All Dec Wants For Christmas ...

... are his two front teeth, which fell out within less than a day of each other last week. Also, after we sang the song to him, he would like the record to reflect that he is fine without his two front teeth and he would rather have Legos for Christmas thank you very much. That is what we call "clear priorities."

Do you remember the drama of the last lost tooth? Both that it was swallowed and that Mike and Dec were unable to execute their master plan of tooth extraction via remote control car? Well, fear not, dear readers. Remote control tooth extraction happened not once, but twice! However, we're not sure that tooth #2 was quite as ready and it hurt a bit more. So Dec is not sure they need to use this plan for future teeth ... however, there is a plan to shoot it out via nerf bullet. So, basically, stay tuned because it is never boring here.

Last Thursday night, we had nothing better to do, so Mike tied floss to Dec's tooth and to his big monster truck remote control car. It took a couple tries to get the right angle, but then POP - out that tooth came. Everyone was shocked that it worked! So Friday afternoon, they did the same set up and out came tooth two. And a lot of blood. But the dude was super proud that he earned four quarters from the tooth fairy in two days. That's a whole dollar!

He looks like such a big kid with his gappy smile. It's also really funny to hear him work on sounding out words or try to say "Fiona." He tells me that there are more loose teeth in there, so we'll see how toothless he is by Christmas. Maybe he will change his tune and ask for some teeth. But probably not. Legos are more fun.

First Snow

Well, we woke up in GR to the first snowfall of the year! By mid-morning when we headed toward Duluth, there was already an accumulation of over four inches. It was so pretty! My favorite was when Mike's sister texted me a snowy picture (as she always does because she knows I love the snow) and I responded with "I know. We're here." It was weird to basically sneak into (and out of) GR - but I guess that's Fall Break: Covid Style. Go somewhere. See no one. 

The drive east was very snowy with fairly low visibility, which meant it plodded along at a slower speed than we would have liked. But we finally (and safely) made it to the hunting shack, where Gpa V had just pulled in to meet us, 4-wheelers in tow. Mike, the kids, and I walked over to Mike's old neighbors' house to say "hello" and to borrow one of Jim's wheelers (so we had three). Then we popped into the hunting shack, started a fire, and had our picnic lunch while the kids checked things out. Official consensus: they loved it. Quinn loved sitting by the fire and the coziness of the shack. Fiona loved the adventures in the woods. Dec didn't stop smiling the entire time we were there. He's made for shack life!

Once we finished lunch, we got our hodgepodge of gear on to take the wheelers out. We had not expected that much snow, nor for it to be so early in the season. So we didn't have the girls' big gloves, Fiona's snowpants were so short that they stopped mid-shin (and she couldn't zip them), and I didn't bring any winter coats ... so we went with double sweatshirt layers. It was a hot mess, but we made it work! [When we got home, I put in a major winter gear order at Amazon. Clearly everyone grew!]

The first trip out on the wheelers, poor Fiona's hands got so cold and she didn't have much fun. We drove past a few of the deer stands so Mike and Gpa could check them out and then went back to the shack to warm up. We got a better system for F's hands for wheeler trek #2 and it worked much better. We were out for over an hour and had the very best time. We drove through some really wooded trails, where the pine branches were covered in snow and hung over the trails in the most beautiful way. We kept having to move them or duck under them and everyone was laughing and giggling ... and shrieking when snow went down our necks. 

Dec was having the very best time and did not want it to end. So while Q and I went back to the shack to warm up and pack up, Mike and Gpa took F and D out for one last spin. By the time we were changed and loaded back into the car, it was dinner time ... way later than we intended to leave! But it was just too much fun to get of the woods any earlier. We made a pit stop in Duluth on our way through for dinner to go and hit the road toward home. 

We got home around 8:30, unloaded, and tucked the kids into bed. After two great days of outside fun and a lot of fresh air, everyone slept great. While not our normal fall break plan, we really enjoyed the change of scenery, grandparent time, and playing in the snow. Plus Mike is so happy that the kids finally got to experience the hunting shack!

Recalculating

It snowed almost seven inches on Tuesday, which (for the record) was October 20. Further proof that 2020 is bat crap crazy! Wednesday morning, I got up to go for a run. I ended up feeling like the Garmin GPS lady as I was constantly "recalculating," looking for routes that were plowed and/or not sheets of ice. It was not a fast run, but I didn't end up on my butt, so we called it a success. 

Fall break (or as it is known in Minnesota - MEA break) was last weekend. Mike and I found ourselves recalculating our plans several times. We usually do our Baker Boo camping trip over that weekend. That was canceled weeks ago. We thought we'd go north to the hunting shack. Then that fell through. So we found a little house on the Soo Line Trail and rented that for a few days. Fell through. We made plans with Gma and Gpa to go hiking. Then they had a possible Covid exposure. I told Mike the universe clearly did not want us to do anything. 

