Wow…….2020 was quite a year, nothing I expected as we rang it in, excited about a new decade and leaving behind magical 2019.
The year seemed to start out normal, we hosted a Noon Years Eve party for all of our friends who don’t stay up until midnight. It was amazing. I can’t imagine having thirty people in my house now.
We enjoyed the normal things like playing in the snow, going to birthday parties and going to gymnastics class.
While we had not yet been impacted by Covid-19 in mid January we got very sick and could not get well for many weeks.
It is unlikely that what we had was Covid-19 in January because there wasn’t many cases here then but it is possible, and I do wonder given how badly our lungs were impacted and how long we were sick.
We celebrated Valentines day and now it seems odd to be in someone else’s house.
We traveled to Dillion to see the ice castles, they were magical. It was very fun to share this trip with parents.
We decided to remodel our kitchen and spent time picking counters, back splash and cabinet color.
We signed Cannon up for his first season of soccer in the spring, we were very excited until quickly the world pandemic hit America. I mid March we were told that Cannon would have an extended spring break for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into the rest of the school year spent at home.
Cory also started working from home in March, he could do everything virtually so the only thing that changed was him now working from our home office. We really enjoyed having him home for lunches and seeing him more. My job was already online so noting changed other than having to share my office.
We spent a lot of time walking outside since there was literally nowhere to go and the playgrounds were closed. It was not an easy time. With two little kids who didn’t understand why they couldn’t see their friends or stop and play at the playgrounds like they were used to. We had fun most days but also missed our normal life.
We spent Easter without our family but still had so much fun hunting for eggs.
Emmy turned two and we celebrated her the best we could. She didn’t get a party but she did get to see her grandparents over the fence.
We stayed home some more and enjoyed some spring snow.
When May came so did the sunny weather. We spent most of our time in the backyard. We missed our people but things were looking up.
Then we struggled when our precious little Humphry got very sick and we came very close to losing him. We were lucky that he was able to come home to us.
We got to celebrate Cannon’s last day of pre-school. It wasn’t the way we wanted him to get to end his first year of school but we were safe and healthy.
Things started to open up when June rolled around so we spent as much time as possible enjoying the mountains.
Cannon turned four and we were very excited to have a little party for him. We had Cory’s cousins over with their kids and I have never seen Cannon happier. He was in his element playing with his people.
Things continued to improve for us when playgrounds opened back up. I will definitely miss these days of always looking for playgrounds when these kids grow out of them!
As summer arrived things got even better for us, our neighborhood pool opened up with very small capacity. We had to make reservations and could only go once a week at the most, but we took what we could get!
We also started to see my parents again, we all missed each other so much and got to celebrate Father’s Day together.
We played in the backyard almost everyday and really learned to be thankful for what we had.
We also camped a lot! Cory and I have always loved camping and have been wanting to go more but Emmy didn’t like sleeping in a tent when she was little. We invested in a pop-up camper and that really solved the sleeping problem for her.
We continued to visit as many playgrounds as possible.
As August approached we found out that Cannon would be able to attend school half-time (two days a week). We sent him back to school very unsure about our decision to send him but he took it like a champ and didn’t mind wearing a mask at all. Emmy didn’t like at all that she didn’t get to play with the other kids at drop-off and pick-up.
We did virtual school on the days that Cannon wasn’t at school.
Cannon also got to play his first season of soccer. We decided that an outdoor activity would be safe enough.
We spent a day enjoying Vail in the early fall. This is one of my favorite places!
We were meant to take a big camping trip to California but the west was dealing with devastating wild fires. Our reservations at Lake Tahoe were cancelled so we changed directions and went up to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.
It was so incredibly beautiful in the Tetons, I really want to go back next year to camp and explore more! My parents and brother rented an RV and came with us. It was SO nice to just get out away from the house as well.
Yellowstone was breathtaking, it was so incredible to see. The kids loved it and dealt with all the time in the car like champs.
When we got home from Yellowstone we did all the fall things including a socially distant Halloween.
In November Cannon’s school was shut down due to rapidly increasing cases of Covid. We spent some of the month in quarantine because Cannon was exposed to someone that tested positive at school. It was stressful waiting for our Covid test results but they came back negative. We did school online, played, wore masks, cuddled and made the most of it. We also spent Thanksgiving just the four of us. We missed our family wanted to keep everyone safe.
December was much quieter then we are used to, there weren’t any Christmas parties or concerts to attend. We were lucky with the weather so we hiked and played a lot. We enjoyed a back yard Christmas celebration with my family.
My running was nothing to talk about this year, sporadic at best. I was hopeful to at least do something self supported but a knee injury in July that is still bothering me ruined any chance of that. No races and no real virtual events. Just lots of time on the treadmill and sometime running on my own near my house.
2020 was nothing that we expected, lots to be disappointed about but also lots to be thankful for. If anything this year has brought us closer as a family, helped teach us to lean on just each-other and count our blessings often. We are lucky to still have our jobs and our health.
We miss life the way it was but are looking forward to 2021 with anticipation and hope.
Leave a Reply