Since coming home from Silverwood, the past few weeks have been pretty exciting for our family. We welcomed Peach and Spencer (a pair of sister Siberian kittens) into our home, the kids started back up in school, we switched to a (mostly) vegan diet, Elise lost two teeth, and Ava started up with a new hockey season!
Let’s start with the kittens. For a while now Jessica and I have been thinking about getting a family pet, but we were struggling to make a decision on what to get. We knew we didn’t want a dog, and Jessica simply could not get down with what Ava and I wanted, which was a lizard. Theoretically a cat sounded ideal, but Jessica has always suffered from cat allergies, so it didn’t seem viable.
Eventually we started doing research on hypoallergenic cats and ended up finding a couple breeds that seemed like a good fit. We wanted something ‘normal’ looking, rather than one of those creepy hairless cats, and we felt like the Siberian breed was the most beautiful one, plus we read that they were great with kids. As it turned out, there was a Siberian breeder in Shoreline, so we reserved a pair of sisters born on the 4th of July.
We weren’t expecting them to come home until around now, but we ended up getting them two weeks early, which was a nice surprise. They’re absolutely adorable and have adjusted quite quickly to our family and home. Within hours of coming home they were starting to explore, and now that they’ve been here for two weeks, it’s not uncommon for them to be chasing each other all around the house, finding little hiding spots we didn’t even know existed, and overall just bringing a lot of fun and laughter to our home. Obviously we spend a lot of time at home these days, so the kittens have been a welcome addition for all of us. Check out the pictures below.
Regarding the new school year, the two main things to mention are that Ava and Elise have both officially withdrawn from public school and are now full-time home-schoolers, and Enzo (who is still in public school and attending virtually) as of today is officially in Kindergarten! Ava made up her mind about homeschool months ago, before the last year had concluded, but Elise wasn’t sure up until a few days ago. She was placed in a class and spent her first few days of 2nd grade on the laptop all day, which she hated, and that was enough for her to make her decision.
As I’ve told the kids several times now, they are so lucky to have Mom as their teacher. Her dedication to this new job has been incredible to watch, and as far as I’m concerned, the level of personalized instruction the kids are receiving from her couldn’t be beat in any school, public or otherwise. I think she may have missed her calling, as teaching comes very naturally to her, but either way the kids are so lucky that things have ended up this way.
In addition to Jessica’s efforts as teacher, we are starting to get some help from Auntie Dana and Uncle Brad with teaching as well. We had a nice visit with them on Labor Day and they immediately offered to help out. By that evening Dana had already created a spreadsheet of lesson ideas, with a variety of potential subjects for each of them to cover. All I can say is we appreciate this so much and will gladly accept any help that is offered. If anyone wants to get involved, even for a single lesson on something you’re familiar with, please let us know and we will get it scheduled. The beauty of home school is that you aren’t confined to traditional lessons, and incorporating real life into our teaching is very important to us. It’s definitely going to be a different kind of school year for us, but Jessica and I are both very happy with how things have turned out.
Now, the diet changes. About 6 months ago I decided to stop drinking milk because it was starting to upset my stomach. Essentially this became the beginning of a series of dietary changes that Jessica and I started making throughout the year. I want to stress that the changes we have been making weren’t made overnight, but instead were a very gradual process.
In the late Spring we started talking about cutting meat out of our diet, but the idea of going Vegan was still way too radical at that point. During the Summer we watched a show on Netflix called “Down to Earth” with Zach Effron and Darin Olien, and that really got the wheels turning for us in terms of changing our eating habits, then right before going to Silverwood I started reading Darin’s book “Superlife”. By the time we returned from Silverwood I was totally ready to go in terms of converting to Vegan, but the nail in the coffin for both of us was watching a documentary on Netflix called “What the Health”.
I know there’s plenty of debate on whether going Vegan is good or bad, and certainly all it takes is a quick Internet search to find articles in support of either stance, but I don’t want to focus on everything I’ve learned from the aforementioned sources. Ultimately that would all sound way too preachy of me and I just don’t want to go there. I have zero interest in pushing anyone else to change their lifestyle, but if you’re interested, check those resources out to see for yourself.