Thankfully, Gma and Gpa ended up with an all clear on the exposure (yay!), so we resurrected the hiking plan. We met at Banning again, but this time, I brought a second adult mountain goat to help chase the troops. As we packed up our picnic lunch and the car, giant snowflakes began to fall. The kids were thrilled (and I grabbed snow pants for the troops). The snow wasn't sticking to the ground here, but we had to brush snow off the picnic table at the state park to eat our lunch. 

It was definitely colder than our last trip, but once we started hiking, it was very pleasant out. However, I did not wear shorts this time! The snow had stopped, but the rocks were wet and slippery. So we were more careful in our climbing than last time - and definitely hung back from the edges. But it was just as much fun. Since I had Mike to help, Gma and Gpa were able to hike more of the main trail (and then doubled back to meet us) while we scaled up and down the bluffs. They claimed it was easy to pinpoint our location because they could hear Q's shrieks of delight. [There was a chasm that I wouldn't let Quinn jump last time. Mike helped her jump it. Pure happiness for her. Partial heart attack for me.]

Around 2:30, Gma and Gpa hugged us good-bye (we were still on the trail) and high-tailed it back to their car. They were heading down to the cities to spend a couple days with Auntie. We meandered our way out of the woods and headed north to Gma and Gpa's house for the night. We got there just in time to test out the new Legos, order our favorite Sammy's Pizza, and eat the apple pie the Gma had left for us. Not a bad start for what felt like Plan J in the recalculation exercise.

Life Moments Lately

During one of our distance learning days, Dec had an activity to write his name with objects that represented his hobbies. A garage full of sporting equipment later, and we had a gigantic "DECLAN" in the front yard. Made with ... baseball bats, lacrosse stick, hockey stick, ski poles, baseballs, whiffle balls, hockey balls, hockey pucks, soccer balls, and soccer cleats. 

Quinn's favorite part of waiting for the bus is that Mike brings some sort of activity with to keep them busy. I got to join one morning and watch the soccer drills. Apparently he forgot a ball one day and was sent home to fix that mistake.

My college roomies made the drive down to S-town for a belated birthday walk. It was so fun to see them, but such a bummer to walk 3 miles in a socially distant triangle. It was better than nothing (and so fun to catch up), but I can't wait to hug their necks again!

I got a new stick vacuum (that is so awesome and life-changing) and it came in a giant Amazon box. We've obviously done all the things there are to do in this house - because this is what it has come to for entertainment. [*No children were harmed in the making of this video. Mike was holding onto the box for the majority of the descent. I should not have stopped the video because they leapt out of the box giggling and jumping with joy]

Even though Fiona doesn't play soccer, she was all in on Costume Day. Mike scored big points with Q's team when he resurrected his Hades costume from last year. Descendants is peak cool for 2nd and 3rd grade girls! Q's friend Reese was the ultimate though - R wore an inflatable dinosaur costume, and watching her run down the field may have been one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Watching her make a diving save in goal while wearing it was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Until she couldn't get herself back up. Then funny returned!

We extended the life of the garden by covering it a few nights when the temperature dipped. However, we are officially hitting frost weather, so there was a final harvest of a lot of green tomatoes. Quite a few have ripened up nicely and I feel like I eat tomatoes at every meal. Now if I could just get Quinn and Dec to stop eating all the fresh mozzarella ... or eat some tomatoes with it! We made some rookie mistakes and have notes for next year, but we all think our first year of gardening was a success! The favorites were probably the mini watermelons, which were cute and delicious. 

Fall Life: 2020 Version

Fall is weird [theme of 2020]. It is equal parts the same and completely topsy turvy crazy. We are busy and bored. Quite honestly, we don't know quite what to make of it. But we just keep doing it a day at a time. 

School is weird. We are still in hybrid mode (case counts are not under control in Minnesota!). The kids love in-school days (and there have been zero complaints about mask wearing). We are all less enthused about the distance learning days. We are trying desperately to set the expectation that distance days are regular school days and their primary job is school work (and ours is our regular work). 

That is made much harder by the fact that they do not have enough work to do. It's getting a bit better than it was at the beginning of the year, but we are not confident that the effort we put into supervising the homeschool is worth the microscopic bit of learning they are doing on home days. 

Fiona is primarily self-sufficient with her school work. She has to do a lot of reading, which she is not sad about. She has to do a math worksheet, which she not thrilled about, but mostly manages. She has to work on her public speaking skills, which are going to send her completely over the edge. In two weeks, she has to read a poem in front of her class, so we are practicing it at home to prepare her. It is currently the depths of drama, but I'm hopeful that with practice, she will become more confident.

