Spoilt..not much!

Indi's life is so hard at the moment. Lots of people at home during the day; several walks each day; loads of cuddles and pats!! Gosh she is going to get a shock when (if) this lockdown finishes.

Lockdown Extended

Unfortunately the number of covid 19 positive cases have continued to rise despite the week long stay at home restrictions. Now there are just over 150 people in Canberra with covid and lockdown has been extended until 2nd September.

Formal schooling has begun for Katy which keeps her occupied until lunchtime. Ella also has had more formal contact time with her teachers and subjects although the bulk of her work is self directed. Andy's days in his words have been filled with 'way too many zoom meetings!' Work for me is business as normal.

Obviously in between all this, we've had lots of spare time. There has been a sharp increase in screen time but also - 

lemon harvesting and baking

 Yummy lemon slice

general baking - slow cooked meals with fresh bread, orange and poppyseed cake, pavlova

update of the Nandies banner for this website (I hope you noticed!!)

It was...

and is now..

completion of 2019 and 2020 photobooks

Ella decided on renovating her room - removing her built in desk / boxes; patching, painting and reorganising her furniture. As we are unable to visit Bunnings to get new paint, Ella's options were limited. She painted her big, what was a coral colour wall to Berkshire White (as we had the most of that paint). She decided on painting her small coral wall and her door (!)  Norwegian Spruce (the colour of our bedroom feature wall). Of course this was all done while I was at work and Andy was busy on zoom calls. More photos to come...

Ella also has been doing many sewing projects - mainly altering clothing like this one - the dress she wore to her Year 6 graduation. She changed the straps to a halter neck.

Katy is usually first up waking to her alarm at the crack of dawn. Linking up online with one or two friends, they complete a morning workout together then proceed to make a fruit smoothie for breakfast before school begins!

Katy has been spoiling Indi who just laps up the attention as well as building multiple cubby houses. I think since lockdown has started Katy has not slept in her room but inside her cubby house!

Coping with Stay at Home Conditions

Covid in Canberra quickly spread. The number of exposure sites were increasing. We were unsure what the future held for us. Testing facilities were becoming overloaded. 

Andy was busy with his work. Ella had a bit of school work to do, while Katy didn't really have much school work to do. Her formal home schooling would begin at the end of the week. Despite being on annual leave, I was asked (and more than happy to) fill in for a work colleague who was affected by our 'new' normal! I ended up 3 days during the week. 

So for the many in-between times we kept busy by gardening

homemade ice cream complete with hot chocolate fudge sauce

multiple pasta making sessions

dreaming of new garage / mudroom renovation

baking - lemon yoghurt cake, meringues and lemon curd

goofing around with Indi

Surprise Lockdown

A covid case has popped up in Canberra! It was only a matter of time really with the situation escalating in Sydney.  Lockdown was swiftly announced with restrictions coming into effect at 5pm. Our annual ski trip was now officially cancelled although Andy was holding out hope that the 7 day restrictions would lift and we could go up for a few days.

So we were back to stay at home restrictions only leaving for food and an hour of exercise. Over the weekend we made a permanent Indi proof pond covering from the old veggie gate, random piece of wire and a few planks of deck wood. We also cleaned the pond and found Tiger Lily was still going strong! Aoife's fish Pumpkin decided to take up residence with Tiger Lily. Pumpkin has adjusted well and they look like they are now great friends.

 

Return to Normal #2

QLD lockdown was lifted on Sunday evening and we all rejoiced enjoying our freedom once again!! Extra curricular activities were back on. Ella was able to have her 6 month post surgery MRI in preparation for the appointment with her surgeon later in the week. And I was back at work.

Our minds had started to think about our up coming annual ski trip. Plans were to leave on Sunday for a week and we were all very excited to be hanging out with family (Susie, Patrick and kids, Cathy and kids) and friends (Al, Rob and kids plus first timer lodge members Cath and Aoife!)

I was very worried about the potential covid exposure impacting on my work again. As a family we'd talked about this very real situation and decided to assess the situation closer to our departure date.

And the Woes Keep Continuing

Everyone was happy to get back into 'routine' - school, work and extra curricula activities. The girls were excited to reconnect with their friends again. Meanwhile the world however was planning another path for us. 

Saturday dawned. It was the usual netball shuffle between Ella and Katy's games. Andy, worried the covid situation in NSW was heading into disaster, had convinced Rob to accompany him to the lodge for the night so they could get in some skiing. Arriving at Guthega at about 1pm, they managed to sneak in a few hours of skiing before the lifts closed at 4.30pm.

It was while I was cooking dinner for the girls that I noticed that QLD had announced it was going into a 3 day lockdown. A few hours later, ACT announced stay at home conditions for those who were in the identified LGA's areas of risk. Unfortunately our missed Canberra connection flight involved staying for a 12 hour stopover the the City of Brisbane during the dates specified.

Katy was completely devastated to miss out on her gym competition scheduled for the next morning. For Andy and Rob, it meant they had to leave the lodge as soon as possible. They arrived back in the ACT at 11pm.

We spent Sunday trying to figure out what stay at home conditions meant.  We were now home bound for 3 days only allowed to leave (with a mask on) for one of the 5 identified purposes including 1 hour of exercise.

Despite being in a geographical area of risk we were not encouraged or entitled to have a covid test. One needed to have symptoms. Both Andy and I suddenly developed a 'sore throat' and took ourselves off to the covid drive through testing facility at EPIC. The line was long and we slowly inched forward eventually having our throats and noses prodded and scraped some 45 minutes later.

On Monday morning, we informed the girls schools our our predicament and they wanted the girls to return to school (education was one of the 5 reasons you were allowed to leave the house for). Ella was keen to return to school but that meant wearing a mask while there. Meanwhile Katy who could go to school as per normal (no mask required) revealed she wasn't feeling very well with a sore throat. So off to EPIC we went for her to have a covid test. The line was much longer and we spent 2.5 hours inching our way forward.

During the day it was announced that the QLD lockdown would continue for another 7 days!! So I spent the morning rescheduling the multiple medical appointments we had for this week - my skin check, MRI for Ella and orthodontic consults for both girls.

Andy had quickly flipped to working from home and was busy with zoom meetings and lectures. As for my work, Tuesday's list had been rescheduled and I'd assumed I would return on Wednesday in a mask being an essential health care worker. However as the day unfolded, work called and they were concerned about the covid guidelines. A quick call to the hotline revealed that my work qualified as a high risk setting - my workplace meets the criteria for a high risk setting as we see people who are vulnerable (pregnant ladies) to covid-19 and we are at a a higher risk of covid-19 transmission due to the close proximity with patients. In short I would not be able to work until 14 days had elapsed (counting from when we were in QLD) or the lockdown was lifted!! Ahh.....

The week continued to surprise us - my Mum had her heart procedure to correct the atrial fibrillation and Andy's dad unfortunately fell over at lunchtime orienteering and dislocated his knee. Frustratingly being under stay at home conditions we were unable to help out.

The days ticked by - the girls attended school each day; Andy retreated to the front room to work; I potted around the house doing any job I could find and dinner was on the table much earlier than usual! I was very grateful to have Indi to take out on my run each day in the sunshine!