Wow time sure does fly doesn’t it? Here we are again three months later. It's time to go over the months of April, May, and June for the Blackburn clan.
The month of April began with Easter. We couldn’t gather with family again this year, so we decided to hide eggs in our house. The kids were pretty good at finding their baskets and eggs. Even Eric got in on the action as he dug into the shoes to find the little eggs hidden inside. Of course, he spent most of the time chewing on the plastic eggs rather than anything else, but at least he had the fun of the idea.
Thankfully due to cases of COVID going down in our area, we were allowed to meet again for primary. They decided to have it twice a month in the evening after dinner. Our girls were very excited because they would be able to see their church friends again. Each week they gathered for about half an hour as they sang songs and had a mini lesson together with their friends. Although they weren't thrilled about having to wear the masks the whole time, the blessing of being able to gather was felt by all. Maybe in a few more months we'll be able to get back to normal church gathering on Sundays instead of during the week.
For this same reason (COVID cases going down) we decided to go out to Antelope Island in Stansbury Park for a fun evening with our friends the Skidmores. We also invited our friend Arlon along. As the Skidmores raise lots of animals, they brought their baby goats as well. You can imagine the melee that happened when the kids got ahold of that. The little goat was sure having a lot of fun though, so I guess it worked out on both ends. We made hot dogs for the kids and tin foil dinners for the adults. Then, of course, the traditional s’mores. The kids were free to roam through the mountains finding treasures including rocks, bugs, and dirt. They were happy to get outside though.
It was about this point that the vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic finally reached our age group. After deciding to get them, we made sure that we got them on separate weeks so in case there were any side effects, the other parent would be available to take care of everyone else. Ryan was the brave one and got his first. It didn't seem to do much to him thankfully. Mine happened a couple weeks later. Again, no major side effects on that one so definitely good.
About mid-month Aijah celebrated her 5th birthday. She loved opening all her gifts and was looking forward to being able to do a special birthday trip with Mom. She had decided that she wanted to go to the movie theater. And so, a few days later we made our way to the movie theater. She decided she wanted to see Raya and the Last Dragon. We bought our tickets, our popcorn, and our candy and we made our way to our seats in the theater. As this was the first time that Aijah had been to a theater, I was a little bit nervous about how she was going to act and whether she would make it through the movie. I hoped she wouldn't be too distracting to anyone else. As it turned out, however, it was something I didn't have to worry about. Why? Because we got a private showing (AKA no one else showed up). So, when she got a little antsy toward the end, I didn't have to worry too much when she was noisy and talking because no one else was there to bother. It was fun having a private showing. We got to be wherever we wanted to, and we could talk about the theme of the movie as it was happening, and nobody cared. I guess I can chalk it up to being a silver lining of the pandemic.
The last Sunday of the month brought a fun little difference in our Sunday routine. Where we normally would just listen to sacrament over the Internet, we got to be involved in a virtual primary program. The primary leaders had asked the children to each individually record a part talking about what they had learned from the Book of Mormon in 2020, and then they put it together into a presentation that we watched during sacrament. Our kids ended up being the very first ones, and we had a little bit of technical difficulties, so we didn't get to see all their part, but it was still fun to see the kids doing a primary program, even if it was in a different style than normal.
May brought nicer weather and with it brought the opportunity to pull out the MacGyver bike. I call it the MacGyver bike simply because Ryan took pieces of different bikes and put them together, thus changing our tandem bike into a kid carting bike so to speak. Because of the car seat on the front of said bike, Erick was able to go out and enjoy his very first bike ride. Although Ryan said his face didn't show it much, he sure seemed to enjoy it. You could tell because every time after that when Ryan would try to put him in the bike, he didn't fight at all, and he would joyfully giggle. I was glad that he liked the bike; it's becoming quite a family tradition to be able to go on bike rides together. The only thing is that we're going to have to find me a new bike because in his MacGyver-ing Ryan took apart my bike and I don't have one. Oh well, at least the kids are having fun.
As the COVID cases continued to go down, we were allowed to finally meet in person again. That meant the twins would get to go back to nursery! Yay! I was a little worried that they would miss the whole nursery experience as the lock downs first started the Sunday they were supposed to go to nursery in the first place, and this was the first time we were coming back. However, knowing that they were going to get at least some exposure to nursery was good as I knew then they wouldn't have as hard of a time transferring into primary in the next year. While it started a bit rough as they didn't want me to leave, they eventually found it fun, and they would stay and play.
The month of May soon came to an end and with it the end of school. This also meant that Enna would be starting her swimming lessons. She was a little nervous about it but was willing to give it a try. Therefore, for the first two weeks of June we made the trip into Tooele to have her swimming lessons. Although she liked being in the water, she didn't seem to like to let go of the wall; and every time that she was asked to do strokes, she had to be holding on to something or someone and wouldn't try to do anything on her own. So, in the end they recommended she redo the class. Oh well, at least she got some experience. Maybe we’ll try again next summer.
