Abnormal Normal

Posted on by Caroline
When I wrote the tagline for our new blog, "Adventures in Our New Life", these were not the adventures I was planning on. Soon we'll pass the break-even point, when we'll have spent more time in quarantine in our new house then we've spent not in quarantine. And so it shouldn't be a surprise that our new abnormal reality is starting to feel startlingly…. normal. We’re settling in. Of course, we get stir crazy. But oddly, life within these walls feels so routine, even as life outside them is less and less recognizable. But within these walls, we’re doing our best to continue to find adventure and moments of happiness. A week ago the kids found a caterpillar and put...Read More

In My Head

Posted on by Caroline
I had been doing really well about keeping my equanimity. Keeping informed. Worried but not anxious. Until a couple days ago. For whatever reason, all of my mental stability stopped feeling... stable. Suddenly. I started imaging all the worst outcomes and they kept swirling in an endless loop. I just couldn't get out of my head. I couldn't sleep. Even though we've been spending every-single-second-of-every-single-day together as a family, I wasn't present for my kids and Tim. I was too absorbed in all the dire future possibilities that I just wasn't present in the now. The thing is, I think it finally hit me that when life resumes after the coronavirus, the world will be a changed place. I'd like...Read More

A Crash Course in Homeschooling

Posted on by Caroline
I think we can safely say that we’re in strange, strange times. Millions of Americans are suddenly having to contemplate how to educate their kids at home. And many are also simultaneously trying to figure out how to work remotely. It’s a recipe for anxiety and confusion. Our family has been homeschooling now for all of two months. So in many ways, I’m exactly the wrong person to be writing a crash course in homeschooling - there are many parents out there who have been doing this for decades, and are homeschooling experts. But in many other ways, I’m exactly the right person. It’s a recent transition for us, and I’m right in the middle of figuring all this out...Read More

Oasis

Posted on by Caroline
I doubt I’m the only one, but the constant stream of contradictory news about the coronavirus has left me fatigued and off-kilter. On the flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, we heard the news that the president had declared a state of emergency and that our old school district had canceled classes for the next four weeks. Facebook has exploded with crazy debates about exactly how worried we should all be and my normal outlets of reliable news don’t seem to be any more certain about what we should do or what to expect in the next few weeks. The world feels topsy-turvy to me right now. So, in addition to the usual haze of travel, I was pretty preoccupied...Read More

In the Air

Posted on by Caroline
Amelia and Duke and I are currently in the air, about two hours from Honolulu. We’re on our way to go visit my parents for close to a week. The main agenda item is to visit with Grandy and Opa. While it hasn’t actually been that long since we saw them at Christmas, living halfway around the world has made it feel like longer. We’ll also do a little bit of shopping while we’re there and remind ourselves that some parts of the world aren’t perpetually 85 degrees. After we leave Denver, we’ll head back to Davis for a few days. We have some doctors and dentist appointments that we’d like to keep, and I’m heading into the office for...Read More

Rhythms of Our New Life

Posted on by Caroline
We have never been creatures of habit. I’ve always marveled at and admired the kind of people who set a daily schedule for themselves and their family and then stick to it every day. Even when my life should have been very routine, I always ended up going to bed at a different time every night or packing a different lunch every day or driving a different way to work. But still. Before we moved, the kids and I had work or school every weekday and our lives were filled enough that we inevitably fell into a schedule. But in our new life, everything seems to be up for grabs. Every month when Tim gets his schedule for the next...Read More

A Quick Trip to Osaka

Posted on by Caroline
I’m behind on posting this, so I’m going to focus mostly on the pictures. We loved our trip to Osaka. We stayed in a ryokan within minutes of Dotonbori - an area known for street food and neon lights. A ryokan is a Japanese style inn with tatami mats, futons and onsen baths, and the kids love them. Osaka has an air of goofy exuberance that made it a really fun visit, at least when viewed through the lens of the hustle and bustle of Dotonbori. Nara was also a blast. Watching the tourists (including us) feed the deer, and getting harassed by them was one of the funniest things I’ve seen. There are signs at the entrances to the...Read More

Osaka

Posted on by Caroline
Right now, we’re about 40,000 ft above the Pacific Ocean, on our way to Osaka. I had imagined that before this trip, I would have researched the history of Osaka. Learned about the local architecture. Looked up the best restaurants for okonomiyaki. Found the best kid-friendly attractions. But it’s been a crazy week. Last Friday, they dropped off all our household goods at our new house (yay!). On Saturday, Duke and I were diagnosed with strep throat (boo!). On Sunday, Amelia came down with strep (boo!). On Monday, we checked out of the hotel (thank goodness we had the hotel for a few extra nights!). Our house is still buried in boxes, and I don’t know where anything is, but...Read More

Why Homeschool?

Posted on by Caroline
Before we left Davis, we got a lot of questions about why we decided to homeschool and how we would know if we’re doing it right. Homeschooling has gotten a lot more mainstream in the last decade, but it’s still a relatively unusual decision. In these first few months that we’re in Guam, the decision to homeschool has largely been a pragmatic decision. When we were first exploring the possibility of coming here, we had a hard time evaluating the local schools from a distance. We were also moving in the middle of the school year. We decided to buy ourselves some time by homeschooling for the rest of this academic year. Hopefully, by the beginning of summer, we’ll know...Read More

Coconut Experiment

Posted on by Caroline
[modula id="212"] We've been obsessed with coconuts.  We just can't get over the idea that they're everywhere.  Everywhere. The welcome packet we got when we were first assigned here included a warning not to park our car under a coconut tree, or else you may get unwanted dents.  It may be my favorite piece of advice before moving to a new place. The Polynesian Dance performance at our hotel includes a demonstration of how to crack a coconut and get the juice and the milk out of the coconut. Within about 90 seconds, they go from intact coconut to husked coconut.  They make it look so easy.  As we've walked around and driven the island, coconuts are just laying on...Read More