Make a Cake Topper

My daughter turned two years old last week. We had to cancel her first birthday party last year due to the California COVID-19 restrictions that went into effect four days before her birthday. Half of her life has been under a pandemic. She hasn’t seen strangers without a mask, attended any social gatherings or hugged...

Fill Out a Bracket or Two

My oldest son is expressing lots of interests in sports right now. He has only taken small group soccer lessons in the Bay Area that he complained about every week. Due to the pandemic, we haven't done any organized sports since we moved to Hawaii, which is too bad because I think he would really...

Commemorate One Year of Social Distancing

On March 16, 2020, Santa Clara County, along with six other Bay Area jurisdictions, became the first region in the U.S. to order residents to stay at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When I started this blog, I honestly thought it was going to be a three week pop-up blog. I thought that once...

Go to the Library

We used to go to the library a lot in the Bay Area during the winter time because the playgrounds would be wet and cold. Our local library in Hawaii opened back up this past November with new COVID guidelines but we didn't made a trip until recently. My oldest son is learning about whales...

Play with Face Shields

After my in-laws got their second COVID-19 vaccination a few weeks ago, they got a couple of face shields and a button that read "#VaccinatedatCastle". I promptly threw the button into our COVID-19 time capsule and put the shields on a random shelf. I found the shields this past weekend and gave them to the...

Watch a Rover Land on Mars

Back in July 2020, we watched NASA launch a rocket to take the Perseverance Rover into space. The rover landed on Mars today and it was fascinating to watch. You can't see the actual landing but NASA made simulations and gives the play by play of what was happening. When the rover finally touched down...

Make Valentines

I was at Target one day and I saw these tiny Valentine's Day cards in their $1 bin. One package of 24 cards and 24 erasers for $1! For $2, I could have been done with Valentine's Day for both boys. I carried them all throughout the store and then decided to put them back...

Make Music Shakers

Over winter break my sister-in-laws were in town and took it upon themselves to clean out my mother-in-law's pantry. They found two one-pound bags of coffee we had left there in 2016. We deemed the coffee too old to consume, but just as my husband was about to toss them in the trashcan, I said,...

Make Homemade Cards

This past week, we celebrated the fifth and final family member's birthday during stay-at-home orders. My husband has always appreciated thoughtful, heartfelt cards so I asked 50 of his closest friends and family members to send him a birthday card. The kids made hand print cards of their favorite sport to play with their dad....

Go for a Hike

My oldest son is learning about whales at school. Usually their class would take a field trip to the most eastern point of Oahu to hike Makapu'u Point Lighthouse trail to look for migrating whales. This year, due to COVID-19, the teachers asked us to hike the trail and watch for whales as a family...