SUZ: MARCH

March was the LONGEST month EVER. It started off really well...with picnics in front of the TV and more time outside.

We also attended Salt Con the first weekend in March. We look forward to this weekend all year long. Seth always takes Thursday and Friday off of work so that he can attend the entire weekend. This year we decided not to volunteer so that we could have as much time to play as possible. On Thursday, I met Seth up at the con with Millie and Silas.

The kids were so excited to use the props for a little photo.

On Thursday, we focused on checking out as many games from the Play to Win area as we could. We played Roll for your life Candyman. This is a very kid friendly game where you roll and then "eat" the part that matches your roll off of someone else's gingerbread man. The last gingerbread man with any parts wins.

Then we played Imhotep The Duel which is a fun two person variation of the original game.

We also played Tiny Towns. Seth actually wrote a little summary on his Facebook page for many of the games we played...so I will include them in bold.

TINY TOWNS
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/265736/tiny-towns
This Game I had played with Phin prior to the convention at a game day out at the West Jordan Library, but when it was in the play to win section at the convention, I made sure we were entered to win as I thought it would be a great addition to our collection. Lucky us we Won! This is a very simple game that surprisingly will make you think hard as you try to think of all the ways to spatially fit the building to maximize your score.
Players: 1-6
Time: 45-60 mins
Game Type: Pattern placement
Who can Play: 14+ (Like I mentioned I played with Phin, age 6, and he played just fine but he would likely never win)
How it Plays: In this game you are competing to build the most amazing town by positioning cubes (resources) in specific patterns, when you have the correct pattern on your board you clear the cubes and replace them with the corresponding building. You continue doing this until the town is reached its maximum density and can no longer support any more buildings. At which time the game ends and your buildings are scored, with the highest score being the winner. https://youtu.be/nVsRIRJ-m2k

Millie and Silas kept themselves fairly entertained throughout the day. They watched shows on the iPad, played games with us and played with toys that we had brought along.

We also played Lost Cities which is a card version of the big game. I am not sure that I really read the directions right on this one...it didn't play very smoothly.

We also played Astro Drive which was a little game where you are driving your astro through space and trying not to crash into comets, etc.

Millie wanted to play this little Shuffle game...mostly she liked playing with pieces. You would use your turns to shuffle these little creatures around and try to collect all of your designated bugs.

We also played Paris was a little bit of a puzzle game.

The next day I had to work in the morning. Then I arranged for a babysitter to come to watch the kids while I went to a staff meeting...and finally after the staff meeting I was able to join Seth up at the Con.

I played the Hot Game Azul Summer Pavilion while Seth finished a tournament. I LOVED it. It had all of the elements I love about the original Azul but also added some deeper strategies. I played this one two or three times in a row.

AZUL: SUMMER PAVILION
https://boardgamegeek.com/board…/287954/azul-summer-pavilion
This is the third game in the Azul series and with Suzanne loving the first two, the fact that this was a Hot Game at the convention, only meant that we were not going to be disappointed. After playing this one she called it her favorite, but I think that she would like to own all three.
Players: 2-4
Time: 30-45 mins
Game Type: Set Collection/Tile placement
Who can Play: 8+
How it Plays: This game plays very similar to the earlier first two games with some added changes to the rules and the board. Like the other two games you take turns drafting tiles from a supply but unlike the other two you wait until the end of the round before you start to play them to your board, being careful to play them such that you are maximizing your points. This game also differs as each round has a color that is wild and when placing tiles bonus certain placements will allow for bonuses and additional tiles for the bonus board.

Then Seth taught me Roam which is made by Red Raven games. This is one of their lighter games and honestly my favorite so far.

