The Jasons Great Outdoors

Thursday, April 9, 2020

What a long year this week has been...

WTF? Not even sure what to write about this whole thing. Seems I have no excuse for falling behind on the blog. I've just been soooo busy procrastinating and feeling entirely exhaustipated from all the NOTHING going on. At first we were like," OK. This is interesting. Let's do some family hikes and lots of outdoor adventure." Now the state parks are closed. So we're like, " What a great opportunity to get things accomplished around the house." But then you wake at 9, 10, (or 11 if you're Fiona) and realize that by the time you've eaten and dressed it's time to figure out what to make for dinner, and start washing up for bed. Seriously.
BUT before all the covid hit the fan...we were on a roll in this family. Fiona entered four pieces into a nation wide art competition and won two silver medals and one gold. Her gold then went on to win best in country. Yup. You read right. BEST IN COUNTRY! The award banquet for that was supposed to be at Carnegie Hall in NYC...but thanks to COVID it was canceled. Poor kid. They will mail her awards. How anti-climactic :(
The kids also participated in a climbing competition at their gym the Saturday before Maine shut down...and Ethan won the whole thing! It was a fabulous comp. that was very casual, with lots of kids helping each other solve the problems.
Since the lockdown we have climbed a mountain, walked the beach (before those places were off limits), watched some great movies, I highly recommend "The Shining" (some great quotes in there for those of you working from home and dealing with family members disturbing your concentration), taken lots of neighborhood walks, cooked creative meals, made tons of art projects, tossed many baseballs, lost our sh#* on each other, rough-housed, snuggled the dog until he growls at us, and pushed each others buttons. What will the next month hold? I don't dare guess.

Ethan and Beckett on Ethan's phone.

Fiona. The proud owner of a new phone. She only begged for two years...

Ethan and Beckett (back when kids could have friends over...).

Fiona and Pamela at Fiona's art opening. Pamela is a well-known local fiber artist who has taken Fiona under her wing.

I am so proud of this kid.

Ethan working on his win.

Fiona using her long legs.

My babies.

Ethan's winnings. A new water bottle (filled with Starburst), chalk bag, chalk and frisbee.

A beautiful spring walk up a mountain.

Cullen in his favorite place. His bed.

We had one good snow! Only lasted about a day.

Hot cocoa tailgate. Yes. We were sledding in the cemetery.

Fiona made these earrings!

Scott, at his "mega-desk" (little "Office" reference there)

This is a photo of Fiona's "Best in Country" award winning self portrait.

This dog LOVES ripping paper.

A neighbor was cleaning out her craft room and donated a million beads and jewelry accessories to us!

Here's what Cullen leaves behind after a good ripping session.

Oh Theo.

Fiona and I researched some new braiding techniques...cause you know, what the *#ck else is there to do?

An outing a few weeks ago, BEFORE beaches were closed.

Cold school day picnic to the Western Promenade.

A couple of my favorite head shots for Fiona's award show. They will still have a live online version in June.

And here we are. Separate, but together.

All dolled up to go food shopping.

Henna.

Always creative.

We broke out some leftover sparklers from the summer. Killed about ten minutes the other night.

I swear to God it's gluten free, refined sugar free, and nut free!!! This may be the one good thing to come out of this pandemic.

Ethan is creating a model of his ideal baseball stadium.

Here are the kids getting ready to participate in their online, live climbing practice. Crazy.

This face was staring at me the entire time I participated in my live online fitness class. Little disturbing.

Monday, March 2, 2020

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

It's been an exciting few weeks here. The month started with an enormous win!! Fiona won the lottery and got into Baxter Academy! What a sigh of relief! She will be going to high school next year, after being homeschooled for 5 years. Yikes! We had fallen in love with this amazing charter school on the tour, but didn't want to get too attached to the idea of going there due to the fact that it was a lottery. Yay! Life lesson. Sometimes all you have to do is show up and you win.
Scott also had a great victory!!! He has been training hard for Crash B's (an indoor rowing competition) for months now, and it paid off! Yesterday he came in second place in his age category! This is a big deal!
More winnings?? O.K. Fiona entered four pieces into an art contest, and three of them won medals! One gold and two silver! This Friday we head to her art opening, where all winning works from students around the state of Maine from 8th grade to senior, will have their work on display at the Maine College of Art.
February break was a blast. Cate and Cathy joined Ellie for two nights over the school vacation, making for a fun filled adventure. The kids enjoyed the freedom of walking the streets of Portland WITHOUT any adult supervision!!! And we enjoyed walking the streets WITHOUT any kids dragging us down! It was tough saying goodbye to Ellie after six nights, but my sister wanted her back, and I understand. Poor Meagan. We were having February vacation fun while she was sitting through huge lectures about lab equipment, and moving in large groups around a massive convention center in Florida.
I am relieved to hear some of the birds returning... A sign that no, winter doesn't actually go on forever.