Coronavirus Grips Seattle, and the World

On February 29, the first American died of coronavirus, an elderly nursing home resident in Kirkland. From there, things spiral out of control, with the entire facility becoming a hot zone, many more people falling ill, and it spreading within other cities as well. With no test kits available, no one knows how many cases there are, but it's clear action needs to be taken, with Seattle in the forefront.

For us, the month of March becomes a very different reality for our family. By Thursday 3/5, Amazon encourages everyone to work from home for the rest of March. The following week, Bellevue Schools shut down, so Henry and Jack are home every day. Henry's exchange trip to France is canceled. Jack is still working at Pizza Hut, and Mary Jo is still working as well. Restaurants and bars close over that weekend as well. The University of Michigan moves to online learning as well, and all of Joseph's extracurriculars - trip to Peru and Steel Bridge most notably - are canceled. Joseph's Graduation is canceled, and John flies out to drive back to Seattle with him.

Spring Training for Spring Break !

For Joseph's Spring Break, we took a (somewhat disjointed) trip to Florida for Spring Training. Dad and Joseph went to the Nationals park in Palm Beach on Monday, and got to watch a workout with most of the starters, get autographs from manager Davey Martinez and closer Sean Dolittle, and watched the Nats win a walk-off versus the Marlins.

The following day, Joseph and Dad went to see the Mets, also play the Marlins, in Port St Lucie. We also watched a workout, though it was a bit different, with mostly minor leaguers and a few major leaguers who were rehabbing (Yoenis Cespedes and Dellin Betances). Then the Mets lost versus the Marlins, with Syndergaard giving up three runs in his three innings of work.

On Tuesday after the game, Mary Jo flew in to watch another 3 days of Spring Training, focused exclusively on the Nats, as well as explore South Florida (Everglades and even a fortuitously scheduled UVA basketball game at Miami!).

Utah For February Break (again!)

With a week off from school, Dad, Jack, and Henry headed to Utah to do some skiing. Jack flew in a day later so he could keep his Valentine's Day date, and took the bus from the airport to meet up with us. On Saturday we skied Deer Valley, and then drove up to Ogden and skied Snow Basin on a snowy Sunday! From there we headed down to the Cottonwood Canyon area, and skied Snowbird/Alta on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday was another powder day and was very crowded, but the lines thinned out later in the week, when blue skies returned to the usual gorgeous mountain views.

Henry at Deer Valley

Lodges at Snow Basin (built for 2002 Olympics) were outstanding!

Jack climbing up Mount Baldy on one of his final runs

Henry Shakes Mayor Pete's Hand

During February break, while we were on a ski trip to Utah, we were surprised to find out that Pete Buttigieg was hosting a town hall in Salt Lake City! Dad and Henry signed up and attended, and braved a wait in the cold and a wait indoors to hear him give his stump speech and take a few questions from the audience. After it was done he shook hands with people who made their way to the front, including Henry.

John Goes to Louisville

In early February, John met up with Dave, Walt, and Paul for a boys weekend of UVA basketball plus some touristy things. Activities included a tour of Churchill Downs, three tours of Bourbon Distilleries, a couple of nice dinners, seeing lots of horses on the rolling hills, and visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum. While UVA lost to #5 Louisville, it was a close game. We got great seats, with two of our tickets just 5 rows behind the bench!