I suppose if any year requires a blog post it's 2020. There will be enough documentaries and other news sources to cover the facts of this year. This is just 2020 as it related to us. Also, Siena's here! I'm popping in to add some comments.
The year started out nicely. Home spa treatments while being able to spend time with friends.
In late January the kids and I went to Keller Auditorium to see Dear Evan Hansen. It was incredible!
S: Definitely worth the long lines!
S: Haha, it was fun to see what my future school was going to look like, since before this day I had never been inside the hallways, even though I've been there for performances, basketball games, and working out.
This pic of Julia, Yelena, and I was taken at the Mentor "prom" in early March at OMSI. The next evening, we all received a company wide email that we were required to work from home for a period of 2 weeks due to a suspected case of Covid on our work campus.
So...we stayed home. Luis continued to go into work for a few more days and then also was required to work from home later that week. By the end of the week, school was cancelled and they had a very extended Spring Break. Mason continued to train for track since he and Luis and been preparing for this season for 4 months leading into it.
Siena colored her hair cause why not.
Like everyone else, we decided that since we were all home all the time, it was the perfect time to get a puppy! Meet Riley!
We went on multiple hikes as the first day especially was beautiful.
The second day...not so beautiful. We still had fun on our cold, rain soaked horse ride.
I took a more traditional approach to being home. Seemed like a good time to dive into that list of 100 books everyone should read, starting with War and Peace. Fast forward 9 months and that list has a good dent in it.
Also going into the year, I was training for a Strong (Wo)man competition. Luckily we have a great weight set in the garage so I was able to keep at it. All four of us have made good use of this set over the last year.
S: I got into weight lifting this year! Of course I couldn't do as much as my mom can, but I definitely believe I got much stronger for basketball.
We had plans to spend Spring Break at a rental house at the coast. Covid news and circumstances kept changing on a daily basis and finally the morning we were to leave on the trip, we decided to postpone. Nothing was open and costal communities were asking people to not come.
After a spring break spent at home, school started up again, albeit online. I'm not sure how much learning actually happened but the schools and teachers tried, as did my kids. Siena had a nice setup for a while.
S: This is where I streamed for like 2 weeks.
Our official schedule of activities. Note that this hasn't changed much.
S: Thursday was a little different as you can tell.
We were like most families dealing with quarantine and a pandemic. I made banana bread. We worried about toilet paper. We went on walks and noted childhood playgrounds that were closed.
S: Gosh, I remember the beginning of quarantine. Our mom used to force us to take walks with her everyday.
In typical me fashion, I felt compelled to try to capture this period of history in a picture.
We looked for silver linings and new things to implement, such as the kids each being responsible for dinners one night a week. Turns out both are pretty good cooks and thanks to their efforts, we've found many new dinner favorites.
S: I colored it twice so far this quarantine, not sure if I will have another big change. My mom also cut my hair and she said she won't cut it again.
We started regular movie nights which always involves candy.
We had regular Yahtzee sessions with my parents.
We had socially distanced dinners with Gloria and Jose.
After a month of me losing at Yahtzee, I finally beat Mason and won the right to cut his hair. Course, I've now been cutting his (and Luis') hair for the last 9 months.
After some socially distant meetings with my friends involving sitting in the back of our cars, we slowly relaxed a bit and started seeing each other some more. It sucks not seeing them on a daily basis at work. One weekend afternoon, I took Mason out for some driving practice and we ended up visiting both Julia and Yelena.
Completely unplanned happening of 2020 was us acquiring ducks. Yelena has ducks and incubated eggs in the spring. She offered them up to whoever wanted them and why the heck not.
Here's Siena with baby Charlie.
And Mason with baby Webster.
We quickly became smitten with our quacky friends.
S: They were so cute! When they were babies we used to give them baths where they got to play in the water for the first time.
In May, Mason turned 16 and got a Toyota Camry as his gift. Unfortunately, the DMV wasn't conducting drivers exams due to Covid. The only way he could get licensed was to either go through a private testing company, which was booked out through December, or to take Drivers Ed where he could finish in October. He opted for Drivers Ed. The DMV was also booked out for all appointments so Mason ended up having to take the written portion of the exam in La Grande and obtaining his actual license in Astoria later in the fall.
S: He makes me drive it in the driveway now.
As we entered into summer, Luis and I continued to work from home. I set up an office in the bedroom and Luis in the den.
S: Bub.
Siena officially survived middle school but there was only an online promotion video. Her teachers stepped up though and delivered certificates and balloons to each student at their homes.
Charlie and Webster got big fast. We installed a little pond for them (and added a buddy - Dr. Quackers).
Some Charlie love for Mason.
S: I remember one time we had family over and my oldest cousin Kendra chased Charlie around a bush for like 5 minutes.
