Family Vacation Time During the Pandemic

 

Disclosure: I was sent this puzzle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It has been a tough year for everyone. Our world shut down during Hazel's new school's spring break last year. It was such a strange time. We didn't know what was coming. Here in Massachusetts at least things are far from normal. Businesses are opening up again but masks are mandatory in public. We have been lucky. Hazel's school has been open this school year. We have the choice to keep her remote whenever we want to but can send her in most of the time. The school goes remote after vacation weeks so it enforces self quarantines for people who have traveled. It truly amazes me when I look on Facebook and see friends all across the country traveling and going out socially. The idea of stepping on an airplane right now or eating in a restaurant scares me. Yet I know there are people who do it all the time and I'm friends and/or related to some of them. We have not left Massachusetts since our trip to Disney in February 2020. We are very lucky though that my family has a house on Cape Cod and we have gotten away there including this spring break. Hazel has been off the past two weeks for spring break and this past week we headed to Cape Cod to spend time as a family, get a change of scenery and see my parents. Since Steve is working from home he needed a change of scenery as well as some time off. Have you traveled during this pandemic?

We stayed at our family house on Cape Cod. My parents live in a condo less than a mile away from it so we see them while we are there and help my mother care for my father who has Alzheimer's. The pandemic has truly affected them. With the loss of my father's day program and routine his Alzheimer's has gotten much worse. My mother being an extravert has not handled social distancing well. Since they are both in their eighties we have not let them do too much on their own. My sister goes to the Cape every weekend to do their grocery shopping and give my mother a break. My week included taking my mother to one of her doctor appointments while Steve watched my father. While I am there I take on the meal preps for dinner for all of us to take something off my mother's responsibilities. So it is a vacation but not really one for me. While I was off taking my mom, Hazel pulled out the puzzle I brought for us to work on. She sorted the pieces and got it started. I worked on it when I came back. It is the Tokyo Skyline 1000 Piece Puzzle. 

Hazel started it on Wednesday. My mother helped a bit and Hazel and I worked on it together. By Friday we had it looking like this.

Then Friday night I finished it as the family watched one of the Harry Potter movies. My mother asked Hazel to watch the Harry Potter series with her, so that was our nightly activity. I put the last piece in as the movie finished so it was perfect!

The puzzle was a fun one. It has difficult sections like the sky and water but it goes together pretty easily. For quite awhile we thought we were missing an edge piece but once we got the interior pieces around the area we realized the pieces did fit together. It was also very doable in a few days which makes it perfect for a vacation puzzle. 

Besides working on the puzzle we also walked on the beach. Thursday the weather was a bit nicer than it had been so Hazel and I headed over to the ocean side beach. The house is closer to the Cape Cod Bay side. The ocean side has more waves and bigger ones.

Hazel and I had a short walk on the beach and I gathered some rocks and shells. I hope to make some craft with them as well as add some to our collection. A friendly dog came over to us. His owners tried to keep him away but he was determined to say hi and didn't want to leave us. It was sweet. Otherwise the other people on the beach were about quarter mile away so we were all social distancing. Hazel and I did take a selfie and we wore our masks although most people did not since we were spread so far apart.

Hazel needed some new sneakers so I forced her to go to a store with me. She hates going out in public during the pandemic. The stores however are less crowded on Cape Cod during the off season than at home so it was the best place to have her go to try on shoes. After a little shopping we were also able to visit with a friend and her dog. Her dog, Indy, loves Hazel. They stopped by for a short visit.

Steve only stayed with us until Thursday night. My sister came Thursday night for her weekend there. Hazel and I stayed until Saturday afternoon. Besides these few outings most of our time was spent with family and relaxing at the house. It was truly a perfect pandemic vacation. I feel like everyone is more stressed and tired during all of this. Do you get that feeling too? Now that we are back I will get back to writing some more posts!