Quinn is primarily self-sufficient - when she wants to be. She loves her math assignments. She does not appreciate that I push her on her writing assignments because I know she can do better. Or that I make her edit her writing after a mini-lesson (like what it means to "summarize" the reading). We are still working to find the books that will grab her attention, but she doesn't fight me on reading time. It's just not her favorite. 

Declan is doing his work with a great attitude. It's just simply not challenging him enough - and he wants more. One thing he is enjoying very much are his new-found reading skills. He is burning through Fiona's stash of graphic novels at a rapid pace. He's read all the Babysitter's Club books, and now is thoroughly enjoying the adventures of Dog Man. D's reading and comprehension are top notch - but his reading "in his head" skills are crap. So everyone here gets to listen to whatever his book of the moment is. I don't think he knows it, but he does voices while he reads. It's my favorite!

We are in the final days of what has felt like a full-court sports sprint. Last week, Quinn went straight to hockey from soccer on Thursday night, did the same on Saturday, and then played hockey again on Sunday. She was extremely happy - but so worn out from it all. Tuesday nights are tricky, especially weeks when they go to school on Tuesdays (like tomorrow). Dec and Mike have soccer at 5:30 and Fiona has piano at 6:30. So I will make a dinner for Fiona and me that can stay warm enough for Dec and Mike to eat it when they get home around 6:40. Quinn either stays with F and me - or goes to soccer to run around with some girlfriends. And Saturday mornings are typically spent sweating or freezing to death at the soccer fields.

We are so grateful that everyone has a few normal activities and outlets for energy and creativity. But Q and D are looking forward to a week (plus a few days) of reset before the regular hockey season starts. We have one more day of school this week, and then it is fall break. We won't be camping like we usually do, but Mike and I are working on a few plans to make it special for the gang. Same, but different. A break in the boredom. Some downtime to the busy. Current family mottos.

"Big" News

Fiona had her ten-year well check yesterday. Conversations about puberty aside (I can't. Already? What?!?! How? Help!), it was a great appointment. 

Do you guys remember how we've been clinging to the basement of the growth chart at fractions of one percent? Or us going to several endocrinology appointments where they tested and poked and prodded and measured her to make sure she was growing?

You guys, Miss Fiona Grace Vanneste was 9.33% on the height chart! I'm in marketing and almost always round up ... which means 10 percent! Double digits, just like her age. This is BIG news (see what I did there?)! Our doctor, Fiona, and I all cheered wildly when we looked at the chart. Our pediatrician's resident probably thought we were all crazy. I guess I have to thank puberty, since it delivered this spectacular growth spurt.

Official 10 year stats are ... 51" inches tall (9.33%. Up four plus inches from last year!!) and 54.6 lbs (4.7% - and probably the last year I'll publish her actual weight). She is wonderfully healthy and solidly the current tallest Vanneste kid. 

2020: A Study of Vanneste Social Tendencies

Retreating fully from social interaction for three months and then very (very) slowly and cautiously expanding our bubble has been an interesting study in the social requirements of the five people in this house. A few hypotheses were disproven and there were some surprising results.

Mike: Many people think Mike is the introvert of our marriage. These people would be wrong. My sister once told us that Mike is an introverted extrovert - and Auntie would be correct. As the days and weeks of social deprivation dragged on, Mike got really restless. He needed out and he needed people. He was so excited to go back into the theater. He is the one who insists that we wander across the street for a driveway drink with the neighbors. And Mike is now taking on extra coaching shifts at the hockey rink. I think he just really enjoys the socialization (he says he just wants to skate). While he still doesn't like big groups, bits and glimmers of human interaction have been game-changing for him in the last few months.

Me: So yeah, if you thought I was the extrovert of our marriage, you would also be wrong. Emmy decided that I was an extroverted introvert. While she is correct on that assessment, I think the introvert part grew in spades during lockdown. As the weeks went on, I found that I probably didn't ever need to leave the house to see people again. Just my solo morning run and I was good! I was not thrilled to go back to the office. And while I do enjoy seeing my colleagues, it requires a great deal of energy to interact all day. I'm making a conscious effort to actually see people in person (from a distance) to build back that extrovert tolerance. 

Fiona: Fiona's bubbly vivacious personality ... yep, disguises a full-on introvert. She is struggling even more than me with how to interact with people again. I suspect that was part of the problem over her birthday weekend - she was simply overwhelmed by socializing with people. This summer, we noticed her taking breaks from playing outside with her friends by coming in for some quiet time with a book, her barbies, or an art project. She simply needs that quiet time to recharge. She enjoys people (moreso in small groups), but also needs to rebuild those social muscles.