Well, that’s about it for the Blackburn clan this quarter. As the French say, Au revoir!
The month of April began with Easter. We couldn’t gather with family again this year, so we decided to hide eggs in our house. The kids were pretty good at finding their baskets and eggs. Even Eric got in on the action as he dug into the shoes to find the little eggs hidden inside. Of course, he spent most of the time chewing on the plastic eggs rather than anything else, but at least he had the fun of the idea.
Thankfully due to cases of COVID going down in our area, we were allowed to meet again for primary. They decided to have it twice a month in the evening after dinner. Our girls were very excited because they would be able to see their church friends again. Each week they gathered for about half an hour as they sang songs and had a mini lesson together with their friends. Although they weren't thrilled about having to wear the masks the whole time, the blessing of being able to gather was felt by all. Maybe in a few more months we'll be able to get back to normal church gathering on Sundays instead of during the week.
For this same reason (COVID cases going down) we decided to go out to Antelope Island in Stansbury Park for a fun evening with our friends the Skidmores. We also invited our friend Arlon along. As the Skidmores raise lots of animals, they brought their baby goats as well. You can imagine the melee that happened when the kids got ahold of that. The little goat was sure having a lot of fun though, so I guess it worked out on both ends. We made hot dogs for the kids and tin foil dinners for the adults. Then, of course, the traditional s’mores. The kids were free to roam through the mountains finding treasures including rocks, bugs, and dirt. They were happy to get outside though.
It was about this point that the vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic finally reached our age group. After deciding to get them, we made sure that we got them on separate weeks so in case there were any side effects, the other parent would be available to take care of everyone else. Ryan was the brave one and got his first. It didn't seem to do much to him thankfully. Mine happened a couple weeks later. Again, no major side effects on that one so definitely good.
About mid-month Aijah celebrated her 5th birthday. She loved opening all her gifts and was looking forward to being able to do a special birthday trip with Mom. She had decided that she wanted to go to the movie theater. And so, a few days later we made our way to the movie theater. She decided she wanted to see Raya and the Last Dragon. We bought our tickets, our popcorn, and our candy and we made our way to our seats in the theater. As this was the first time that Aijah had been to a theater, I was a little bit nervous about how she was going to act and whether she would make it through the movie. I hoped she wouldn't be too distracting to anyone else. As it turned out, however, it was something I didn't have to worry about. Why? Because we got a private showing (AKA no one else showed up). So, when she got a little antsy toward the end, I didn't have to worry too much when she was noisy and talking because no one else was there to bother. It was fun having a private showing. We got to be wherever we wanted to, and we could talk about the theme of the movie as it was happening, and nobody cared. I guess I can chalk it up to being a silver lining of the pandemic.
The last Sunday of the month brought a fun little difference in our Sunday routine. Where we normally would just listen to sacrament over the Internet, we got to be involved in a virtual primary program. The primary leaders had asked the children to each individually record a part talking about what they had learned from the Book of Mormon in 2020, and then they put it together into a presentation that we watched during sacrament. Our kids ended up being the very first ones, and we had a little bit of technical difficulties, so we didn't get to see all their part, but it was still fun to see the kids doing a primary program, even if it was in a different style than normal.
May brought nicer weather and with it brought the opportunity to pull out the MacGyver bike. I call it the MacGyver bike simply because Ryan took pieces of different bikes and put them together, thus changing our tandem bike into a kid carting bike so to speak. Because of the car seat on the front of said bike, Erick was able to go out and enjoy his very first bike ride. Although Ryan said his face didn't show it much, he sure seemed to enjoy it. You could tell because every time after that when Ryan would try to put him in the bike, he didn't fight at all, and he would joyfully giggle. I was glad that he liked the bike; it's becoming quite a family tradition to be able to go on bike rides together. The only thing is that we're going to have to find me a new bike because in his MacGyver-ing Ryan took apart my bike and I don't have one. Oh well, at least the kids are having fun.
As the COVID cases continued to go down, we were allowed to finally meet in person again. That meant the twins would get to go back to nursery! Yay! I was a little worried that they would miss the whole nursery experience as the lock downs first started the Sunday they were supposed to go to nursery in the first place, and this was the first time we were coming back. However, knowing that they were going to get at least some exposure to nursery was good as I knew then they wouldn't have as hard of a time transferring into primary in the next year. While it started a bit rough as they didn't want me to leave, they eventually found it fun, and they would stay and play.
The month of May soon came to an end and with it the end of school. This also meant that Enna would be starting her swimming lessons. She was a little nervous about it but was willing to give it a try. Therefore, for the first two weeks of June we made the trip into Tooele to have her swimming lessons. Although she liked being in the water, she didn't seem to like to let go of the wall; and every time that she was asked to do strokes, she had to be holding on to something or someone and wouldn't try to do anything on her own. So, in the end they recommended she redo the class. Oh well, at least she got some experience. Maybe we’ll try again next summer.
Well, that’s about it for the Blackburn clan this quarter. As the French say, Au revoir!
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