The Year of the Pandemic - Part I

Well it has been quite a year. One unlike any we have ever lived through. It's been a surreal, challenging, emotional, wonderful, needed, awful, hopeful year.  A year with so many emotions and changes it's hard to put into words and accurately capture it. In some ways I think our household and family needed this year...or the effects of this year.  But at the same time I'm so very sad for all the people who have lost loved ones, lost jobs, lost businesses, felt so much turmoil, and are barely hanging on every day.  

Honestly I haven't really wanted to write in this blog this year. That's why it's been so long since I've posted. I felt overwhelmed by everything and wasn't quite sure how to capture it all or how to even have the energy to write about it since it's taken so much energy just to adapt to everything almost on a daily basis.  

I decided recently though that I want to write about it and record it since this blog/journal is really for our boys.  I know they will remember parts about this time, but I want to capture it as best I can in case there's things they forget and also so they can remember it through their parents' experience.    

March 2020

The virus started in China around the end of 2019. We heard blips about it on the news.  Some forewarned it could start to spread and turn into a pandemic.  Honestly I don't remember thinking about it much or worrying about it much in early 2020.  Then all the sudden it was in Europe, South Korea, and then while James was out of town at a church Men's Retreat, we saw in the news that a few people in a Kirkland nursing home were diagnosed with it.  They called is Coronavirus.  The specific Coronavirus strain was COVID-19.  Little did we know at the time that COVID or COVID-19 would become part of our daily vernacular for the rest of the year.  I watched in the news as the numbers began to tick up.  New York cases started to rise quickly as well.  They knew how contagious and deadly the virus was from watching what happened in China and other countries. 

It's kind of a blur now but over the next two weeks, the world changed like we've never seen it before. I remember coming into work and hearing that University of Washington stopped in-person meetings and took all classes online.  Seattle University quickly made the same decision on the same day.  All the sudden I was training on how to use a new program called Zoom so I could do online appointments.  Our team was planning how to downsize who was in the office every day and how we would do our work from home schedule.  And then all the sudden all SU employees were working from home. We shifted to all student appointments and events being online.  All the sudden Boeing decided to shift to all employees working from home. And then Nathan and Cameron's schools closed and everyone was scrambling to set up some kind of schedule for kids to do school online.  Businesses closed.  Restaurants closed.  We ran to the grocery store to load up on groceries wondering if even the grocery store would close (it never did thank goodness).  It was time to Quarantine for everyone's safety (quarantine--another new daily word in our vocabulary).  I remember those first few weeks felt so exhausting, exciting, scary, and weird. Exhausting because it felt like changes were coming at us every few minutes. It was hard to know what to think or do.  And of course fear of getting the virus. With the chaos of the world going on outside, my comfort was being home in lock down with my favorite people.

Spring 2020

Strict quarantining lasted through pretty much all of spring.  There was a couple weeks we didn't even see Nana & Pops or Gramma & Grampa just to keep them safe.  Wearing masks and being obsessed with hand sanitizer became common daily practice.  It felt like every single thing got cancelled--kids sports and activities, get togethers with friends, large events with big crowds, people's trips (Spaulding's Phoenix and Hawaii vacations, Warner's Europe vacation, Antis' Europe vacation, a visit from Lapours), Nate's birthday party, James' shoulder surgery process, doctors appointments, family holidays and get togethers, etc.  There was a lot of grief in the cancellations.  People were doing their best to cope, but were slightly starting to go stir crazy.  And nationally, there was poor leadership around managing the pandemic from the beginning with a president who was in denial and too arrogant and inept to be able to put a plan together for testing, getting supplies to hospitals, etc. It was sad and embarrassing to watch hospitals struggle and be overwhelmed in supposedly "the wealthiest and most powerful" country in the world.  A lot of things about our country have been exposed during this pandemic. It's been hard to watch.

But at the same time there were a lot of beautiful things that came out of this time too--people helping others as best they could, people loving on and appreciating health care workers and essential workers, people getting creative with so much time at home, etc.  Lots of inspiring videos, memes, commercials, etc.  And it was just so crazy and surreal to know the entire world practically was shut down.  The pandemic has impacted the entire world.  It was oddly comforting for some reason.  I guess because we all could empathize with each other and the whole world was on the same level in terms of vulnerability.  

