The Blog

It was a really beautiful day today, so far as days in early April are concerned. The sun was shining, the ground was mostly dry after a dry winter and not-too-wet spring so far, and the temperatures were expected to rise to low-60s. Austin and Victoria were still an an extended spring break and it was time to get them outside. Neither of them were eager to leave the house. I would have been nice to take them to Sterling to walk the shore of Lake Ontario and walk through the trails there, but there wasn’t enough time to spend a useless 2 hours in the car commuting to and from, so Keith elected to try some of the trails near Cazenovia, changing it up from the usual walk around Green Lakes. In an effort to further increase their interest in leaving the house, the kids were offered a lunch […]

Well, kind of. We still woke up and the kids had their easter egg hunt. We still had a family breakfast. We are still visiting Grandma and Grandpa for dinner. But much like last year, and unlike any year before the last, COVID-19 is still a thing. Things are getting better locally, though. Onondaga County has the 2nd lowest positive test rate in the state and 50% of eligible adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Still, numbers continue to climb and we remain vigilant, although with less concern than before: Keith has been fully vaccinated since January, Christine and Peggy since February, and Kevin, Grandma and Grandpa since March. Technically, Grandpa still has one more dose of his mRNA vaccine, but reports are starting to show that the vaccine is 80% effective 2 weeks after the first dose, so Grandpa’s immune response might be more robust […]

Things are supposed to get harder and more difficult as you get older, but not this much harder and certainly not this quickly. The pandemic has certainly made the last year a challenging one for you. Still – you have grown so much, in spite of the adversity. You have missed your friends. You have missed your teachers. You have missed Tae Kwon Do. You have missed swimming lessons. You have missed the hugs. You have missed so, so much … and you smile. You laugh. You work hard on your studies. You are kind. You are authentic. You are nothing short of amazing … and we are so, so proud of you. Happy birthday, Victoria, my favorite girl in the whole wide world.

It is our new half-family tradition … when Victoria is in Waterville on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Austin likes to watch DVDs of Doctor Who. A multi-season DVD set was gifted to him a Christmas from Uncle Kevin, Aunt Peggy, and Lia (who has taken to watching episodes every Friday with her family and can talk about the characters and stories with Austin). We would watch them when Victoria is home, but she says that she hates the show, so we are left to watch the episodes when she is absent. It is good clean fun and leans into Keith’s tastes as well as Austin’s … Christine watches it too, but wonders why the boys don’t get bored of watching a formulaic television series. The boys, in turn, don’t point out the same in her favored reality television fare.

Christine has landed her dream job. This morning, after nearly 20 years of physical therapy practice working in clinics, and homes, and day-cares, and schools … finally, Christine was offered the opportunity to become a direct-hire physical therapist for a local district: Onondaga Central Schools (OCS). She gladly accepted. For the last few years, she has served as a part-time, contracted physical therapist for the district while sharing responsibilities with another physical therapist who sub-contracted from another nearby district (Skaneateles). With the retirement of that other therapist, OCS elected to create a full time physical therapy position. Christine jumped at the chance to interview for the position – one that she was already working in a part-time capacity. The process didn’t come without its stress or anxiety. The district did its due diligence and interviewed multiple candidates, first with the director of special education, then with the school superintendent. Christine […]

Snowshoeing opportunities have been a challenge for the family until now. Christine had 2-3 chances last year to use hers … a few times this year as well. Keith has owned his for 1.5 seasons, and the circumstances and weather had conspired against him since acquiring his own shoes. The kids hadn’t used theirs outside of the yard since they received theirs for Christmas. But today? Today, all that changed. We finally had enough snow (on a weekend!) that warranted the use of the shoes and the winds weren’t so cold that it would be a miserable experience. Christine has run earlier in the morning and lunch was a bit later than usual, so when we were deciding where to go, we needed to select a place that was nearby (there was only 2.5 hours of daylight remaining), wasn’t a boring out-and-back, and that wasn’t going to be so packed […]

When Austin was a wee-tot, he and Keith would go for a walk with Harvey and then meet up with Christine for donuts after she exercised or went to mass.  When Austin was a little older, he would go to church-school. Still Victoria would accompany Keith and Harvey on a morning stroll and then meet Christine and Austin for donuts after they were done with church. Then, when both kids were going to church, Keith would meet up with the family after they were finished. Christine and Austin would eat a muffin or bagel sandwich, Victoria and Keith would still eat donuts. Sometimes – if the weather permitted – everyone would eat outside, and Adeline would join in. When COVID hit, Keith tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy, bringing home Entenmann’s donuts for the family to eat every Sunday. Christine didn’t like the donuts, but Keith refused to bring […]

This morning, Christine took Austin and Victoria to TKD for the first time in a little over one month. Keith remained at home, intending to work on the family website a little bit and do some digital de-cluttering. Less than 15 minutes later, Christine was calling Keith to get him to hurry-up, grab the camera, get in the car, and drive to the dojang. The kids were testing. Both Austin and Victoria had (at minimum) began to complete their testing forms, so they knew they were close to testing, but neither was prepared to test today. Neither were Keith or Christine. Mr. Cooper, however, was ready. Both Austin and Victoria did great! This has been a trying 9 months of training for each of them, yet both Austin and Victoria have persevered and each have advanced twice since the beginning of the pandemic. They work hard 3 times per week, […]