That's it for Campos Elementary

 Well, Friday May 21 was the last day for us to do online school with Leo.  It is with much melancholy that I am taking down his school cork board that held important notes, kindergarten sight words, and meeting times on it.  Cleaning up his desk from where he would do his online school and straightening up his drawers that held paper, pencils, markers, glue, scissors, etc.  I am forever grateful that Fernando and Eva had enough faith in me to get Leo through his school day online and get all his assigned work turned in.  Being able to be a part of Leo's school day at least once a week was priceless.  I loved watching him interact with his fellow online classmates, loved watching him reply to his teacher when asked a question, loved watching him excitedly do exercises through online PE videos and so much more.  We tried to do a school day more or less like a regular school day would've been.  Guillermo used an office chair that we called "the school bus".  The school bus would show up at the kitchen about 5 minutes before the start of school.  I'd hand Leo his lunch box and his homework folder (both of which were usually empty) and tell him goodbye and to have a good day in school.  Then while Guillermo "drove" him to the school (back bedroom), I'd make my way quickly over there with my coffee and be there at the door to greet him.  I'd tell him "Good Morning, Leo, how are you doing today?"  Then I'd have him put his lunch box and homework folder in a certain spot, say goodbye to his abuelito, and then we'd be ready to start the day!   Leo learned a LOT this year.  I have to hand it to the Boerne Independent School District.  They did an EXCELLENT job in handling online school.   It was always a dedicated online teacher only to a dedicated group of online students.  Not like other local districts where the teacher had in-person students in front of her in a classroom, but also had students on a screen next to her that were also vying for her attention.  Leo has three more days of school next week and then he'll be in first grade.

Dinner with friends again

 May 19 - We had some friends over for dinner again for the first time since January of 2020.  We hadn't seen them since then so it was pretty emotional when they showed up at our front door.  We had a great time with them - maybe too good.  Those margaritas were really, really good.  

Next week, gasp, we are meeting other friends at a restaurant that we always used to go to with them.  We haven't seen THEM also in over a year.  So, it will be nice to get together with them also.  It will be our first venture into a restaurant in over a year.  

We've gotten take out now since about December, which started with picking up only Starbucks to have with Mom.  We DID get Bill Miller barbecue once back in September, but that's about it.  

Even in the best of times, it was a little unnerving for us - wondering how the people are "back in the back" who are fixing our food.  So, yeah, for sure, during the throes of Covid, there was no way we were going to feel comfortable picking up take-out or eating in a restaurant.  We are hopeful that things are not as worrisome at this time.

6 years old already?!?

 It was nice celebrating Leo's birthday.  My goodness did he get a lot of presents!  What a lucky boy!

My week in Tucson

 There was a day when we were at the Airbnb that I was afraid that I might need to go back home with the guys instead of staying an extra week at Rebeca's house.  The reason was that her dog Spot just didn't seem to like me and would growl and bare his teeth sometimes.  It was scary!  But both Rebeca and Jason promised that they would keep Spot either in another room or outside.  The really wanted me to stay the extra week.

After the guys left on Saturday, I decided my strategy with Spot would be to not look at him at all whenever he was around me.  That had seemed to work a few times before.  Then, that evening, I was doing something with Scotty in my room and I didn't know it, but Spot was next to me, sniffing my leg. My first thought was oh no!  But I ignored him, and after that, we got along very well!  Thank goodness!!

The whole week was a busy but fun one.  The days consisted of taking Scotty to school, coming back to the house to have breakfast and get some things done, then going out to either Safeway, Target or Costco.  The mornings passed fast and before I knew it, the time to leave to pick up Scotty from school always came quickly.  On Wednesday, after picking him up, we did our usual tradition of going to Ace to pick out a toy.  Scotty picked out a dragon he had been wanting, and picked two cars for me to take to Leo.

He was happy this day because he had been able to recite all 50 states to his teacher and got this flag!

I miss picking this boy up from school.  I usually waited in a line of cars for 30 minutes for him.  At first I thought I would not like being so long in that line, but it was a good time to text people, or read the paper, or catch up on Twitter.  The time usually passed quicker than I thought it would.

Then once home, we'd have a good 4 hours until it was time to fix dinner and Rebeca would get home.  We usually played games, worked on his Kiwico boxes, played outside, did drawings and lots of other fun stuff.

