Happy Birthday Grandma - Day 41

We woke up today hoping to go take dessert to Grandma for her birthday. Thankfully, the weather cooperated and we were able to head down to sing Happy Birthday and give Grandma her cheesecake from Steve Buresh's Cheesecake Store & Sandwich Shop in Plainfield. They make sugar free cheesecake that is delicious.

I started the day with online teaching. The kids did morning jobs and some reading while I did my 30 minutes of exercise. Brayden finished up his AP Language homework and then we headed out. We took our lunch and played outside with Grandma and Papa for the afternoon. We brought a snack and cheesecake to eat outside to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

The kids had a ball playing outside on 4-wheelers helping cut down a dead tree, and even shooting a little. It is so nice to see them all smile. I know we wear out Grandma and Papa too. I was able to dig up some strawberry plants to plant at my house, as well as split some hostas to bring home. I am so impressed with what my parents have been able to get done outside. They have been working on flower beds and getting weeds pulled and everything cleaned up for spring. They have done a great job.

We headed home in time for me to get on my zoom call with all our student teachers. They are so inspiring to watch them handle all the uncertainty with grace. I have all seniors and graduate students and they are faced with so many changes; shortened student teaching, testing uncertainty, licensure questions, missed graduation, and now looking for a job during all of this. I truly could not be more proud of them.

We had pork steaks for dinner with baked beans and Brussels sprouts. It was a quick and easy dinner. Then Josh and I settled in and watched some fun TV. We have been day dreaming out our July trip to Utah. We are still hoping and praying we will be able to do our National Park trip. Now with our other trip pretty much cancelled, we are thinking about hitting a couple National Parks on the way to and from Utah. Tonight we did a little looking at Mesa Verde National Park, Great Sand Dunes NP, and Grand Canyon. The one thing that helps us is that we will ONLY be in our own Airstream and will be outside hiking NOT in public, enclosed spaces. Only time will tell, but we are still hopeful. Dreaming is what helps keep our sanity. Here's to hopin' and dreamin'.