Pandemic, Week 71 (PA/IA)

This week, 394,000 acres burned in the Bootleg fire in Oregon, resulting in the evacuation of over 2,000 homes. Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected 2 GOP picks for the House probe of the January 6th insurrection – Jim Jordan (who is expected to be called to testify) and Jim Banks (who pushed to overturn the election). In response, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all five of his nominees from the committee. U.S. life expectancy fell 1.5 years. Jeff Bezos was the latest billionaire to travel to the edge of space, but due to new restrictions in the definition just released by the FAA, is not an astronaut. The Tokyo Summer Olympics began (one year later than expected, due to COVID). 

The world reached 194.4 million COVID cases and 4.2 million deaths this week. The Delta variant caused a 65 percent increases in cases in the U.S. this week, reaching a total of 35.2 million cases and 627,000 deaths. At the same time, vaccination rates continue to stall in the U.S. – 188 million (57 percent) of people have at least one vaccine dose and only 163 million (49 percent) of the population are fully vaccinated. A U.S. District Court upheld Indiana University's requirement that all students, faculty and staff be vaccinated by August 15th. Tennessee announced they would resume COVID vaccine outreach to teens and children, which had stopped due to pressure from Republican legislators. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, in response to a surge of cases in her state, said that it was, "time to start blaming the unvaccinated people... the unvaccinated folks are letting us down." France announced that proof of vaccination would be required at large gatherings beginning this week, resulting in almost 1 million people signing up for vaccinations. Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Sen. Rand Paul at a hearing this week where the Senator (and ophthalmologist) suggested NIH was partially responsible for 4 million COVID deaths, "You do not know what you are talking about."

We spent Sunday hanging with the Mettenburgs in the greater Pittsburgh area, which involved kayaking, miniature golf, trampolining, chicken sitting, grilling, and games. The next morning we headed back to the homeland where we were greeted by Grandpa and Grandma Z (and some wine). Allen and I had to work all week (Allen had to work over the weekend too...), but we managed to make it out to the pond for a few hours each day so the kids could get in some swimming and the adults could get in some adulting. We also were able to schedule a playdate for Nora with Grace which involved lots of crafting, and one for Allen with Kent and Adam which involved a lot of construction equipment and the zip-line.

Which should make our last five days in Iowa even more fun...

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 70 (Hot Vax Summer)

This week, Texas Democrats flew to DC to avoid giving the Texas legislatures a two-thirds quorum in order to pass voter-restriction legislation (the governor has threaten them with arrest once they return). The EU unveiled plans to reduce greenhouse gas 55 percent by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. Meanwhile, at least 143 Germans died due to flash flooding this week and Death Valley saw the earth's hottest 24 hours on record with temperatures reaching 128.6 degrees. Britney Spears was granted the right to hire her own lawyer to challenge her conservatorship. Biz Markie died.

The world reached 190.8 million COVID cases this week and 4.1 million deaths, of which the U.S. accounted for 35.0 million cases and 625,000 deaths. 161 million Americans (49 percent of the population) are now fully vaccinated with 186 million Americans (56 percent) having received at least one dose. The rate of vaccinations has slowed, however, and that combined with the spread of the Delta variant has resulted in U.S. infections increasing by 70 percent in just one week.

But not for us. Having gotten a negative test result for Nora days earlier (Owen was exempt because he was vaccinated), we were able to send the kids off to a screen-free week at Camp Letts. The kids assured us they had a blast playing kickball, tennis, some variant of volleyball, zip-lining, canoeing, kayaking and swimming, but we don't have any actual footage of any of that (which is probably why they enjoyed it so much). While they were gone we had the Hyatts, who were doing an east-coast tour, over for a grown-up dinner party, but mostly we cleaned and started packing to leave for Iowa via the Mettenburgs the day after the kids returned.