ROAM
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267319/roam
This is one of the latest from one of my favorite board game designers, Red Raven Games (Above and Below, Near and Far, Eight Minute Empire) I have really like their games and this is one that I enjoyed so much, I wanted right away. We were lucky and won it in a drawing, so we did not have to buy it, which is good as I don’t think it is out yet unless you backed it on kickstarter, but I would have easily dropped the money to buy, we played this game at least 3 times at the convention.
Players: 2-4
Time: 30-45 mins
Game Type: Area Control
Who can Play: 8+ (We played with Phin age 6 and he needed a little help, but after a few more times I think he would be just fine)
How it Plays: You use the adventures in your party to explore in the unique patterns. Then claim land cards and add additional explores to your growing party. You can spend coins to purchase artifacts that grant unique abilities. Game ends when someone claimed/rescued 7 land/explores. Whoever has the most points wins. https://youtu.be/6XxMBvO2f5A

While we were playing Friday afternoon, our kids were at a Star Wars themed birthday party. They had an absolute blast. Phin is the storm trooper in the green shirt that is standing up in the back row. Millie is the Darth Vader wearing a blue/purple jacket on the front row.

The next day we had my cousin's daughter, Penny come and babysit our kids for the day. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her with the kids. Millie absolutely adores Penny. Penny was so good to the kids and took them on a walk and to the store. They played games and blew bubbles. We are so very grateful she was able to come and spend the day with them.

When we got to the convention on Saturday we headed straight to the Hot Games. We played Parks and ended up playing this one 5-6 times on Saturday. It is such a gorgeous game and so fun to play. This is one I would love to add to our collection.

PARKS
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266524/parks
This was one of the Hot Games at the convention and another of our FAVORITES. We played it 3-4 times at the convention. If it was in print and available (currently only available for preorder) I would have bought it right away. It is a beautiful game with amazing art work and good game play.
Players: 1-5
Time: 30-60 mins
Game Type: Set Collection
Who can Play: 10+
How it Plays: In parks you take on the role of hikers as they trek across different trails during four seasons of the year. Each trail represents one season of the year, and with each season’s passing, the trails will change and grow steadily longer. Each turn, players will send one of their hikers down the Trail. While on the Trail, hikers will land on a site—such as seeing Mountain—and takes its action, in this case gaining a Mountain token. When a hiker is on a site, other hikers cannot visit it unless they spend their campfire to share the site. Canteens and Gear can also be used to improve your access to resources through the game. When a hiker reaches the end of the trail they can spend tokens they’ve received from the Trail to visit Parks to earn points. Your goal is to have the most points at the end of the year. https://youtu.be/RZIHHoCxPm0

We played another Play to Win game as a time filler...Rescue Animals. It wasn't my favorite.

We spent the rest of Saturday playing PARKS and Roam over and over again with our friends from Roosevelt, Jed and Suzanne. We ended the night on a high note by wining lots of games from the Play to Win.

On Sunday we went back to have a family gaming day. Phin and Millie each played in the Pitch Car tournament.

Silas wished that he was playing and the organizer was sweet enough to let us borrow a little track and a car...this is my favorite picture from the whole convention.

Millie wasn't quite tall enough to reach all of the track so she had some help from Seth.

We checked out lots of games from the Game library. The kids loved playing with the pieces in the Super Mario Chess set.

We played a little dexterity Haba game...which we really weren't very good at.

Seth, Phin and I played Pirate vs. Pirate.

Silas finally gave up and took a nap.

The pirate games were apparently a big hit.

We also played Super Rhino, we have the regular version of this game. They added some really fun elements to this version.

Then we played Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. This one was really fun...and by far the best Disney themed game we have played.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS: A GEMSTONE MINNING GAME
https://boardgamegeek.com/…/snow-white-and-seven-dwarfs-gem…
Alright all you Disney fans, this is the game for you. My kids where instantly interested in playing this one as it was Disney and had the characters they already knew.
Players: 3-7
Time: 45-60 mins
Game Type: Press your Luck
Who can Play: 8+ (Millie age 4, and Phin age 6 both played and did fine, the hardest part was staying focused)
How it Plays: Each player chooses one of the Seven Dwarfs and then heads into the mine looking for gems (takes turns pull gems out of the bag) hoping not to encounter the obsidian because if you come across 2 you have to leave the mine without any gems. Once all the dwarfs have left the mine, everyone trades the gems in to Snow White for pies (points) after 5-7 days whoever has the most pies win. Cards are used to give additional special actions like trading gems or mine seven gems and keep one etc.

