September 2021
September started with a trip closer to home. We met up with my sister (Hope), her husband (Joe), and their two boys (Porter and Theo) for Labor Day weekend. We’d cooked up this plan because Joe loves bagging peaks and couldn’t resist bagging the tallest one in Colorado.
The first full day we were there, Hope and Joe climbed Mt. Elbert while we watched all of the kids. We kayaked at Twin Lakes and realized that Ellen wasn’t feeling so good . . . In case you haven’t experienced it, having a kid get sick during a pandemic is sort of stressful. Ellen’s energy dropped significantly and she had a bad cough, runny nose, sore throat, and fever. We called our doctor and got some medical advice an an appointment to get tested for COVID after the holiday weekend was over. We decided to stay and just take what precautions we could and hope the great outdoors helped her not transmit anything to her cousins.
The next day, Noel, Cooper, and I took on Mt Elbert. Ellen stayed at camp as we didn’t think it was a good idea for her to hike in her current state. We had a good hiking crew. I think Cooper was especially proud to stand at the top with the Mt Elbert sign.
Back at camp, Hope and Joe took good care of Ellen. It was really good to see them even with the stress of Ellen being sick. (She doesn’t look it in the pictures, but she really was lethargic and not feeling great.)
Back at home, Ellen got COVID tested (she was negative) and missed a few days of school till she was better. Then Cooper began to feel sick with the same symptoms: high fever, cough, runny nose, lethargy, etc. He stayed home for a few days and also got COVID tested. (Also negative.) It’s a super fun ritual for parents of school-aged children right now. Noel and I never got sick so we wonder if the kids possibly had RSV, but who really knows.
Later that week, we got to watch Noel’s cousins kids while they went to the Denver temple. I had strangely had all of my Friday clients cancel, but it ended up being perfect because when Jessie asked if I could watch the kids it seemed meant to be. Cooper and Ellen were both better (other than lingering coughs) at this point.
After they departed, we headed out for a one night camping trip to try and see some fall colors. The trees were just starting to change, but we had fun hiking and chatting.
That evening, Noel and Ellen had a father and daughter activity through church. It was a carnival theme.
Cooper had missed the first cross-country meet due to illness, so his first race was technically the second meet of the season. My parents were in town because they were about to watch the kids while Noel and I went off on an adventure. My parents were my cross-country coaches in high school, so it was a fun kind of multi-generational sort of thing.
If you are catching up on all our adventures and feeling exhausted just reading about them, don’t worry, we were feeling it. But something even more exhausting was right around the corner. It’s big, so it’s getting it’s own post.