This boy right here is the very reason I would drive for 2 days by myself - just to see him.  I can't believe how he has grown.

 

Tucson again - finally!

 We are all vaccinated, and Rebeca and Jason are about to receive their second dose so we thought now would be a good time to take a trip to Tucson.  Of course, Scotty and Leo are not yet vaccinated.   Last time we saw Rebeca, Jason and Scotty was in March of 2020.  That is the LONGEST we have ever gone without seeing them.

At first it was just Guillermo and I going, but we were happy to hear that Fernando and Leo wanted to go with us!  That was a very pleasant surprise for us.   Then the decision was made that I would spend an extra week in Tucson so that Scotty and I could have good one-on-one time.  That meant that we would be taking two cars out there and that meant that I would be driving back home by myself.  That was perfectly fine and I have no problem doing that drive by myself as long as nothing goes wrong with the car.  

We had a good drive out there on April 23.  We drove as far as Van Horn, Texas, stopping at a rest area near Junction for lunch.  Wow, it was windy at that rest area and there were caterpillars everywhere!  You couldn't walk without stepping on one.  It was a little unnerving eating under such conditions but we got our lunch in anyway.  We stopped again at a rest area near Fort Stockton and as usual with this rest stop, this rest area had hurricane force winds.  It was wild.

Hampton Inn made it so easy to make a reservation and the best part is being able to pick our room ourselves.  So when we arrived, all we had to do was walk in and say our names and what room number we had reserved and they handed us our keys and that was it!

The next morning, Fernando went by McDonalds to pick up breakfast.  We ate that in our room and then packed up, checked out of our rooms over our phone, and were on our way again.  We took a bathroom break at the New Mexico travel center and then decided to have lunch at the roadrunner rest area by Las Cruces.

We got to Tucson around 4pm.  We gave everyone big big hugs.  It was so nice to see them.  The one thing, though, was their new dog Spot.  He did NOT like these intruders at his house.  So Rebeca had to keep the dog outside while we unpacked our stuff into our room.  It was just so unbelievable to be there with them again.  Scotty and Leo got right into playing together as if they had never been apart.  That was so nice to see as both boys had hardly played with other kids for more than a year.  Eventually Spot made friends with Guillermo and Fernando but he definitely did not like me and Leo.  

We spent the first night at Rebeca's house and enjoyed a good dinner picked up from Ha Long Bay restaurant.  In the picture above, the boys are enjoying their Boba drinks and are happy to be together again.  The next day, we went out to visit with relatives at Irene's house.  

After that, we checked into an Airbnb that was fairly close to Irene's house.  What a nice big house that was!!!  We enjoyed everything about our stay there except for the internet.  It's still amazing to us that people can't provide reliable internet in this day and age.  Other than that, though, it was a great place to stay.

The next day was Monday, a school day for both boys.  Unfortunately for Leo, there was a 2-hour time difference so his school starting at 7:30am in San Antonio meant he needed to be up and in front of the computer by 5:30am in Tucson!!!  Whew, that was rough the first couple of days.

We learned that first day that a nap longer than 30 minutes was necessary to make up for getting up so early.  We picked up Scotty from his school every day, and the first thing Scotty would do when we got back to the house was go into the room to wake up Leo.  Which was fine because by then, Leo had been sleeping for an hour - which made him more than ready to face the rest of the day.

Eventually we got into a good routine.  And every evening we gathered around the round dining table and we all enjoyed good food and just being together.  It was priceless.

Tuesday Rebeca got her second dose of the Moderna vaccine (Jason had gotten his 2nd Pfizer dose a week earlier).  She felt a little sick Tuesday night but nothing anywhere near as bad as how she felt after her first dose.  We were so relieved about that.

Everyday we would take a walk down to the wash and see what we could see.  The boys loved collecting rocks.

Picking Scotty up from school

On Thursday, we took a short hike up a trail by Agua Caliente.  It was a nice hike with good sunny weather.  

Then after the hike we drove to Agua Caliente park and met Camille, Reid, Iris and Opal.  The cousins had a nice time talking with each other and the 2nd cousins? had fun running around together.

The two boys got a kick out of placing this rat and blue bug in various places around the house because they knew I didn't like it.

Saturday, May 1, Guillermo, Fernando and Leo left headed back to San Antonio.  It felt really really weird to no be going with them but I also looked forward to giving Scotty my undivided attention for the next week!