2020

 OH BOY.   What a year. Before we were ordered to stay home with COVID (which, let's be honest, was the story of the year), we had some "normal" time, like Mardi Gras.  They closed Mellow Mushroom, which was our usual after parade destination, and we were all bummed.  I wish I could be grateful for small disappointments like that!  We ended up at Mugshots and had a great time.

Gary and I went to the Tool concert at the Smoothie King Center.  I'm really glad I went.  We had amazing seats thanks to a friend of ours, and I really gained a huge appreciation for their music...something I only had a very minute appreciation for before the concert.  

Gavin's birthday also fell into the "pre COVID" era.  He wanted to go to Gallagher's for such a long time, so we finally took him.  I think he was a little underwhelmed and overwhelmed all at the same time.  The experience felt a little stuffy and fancy, and he said he preferred Gary's steaks to the one at the restaurant.  

 Initially, we were not that affected by COVID-19.  We were content in our house being socially distanced from the world.  That is my comfort zone, and I was doing it before it was the cool thing to do.  The most obvious thing in the beginning was keeping the kids up with their schoolwork.  Everybody was really winging it.  But, we did our due diligence and kept a home school schedule for the kids.  A couple of months really was fine. 

I got into "birding".  I have acquired a few bird feeders and two bird baths.  We did some landscaping.  We had a stretch of AMAZING Spring weather that made it so nice to be outside with all of our new home time. We had a date night for our anniversary because COVID cancelled our annual anniversary crawfish boil.  Gavin prepared a menu and helped cook a delicious meal for Gary and I.  Emaline was our very attentive waitress.  Our meal was even comped because of the special occasion. 

 

We had a tea party because my girl wanted one.  We all got dressed up and enjoyed our fancy tea and fancy food.  

We generally kept ourselves pretty busy with hanging out outside doing chalk, playing yard games, fishing, puzzles, movie nights, having picnics and socially distanced "hang outs".  I gave haircuts.  And, we took "porchtraits".

We were treated to scavenger hunt by the Easter Bunny.  

Mid May, Emaline got her tonsils out.  She got strep throat yet again without being around anyone.  The doctor thought it urgent enough to do surgery in the midst of a pandemic.  She did amazing.  I slept upstairs with her for a week and woke her up every 4 hours to take medicine and drink water.  I think she cried one, maybe two times throughout the whole ordeal.  She really was so strong and so brave.  

Emaline did not have a birthday party.  She did have a video recorded for her with all of her friends and family wishing her a wonderful birthday.  She LOVED it!  Everyone did...we all cried.  We did go to Splendor Farms for her birthday.  We stayed in the cabin on their property.  It was a bit scary and out there, but I think we had a good time overall.  We were greeted by a nearly blind, mostly deaf dog named, Deanie.  She was our escort around the property and even slept on our porch at night. We went horseback riding two days in a row.  The first day, Gavin was gently sloughed off his horse as he walked under a tree.  Gavin fell backwards in a very Matrix-ish type fall. He got back on the horse and even rode again the next day.  I was very proud of him.  Him and Emaline even took horseback riding lessons over the summer. 

 

We visited Gramma for a socially distanced Mother's Day...

We continued to quarantine.  We cancelled our trip to Salida with the Ferraras.  That really hurt because I was so looking forward to it.  When it hit 90 something degrees with 90 something percent humidity, I was feeling very sad and maybe even feeling sorry for myself.  We did keep our summer vacation to the Caribe.  It was initially very uncomfortable.  There were a lot of people NOT wearing masks.  I think we were only 1 of 2 families wearing a mask.  There was a lot of congregation by the pool area and blatant disregard for masks and social distancing.  But, despite that, we had a good time.  We were as safe as we could be in the environment.  The kids really enjoyed the water slides this year.  This is the first year that Emaline went down by herself.  I think this is the first year I actually went down the two big water slides.  It was nice to be away after being quarantined for a few months.  

After we got home from vacation, it started to feel fairly restricted.  The novelty wore off.  I think it was worse for the kids and I.  Gary seemed to enjoy being home and not traveling.  He really got into his fitness and developed a real enjoyment for riding his bike.  He got a new bike and a trainer for his old one.  We remained fairly isolated for the next few months.  I missed a few friends 40th birthday parties, and other stuff that was happening.  I was demoted to prn status at work, which turned out to be for the best because we decided to keep the kids home for virtual school.  That turned out to be a huge learning experience.  It was very isolating.  It wasn't until Halloween that we really interacted with other people.  We went to a Halloween party at Mary's house the weekend before Halloween (that was held outside-thank goodness for perfect weather), and then the kids and I went trick or treating.  

It felt nice to be around other people.  Thanksgiving and Christmas were a little stressful.  It felt almost irresponsible to be around people outside of your household. We had been fairly careful about going out.  Other people seemed to have quarantine fatigue and were out living their best lives as if nothing was happening.  It was scary to expose ourselves.  But, it turned out to be fine. 

I voted!  And got tested for COVID (it was negative).

We had a heck of a hurricane season.  I think we were in the "cone of uncertainty" 7-8 times. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas went off without a hitch and nobody died.  The last week of the year, we went to Ellijay, GA with the Ferraras.  We didn't do much...except drink and play cards.  The kids had the entire downstairs to themselves and only came up when they needed food.  I actually missed them.  We did attempt to go hiking, but it was a wet hike over several streams.  Not all of our party was up for the whole hike, so we turned around a quarter of the way into it.  We did see the second biggest tree in Georgia (how does one know this is the second biggest tree and where is the first biggest tree?) We lit a fire and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  We hot tubbed and even went into town.  Blue Ridge was really cute, but it was such a strange experience with all of the restrictions in place.  Our New Years was quiet and underwhelming.  Somehow, I knew the new year wouldn't usher away all of the problems of 2020.