Our September got off to a rough start. After spending so much mental energy trying to decide whether to send Maya and Ian back to school, finally deciding to send them, and then stalking statistics that showed the delta variant was tearing through town, it felt like our apprehensions were being confirmed.
Ian in his new purple glasses.
At bedtime on the Thursday night before Labor Day weekend, Maya pulled me aside and admitted that her throat felt sore. By the following morning, she was full-on congested and during breakfast, fussed that she couldn’t taste her food. We figured it was probably the congestion, but the only thing we could do at that point was keep her home and try to get her a COVID test as quickly as possible.
I called her pediatrician and the earliest they could get her in was the very end of the day. I worried we would have a hard time getting test results over the Labor Day weekend, and so I checked all around town, trying to find her an earlier testing appointment. There was nothing available. Maybe I don’t know what to check for, but I was getting responses that said offices could see us the following week on Tuesday or Wednesday for testing. That’s five more days into a potential COVID case!
Sean took her in for the appointment. They saw her curbside and in full PPE, since her symptoms were COVID-like. Since I knew Maya had had strep in the past and that it presented in no way I would have guessed, I asked that they do a strep test as well, just to be on the safe side. After an exam, her doctor thought it was very unlikely to be COVID, but we hunkered down at home anyway and waited for test results. By Saturday afternoon, the automated system reported a negative COVID test and a negative strep test. Hooray! Apparently it was just some run-of-the-mill virus, but it did leave me questioning how well Maya was adhering to mask and sanitization protocols at school.
My first crack at smoked pork ribs. They did not suck!
We laid low over the weekend anyway, because Maya still wasn’t feeling well, and Ian was starting to sniffle too. (I whiled away the hours trying my hand at smoking ribs and pork shoulder on the trusty kettle grill.) Neither of the kids ever came up with a fever of any kind, so when Tuesday rolled around, we sent them back to school. I forwarded Maya’s test results and doctor’s note to her principal and teachers and that was that. Then on Wednesday, we got the call that while her rapid strep test was negative, they did manage to grow strep from her throat culture. And so, we picked her up some antibiotics and rushed Ian in to get tested as well. Boom, two days later, he turned up positive for strep too. Ian wasn’t even complaining of a sore throat! Antibiotics made short work of their illnesses, and we were back in business.
Maya and her new friend, the aracari toucan.
It had been about a month since we had the kids out to do something fun, so we decided to mask up and give the San Antonio Zoo a try again, in large part because they had a new animatronic dragon display, and we have a girl who LOVES dragons.
We had enjoyed lovely, cool weather for several days, but when the Saturday of our zoo visit rolled around, it was sweltering. We got our patoots out of the house as quickly as we could for a family of Woodses and tried to get down there earlier in the day to avoid some of the heat, but it didn’t work. Since the dragon area didn’t open till a bit later, we decided to start our day in the zoo proper. We checked out the snakes for Ian, who loves snakes, and we visited the birds for Maya, who loves birds, and we saw all manner of creatures in between. Mask compliance wasn’t as consistent as I’d have hoped, but people were generally good about maintaining distance, and it seemed ok.
Each dragon was labeled with type, country of origin, and notable characteristics. I captured absolutely none of them.
By the time we made it over to the dragons in the afternoon, it was well into the 90s and we were cooking. The up side of that heat was that we also largely had the place to ourselves. We meandered around visiting all the different dragons, letting Maya and Ian snap their photos and watch the dragons move around and growl. It was a good, if sweaty visit.
Herbie was nice enough to let Maya try out his inflatable dragon.
The very next weekend, we got to help Herbie (of bubble family fame) celebrate his 10th birthday! He had his shindig at Son’s Island in Seguin. It was bliss. The kids played all day in the water, sliding on slides, floating on floaties, eating snacks. The weather was a bit cooler, so we could be comfortable without spending the absolute entire time in the water. And the birthday boy seemed to have a great time!
As quickly as the COVID cases ramped up, they seem to finally be leveling out again. I don’t know what to expect as we’re heading into fall. I can tell you, I am beyond excited that Pfizer has requested emergency use authorization for the 5-11 age group. Maybe by November, we’ll be lucky enough to get our kids vaccinated.
Percentage of US population that has been fully vaccinated (53.8% as of 9/15, 56.6% as of 10/12). Travis County – 09/15 111,361 cases and 1038 deaths – 10/13 117,807 cases and 1128 deaths. Texas – 09/15 3,890,444 cases and 60,830 deaths – 10/12 4,162,922 cases and 68,245 deaths. United States – 09/15 41,535,666 cases and 666,598 deaths – 10/12 44,681,561 cases and 719,515 deaths. The World – 09/15 226,321,414 cases and 4,658,267 deaths – 10/12 239,115,805 cases and 4,873,400 deaths.
