Timeline 2020

In January and February we started off the year with 3 and 1/2 snow days. I remember thinking how rough it was to have the kids home all week after they'd only just returned to school after winter break. Little did I know what was coming...Ironically I called the first post 2020 vision completely oblivious to the pandemic that would shortly take over that year. We also visited the Edmonds Family Fun Center, Snoqualmie Falls, Woodland Park Zoo, and attended a huge quincenera banquet.

For midwinter break we flew down to Southern California where we visited Universal Studios, 6 Flags, and Sea World. Oscar's parents joined us for our last 3 days, and Oscar and I visited the San Diego Temple, not knowing it would be our last temple session for at least a year. Read more in Southern California Trip part I and part II.

In March Allison got new sparkly, purple glasses, the kids attended an assembly with the Reptile Man at Tyler's school, we celebrated my 38th birthday, then school and all other indoor activities closed for 6 weeks at the start of the pandemic (which now looks like it will be around a year total before they're back in person). We started homeschooling and visited beaches and playgrounds before they all closed for our stay home/stay safe order. The Columbia River Gorge was still open, so we took a quick weekend trip down there to see some waterfalls and do a little hiking. It closed too the day after we left. Read more in Last Days of Freedom. 

In late March, all of April, and most of May, everything shut down, even outdoor fun like beaches, parks, and hiking trails. We spent a lot of time at home, but I made extra efforts to get the kids outside daily and to make sure they knew we weren't going to spend all day watching screens. The kids started distance learning through the school district, we celebrated Easter, I enjoyed a change of scene doing Mother's Day deliveries, and we celebrated Oscar's and Tyler's birthday. Read more in Covid-19 Quarantine and Isolation: Part I - Surviving The First Month, and Covid-19 Quarantine and Isolation: Part II - Making it Work for our Family.

In Late May Utah reopened their playgrounds and other outdoor recreation, including Lagoon. I couldn't resist taking the kids where I knew they'd have a lot more fun, and since Oscar was able to telecommute, we drove down and spent over three weeks there. Read more in Utah Trip: Part I, Utah Trip: Part II, and Utah Trip: Part III.

After returning from Utah we made outings to some of the few places that had reopened back home, like Silver Lake Park, Seattle Aquarium, and the dentist. Thanks to the city of Marysville we were still able to watch a fireworks display on Independence Day. Read more in Early Summer 2020.

In Mid July we used up our flight credits through Spirit Airlines to go visit Emily's family in Missouri. The kids had some good cousin time and we took a side trip to Six Flags St Louis. Read more in Missouri 2020. 

We had to fly through Vegas to get to Missouri, so we spent a few days there too. Read more in Las Vegas 2020.

After our vacation we took advantage of whatever local fun was available. We spent a day on Whidbey Island, hiked to Twin Falls, and played at all the local playgrounds that had reopened. All of the splash pads remained closed through the summer, so we cooled off at home, at Silver Lake, and on our rocky Washington beaches. We had our hottest day of the year at nearly 100 degrees and Allison had a tooth removed. Read more in Late Summer 2020.

We also spent a day on Orcas Island. Read more in Orcas Island Trip.

We had some flight credits through Frontier that needed to be used, so we flew all the way across the country to visit Six Flags America in Maryland before the kids started school again. 

Six Flags Great Adventure and Safari was only a 3 hour drive away, so we spent a few days there too.

We returned from our trip the evening just before school started and just a few days before Allison's 5th birthday. Unfortunately our school district chose all remote learning in the fall saying we'd transition back to in person learning as the situation with the pandemic improved. It's mid-January and we're still learning virtually with no clear idea when we're going to return in person. The state told them they had to use a more "robust curriculum," which has been the bane of my existence these past 5 months. It's far too much work and screen time for a 7 year old to have to do in a home environment, which means I have to be on top of Tyler all day long making sure he does his work. I often have to choose between my kids getting playtime outside and finishing all their work on time. September had wonderfully warm weather, so we had some very busy days trying to finish all the work and get the kids out in the sun. I also flew to Mississippi to attend Amy's wedding and Bachellorette party. Read more in Early Fall 2020. 