Quinn: She who acts like she doesn't like people ... extrovert like her dad. It was harder to see the need in Q this summer. She's our duck - calm above the water, while paddling madly underneath. Going back to school has restored a light in Quinn that has been dimmed for months. That light has been flamed by the return to sports. She is so darn happy right now. She played back-to-back soccer/hockey on Thursday, again on Saturday, and then hockey again today. She was so tired she could hardly move. And yet beyond thrilled about it! When I picked her up at the rink today, she chattered at me all the way home. Quinn does not chatter! She desperately needed the return to hints of normal.

Declan: In the least surprising news ever, Declan is an extrovert. He has missed his buddies terribly since school shut down. And while the neighbor boys have been kind, they are older than him and are generally interested in different things. Getting back to school and seeing his boys again makes him so happy. Dec is also a social learner, so he does much better being IN school. Distance learning does not motivate him, but in-person gives him joy and energy. We had one of D's little buddies over today for some driveway roller hockey and it was the very best thing for him.

So there you go ... my non-professional assessment of our 2020 selves.

Hiking Adventure at Banning State Park

Last Friday, the kids were off of school (you know, because going to school every other day is really taxing). I was also taking the day off of work. Since we have spent so many days home together, we all wanted to go somewhere. I cooked up a plan to take the kids hiking at Banning State Park. We explored it last fall and really enjoyed it. Plus it's less than a two hour drive from here, so felt manageable for a day trip.

Then I did math and realized that I have three kids. Mike had to work and wasn't going to be able to join us. I'm a pro at zone coverage, but rock climbing on river bluffs with only one adult did not feel like the best ratio. So I called in reinforcements named Gma and Gpa! Banning is almost exactly in the middle - so just under a two hour drive for them too. I'll be honest, it was not hard to sell the plan!

Friday morning found the kids and me packing all varieties of clothes (fall in Minnesota is quite unpredictable) and a picnic lunch. We were out the door and on the road by 9:30, just slightly later than I had hoped. There was so much road construction in the cities that the first hour of the road trip was very stressful for me. The three people watching Newsies in the back seat seemed perfectly relaxed. The second half of the drive was so easy in comparison. At least for one of us. 

We got there about five minutes before my parents and had to park in the overflow parking lot. The main lot - to our surprise - was already full. Once Gma and Gpa arrived, we grabbed our coolers, wandered over to the picnic area, and ate lunch. We also made a huge dent on the cookies Gma brought! It was noticeably colder than it had been at home, and after lunch Q and D decided they wanted pants and sweatshirts. I stood by the car for a couple minutes assessing my bottoms choices, but ended up sticking with the shorts. 

Folks got changed, we packed the hiking backpack, and hit the trail. Or more accurately, Gma and Gpa hit the trail. The kids' favorite way to hike a trail is to hike "off trail." Ten minutes into the hike, I was wondering if I had brought three kids - or three mountain goats. However, sticking with the shorts was the right choice. I was definitely no longer cold! 

We were up and down the rocks, finding all the best non-trail trails. Gma and Gpa came down at times, when there was a good route to us, or followed on the actual trail above us. At one point, my dad teased me that they had gone 100 yards and I retorted that I had gone 2 miles. The kids were taking a much less optimized route. Interestingly enough, according to my fitness watch, my heart rate was lower scaling rocks than driving through that stupid road construction. 

We hiked in for about an hour and half, and had the best time - minus the stern lecture that Grandpa and I gave about not messing around so close to the bluff edges. And what would happen if they fell 30+ feet to the rocks below. They are not used to stern talkings to from Grandpa, so it actually sunk in. So you know I didn't exaggerate (too much), the 90 minute hike in took us 25 minutes to hike out when we just followed the regular trail. The kids were ti.red, but so happy with the day's adventure. The walk back was definitely quieter and less rigorous from a rock scaling perspective. 

After a couple more cookies and big hugs from Gma and Gpa, we loaded up for home. Just as we pulled on the freeway, it started to sprinkle - so our timing was perfect. Traffic was not too bad on the way back (we were going through the cities during rush hour) and we took a different route home. My heart rate was much happier. We got home just before 5:00 and Mike was glad to see us. I announced we were ordering pizza for dinner. I was worn out from all that mountain goat activity as well.

It was such a lovely way to start our long weekend. The fall colors were spectacular, the company was superb, and it was just plain fun. We are hoping to maybe squeeze one more trip in before winter - since our weekends are less busy than they typically are. Do you think I can convince Gma and Gpa to meet us again? I am for sure bringing Papa Goat along next time!*

*Most common conversation of the whole day ...

Gpa: Sar, where are you going?

Me: I don't know. I'm just following Quinn.