Asynchronous School Days

Back in January we began in our new school district here in Half Moon Bay :)

At first it was all zoom from 8am to lunch time each day. Then it went to a hybrid model in early April with Chester on campus 4 days a week from 8:30 to 11:20am with Henry and Audrey going Mondays and Tuesday to campus from 8am-Noon with some variation. 

Wednesdays are called asynchronous days which means...no school!

Just a day of assignments that either get done early or late or whenever.

 I have to say, this has been our new favorite schedule...a four day school week!

I decided we needed to see some surrounding sights on these days and get out of the house and ditch the screens!

January

Purisima Creek Redwoods

a preserve just 20 minutes down the road from us!

we've done mornings which tend to be nicer  and less peopley :)

The beautiful Palace of Fine Arts

We roamed around and crossed Lombard to Crissy Field.

I will tell you crime and auto break ins are at an all time high :(

Clay got me a shade guard for my hatch and we leave the car barren.

But the city it still beautiful. 

And people are out :)

February

Lands End Trail

with the Golden Gate Bridge framed through the cypress trees :)

We walked across to the harbor on a day that was too gorgeous to leave town and got lunch at Ketch Joanne's for fish and chips:)

Other times we have gone to the beach to play some football and this is the only picture I took. 

Documenting teen behavior I guess:)

Montara state beach

We visited Chinatown for the lunar new year.

 We love Chinatown!

 It has been hard hit with only the elderly on the streets running errands.

Restaurant owners tracked us down with menus, what felt like pleading to have us in their restaurants.

 The pandemic has decimated this city.

 We went to San Francisco's oldest bakery and ate pork buns, coconut bread and egg tarts...all my favorite snack foods in Chinatown :)

The owner asked us to tell our friends to come.

We walked from Chinatown to North Beach which is the Italian neighborhood...and the air smells like butter and garlic!

So we were left hungry, haha.

March

A lot of these days we just walk across the 1 and go to Surfer's Beach which is easy and relaxing. This day was a good surf day for the kids!

 (A lot of the times it can be too sloppy or cold.)

Chester is committed to learning on a short board because he wants to "shred", Audrey is happy long boarding and Henry is up for fun on the boogie board. 

Audrey and our friend London

I can't believe they get in this 52-54 degree water :0

(winter and spring temps)

April

Henry was in Alaska, so with the younger two we visited Filoli Mansion and Gardens. It was amazing!

And just over the hill from us. 

It was cold and foggy at home, then we pop over the hill and this is what we get :)

crazy micro climates here

Audrey made sure to get into the baking section of the kitchen :)

tip toe through the tulips!

the gardens are gorgeous

I promised them lunch at the Crepevine afterwards :)

It was one of my favorite field trips with them ever!

We walked the Jean Lauer trail on Pillar Point Bluff by the house.

 Another day of heaven with no fog.

They are goobers.

 They also complain. 

But they also get along really well on these days which is part of why we do them!

May

On a whim and a foggy asynchronous afternoon,

 we headed down

 to Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

See what I mean by getting along?

haha

Probably too much hugging...this was more of a fake hug to bug everyone

I don't even know what is happening here other than I told Chester to take his sweatshirt off...I am sick of seeing it in all of my photos of him :)

I had to decide that embracing teen moods and antics was the only way to spend time with them.

 So hopefully this displays my days with humor :)

I love the purple flowers spotted here on the coast

We turned north and hung out on Pistachio Beach. 

Never been but a very quaint stretch of rocks, sand and flowers to enjoy:)

The left of this photo shows the strip of spring blue skies that everyone "over the hill" gets...or even in the coastal valleys.  The marine layer just hugs the coastline and never wants to let go this time of year... you could walk half a mile east and bask in that elusive sun.

 I had forgotten this weather but none of us seems to mind it.

I learned you can call these sea figs...

I am collecting a lot of reference photos for my attempt at painting them soon.

I'd like to try my hand at using acrylics instead of watercolors. 

Once I get everyone in school next year and find myself a corner to do it in :)

We had an orthodontist appointment down in Santa Clarita, so we made an afternoon at Magic Mountain!

Reservations only and great people watching, haha

Here we are on the first ride...Twisted Colossus.

Jet Stream

I got soaked, then the boys went again and Chester got soaked :)

(Henry ducked)

Dippin' Dot break!

73 degrees and partly cloudy

just right for an ICEE :)

And we saw Lucy on the way down:)

 She is in her last few weeks of her freshman year at Cal Poly.

 She is stressed and lonely at times. 

But she is almost past it all. 

 She has better and brighter days ahead for sure!

This whole year has been one weird ride at school.

 I am so happy they went back, even for a hybrid schedule.

More than half of high school students opted to stay at home on zoom

 but I knew and the kids knew, 

it would be much healthier for them to interact and get to know their new schools. 

I am proud of them for being so flexible, for moving mid year and for knowing human interaction was what they all needed in the end!

I could write how easy I was at the beginning of the year....and then come March,

 I was writing a scathing email to the district and responding to SF Gate article that called on parents to tell the real story. 

Our story was never heard or told in the way it should have been. 

I did watch my kids regress. 

I asked in a multitude of ways to our district...if we were the first to respond to the pandemic and applauded...

why were we not the first to get our children back in school?

Any student who did the work and stayed on track should be applauded!

They are the ones who pushed forward. 

I am super proud of my kids for making until the end.

We made it!