Tenth week

Helloo everybody!

This weekend was great! Last weeks I had some struggles with different things, most of the time with the kids, but now this week was great! I really feel so happy.

Covid

We got some change from this week. We got the news that Maryland is back to fase 1... This means that you aren't allowed to go out of Maryland and restaurants are only allowed to be filled up to 25%. About the other. things I don't really feel a big differents, except that we have to be more careful from now on.

After I heard the news about going back to fase 1, I asked Ryan and Leah about what it ment, but they didn't had an answer on it. Thursday evening I started a conversation about it, because I really wanted to know what will change for me in this situation. Not that I will do thing that they aren't comfortable with and what they expect from me. Leah mentioned something last week about not going out from a certain date, but I didn't knew what that ment or from when that date would be. Thanksgiving is two weeks, so she said that from already this weekend we have to be more careful and from next week we have to limit our contact with others because we want to be kind of together with the family from Leah for Thanksgiving. So we want to do everything about it to make it as safe as possible. This weekend I could still do things and go out, but there was one rule I already had to follow and that was wearing face-masks in the car when I’m driving with others. The new rules doesn't mean I can't go out at all, but just be more careful and the weekend I will stay with my host family. We already made some plans to make it fun!

The first time is asked about them I got some answers I wanted to know, but not everything was clear for me yet, so later the night I asked again about it because I just wanted to make sure I don't do something they aren't comfortable with or that I cross a line with them. They trust me and they don't want to not have fun or something like that and I was really happy to hear that. We made everything clear and now I know what I can and can't do. :)

Schedule

We did a lot of fun stuff again! Monday the kids were a day off, again! Leah showed the kids a picture of a cool playground, Long Gate Playground, this weekend so they really wanted to go there. We left the house around 11am and came back after 5pm. We had a really good time at the playground and they really loved it! We stayed at that playground for a long time, we left there at 3pm. I never thought about that they would play there for so long, but by coincidence we met the neighbor kids from Leah (the best friend of Ainsley) with their grandparents. They played with them almost the hole time, we also had lunch there and after 3pm we left and went to another playground! Yes, another one! At the second playground, Blandair Regional Park, we met Larissa and her host kids. This morning she texted me to ask if I was in for a playdate at this playground with the kids. We didn't stayed that long, because at 5pm it is already getting dark outside and I noted that the kids also were getting tired.

From Tuesday they got a normal school week again. What was changed was that they have practice again on different days. So from now on Ainsley have cheer practice on Wednesdays, Thursdays (if she wants) and Sundays and on Tuesdays she has tumbling practice at gymnastics. This week she started her tumbling practice and I was allowed to watch! It was so fun and so cool to see her do her thing and all her tricks and skills. Emmett has practice on Wednesdays and Saturdays now, but this week they changed the Wednesday practice to the Friday because of the rain. As you can say, we are busy with all the practices.

This week we did a lot of things inside, because this week it started to be cold and rainy. We made brownies, we colored a lot, played with Barbies and dolls inside in the bathtub and outside with a little Barbie swimming pool. When Ainsley showed her Barbie car I had so much memories about when I was younger, because I also had a Barbie car when I was younger. Even with the rain and the cold we still walked outside a lot and had fun outside. I'm so happy about the fact that the kids still want to go outside even when it is cold or rainy outside. My favorite moment from the week was on Thursday after school. Ainsley, Emmett and me started a play fight with each other and it was so much fun! I never had laughed that hard before. <3 After that we watched a movie, the Lorax.

Next to our busy, fun week I also did some fun stuff on my own or with friends! Tuesday I went with Valerie to her gym!! Her gym is so fancy and so nice, it was great! We wanted to play basketball, but it was really busy there so we couldn't. We still did a lot of fitness equipment together and it was fun! I was still thinking about starting already with my membership in Rockville, but now with Covid getting worse I think I will wait or until the gym in Olney will open or when Covid will get better here again.

I cooked for my family again! This week I made Dutch Pancakes for them and they loved them! I was so proud of myself that they worked out so well and they were delicious. I made all kinds that we made at home all the time, cheese, bacon, banana, apple pancakes and of course plain ones.

Weekend!

It is weekend again!! YAAYY! My weekend started on Friday evening actuelly. Beckie, Sharon and me went to the metro station to go to Washington DC. We went to The Wharf, the pretty harbor with many restaurants and it just looks so cute. We had dinner there and walked around, we even walked to the Mall in Downtown DC and to the monuments. We saw a group of Trump supporters at 1 street and later we also went to the Black Lives Matter street were we saw a lot of people there, but they were just chilling there.

For tomorrow they pronounced that there will be a Trump protest in DC, so I think that's way they were already there. Our plan for tomorrow was to go to Alexandria, a town under DC, but with the protest coming up we didn't want to go there anymore. We came up with the idea to go to Annapolis! Annapolis is the capital from Maryland, but the funny thing about the capitals is that it is most of the time not the biggest city from the State. Annapolis is a really small city but a really pretty one. They have a harbor, a lot of restaurants, the vibe in the city was great! They also had many souvenir shops. We walked around, took some photo's and had some dinner.

Before we went to Annapolis, Sharon picket me and the other girls up to go to the LCC meeting. Tina, my LCC, it was her birthday on Friday, so we bought some presents for her and gave it to here when we were there. We also met a new girl from Germany, Josefine. She was very nice and she lives 5 minutes away from me!!

Sunday I had a lazy day. In the morning I just hang around in the house and Ainsley showed me her new roller skates! She was so happy and so excited about them and she couldn't wait to try them out. I asked her if she wanted to go outside right now to try them and she was so happy that I asked her! We went to the tennis court in our street and she tried to skate for the first time! In the beginning it was hard and she lost her balance many times, but after a few rounds she got it and she did it on her one for a little. We went back home and I said here that we could do it tomorrow again if she wanted! She was so happy with her roller skates that when we got home she put them on again and started skating on the back porch.

At 2 pm I went to pick up Beckie to go to a gas station to eat a burger, yes you read it good. Leah told me about it a few weeks ago and she said that she had heart that they sell the best burgers in Maryland over there! And because I really love burgers, I had to try it. The outside of the gas station is dirty and old, but on the inside it was actually kinda okay. I thought it was more dirty inside but, I was just old and really small. It was really busy there, not inside but the orders were a lot. They didn't had a time that they didn't had a order waiting for them. After 20 minutes we finally got our burgers and I was so excited to try them!! I just wanted to know if it was true! And... IT WAS! They were amazing!! I also texted Leah with a picture of the burger to show here I was finally there to try it and to tell here that the burger there are actually really good! After the amazing experience haha we went to a thrift shop together. I was back home before dinner so I had dinner with my family and it was nice. I started a new serie, Criminal Minds on Netflix and I really love that serie.

This week was a little different, because of the new Covid rules, but we will make it work! :) For next week I already have some fun ideas to do, but you have to wait until you will find out!

Byeee,

Naomi