefully to graduate to the "hybrid model" with 2 days in school and 3 days at home.  

Thus far, it has been an interesting week.  It honestly doesn't feel like we are in school and we are not in a good routine yet.  All four boys have some type of device (i.e. Chromebook or iPad) and each of them has a schedule to follow throughout the day.  This includes zoom calls with teachers during the day and some independent time for working.  We all have different schedules and everyone is "on a call" at a different time of the day.  We decided about an hour into Day 1 that we all need different rooms to sit in and the rooms can't be on the main level of the house (except Finn so he can get some help). There is too much noise with each of the boys having breaks at different times and with John working in the office.  So, we purchased two desks and we are changing the set up a bit. 

Here's to a great school year and lots of patience!!  

 

A Week to Remember in 2020

Visiting the beach one last time on the morning before we left

Luke's sand creation

Catching some waves

Building in the sand

Burying brothers

I purchased a book to read at Sundog.  In the 25+ years I have been visiting Seaside, 

 I have been in Sundog Books (store behind where we are sitting) dozens of times but have never purchased a book.  This summer I started reading more books so when I finished the book I brought on the trip, I purchased a new one recommended (of course) by my sister, Sarah!

We all scream for ICE CREAM!

yum!

Checking out the waves

Brothers and Friends

Jumping off the frog

Beautiful Beach!

We fed a few stray cats that started sitting on our porch while we were at the beach.  We didn't pet them, but they loved hanging around with us. 

Luke riding the waves

Beach house on Buttercup Lane

Beach house

Beautiful 

Building in the sand

This is what happens when you try to eat crackers at the beach!

Flying Finn!

More surfing

While many of the weeks in 2020 have not gone as planned, I am so thankful we were able to make a trip to the beach this summer.  The trip was planned before we even knew what COVID was and there were times that we debated whether it was a good idea to go or not.  Thankfully, we were able to make the trip and everything went very smoothly.  There was a hurricane headed toward the area where we stay, but thankfully it headed west of us.  The water was a lot more rough than usual so we were not able to do as much in the ocean this year, but we were thankful to have gorgeous weather with minimal rain and pleasant temps.  We enjoyed playing at the beach, paddle boarding for older boys, swimming in the newly renovated pools, biking, and relaxing.  

We are still waiting for school to begin here.  The start date was pushed back a week to September 14th and it was decided that we will begin in an all virtual environment for at least the first two weeks.  I think all of us would prefer to go back in person, but we are trying to be patient make the most of the situation.  Meanwhile, the weather is beginning to change in Minnesota so even though it feels like fall we are still living our summer schedule!  We did receive teacher assignments and our devices for school so it appears we will eventually go back after being out of school since March 12.
 

That's a Wrap for Luke and Aiden

Aiden's team got third place in their final AAA Tournament 

Aiden played Center in most of the games

Luke's team finished in first place 

Finn got to spend the day with a friend while we were watching six different hockey games

One of the babysitters that helped with Finn also braided Luke's hair!!

Luke's AAA summer hockey team

2008 SDP Elite

 Aiden And Finn were able to attend the final championship game

That's a wrap on Luke and Aiden's AAA summer hockey games.  Luke's team was quite successful with their tournaments in N Dakota, S Dakota, Chicago, and Minnesota.  They finished in first place in all of the tournaments except one and their record was 19-1.  There is an incredible amount of talent on his team with boys from all over Minnesota.

Aiden's team did well over the weekend and finished in third place.  Aiden wasn't planning on doing AAA hockey this summer, but after a lot of his other activities were cancelled and the coach asked if he wanted to do it, we decided to do the shortened season.  

Liam's team has two tournaments left for the summer and Luke will help out in both of them so that is always fun to watch.  Finn has been fortunate enough to spend a few days with friends and babysitters since many of the rinks will only allow 1 or 2 adults per skater and no siblings.  It has been challenging to figure out arrangements for the other boys, but I think they have enjoyed the break from watching so many games!  

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!!

Busy Summer Weekend

 

The boys are dressing into all of their hockey gear except skates outside.  They walk in for the game 15 minutes prior to start and put on their skates in the hallways.  No locker rooms.

I turned another year older and John and the boys got me my favorite, carrot cake!

                            

                                                    Aiden's team at the beginning of their game

                                              Luke's 2008 SDP team won AAA State Champions

                                                                       AAA State Champs!

                                        Aiden only made it to the box twice during his tournament

                      Finn and his hockey team buddies had a belated celebration of their hockey season

                        Luke (middle with sunglasses) getting ready for his pose in the hair video

We had a fun but busy weekend of hockey and other activities.  The last time we had a weekend this busy was probably when Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers, Grandpa Morse, and Ms Jane visited us in February.  Aiden and Luke each played in the AAA State tournament, Finn had an end of season (very belated thanks to COVID) hockey party, and Liam helped us out with A LOT of babysitting.  

While we are very thankful to be playing hockey, COVID has changed a lot of things for us.  Siblings are no longer allowed at the rinks.  It is usually a maximum of 1-2 immediate family members over the age of 18 years.  The boys are no longer dressing in the locker room, they bring a lawn chair and dress in the parking lot.  Parents are allowed to enter the rink only at game time and players can enter 15 minutes prior to game time.  There are no concessions, no post game hand shakes, and no standing around inside the rink.  But, we are getting to play and the boys feel like things are somewhat back to normal.  

Luke's team won the AAA State tournament for the 2008 Elite division.  His team is amazingly talented.  They are fast, smart, skilled, and fun to watch.  Aiden's team made it to the semi finals and Aiden only went to the box twice which is pretty good for Aiden.  

Lastly, I turned another year older.  We celebrated at the rink watching all of the games, but we managed to fit in a nice dinner out and some carrot cake (my favorite).  We haven't been out to dinner at a restaurant in months so it was a nice change.  

We have four more hockey tournaments left in the month of August and two in the month of September so still lots of games left to be played!   

Liam's first Summer AAA Tournament

                                                  Going on the ice together for Liam's tournament!

                                            

Both Luke and Liam landed in the penalty box at the same time!  Both calls from the referee made no sense, but it was hilarious to see them both in the box!

Luke loved skating out for a few games and Liam enjoyed having him there!

Finn has been asking to go fishing and finally got his chance!

New COVID style parking lot dressing since we don't have locker rooms

Cool orange giraffe socks that Finn got for his birthday

Cupcakes and candles to celebrate on Finn's actual birthday last week

Finn loved celebrating his birthday!

Lighting the candles

We had a big week celebrating Finn's birthday on Wednesday and watching Luke and Liam play in a hockey tournament over the weekend.  I think the pictures of Finn blowing out his candles on the cupcakes were taken a few hours after my last post of his 7th birthday so I am including them this week.  The more celebrations of his birthday, the better....as far as Finn is concerned.  He loved every minute of it.

Liam's AAA hockey team had a tournament this weekend and Luke was able to skate out in the tournament since they were short on skaters.  It was so fun to watch both of them play on the ice together and to see Luke skate rather than play goalie.  They loved it and the team played well.  We ended up finishing fourth out of 10 teams after a tough loss in the third place game.  It was a decent finish considering this is a new team for Liam and the kids are just getting to know each other.  We also played in a bracket a bit higher than where we have played in previous summers so the competition was a bit harder.  Both Luke and Liam scored several goals and even had a "Carrithers Hat trick" (2 goals from Luke, 1 goal from Liam) in one of the games.  Good times!