Back to School: Part 2 - Carter & Addison Return to In-person School for Phase 1 (5 kids in a class) & Delaney Starts "Day Camp"

After being back at school for 3 weeks, at home, doing virtual, we were elated when both Carter and Addison got a spot to return to Phase 1 the Tuesday after Labor Day. They would have no more than 5 kids in each class and ended up only having 3-4 in each of theirs. No, it wasn't perfect, but I want the kids to learn that we don't wait for "perfect" to do life and we must keep moving forward and adjusting and look at the huge amount of positives! While we raised concerns that the kids couldn't participate in athletics while at school and Carter couldn't go to band, we made concessions to early pickups and talked about the why's and reminded everyone that is like 7 total band or athletic classes that this will be the case... it is not the end of the world. And sure enough, it was only 7 or 8 classes before both of these changed once in Phase 2.

Unfortunately, Delaney did not get a spot in Phase 1 at Roan Forest and we were very upset about it. But like we teach the kids, we adjusted and found another awesome option for Delaney to start a Day Camp to help her with her virtual work so I could have my very first day of dedicated and uninterrupted word in 6 months.

Delaney went to Endurance Elite Gymnastics Educational Day camp. They had a certified teacher there, who spoke some Spanish, and she got to play in the extremely nice gym every chance or break she had!

Picking up Addison after her first day of in-person Volleyball try-outs and she looked so grown up to me. COVID-19 6 months with Addison has been incredibly wonderful and it reminds me the power of external people in her life. While I can't and don't want to shelter her from real life, it allows me to remind her to be a leader and not a follower during the next couple of years of middle school and to stay true to who she is inside.

This first day back to somewhat of normal in 178 days was so incredibly good for all 5 of us. This Tuesday evening, everyone felt more at ease and we feeling so good coming back together after a few hours apart. COVID-19 had been incredible for our family in most ways, but the past 3 weeks of at home virtual school was a turning point. It was time for our family to not live in fear and to responsibly try to take a big step to get back to a healthy routine.