The Horn Family

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Back to School Part 2 & Golf

Our school had been preparing for the children to come back on campus since the beginning of the summer, but the plans were derailed by government restrictions in the 11th hour. So they began the school year on zoom. The teachers carefully prepared the kids' work for pick up each week and taught full days online. It was incredible watching our teachers persevere and pour so much time, energy, thoughtful creativity and love into teaching the kiddos. Even though they couldn't be together, they still learned so much. It wasn't easy though, the screen fatigue was real and so was the isolation from friends. We were beyond grateful that the kids were back on campus the day that the government restrictions lifted, October 19th, 2020. There were stringent guidelines for mask wearing, health checks, drop off and pick up, lunch and recess procedures, classroom cohorts, spaced out desks, hand washing stations all over campus....So many changes, but the kids didn't complain at all. They were so flexible. A few weeks after we were back, we caught a bug and our whole crew had to stay home until our covid tests were complete (and negative!) and all symptoms had subsided. Keeping the school healthy and well and open was a top priority, and we were counting on everyone to do their part. We did distance learning after school breaks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, President's Weekend, Spring Break) with our ticket back on campus being proof of a negative COVID test. Thankfully, there was no instance of COVID transmission on campus between October and the end of the school year. God is so GOOD.

I love their beautiful & handsome faces!

They make masks look good!

Ice Cream at Foster's Freeze in Danville after a successful first day back!

Finally all 8 kiddos wear the same uniform!

Twinning!

Molly is my car companion.

Grammy and Poppy gifted the twins and Hailey golf lessons! One activity that was available during the pandemic.

Monday, October 19, 2020

Tahoe Getaway

After talking to a couple of friends about the restoring power of a get-away, I rallied our troops for a very last minute trip to Tahoe before the kiddos went back to in-person school. Luckily, we were able to book a pet-friendly cabin in Truckee with only two days lead time. With zero plans, we jumped into the car on Friday excited for our change of scenery. We stopped at Nick's office in Sacramento on the way and were able to see where he does business and meet some of his colleagues. While we were there, we went on a fantastic hike. We identified everyone's hiking strengths: Emmy was our Photographer, James was our Trail Blazer, Juj was our Encourager, Hannah attacked the trail with ferocity (and also rogue trees), Nick was Speed Racer and I was our Walking Stick procurer. We finished up with ice cream at a quaint little shop before going to explore Donner Lake. We climbed down a rocky area to a tucked-away beach and waded in. Some of us (Hannah) went fully in after she was photobombing Emmy :-p. James also got fully drenched, he is part boy, part fish, that one. We had a delicious dinner at Garwoods, a place that I remembered fondly from childhood. We skipped rocks on the lake while we waited for our table. The following day we found souvenirs in downtown Truckee and had a picnic on a pier at Donner Lake. Being inbetween the summer season and the winter season, the crowds were light and it almost felt as though we had the lake to ourselves. We pledged to return as soon as we could (some of us wanted to permanently relocate there!)

Friday, September 4, 2020

James and Julia's 7th Birthday & Boys vs Girls Scavenger Hunt!

This year for the twins' birthday, we decided to do a boys versus girls around-town scavenger hunt. We called in aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins to comprise our teams and provided a list of things to do and find around town. All of James' men piled into Grammy and Poppy's suburban and Julia's ladies had to break into two cars (that she jumped between midway through the 2 hours.) The boys may have gathered a few more points, but pretty sure we were all winners in the end. We devoured In-N-Out at Grammy and Poppy's and spent the day cooling off in the pool!;)

JAMES & JULIA’S BIRTHDAY SCAVENGER HUNT!!

Rules: Photo/Video or it didn’t happen!

Run through sprinklers as a group (2 pts)

Do a yoga pose on a bridge (2pts)

Find an american Flag (1 pt)

Find furniture on the curb (1pt)

Find an antique car (2pts)

Find an encouraging bumper sticker (1pt)

Find a cow (1pt)

Find a squirrel in a tree (1pt)

Find a fire hydrant (1pt)

Find a “For Sale By Owner” Sign (2pts)