When we last visited the Mettenburgs we managed to infect them with lice (we also stole their coats – still not clear how we managed that one – and got stuck in their driveway. We're actually not sure why they would ever want us back...), so to ensure we didn't spread anything worse after a week at camp (lest we give them the worst birthday presents ever), we had both kids tested before heading to Pittsburgh and are relieved to announce they were both COVID free. 

Hopefully we can say the same when we get back from Iowa...

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 69 (Independence)

This week, the fence surrounding the U.S. Capitol that was erected after the January 6th attack, was taken down. The President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in the bedroom of his private residence. Millions of shellfish were cooked alive in the Pacific Northwest due to record-breaking temperatures. Jeff Bezos officially stepped down as the CEO of Amazon and will spend his immediate retirement traveling to space. 14-year old Zalia Avant-garde, an African-American, Guinness World Record Holding, and basketball-juggling wunderkind, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee after she correctly spelled, "murraya."

The world reached 187.2 million Covid cases and 4.0 million deaths this week, of which the U.S. accounted for 34.7 million cases and 623,000 deaths. 184 million Americans, 55 percent of the population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 159 million, or 48 percent, are fully vaccinated. The Tokyo Olympics, which are set to start in two weeks after being delayed a year due to the Pandemic, have barred fans from attending due to rising coronavirus infections.

For us, this week was the continuation of our Cooperstown Adventures with the Telfair-Chas. We celebrated the Fourth by having a good-old American barbecue with tomahawk steaks, sweet corn, strawberry-rhubarb pie, s'mores and sparklers. The next day the boys headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame where they took in the history of their favorite game (and Owen winced at "Baby Shark's" inclusion in the annals of said history). Afterwards, the rest of us joined them for lunch, followed by laser tag and mini-golf. The dads destroyed the sons in laser tag (final score 9-1), but Owen redeemed himself in mini-golf with two hole-in-ones, one of which won him free ice cream (Nora got their own hole-in-one, but as ice-cream wasn't on the line they just had to settle for personal satisfaction).

The rest of the week involved a lot of swimming, gaming, and probably more food and cocktails than the Surgeon General would recommend. After a long drive home, we spent the next day packing up the kids for camp, but did get a chance to visit the Capitol, where workers had spent the day removing the fence they put up after the January 6th insurrection. Oh what a difference six months makes...

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)

Pandemic, Week 68 (Days of Summer )

This week the House of Representatives approved a Select Committee to investigate the January 6th Riot after Senate Republicans blocked an independent investigation. While the Committee is supposed to be bipartisan, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to strip GOP member of committee assignments if they participate.  President Biden visited with victims' families of the Surfside condo collapse as rescue attempts were suspended due to structural concerns as Hurricane Elsa threatens the area. The Trump Organization and its CFO have been charged with tax fraud, falsifying business records, scheme to defraud and conspiracy. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overturned the conviction of Bill Cosby and ordered his released, just three years into a 10 year sentence for raping and drugging a Temple University employee (he was also accused of raping at least 60 other women). Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died. 

This week the world reached 184.2 million COVID cases and 4.0 million deaths of which 34.6 million of those cases and 621,000 deaths were from the US. 182 million Americans, 55 percent of the population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 157 million, or 47 percent, being fully vaccinated. Only 20 states reached President Biden's goal of 70 percent of adults vaccinated by the 4th of July.

But mostly, this was the kids first official week of summer and their last week that isn't fully scheduled until mid-August. While we intended it to be fairly chill, we also started the week with the end-of-year First Day School and Climbing Team parties. Owen had his best friend from daycare, Leo, over for a much overdue (and undocumented) playdate, Allen went to a Nat's game with Brad, we went to Molly and Adam's for a lovely dinner (and cocktails), and a tornado passed over our house.

But the big event of the week was heading out to Cooperstown, NY (or rather Oneonta) -- via Hershey Park (and the kids' first ever rollercoaster) -- with the Telfair-Chas for a week of swimming, baseball, some impressive cornhole playing, day-drinking, virtual reality, and kettle corn, lots and lots of kettle corn. And that was just the first two days...

(To see all of this week's pictures, click here.)