The Hazard Chronicles

Well, these last few weeks have been very strange, but we have managed to fall into a sort of loose routine. I, for the most part, have become a stay-at-home dad, whereas Rach goes to work each day to at least keep us treading water, financially speaking. The kids are doing home school, and so far we have somehow managed to keep the house running just a small step above "Lord of the Flies" status.

As part of staying at home, I am keeping the house clean, going on daily outings, and trying my best to keep up with school for each of our 5 kids, who are all at different academic levels. Their teachers each sent home giant packets of worksheets along with pie-in-the-sky expectations of parents. I promptly took the 10% of the packets that looked useful for our kids and threw the busywork away. I also added a lot of my own content. Now, I don't want to put down the schools or anything, but I've got to say I am pretty confident that our kids will return to school far ahead (academically) of where they would have been had this whole virus thing never happened. I do a pretty good job.

And honestly, it sounds busier and harder than it actually is. We do school for 1-2 hours/day. The house stays nice. We eat nice meals together. We also get out and play a lot. In other words, we're kinda rockin' it. In spite of all this, there is still way more downtime than I know what to do with and I think I might die of boredom.

See, we are a family who runs. We are constantly on the move and "doing", and being still just doesn't fit well with our lifestyle. Personally, I have filled the time in with reading some of the more challenging books I set out to complete this year, working out in my shop, organizing the house, and practicing the guitar. I'm trying to stay productive. But I miss going to work. I miss my patients and my staff and doing dentistry. I miss climbing with friends, or just hanging out at the gym, or playing in the band. I miss watching the kids in their dance classes. I miss shaking people's hands. I miss entertaining at our house with barbecues and yard games. I miss the constant noise of the neighborhood kids playing together.

All over, I hear people trying to put positive spins on this whole situation, and I get it, I really do, but these attempts all seems so lame and empty. The fact is, life was just about perfect until this came along, and any positive outcomes, to me, are vastly overshadowed by all the great things that we can't have in our lives right now. I don't mean to be a downer, but really, I MISS "NORMAL."

Stupid virus.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Jackson's first lead. 5.8 sport.

Here he is near the top

At least Lindsey knows how to trust the rope!

A different hike (and swim) to an island. Burrr!

Home School

This is from a trip that just Rachel and I took (Thanks, Ev!). Here's Rachel on her first lead with traditional gear. She did great!

On this hike we saw a natural "cave" and decided to improve a little :)

Yet another hike. Jackson is channeling his inner peace.

Staying out. Staying busy. Staying away from other people.

People weren't built for social distancing, but we make the best out of it!

Have a good week!