We are getting good at this

BC (before Covid) and BW (before Winslow) we had a nice routine of family get togethers with son/family.  Saturdays we would pick up the wee one (grandson) at around 3 p.m. and have time alone with him at our place until about 6 p.m. when his mom and sister would come over for dinner.  They would leave between 9 and 10 p.m.  Mondays (or whatever son's day off was at the time) the family would come over for dinner and when it was swimming season would swim in the pool.  

Then Covid hit and of course in the beginning we didn't get together but six weeks into it, I had enough of not seeing family so we started getting together and continued the dinners with pretty much the same schedule as before though we missed a few here and there with different things happening.  

In October I realized the wee one was afraid of Winslow.  Now Winslow has incredibly high energy and a very excited bark and he jumped a lot as a puppy (we have worked on that so he doesn't now) but it frightened the wee one.  Took me a few months to arrive to that conclusion that he was afraid of Winslow and after doing some reading, I found it wasn't that uncommon so we started crating Winslow while we were eating and then afterward I would go and play with the wee one in another room, Winslow came out for a bit and then went back into the crate when it was time to go home.  Things worked out good and the wee one relaxed being here.  I figured down the road we would work on getting him to be less afraid of Winslow and we worked on controlling Winslow's behavior like his barking and his jumping up on people.

Then in November the family was over for dinner and my DIL was sneezing and coughing through the whole dinner.  I finally asked her if she was okay (I'm thinking Covid) but she said "I think I'm allergic to Winslow."  Apparently she had symptoms before when she was over but they weren't bad and during summer/swimming season we would eat inside, swim outside, sometimes Winslow being outside, sometimes not.  So her symptoms were easier to control then.  

Of course I felt bad for her misery with her allergies so we devised to still get together but at their house on the same routine of Saturdays and Monday nights.  Saturdays we pick up fast food and bring it to their place and spend some time with them.  

Mondays we decided to cook and bring a meal over.  We've gotten pretty good at planning things that will travel well and how to pack them up to transport them. It can be challenging to come up with things that all can eat (kids are a bit picky here and there and son has some dietary issues where he can't eat red meat).  If I plan an "adult meal" that I know the kids won't enjoy then we stop and get 2 medium pizzas from Domino's.  Here you can get a medium 1 topping pizza for 5.99.  Grandson likes cheese, step granddaughter likes pepperoni.  So one for each of them.

This past Monday on the menu was:

Avocado Ranch salad kit (it was good)

Two bags of it fit into the lid of a disposable aluminum pan that we didn't need the lid for whatever we were transporting before.

Barbeque chicken made in the crockpot.  Super simple recipe.  Basically barbecue sauce poured over the chicken and cooked for 4-6 hours on low.

Chicken rice.  Two packages of the Knorr chicken rice.  

Stove Top stuffing.  Made in the microwave (comes out really good).  

We bring along paper plates and plastic utensils and we are good to go.  We only live 10 minutes apart so the food stays warm while driving over there.  

Its not the perfect system but presently it is working.  We high five each other and say "we could be caterers" (not really).  

Swimming season is just around the corner so not sure how we will work it out this year with DIL coming over.  Grandson had been coming over a few times to spend time here with  us (Winslow in crate at times) and it had gone well.  

DIL is thinking of taking a Benadryl before they come over.  She was allergic to a cat they had but their Jack Russell mix she is not allergic to (perhaps because it doesn't shed).  

In the meantime, despite the efforts, we always agree it is good to get together and spend time with each other!

(Side note.  I was informed from FeedBurner who manages the follow the blogs by email feature, that they are phasing this out by July.  So I added the followers blog button to my blog so you can follow it if you so desire and thereby get notices when I do a post.  Sorry for all the confusion).