 Hi, welcome to Wellness Wednesday. Have fun. So just because we're quarantined doesn't mean we can't have a little bit of fun in our own unique way. I'm Steph Lundgren from ESU 8's PD team. So again, staying home doesn't mean that fun is over, right? It's just that we have to kind of make our fun in a whole different way. So think about what you love to do normally when we can move out and about freely and kind of morph that into something we can do at home. So the first one, first idea for you is socializing while social distancing. One of the things you can do is you can FaceTime with multiple friends all at once. So last week, I actually was able to have virtual happy hour with my friends because really socializing is my main source of fun. That's what I think is best. I'm a people person. I like to be with my friends. So when we could still get together and see each other's faces and share some stories from the last week, that was really a fun time. My family also got on Zoom together over the weekend and even though they live mostly on the West Coast, we could all be together and kind of share our stories of being cooped up in the helm. And another fun thing to do with your friends is to have a Netflix party. So on Netflix Party, you can install that on the Chrome app. And you and your friends can watch the same movie at the same time. And there's a sidebar where you can chat during the movie. So that's kind of cool. And another idea, my niece just recently had a virtual slumber party. So on that slumber party, she and her friend were each FaceTiming while they watched a movie and had popcorn all together. So kind of a fun time to feel that connection, but you don't have to be in the same space. Another idea is to play games. So this can be, take many forms. And even right now, the weather's getting better. So you might think about the games that you can play outside. Maybe you have some yard games. Maybe you have a basketball hoop in your driveway. And even if it hasn't been used for years, this might be the chance that you have to dust it off, get out the ball and play a good game and knock out or force. But also, think about the games inside your house, like all the board games. I know we don't get our board games out near enough, but they're sure are fun, good old fashioned fun. And card games, I mean, there are so many card games out there. I'm sure that there's a new one that you could learn. Also, think about different apps, like Heads Up. It's a great game from Ellen, where you have your team guess some words. And actually, my family has played this over FaceTime before. So it works great, even if the people aren't in the same room issue. We also, there's games like Words With Friends. So think about the game that you love, like the old school game, like a board game, like Scrabble. And there's probably some digital version of it. But the cool thing about Words With Friends is you're actually playing against your friends. So you have some contact and can chat with each other while you play. All right. Another idea is to think about your hobbies. So something old and something new. So one thing is, think about one of those hobbies you've been thinking about, like someday I would love to learn how to, for instance, knit. So you could find a YouTube video or even chat with a friend who knows how and learn how to knit. So you could FaceTime together or watch that YouTube video. But just think about something that you've kind of been putting off and thinking someday when I have the time, I'd like to try this. It also might be really fun to morph a favorite hobby into a competition. So for me, my favorite hobby is cooking. So you could do Iron Chef at home. Choose an ingredient that you have on hand. And two family members each make a dish highlighting that ingredient. And the rest of the family judges and to see who is the Iron Chef for the evening. That can be kind of fun. On the lines of cooking, it's my favorite probably pastime activity. And I've challenged myself to use my rarely used kitchen appliances. So like my bread maker or last weekend, it was the ice cream maker in the fondue pot. And I'm going to get those out and challenge myself to make something new or a little bit different that I haven't made for a while. Another idea is play with your pets, right? So go on walks with your dog. Play with toys with your pets. I don't often enough take the time to do that kind of thing with them. Cats are great for making crazy cat videos, like this cat's riding on his room butt. You can also dress your pet up. Easter's coming. Find those Easter ears, those bunny ears and put them on your dog for a great photo session. You could also make a video. Who's seen this video? It's a great one. Let's watch. Okay. So there's nothing that educational about that video, but it's just a whole lot of fun. So get creative and make a funny video. Upload it to YouTube. Make people happy. You can still take a trip without even leaving your own home. So this is one list of some virtual field trips that you could take. But there are many, many out there. You can just Google virtual field trips. Think about anywhere you'd like to take a vacation and there's probably a virtual field trip for that location. So zoos, museums, different places. I mean, heck, there's even one to Mars here. So many different animal cams out there to watch nature. So there's so many places you can travel to without even leaving your own home. This could be really fun for kids in your life too. Or think about some family trip that might be some fantasy family trip to some place that's far off and all go there on a trip together. I love to go to concerts with my friends. And in fact, I think some of the ones that we have planned for this summer are in Jeopardy, which makes me sad. But I know that I can still see some of my favorite artists in their own living rooms. Two highlights for me recently have been when Chris Martin from Coldplay did one of the first concerts that were really starting to be streamed in the last few weeks. And also I saw Dave Matthews. So those are two of my very favorites. And so many people are going live with concerts. I even heard that Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are going to be on CBS starting this week. So that can be fun to watch too. So bring those musical performances into your own home. And I also love to go to play. So Broadway or Bust. So there have been some different ways to watch Broadway shows online recently. And some can get kind of pricey. But this website BroadwayHD.com actually has a free seven day trial. And so you could go on and kind of binge a few of the Broadway shows in that seven days. And then another idea, especially with kids around the house, are to have some themed days or nights. So you could think about some of your favorite movies like Spider-Man. You could have a superhero themed day or even a weekend and plan the foods that you eat, the activities that you do, the things that you wear around a certain movie. And if we can have Christmas in July, I think that we can have Halloween at Easter. So one idea might be to let your kids get out their Halloween costumes and dress up and maybe eat some fall foods and do some things that you would do normally in the fall. And for Halloween time, now another thing is to think of a place that you'd love to visit, kind of like we talked about before. And so maybe it's the beach and you have a beach thing. So you eat beachy foods, you listen to some Jimmy Buffett on the radio, you dress with Hawaiian shirts on and you do beachy things. And then another thing is to think of an era. So I thought about the 80s. So you can listen to 80s music, watch an 80s movie like E.T. or the Breakfast Club on TV. You could also eat 80s food, some, you know, I think about fast foods and things like that that were popular in the 80s. So pick a theme and try to do, you know, your whole day in that theme. And my last tip for you is join in on your community activities. Scavenger hunts and cruise nights and bears, oh my. Lately, we've all been having these teddy bears in our windows for the teddy bear hunts. I live in Neely and we have had so many people driving by our house looking for the bears. Also, we've had cruise nights in town and although the weather wasn't so great last Saturday, I hear it was a lot of fun. Different newspapers and organizations are putting on different activities in town like scavenger hunts and things like that to keep us active. So if it's a scavenger hunt outside the house, we can take digital photos of those items. Scavenger hunt inside the house, of course, you can collect the items. So that could be a lot of fun even for different family members to design a new scavenger hunt for the family. So just remember, it's not that you have to stay home, it's that you get to stay home. Let's all stay super healthy and make it through this kind of trying time by having a little bit of fun. Thanks so much for joining me today.