While we were eating Thai food, Jeff was getting ready to pack up the apartment. I would send him pictures of the girls,
and he would send me pictures of boxes.
We made it through to the next Friday, and since the girls had done well with their school work we got a special dinner from Carlyle, including the steak Viv had been begging for.
While managing them on my own for two weeks had its tough parts, they are such good kids overall, that I really can't complain.
The Sunday before it was time to move into Mom and Dad's we got antsy and went for a walk,
all the way to their house, where we played on the grass outside.
Finally, HUG DAY arrived!
Hug day was also moving day for Judy, so we went to Mom and Dad's while movers came to Judy's apartment to move everything to her new house which luckily is not that far away. The girls and I weren't much help though, because we still had online school.
The last week of school in a regular year is always a bit rough, but it was especially hard to get a good sense of closure in this strange online year. The school put forth a great effort though. Elena's class worked on a personalized, loving thank you for her teachers.
She also had an online, end of year ceremony that Safta "attended" with her where she got the award for the most curious person in her class. This cracked us all up, because it was a great way to spin the endless questions she asks.
Vivian also had an eventful last week of school. She worked with two other students on an end of year media project that could draw from anything they had learned that year and needed to connect to current events. Her group decided to compare COVID-19 to the Black Death which they had studied in History class with me. Hers was definitely one of the best presentations.
On the last day of school there was an online ceremony for the middle school. There were some good speeches and lots of awards. Some awards were for the entire middle school and were non-academic, and the rest were best student per subject per grade. We are so proud of Vivian because she got the award for best performer for middle school and the award for best English student for her grade. Way to go Vivi!
In typical Vivian fashion, she celebrated by having a lunch of mac and cheese and Guarana while chatting online with her friends.
I had a social engagement as well. One of my friends from CGB was getting married online. I provided appropriately high class drinks and snacks for myself and settled in to watch.
As with all large online gatherings (and all in person weddings for that matter!), there were some technical difficulties and some unexpected delays, but when they said their vows to each other it was beautiful, and I had to shed to a tear.
With so much to celebrate, we decided to have a Friday night celebration at Judy's new house, and since she also had lovely new back patio furniture to go with her new house, we dined al fresco.
As a finishing treat, we walked down the street to Baskin Robbins and let the kids try out some of their 31 flavors.
The girls love spending time with my family, and I think it's really helping with all the craziness that the world is going through.
It has definitely helped with the mission of keeping the girls busy during the summer holidays. The first event was a visit to the Safta Salon. Vivi wanted to cut her hair short, which meant Elena wanted to cut her hair short too, and I was sick of dealing with all the tangles, so I gave the project my blessing and took photos.
Vivian wanted video too, so she employed Elena for that.
It was a lot of hair.
But the girls were happy with the results.
Viv and I took her new haircut for a spin and went to get smoothies at Robeks.
With their snazzy new haircuts, the girls were ready for some summer fun, and Mom and I had gotten them lots of things to keep them busy.
Even though the routine was going well, we still wanted a special highlight. Judy suggested Fancy Friday, which we all thought was a great idea, so we got out our fancy clothes.
The rest of June was really about keeping the girls busy. I took lots of pictures to send to Jeff, so that he would know that the girls were doing alright.
The pool near my parents' house opened with some conditions in place. They divided the pool into sections, and you could make a reservation for a section for an hour. The pool isn't usually crowded anyway, so this worked out really well for the girls.
Vivi was also excited to help out with cooking her favorite meal of shells and peas.
I had to keep her busy, otherwise I would find her doing things like making a blanket burrito out of her sister.
Luckily no damage was done.
At the end of June, Jeff got a humanitarian flight out of Colombia. He had to stay in a hotel, but it was such a relief to know that we were all in the same place. We had an Airbnb with a pool rented for July, so we finished up June knowing that family pool time was just ahead, and we had kept busy and relatively sane through the end of June.
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