Social Distancing Journal, Days 323 thru 326

 Day 323: Saturday, January 30th

Work continues on the crazy hard puzzle. Asa took the outer rectangle part, while I worked on the inner circle. 

Asa and I went out to run some errands, so we swung by Crumbl to pick up a little treat. 

And while we were out, we noticed pop-up tents all along 54/56 for Bucs gear. Because, in case you missed it: THE BUCS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL! And, by *going to* I mean, STAYING HOME. Because the Super Bowl is here in Tampa! 

And more puzzle. Look how big my middle section is getting. After this, I had to move it into the puzzle, which was tricky. 

That made it look like we had a lot more done. 

Ta da! Plus, then we connected it in a few places. 

And kept on working. 

Day 324: Sunday, January 31

No football Sundays are always weird when they first come about. Asa and I made the best of it by taking our bike ride and having a picnic lunch. 

Because Uncrustables taste like going out! 

We stopped at a bench over in Connerton back behind the tunnel. It was nice and quiet (living in a house with 5 adults, a nearly 15 year old, 4 dogs and 2 cats during covid times is kind of loud). 

We also happened along this guy. 

Who was rather friendly. 

Mom also made us some new masks- some Bucs ones! 

And I practiced on making something special for the very special snackadium for the Super Bowl. Which isn't just the Bucs. It isn't just on Tampa. But, February 7th is also Hayden's birthday! This HAS to be the best Snackadium I've ever built. 

Speaking of Hayden, here he is tucked in with Mayble. It's been pretty cold lately. 

Also on Sunday, we finished the puzzle. Look at us! We actually took this one apart and are sending it back with mom when she goes to see Clint at the beginning of March (after she's had her second shot for a couple weeks, she's heading on back north.) 

Ta da! 

Day 325: Monday, February 1: 

Welcome to February. Time to flip the calendar to the last month that has fun going out pictures from last year. 

February's been a cold one so far, which does not make me and Ellie very happy for our morning walk. 

And you know, Super Bowl. 

So every month I give Hayden a 'Free Day Pass' to take a mental health day away from school work. He's taken to using it the first of every month. But, that left me free to get some things done. 

I worked on re-organizing my Hall of Presidents. I had gotten a few more of the floating book shelves, so I added those, dusted everything off and shifted things around. 

I also worked on making Hayden's birthday pirate treasure map for his presents. Sometimes I wonder when he'll stop searching for presents via treasure map. And then I think, man, I'll be 40 this year, and I'd be totally cool with looking for my presents via treasure map. 

And I worked on props for the snackadium. Which again, is going to be AMAZING. 

And since I was busy with all of that, Peyton made us all beef bowls for dinner. 

Day 326: Tuesday, February 2

Just five days until the Super Bowl. 

But, also, welcome to the most Groundhogian of Groundhog days there ever was. 

It was also Tuesday, which meant misfits box day! 

Lots of goodies this time around, and a couple of add ons. 

Peyton, meanwhile, has been walking the neighbors dog at lunch time. He came back with a giant papaya for his troubles. 

Hayden, back at school work, had a new Tinkering Tuesday box to work on. 

And he made an awesome hand puppet for his lesson. 

We also brought back Chess Club. It's been gone for a bit. 

And we read some more of 1984. We're not going to fast on this one. But, we did get to the part that gets quoted probably the most from this book: "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." 

Also, you know it's a cold day if even Hayden is tucked under a blanket. 

For real, it was cold. 

Even the puppies were tucked in. 

And then Dipper joined them. 

Look at nooms in his sweater. In his old age, he whines when he is cold. 

That's it from here. I'm mostly caught up. Wednesday we went out to Tampa to see all things Super Bowl, so I have a lot of pictures to put in the next blog for that. Hopefully I'll get that up soon. 

Social Distancing Journal, Day 322: Raymond James, Home of Super Bowl LV!

 Day 322: Friday January 29th

So, the Bucs are going to the Super Bowl IN Tampa. And words cannot describe how upset I am about the whole Covid situation, since this is like a once in a lifetime thing. But, I'm trying to make the best of it and do what we can do while still remaining safe and socially distant and out of crowds and indoors. 

So, on Friday Asa and I decided to go down to Al Lopez Park, which is a block north of the stadium, and have a picnic lunch. This park is used for tailgating on game days. In fact, we used to tailgate here every Sunday when we had season tickets. So, we picked up our subs, curbside of course, and had a nice, safe, socially distant lunch. 

It wasn't empty-empty. But, it's a big park and easy enough to stay away from people. 

After lunch we plopped our blanket back in the car and then went for a walk down around the stadium, all decorated for the Super Bowl. 

Of course you can't get really close to the stadium, but it's still fun to see everything up around it. And, it made for some nice socially distant photos. 

I mean, you don't get to have the Super Bowl a half hour from your house every day, do you? Not this girl who grew up in a small town in the midwest, nearly two hours from any NFL stadium- and ones that have never hosted the Super Bowl at that. 

It looks so pretty! 

Of course, there is the bridge over Dale Mabry going over to Steinbrenner Park, so we walked up there for a birds eye view. 

And then we continued on down the boardwalk that runs next to Dale Mabry. 

Asa was a little more adventurous in taking some pictures than me. 

Tampa Bay Ave, which runs just south of the stadium is closed off, you can't even walk down it. But, you can still kind of see the South End of the stadium. 

Since that street is closed, you do have to walk all the way down to Columbus Ave. But, there's lots to see on the way, and then there's a giant Bucs billboard. It's Tom Brady, but still. Mike Evans is on the other side, at least. 

At the corner of Dale Mabry and Columbus there is a giant Bucs banner. So, we stopped there for some pictures. 

The stadium off in the distance. 

And then we walked back up Himes. 

A few people were around, so we put on our masks. There is a Tampa order the Mayor signed to say Facemasks are required outdoors in event zones and around the stadium. Still, we weren't even close to anyone. But you know, we're rule followers (at least when it comes to mask wearing and covid precautions) 

There are lots of tents in the lot just north of the stadium. Including the health screening tents! 

After we made our way back to the car, we swing by One Buc Place to check out the team store. Since you can't actually get into the stadium area, they had to set up a temporary one. But, the good news is that the temporary store is totally outdoors, and they've set up social distancing cones, and most people wore masks. We didn't buy anything on this trip, but we would stop here a few days later with Calib to do some shopping. 

And then we headed downtown just to check things out. It was pretty busy down there though, so that was a little disheartening for checking things out later. 

On the way home though we did spot the Taco Bus Food Truck!

And we finally stopped at Aroma Joes to check them out. Asa loved it. 

Etta was happy to see us after we'd been gone so long (since that hardly ever happens). 

And then Asa and I had date night for dinner. 

So grandma bought the boys all taco bell for their dinner.