We’ve made it through second semester and are now on Spring Break in our house! Peter and Pearl are both off from school and the girls have a pause in their activities so it feels like a real holiday around here. (Peter is still doing course work for his masters so he’s not fully off.) The weather has still been rather cold at times, and lots of rain, but there are hints of spring too. Flowers blooming, trees budding, and a few days of double digit temperatures.
We kicked off our Spring Break with a few days in the Big City (ie: Vancouver). In the past (pre-Covid) we’ve enjoyed taking a couple of nights to get away from home and staying in a hotel in the city. We leave our car behind and take public transit. We eat food we can’t get in our town and we do some shopping and we simply enjoy city life. We haven’t done this with the kids since early 2020 and it was pretty exciting to re-introduce this little family tradition. We feasted on sushi, ramen, pizza, Japadog, doughnuts, and German-style sandwiches. We made a trip to Granville Island and visited with both sets of cousins.
Other than our city adventures we are enjoying the relaxed schedule spring break brings. Letting the girls stay in their pyjamas all morning, watching them enjoy their play together. We were able to invite some new friends over for dinner – something we haven’t done since before the pandemic. The second anniversary of the covid pandemic in our province came and went quietly as mask mandates were lifted and the end date for vaccine mandates was announced. I have mixed feelings about these things and our family at least will continue to move slowly. Pearl will no longer be required to wear a mask when she goes back to school after the break for which, I think, she is excited though she’s worn it without complaint.
We continue to move forward and make our choices prayerfully, thinking of how best to serve those around us and hoping for safer times.
But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank You forever,
because You have done it.
I will wait for Your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
Psalm 52:8-9
Karissa Reads Books 
We’re lifting our mask mandate too, which seems odd since we currently have more Covid patients in hospital than at any time since the pandemic began. I think the general feeling is that we’ve done lockdowns, we’ve done masks, we’ve done vaccines and yet the virus goes raging on, so we might as well just learn to live with it. I have mixed feelings about it…
Our numbers are apparently decreasing here though I think it’s also largely because of decreased testing/people testing at home. Hospitalizations do seem done though so that’s good. I think, as you say, people are just done and want to move on. I feel that too but it still makes me nervous.
Looking at the children I know, I think they take their cue about masks, and their feelings about masks from adults. To me, this means you taught her well about why we wear masks, thus no complaining, but she still feels joy about going without–perhaps because many of us do?
You’re right, I think. I can understand why she doesn’t want to wear it – I certainly don’t love wearing masks! We’ve tried not to complain about wearing masks in front of our kids so maybe that’s what surprised me but of course she can feel for herself that it’s preferable to not wear one and I’m sure she hears people complain at school.
Mask mandates are ending here, too, but our family are continuing to wear them.
Those double-digit days must have felt balmy!
Now I’m off to find out what a Japadog is 🙂
It’s basically a fancy hot dog! For a long time in the City of Vancouver, only hot dog carts were allowed, no other food carts. So this guy got really creative about what he served on his hot dogs and thus Japadog was born!
I have to say that Japadog’s don’t appeal to me at all! However, I appreciate the creativity all the more now that you’ve explained the background.
The mask mandate has lifted here too, a couple of weeks ago, and I for one have ditched mine gleefully (except in healthcare settings, or in places at work where I know one particular colleague is still extremely apprehensive). I’m very claustrophic and even though I have dutifully worn one for the last two years, I’ve never been able to train my brain to understand that I can breathe easily while I have one on. There are still plenty of days when I will find myself teetering on the edge of a panic attack most of the day if I’m wearing a mask. (Plus, I’m autistic, and it’s already hard enough for me to read people’s expressions without half their face being covered up). Just wanted to offer an alternative perspective, since I know a lot of people are nervous about them being gone – it is nearly up there with being allowed to hug my friends again in terms of quality of life for me!
Thanks for your perspective! It’s good to be reminded of other people’s experiences. I don’t love wearing a mask but I don’t struggle to do so either so the lifting of the mask mandate isn’t a huge deal to me. But of course it is for many others and that’s great! Sometimes that I need to remember that my experience isn’t necessarily my kids’ experience. I’m continuing to wear mine at work for now and in more crowded situations like public transit. I find it hard to switch my brain from, “You need this to protect you and everyone around you” to, “You’re fine without it now” but I get that everyone has different reactions to this.