For our little household, we experienced a lot of wonderful things during this time that I'm grateful for:

• I was getting to work from home for the first time in my career. I didn't have a commute and we weren't rushing around. I felt like I could breathe again and time didn't feel so strained like it always does. Oddly I had been praying for God to stop the crazy train in some way--I constantly felt like I was on a fast moving train and didn't know what changes I needed to make in order for it to slow down.  Obviously I don't like that it took a devastating pandemic to finally slow us down, but the shift in schedule and routine was a much needed gift.
• We got to know our neighbors and neighborhood in a way we never have.  Our alleyway and Woody Creek II neighbors have become our "family" in a way as we relied on each other for community.  We took walks around Braeburn every day and people put teddy bears and stuffies in their windows to spread cheer.  We explored the wooded trail behind our house discovering "Bubbling Brook" as we fondly call it.  We found a love for the Seahawks park and the boys discovered their love of mountain biking on the trails at the park.  
• We got creative and did social distancing/outside dinners with grandparents every week meeting in parking lots, covered garages, sitting in the back of our cars and getting takeout to support small businesses.
• We all improved our Zoom and technology skills.  Work, meetings, events, and school online are all second nature to us now.  Which will probably serve us well in the long run--especially the boys.  We get sick of it, but it's nice to be comfortable with all the new technology.
• Nathan got to have a wonderful birthday parade of family and friends come by the house to wish him a socially distanced happy birthday.  People in general got creative in birthdays and celebrating people in a unique, safe and fun way.  Snoqualmie even had a parade through the Ridge for the 2020 graduates so the community could celebrate them
• I reconnected with friends like never before--regular Zoom dates with high school girlfriends and Pepperdine girlfriends
• The boys got extremely creative in their play at home--elaborate imaginative setups which was fun to watch (see below).  The boys have grown so much closer because they really only have each other for kid entertainment.

Since we weren't going out much, the boys got to do faux hawks!

In trying to process everything at this time wondering why it was happening and how to cope with it all, this quote was most helpful for me. 

To be continued....

Ski Lessons

Our commitment to being a ski family is still going strong.  Although this year has pushed and challenged us a bit.

This year the boys did group ski lessons with other kids for the first time!  It was a little rough going at the beginning because they were so used to skiing just with us and a private instructor.  I think Cameron cried the entire first lesson because he was scared (and very low blood sugar I realized later..needless to say he's been fueled with lots of fruit and snacks every week since!).  Nathan has actually been really brave the whole time, but it took 1-2 weeks for him to feel comfortable and have fun.  Luckily both boys stuck with it and ended up having a great time. We had amazing instructors and it's been so fun to watch the boys improve and develop so much.

It's also been an interesting ski season because James had his gallbladder removed in early January which meant he had to be in the lodge for a couple weekends while recovering.  He was a trooper though and still made it up with us every weekend despite being uncomfortable and in pain.  The first week I stayed with him and we played a rousing game of Uno. ;)

This year also pushed us because I think almost every weekend there was a big snowstorm, bad drivers/traffic on the pass, and rain or snow the whole time we were skiing which made us wet and cold. I don't think we've had one sunny ski day this whole season.  Hence the fact I don't have many photos. 

In addition to taking ski lessons, we've also learned many lessons ourselves through skiing:

• We are resilient and can do hard things.  The boys especially have learned this--they can be brave and try new things and usually things turn out ok and even great in the end.
• Nathan especially learned this last weekend.  He was riding the chairlift with some classmates.  He fell down and missed the chair so he had to ride the chair up by himself.  He wasn't sure how to put the chair bar up by himself so he laid his poles down on the seat to lift the bar off and of course one pole fell off the chair. He felt terrible that he lost a pole and it was a rough, scary experience. But we all went back up as a family after his lesson to get comfortable on the chairlift again and Papa found the lost pole!
• Low blood sugar in kids is a real thing. If they are low blood sugar, there's no use in trying to have a logical, reasonable conversation until they've had a bar or banana.
• Group ski lessons are amazing for parents! James and I got in more ski runs this year together and by ourselves than we have in a long time. I feel like I even improved quite a bit this season just because I had more practice. Plus we got a mini date day out of it which was nice.
• It's best to do morning lessons and get up to the mountain early--traffic and parking are better and there's nothing quite like skiing fresh snow!
• Ski lessons are awesome because they force us to get up and outside in God's beautiful creation, to do something active, and to spend quality time together as a family.