In October Oscar's parents told us they'd be going to the Oregon coast for 9 days and offered to let us use their house while they were gone. We knew the kids would have much more fall fun and spend more time outside in Utah than in Washington, so we drove them down there. Read more in October 2020 Utah Trip.

We returned from Utah just before Halloween. We carved our pumpkins and were able to do some Trick or Treating in Arlington thanks to a map of participating houses I found online. We played in the leaves and on playgrounds whenever it was dry enough to play outside, and we spent a blissful 2 weeks going back to the YMCA before the state imposed more restrictions on gyms again, which are still in force today. We also celebrated a socially distant Thanksgiving with a cornucopia hunt for the kids. Read more in Halloween 2020 - Thanksgiving 2020.

And in December we saw lots of drive by Christmas lights, met Santa with masks on, celebrated a fun Christmas at home, and I recorded a virtual vocal advent calendar. Read more Christmas 2020.

Christmas 2020

Since I couldn't sing at the Arlington Nativity Festival this year, I spent a lot of my time this past Christmas season driving up to Arlington and making singing recordings with Meledie (you can view those on my other blog, https://vocaladventcalendar.blogspot.com/). I would often go up to Meledie's house on Fridays when the kids were at camp, but if that wasn't an option I went up on the weekend when Oscar was available to watch the kids. Here they are at the park one Saturday while I was busy singing.

Here's sweet Allison sitting on Tyler's puzzle and spelling out her name in her Zoom meeting. Tyler got really into floor puzzles this past month. 

Cabella's let kids meet Santa this year, though it looked a little different. Allison put that plexiglass to the test.

Allison does a great job participating in Tyler's remote music lessons. He has to make a video once a week to show he's participating, so she she always wants to make one too.

Tyler is learning how to pump himself on a swing. He's never had much interest in swinging, so it's been a delayed skill. 

We started decorating for Christmas later than usual because we decided to order a smart Christmas tree thanks to some mad money dad gave us. It didn't arrive until the December 7th. Usually I start decorating just after Halloween. Festive Fry made his usual appearance and even Leela got in on the fun.

Many places hosted drive thru Christmas lights this year. The first we attended was the Trees of Christmas at the Everett Bible Baptist church. We were greeted by Frosty and Rudolph before pulling into the church. There was a bit of a line to get going through the displays, but then they handled traffic really well.

It was really well done. We were given a storybook to read and each tree corresponded to what was happening on the pages. 

The first trees were all about toys, baking, Santa, etc, then moved on to the story of Christ's birth with trees commemorating Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, wise men, etc.

Allison colored a bird for her project on Schoology then came up with an adorable "I am a Flying Bird" song to go with it. She then made up songs about her other toys, but the best was still the original. Her teacher loved it!

Here are the kids doing Tyler's remote PE class.

Oscar made purple pasta for the kids per Allison's request, and Allison made a dinosaur out of Legos.

Tyler and I made yummy eggnog cookies together. He discovered the joy of adding fresh nutmeg grated on top of eggnog and on the eggnog frosting.

The Lights of Christmas up in Stanwood also held a drive thru event. We were able to go for free thanks to some friends in our old ward having an extra ticket. It was lovely!

12 Days of Christmas

It's sponsored by Warm Beach Bible camp, so they always have a really beautiful nativity.

It was good to come back. We came once 6 years ago.

Tyler really liked the mountains and Allison liked the whales.

I didn't get a picture of them, but there was a dwarf display we drove by. Allison asked "dwarves are members of the elf family, right?" 

There were also flying unicorns and a Cinderella carriage for my darlin' girl!

It's a fair distance away, but it was totally worth the drive, especially with a free ticket.

Allison's been giving the cats plenty of attention these days, which they're sometimes happy about.

Church performances looked a little different this year. Here I am making orerecorded accompaniments with strings for 3 of our Sunday services. It was my first time ever playing with an orchestra. I'd sung with an orchestra, of course, but never played with one.

