Easter Weekend! It had to be a combo of work time for Catherine and family time for us all. Stage 1 of the weekend was shelter and fire building with the boys while Catherine put in a basement office shift. We geared up for the morning with winter gear because there was a good wind blowing despite the mercury rising above zero. loaded a sled, some easy trail grub, hatchet, and headed out. We went up to the windmills as our first location had another dog walker. When marching into the bush the cold was a bit more than was reasonable and the snow still too deep to manage effectively, so we observed some deer tracks and returned to the truck to head back. Back at Radar lake, our dog walking competition was gone and we were good to go on the isolation. We headed in and found a spot with some downed trees and a couple good spots to make a shelter. We chose a tree with a nice dry patch under it and began setting to work on a lean-to structure. By setting to work I mean, the dog disappeared, Russell raided the snacks, Dom started gathering souvenirs, Felix removed clothing, and Julian tried to help me reign it all in and actually build. We did get somewhere, and over the course of two hours managed to get the start of a shelter done and a mock-up of a fire. Task complete we headed for home and a warm lunch plus the familiar digital comforts of the pandemic.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Stage 2 of the weekend was Eggs-a-la-Mayer. The egg dying, competitive cracking eggstravaganza that now spans three provinces and was, for the first time, live streamed to other family participants! Keeping everyone’s hands from turning purple during the colouring of the eggs was a constant defensive struggle and only I ended up with green fingers. For the cracking competition, Dom had a veritable arsenal of eggs and won all his battles. Jules, Russ and Felix also had respectable victories. Catherine and I did most of the losing and therefore most of the eating (winning)! The eggs plus sauce toppings is a taste the boys are still acquiring.

Stage 3 was the competitive Easter Egg Hunt! With both an indoor and an outdoor phase, the hunters needed to be released in waves by age and experience. All Easter baskets were filled, many eggs held surprises from chocolate and one giant egg each even had a new outfit. The Easter Bunny having gone all out this year spreading pandemonium in our house! It took until about 3pm for the chocolate/candy bingefest to subside and then the goodies were actually not really revisited in earnest after that  (by the kids).

Stage 4 was getting my own haircut done, with a little help (err, cough) from Catherine. Managed to sort it out, though I am not sure how “can you do the hairline” was instantly converted to, “I see some long hairs you missed”. All told, I will be clarifying that I have changed the razor settings before inviting help back next time. To cap off the weekend and really the actual point of stage 4, we went on a family bike ride, first one of the season!

Bonus footage:

It has been a couple weeks, back to work, mid-pandemic, on the heels of a spring break shaped in the same way. At work I have seen the commitment of the educators around me to learning and developing a continued education program for their students. This is a herculean feat and as things change day to day with the dictates of the pandemic, the plane is truly being built in the sky. On the home front, attempting to home school the two oldest while keeping the two youngest at bay and entertained, while trying to work from home is an utterly impossible feat. Catherine attempted, we collectively lasted two days and then needed to bring the younger two to their daycare. Thankfully they are the only ones there. This situation is but a glimpse of the complications and stress added to our lives; I know that households throughout our network, family, and community have faced massive challenges and upheaval. It’s important to go easy on ourselves and know that we are not working remotely but trying to work from home during a crisis; we are not home schooling, we are trying to help our children learn something and have a sense of normalcy from home during a crisis; we are unsure, we are worried, we are stressed and we are trying our best.

Honestly, Catherine and I have been doing a pretty good job of forgiving one another for our stressed out moments and instances of disagreement. We don’t dwell, look for a laugh about it in order to move forward. I worry though that the stress builds up in the kids too. The feeling of being cooped up, the waning patience with one another in the house, it’s hard and you can only hope that the less than ideal parenting over this time does not have a lasting impact. Catherine and I go through all the ups and downs and we make sure the kids see the restoration from the downs so that they get a sense of how to cope together and be forgiving of one another. The long term impact of this situation will take some time to decode. We try and be flexible, recognizing our stress is theirs. Our solution is always more outside and put the devices down. Disconnect and connect.