Then we played Copenhagen. This one was a little Tetris like...if we didn't have other games similar to this one, it would be one that I would want to purchase.

COPENHAGEN
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/269595/copenhagen
This game we found at the Queen Games demo booth, we are familiar with this publisher as they have had some great games in the past have played various games from this publisher (Alhambra, Escape, and Kingdom Builder)
Players: 2-4
Time: 20-40 mins
Game Type: Tile Placement
Who can Play: 8+ (Younger kids could probably play but would miss the strategy and lose every time)
How it Plays: Players collect cards and then trade them in for tiles, that they then placed on their board in a Tetris style, collecting bonuses along the way for placing tiles of the same color together or buy completing rows and columns for points. The player with the most points wins. I would describe it best as Ticket to Ride meets Tetris.

The kids also chose to play a Super Mario power up game...they love the Super Mario theme.

Then I played Tiny Parks with Phin. We rolled dice to get parts of an amusement park.

We also played Bugs in the Kitchen. This one came with a cute little battery powered cockroach. We moved spoons and forks on the board to get the cockroach to move and tried to capture him in our corner of the board. The kids LOVED the cockroach.

Our last game of the convention was Down Force. This was a great race care themed game. It was very kid friendly too.

DOWNFORCE
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/215311/downforce
Looking for games we could possibly play with our family (something relatively simple yet still enjoyable for me) this drew my attention as I thought it might fit that requirement.
Players: 2-6
Time: 20-40 mins
Game Type: Betting/Racing
Who can Play: 10+ (Played with Phin age 6 who ended with a higher score than me, so yes younger kids can play but may need guidance at times)
How it Plays: This is a card driven race game. Players take turns playing cards which will move multiple cars move cars some owned by you through a bidding process at the begin of the game, the strategy is to play cards that will benefit the cars you bet on or own so that they will win the race and win the most money whoever has the most money at the end of the game wins, not necessarily the owner of the car that won the race. https://youtu.be/CpihysTOamo

We finished our Salt Con trip with a visit to the large game area.

Here is a picture of our Salt Con haul...some games we won, some were giveaways and some we purchased in the game trade area.

Here is one last review by Seth of one we purchased.

MY FIRST STONE AGE
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardga…/191004/my-first-stone-age
We are always looking for games that we can play with our kids and have had success with the toned downed versions of other successful games like Ticket To Ride: First Journey, Catan Junior, and My First Carcassonne, we bought this one used at the yard sale having never played it before but being a Kinder Spiel de Jahres winner it was a pretty safe bet.
Players: 2-4
Time: 15 mins
Game Type: Memory/Set collection
Who can Play: 5+ (Millie age 4 did great and I think a 2-3 year could play with a little guidance)
How it Plays: Players try to collect sets by moving to various locations around the board. The trick is remembering where the token that will take you where you want to go, as the occasionally get moved when someone completes a set.

After Salt Con we started to see more stories about Covid-19 and life as we knew it slowly started to slip away. We had no idea how much life would change so quickly. Here is one of the last drawings Millie brought home from school...our little family.

On Thursday, March 16th, I took the Millie and Silas with me to Costco to stock up on some essentials...apparently everyone else in Davis county had the same idea...when we got in line were were half way back in the store.

Silas wasn't feeling great and fell asleep on the couch after our Costco trip.

Phin came home from school with a cupcake to celebrate a classmate's birthday.

The next day the Governor announced the school closure. My work inbox started to fill with procedures and protocols. Some have assumed that as a Speech Therapist a school closure means that I am on vacation...I can tell you this is no vacation. The first days of the school closure I spent my day preparing paper packets for my students. I also spent a ton of time taking continuing education classes on teletherapy. I currently have 52 students on my caseload and was so worried about being able to provide service remotely.