Christmas Recap 2019

 The Christmas season was a bit shorter this year because of my trip to India.  And I even had to miss a couple things just because it was hard to fit them in before I left.  But the India trip was actually a blessing in disguise in regards to the Christmas season.  I realized when I got home that I had actually been carrying around quite a bit of stress about the trip--more than I realized.  Before I left I was nervous about the length of the flight and being so far away from the family.  I was also strategizing what to pack, making a list of all the reminders and schedules for James, and was trying to do as much as I could for Christmas shopping before leaving.  When I arrived home from India, I noticed a huge weight had been lifted.  I not only survived the trip, but had had a really amazing time.  And because I had been carrying more stress than I realized about it, all the sudden the Christmas season seemed like a breeze.  I was just so happy to be home and to be able to fully immerse in all the festivities.  So my India trip ultimately made for a very low stress Christmas and helped me to just enjoy and be present.

Below are the highlights of Christmas 2019 through photos:

For me, the Christmas season officially begins on Thanksgiving weekend actually when we do our annual trek to Molbaks for the Poinsettia Christmas trees

That same weekend we do a fun Downtown Seattle day to start Christmas shopping, see the Gingerbread houses, ride the carousel and see the train in the Macys window.  This year Ryan, Carly and Laila joined us!

Because we were trying to fit everything in before I left on my trip, we also got our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend.  Thanksgiving was late this year so it actually ended up being the same time we always get it.  We lucked out with a beautiful day!

This was a wonderful day as a family.  But I was also very sad inside.  On Thanksgiving I found out my dear friend I've grown up with lost her 2-year-old daughter suddenly to a respiratory sickness.  So this was a very bittersweet day.

And to round out the full, but good weekend, we did our annual Santa Train tradition!  Train from North Bend Depot to Snoqualmie Depot to meet Santa and have some cookies & hot cocoa.  Then we eat a yummy dinner at North Bend Bar & Grill.  This is by far our favorite Christmas family tradition.

While I was gone, James and all the grandparents took the boys for their official Santa photos.  So cute!

I know--this doesn't look very Christmasy!  But since we had time off and it was a slow time, we decided to finally get Cameron's small hernia removed.  It was something he was born with that never went away so they felt they should surgically remove it so it doesn't bother him later on. He was a very brave boy!

Another favorite annual tradition--decorating cookies with Nana and Pops!  

I didn't get any photos, but James and I did our annual Christmas shopping date day to Bainbridge.  It was a nice, calm day this year because we had most of our major Christmas shopping done and were just looking for stocking stuffers and books.  We also enjoyed Happy Hour at Ruth's Chris in Bellevue which we haven't done since before we had kids!

Nate was thrilled to be in the church Christmas play again called the Colors of Christmas. He did a great job as always--funny, cute, and right on cue!

A very special treat was taking the boys to the Nutcracker for the very first time this year! And all the grandparents
joined us.  

Delicious danish at Nielsen's bakery--a Christmas Eve morning tradition

Lighting the Advent candle at Christmas Eve service

Christmas Eve at Nana and Pops'!

A lovely Christmas morning at home. Look at all that loot!

Spending Christmas day at Gramma and Grampa's!

Finally visited the Enchant Christmas at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. What a fun experience!

Gosh when I put it all down on here and reflect back on it, we did A LOT this past Christmas.  So many fun things.  Even in the midst of me being gone for a whole week!  But what a special time with our boys at these ages--so many great memories and traditions.  Already excited to do it all again next year!