Here are some of the kids' winter crafts this year.

The same person who put together the Halloween map we used also put together a Christmas lights map. I took advantage of it to find many beautiful neighborhood Christmas lights. I never get any good pictures while driving around, so I decided to take a walk one Sunday evening in Fern Grove, a neighborhood that always lights up big time.

I highly recommend walking through it rather than driving, which is often slow and crowded. Parking is a bit weird though. It's hard to tell where exactly you can legally park.

Here are some other homes I found thanks to the map.

Irwin family lights is always a great stop. This family also did a Halloween light show.

Here's Allison in her Christmas dress, which she wore once. You can't tell from this picture but it's already above her knees. She's growing like a weed!

The week before Christmas I started working my delivery job. They've kept me busier than ever this year since so many people are eager to reach out to their loved ones. This map shows an ideal day. I first take a quick route that loops me back to the store followed by a big route that takes me home. I do a lot more north deliveries now that the Mill Creek store has shut down.

Sometimes people leave snacks out for their delivery drivers at Christmas time. One left it for me in a little gift. It totally made my day. I'm always grateful when people leave snacks and water bottles out for the people dropping off their packages, but they went the extra mile by wrapping it up like a gift and covering it in a plastic bag to protect it from rain. It made it feel that much more special to me. It was greatly appreciated since I'd forgotten to pack a lunch for a 9:30am - 7:30pm shift. That time of year brings on many temporary drivers like myself who try not to take breaks so we can get as much done as possible during daylight hours before it becomes dark and challenging to read house numbers. This helped me out tremendously!

One day I had to head home early due to snow. It poured all day long and then started snowing, which was getting a bit scary on the roads. It didn't stick, but it was pretty slushy to drive in. The roads were totally clear the next morning, and I didn't have to deal with snow or rain again. 

The kids got extra time with daddy during Christmas week. Here they are helping with the sweeping (or at least staying occupied while Oscar cleaned). One of my favorite things about the week before Christmas is I get temporarily elevated to daddy status. Daddy status is the best because I get to be both familiar and novelty. This only happens when I'm the one who works all day at my seasonal job while Oscar uses some PTO and stays home with the kids. This day for example, the kids were wild heathens for him, then when I got back they were sweet, playful, and affectionate with me. For some reason Oscar is always eager to get back to work after Christmas...

Oscar and the kids helped out with deliveries too. I would get everything ready for them so they wouldn't have to be at the store very long. I only give Oscar single family homes so the kids could stay in the car while he dropped the deliveries off at the doorstep.

The kids took a play break at a park and I made my final delivery near a house on my Christmas light map.

For Christmas Eve dinner we picked up teriyaki takeout and enjoyed some fresh fruit.

After the kids went to bed we brought out the gifts and stockings to make sure it looked magical the next morning.

Christmas day!

I got Oscar a bunch of groceries and wrapped them up for his gifts. 

Tyler was happy to get many beloved fidget snakes. Allison enjoyed two new touchy feely books.

Here we are taking a breakfast break.

Stockings!

Oscar is hilarious while he opens his.

We got cash from my mom and Tyler got lots of new space stuff from auntie Lia. His Christmas jammies are getting a bit small...

Allison loved her new dinosaur world from auntie Lia.

And Oscar and I enjoyed our new Star Wars and Harry Potter Snuggies.

One of my favorite finds for Oscar were these Christmas shaped tortilla chips from Trader Joes.

Allison was thrilled to get the zuru dinosaur she'd asked Santa for.

Oscar made a delicious baked Ziti dinner with the pasta I'd wrapped up for him.

The kids were busy with their new toys, so we waited for later to unwrap the gifts from Oscar's parents.

Tyler loves the new glow in the dark space puzzle I found for him.

Both kids liked the dinosaur pancake maker from Uncle Mike and cousins.

And Allison loves her new mermaid dolls. Here she is having them sing a mermaid song.