What I will do, however, is share my own experiences from the past few weeks. While my main motivator was health, the most noticeable change for me so far is the fact that I’ve lost 10 pounds. Losing weight wasn’t a motivator for me, but I’m not exactly mad about it. I’m also no longer bothered by a pain in my right heel that had been bothering me every morning for months. Not having to take Lipitor every night to keep my cholesterol in check is nice, and the increase in energy I’ve gotten allows me to grapple 5-6 rounds in a row at Jiu Jitsu (after a one hour class), at 5 minutes each, without needing a break. Jessica has certainly experienced lots of her own benefits as well, including weight loss, softer skin, and increased energy.
One misconception I had about switching to a vegan diet was that all I’d be eating is salads and lots of raw fruits and vegetables, but what I’ve learned is that there has never been a better time to make this change due to the abundance of vegan-friendly products available at the grocery store. Suddenly food is so much more vibrant, colorful, and exciting. Shopping is more exciting too. Unfortunately eating healthier comes at an increased cost, but for us it’s worth it. We’re regularly finding all kinds of meat and dairy alternatives that are 100% plant based. Obviously you’re not always going to like everything, but overall we like a lot more of these new things than we dislike. We’ve been making burgers, tacos, scrambled eggs, and so many other things that are totally vegan, and in some cases I like the vegan version more than the original.
In addition to making our own dishes at home, we just switched our delivery meal provider. We were doing Home Chef for several months and loved it, but their vegetarian options were minimal. We then switched to Hello Fresh, which had a good amount of vegetarian options, but not so much in the way of vegan. Most recently we have switched again to Purple Carrot, which is supposed to be number 1 for vegans. We haven’t received our first meal from Purple Carrot yet but it’s coming soon and we’re really excited to check it out.
The kids have taken this change in stride as well. I was most worried about Ava because she was always the biggest meat eater, but she seems to have embraced it more than anyone. When we offer her chicken nuggets she always asks “well are they vegan chicken nuggets?”. At this point we’re trying to explain to them that they can assume it’s vegan unless we say otherwise, but sometimes things are so similar to the original that it’s hard to tell.
Overall I will say that switching to a vegan diet has been an extremely positive change for our family, and if it’s something you’re even slightly considering, I would just recommend trying it for two weeks. Anyone can do pretty much anything for two weeks. See for yourself how different you will look and feel during that short period of time. If it’s not for you, that’s cool, but good on you for trying it. There’s certainly no going back for us. There – that’s the only pitch I’m giving 😉
Now moving onto Miss Elise, who is sporting quite the picket fence smile these days. She has had a couple loose teeth for a while now, so as soon as we got home from our trip we got to work on the bottom one. Then just a few days ago one of her top front teeth was the next to come out. Both times I had the ‘pleasure’ of pulling it for her, and all I can say is that I commend her for her bravery. Both experiences were a bit traumatic for her but she was fine and we got it done. She was definitely excited to receive a couple visits from the Tooth Fairy.
Yesterday Ava got back out on the ice with other kids for the first time in over 6 months. We had only been on the ice once since the season ended, so this was by far the biggest break she had ever taken from hockey. In addition to that, it was her first day playing in the 10U age bracket, her first day with her new team in Seattle Junior Hockey Association, and her first time going out to play without me either on the ice with her, or watching from the sidelines.
Obviously I wanted to be there watching her but it wasn’t an option due to Covid-19. I don’t understand why though, as wearing a mask and keeping my distance from others wouldn’t be a problem at all, but I don’t want to rock the boat with our new organization, so I just waited outside with the other parents.
Based on all the factors I just described, it was a tough day for her. When she came outside she saw me and started crying, but we had a good talk about everything and I told her how proud I was, knowing how difficult these changes were for her. After a few minutes she felt better, and she is now ready to go back this Saturday and Sunday. Going from 8U to 10U is a big step up and she’s going to learn a lot about the game this year, so it should be exciting. I just hope I get to see some of it…
That’s about it for now. The arrival of school and hockey season means our lives are starting to get busy again, but that’s a good thing. Overall things are good and I’m proud of how we continue to make the best of things, regardless of everything going on in the world right now. Enjoy the latest photos.