Mason and I ended up going on a lot of hikes this summer, especially due to no big trips and not much else to do on summer weekends. Unfortunately Luis and Siena don't enjoy hikes nearly as much as Mason and I do.
Siena got us playing the Quarantine Olympics which involved such challenges as paper airplane throw and trying to get exactly 10 ice cubes out of the dispenser into a glass. We also played a lot of Spike Ball and 2 vs 2 basketball in the driveway.
S: We eventually stopped doing this due to the fact that we always forgot, and we're distracted with other things.
S: Speaking of distractions! Riley was a F1B goldendoodle, which means she is a mix of a goldendoodle and a poodle.
More on Riley later.
S: Chub.
The hiking continues. This was the most insane hike Mason and I have ever done. It involved having to use ropes to rappel down a steep slope and crossing this super sketchy log bridge. If you look closely, that's Mason bear crawling across the bridge.
We made it to the falls. Still had to go back across the bridge and climb up the ropes. Unfortunately this area was damaged in the wildfires that came several months later.
For some reason, Luis picked out the biggest crate ever for Riley, as Mason was able to demonstrate.
S: She bit on everything, as you can see she's biting his foot.
In August, we were finally able to do the beach trip we had planned for spring break. As you can see, Mason is all safety first...even in the family car.
It was beautiful weather at the coast and we got to spend a lot of time outside relaxing and doing activities on the beach! We even got to eat out a few times and go to some shops...masks on of course.
No comments needed.
Why have just 2 ducks when you can have 4! This is Storm and Ale...our impulse buy. Charlie and Webster needed some friends.
Since we had already gotten ducks and a dog, might as well round things out with my dream car...Jeep! We traded in Luis' 4 Runner for this and immediately took off the top for the rest of the summer.
It only took a few days for Mason and I to take the Jeep up to the Mt. Hood area for a hike. Course, this was the hike where we took a wrong turn and ended up in a parking lot.
We had planned on Labor Day to take the Jeep off-roading with Yelena and her family. Unfortunately the threat of wildfires forced us to cancel those plans so we opted for a drive to the beach instead. Mason found us a stretch of beach where vehicles are allowed. We saw plenty of stranded sedans but as we don't know how to use our winch, we were totally useless to help.
As we were driving back from this day trip, upon approaching Hillsboro we found ourselves in the middle of the most smoke and winds we have ever encountered.
During the worst of the wildfires, this was the view of my parents house from our house. The smoke was so bad for about 2 weeks that we could barely go outside. We were in a Level 1 - Be Prepared evacuation warning for several days. Like many things this year, this was nothing we had ever experienced before. The constant smoke and darkness was unnerving and disconcerting.
S: It eventually went away and hasn't reappeared. We never had to evacuate, but we chose to wear masks we would usually wear to stores just to stay extra safe from the heavy smoke.
Unfortunately at the end of September, our beloved puppy Riley passed away unexpectedly of a massive seizure. This was devastating to all of us. We only had Riley with us for about 2 months but she had won all of our hearts in that period of time. We still miss her every single day.
S: It was hard on all of us, even the guy who didn't want a dog to begin with. Now when we think of her we think of how silly and adorable she was!
In early October, we went with the Evanses to stay at Mary Lou and Bruce's Wallowa Lake house for a long weekend (this was when Mason took his drivers test in La Grande). This is the view from their dining room.
S: It was incredible! It was so fun to stay with my 2nd cousins since I don't believed I had ever stayed with them before.
S: I remember when we got home we all tried to take showers right after, I threw up after mine for whatever reason!
Sibling fun at the lake house.
The rains let up the final day and we were back out hiking again.
Another birthday celebration for the birthday buddies.
S: Instead of a cake, she got us cupcakes! They were so good, but really sugary!
Since we were home and were looking for any enjoyment we could, the kids went all out for Halloween this year. They created a giant haunted house in our dining room/living room. Despite their $100 budget, they did an amazing job.
Here's Mason as a rapper this year.
Siena channeled the year of duck for her costume.
S: Duckies.
Even the poor cats got in on the fun.
Tommy loved it.
Luis and I were finally able to have our off-roading experience with Yelena and family. It was so much fun being out on the trails and the Jeep was amazing.
S: I thought they died.
However, we were not able to make it under this tree despite our best efforts.
Now it's holiday season time. I got the bright idea to go all out with our Lego Christmas Village this year and build out a whole mountain scene. It was a fun project to do with the kids.
S: We started a new tradition to get christmas legos, but this year we decided to make a village using all our sets and white mountains!
Also exciting...Webster, who turned out to be a girl, started laying eggs. She gives us one a day. She's our little champ!
S: We aren't very good at guessing their genders.
To sum up this year...the kids 2020 Gingerbread House.
If there are any lessons to be learned from 2020, I think it's that the unexpected absolutely can happen and when we're forced to change and adapt, we're able to. Its not a year we will ever forget.