I also was a little bit worried about food. Did I get enough? When would we be able to go back to the store. etc? So we spent some time making a huge batch of freezer pancakes. I figured if we didn't have access to milk for cereal each week that pancakes would be a great option.

I also had a lighthouse gingerbread house that I was hiding away for a rainy day...we pulled it out that first day of the school closure and got busy.

St. Patrick's Day was the second day of school closure. The kids woke up to a box of Lucky Charms from Grandma Jo. She always gives us a whole bag full of green goodies in March...I had stashed this one away for the big day.

I got permission to work from home on St. Patrick's Day because Silas had been pulling on his ear the night before. I was able to get him in for an appointment with our pediatrician around lunch time. He had to wear this mask in the waiting room as a precaution. He was so good to keep it on. Our pediatrician came into the exam room in scrubs and a mask...not his usual. We found out that Silas' left ear had a pretty nasty ear infection.

We spent the afternoon cuddling as I watched continuing education courses.

The next day as I was getting ready for the day our house started shaking...an earthquake hit. It was terrifying. Millie was up with me and I immediately grabbed her and ran for Seth and the boys. Silas and Phin slept through the whole thing. The 5.7 earthquake was enough to get Seth out of bed. We sat cuddled on the couch watching the TV and waiting for some kind of news. The aftershocks started coming and were so terrifying. I had arranged for a babysitter to come for the morning but due to the earthquake we cancelled. Seth headed to work as normal and I went over to the school with Phin, Millie and Silas in tow. Once Seth arrived at work he called to say that his work had decided to send everyone home. So he came to get the kids. I ran around the school passing out paper packets to teachers. Just as I finished the principal came over the intercom and said that we had 30 minutes to get out of the building. The district was closing all buildings due to the earthquake. I was able to stop by Phin's classroom to pick up his remote learning packet and iPad and then I came home. I was pretty shaken the rest of the day but was so grateful Seth was at home to calm my nerves.

Later that afternoon Phin started his remote learning. We are so blessed that at his school there is a 1:1 ration for devices. Phin was able to bring home the iPad that he uses in class. His teacher is using the app SeeSaw to deliver instruction and assignments. Phin also uses several other apps: Imagine Learning, Imagine Learning Math and Epic to complete assignments. Right around this time Phin and Millie started having some seriously boogie noses. I am a bit of a hypochondriac so between Silas' ear infection and Phin and Millie's boogie noses I was a mess.

Phin doesn't seem to mind "school" in his PJs.

After the earthquake the school started limiting how many faculty members could be in the building and not longer after that they changed the policy so that we would only come in on the day were were assigned to pick up materials. This was a huge blessing because now I didn't have to take Phin, Millie and Silas over to the school with me. They spent most of that first week watching shows while I worked on the computer.

The first Saturday of school closure we pumped up all of our bike tires and rode over the Artic Circle for an ice cream cone.

The next week we continued with our remote learning. I had offered speech therapy sessions via Zoom and had about 10 of my students sign up for sessions the first week.

We also discovered that the school was giving away free lunch and breakfast to anyone ages 1-18. So when I was done with work around lunch we headed over to pick up lunch.

The kids got pretty creative at keeping themselves busy. Here they are sporting my resistance loops...I think they may be Ninja Turtles.

We also started going on walks every day when Seth got back from work. When I was working at the school I got a lot of steps in everyday...not so much the case when working remotely.

We stopped on one walk for some take out pizza.

We decided to have a picnic with the pizza in our backyard.

Seth hinted that Silas may be ready for a big by bed. So one night he set it up for Silas. I was dreading this so much...but Silas has done great.

The next day while I worked the kids had a little "slumber party" in Silas' room.

Quarantine is exhausting...I usually end up taking a nap when Silas does. Sometimes I have company for my nap.

Silas turned 2 a week after the earthquake hit. We wanted to make this strange quarantine birthday special...so we picked up an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.