First Boy Scout Campout

One of the activities that William was most looking forward to when he crossed over to Boy Scouts in March 2020 was camping.  His first campout - just days after joining his new Troop - was cancelled due to concerns about this "new" issue with COVID-19.    Thirteen months later they finally got to go!  Due to COVID protocols, the boys had to solo tent versus share and they used disposable plates and utensils, and masks were required.   But otherwise.....a mostly normal campout?  We don't really know because we weren't there in "before times" and we weren't there that weekend either.   Because....wait for it....Boy Scouts don't require parents for camping!  Whoo hoo!  What we had been waiting a long year-plus for as well!

John and I enjoyed Friday evening through Sunday afternoon doing our own fun adventures - takeout from some great restaurants, picking up some treasures at an outdoor artisan market, a walk at the Arboretum....some fun couple time!    And then Sunday afternoon, we (John...) tackled the project of cutting down our willow tree to get ahead of some rotting branches.   The hope is that it will resprout from the base and grow tall again.   We have no doubt it will resprout, because it's done that around the base for years.  The issue will be if we can train it vertical instead of just getting a bush.

When our Boy Scout got home, he wanted to build himself a little shelter from some of the smaller limbs and practice his knot skills.  Sure...why not?!

Dog Sitting

Rosie got to come over for a week-long sleepover while her family was on vacation. As always, she was right at home.  I put her dog bed in a good spot to see us, and William reminded me I put it in his favorite spot to watch TV....by just sitting in it!  She didn't seem to mind switching to the rug beneath my feet.   Over the course of the week she found multiple comfy spots in my office, in front of the TV and out in the yard.  

Spring Break Roadtrip

We really broke out of the mold this year....we took our first ever Spring Break trip!   It was a last minute decision, but we were able to find a neat VRBO house near Blue Mountain Beach in the Florida panhandle and joined SO MANY of our Midwestern neighbors (and literally what seemed like half the neighbors in our subdivision) in the South Walton area.   And super exciting for us, Ryan was able to come join us since we had an extra bedroom and he was already vaccinated! 

Sometimes my office was this coach with William "working" on the other end.   But most of the time my office was the large dining table!  Since we drove, I was able to pack my monitors and other office supplies for a seamless continuation of tax season!

The neighborhood had a beautiful pool that was literally out the back door of our house (ours is the second from the bottom house here), but the pool water was too cold and the hot tub/pool deck too crowded for those of us desiring social distancing, so we never used it.

We did, however, ride our bikes to the beach a few times.  Since it was so close, it was easy for us to go for just a short while (me) or a longer part of the day (Ryan and William).   The water was warm if you got in....and stayed in!

In addition to our local beach access at Blue Mountain, we drove to Topsail State Park one afternoon.  We didn't intend to go swimming, but the beach was beautiful and would have been a great day for that.   We did some wading instead and then did a hike through the trails.

It was so great to get away and have warmth and sunshine!  I loved our beach house because of all the natural light.   It was a lovely place to work during the day and spend family time cooking and playing games in the evenings!   Luckily Ryan was on PTO most of the week and he and William had their bikes and a full slate of adventures!

Our Last Puzzle Ever

We didn't jump on the puzzle craze as early or as often as everyone else....but we did do two over the course of the shutdown year.    This second one was about the death of me with all of those Lego faces being so similar. It was so hard!   We finally borrowed a card table so I could get it off the kitchen table and allow us to eat in peace.  (And note to myself, we haven't had a dining room table in a year because the dining room was converted to my home office....)

The Final Renovations

With our three final home projects, we have now replaced every floor covering, painted every wall and ceiling and updated every room in the house in some way in the nearly 12 years we have lived here.   I think the front door is the only thing left.   

These final projects were all upstairs.    We had all of the baseboards and door casings replaced with 4 inch white trim and had all of the doors painted white.   This was done by our same neighbor the trim carpenter and his painter partner who did our first floor crown molding, trim and doors three years ago.  Then the carpet guys came and replaced all of the bedroom carpets.  This was quite an exercise in staging, as the carpet guys couldn't come until the baseboards were installed.  And the trim team couldn't come while they were doing updates on their own homes.   The real treat besides hiding in the basement to work for two weeks was that the doors (by our choice) were all painted offsite and returned after the carpet installation.  So for two weeks the only doors we had were the hallway bathroom (which was already previously updated) and the master bedroom.  They waited for that one until the last second, so we were only without it for 5 of the days.

And around all of this another neighbor who specializes in bathroom renovation, gutted and installed a new master bath!  The floor plan and overall dimensions are the same, but he took out the soffit and widened the shower to the full wall depth.  So the shower is bigger and everything is bright and white and clean!  Luckily we had a long weekend and nowhere we could go thanks to COVID to put the house back together once everyone was out.

Snowy Start to 2021

As with most years, January and February are colder and snowier than December.  We've had snow on the ground since the New Year.   School started back the first week of January, but apparently 6th graders are too cool to play in the snow at recess.  Or at least they're too cool to take snow boots and snow pants, so they just stand around on the slab ruining their school shoes.    

William and Rosie the dog had fun playing in the yard.  Here he is making snow angels while she reminds him they're supposed to be playing frisbee!   This was when the snow accumulation was still manageable enough that Rosie could easily navigate it.  That weekend we also built a little snowman in the front yard by rolling the balls from the backyard into the front.

John and I escaped the house for a wintry walk in the forest preserve.  I just realized his coat isn't zipped but apparently it wasn't that cold!

I love taking photos from our upstairs window of our park-like backyard.   This is fun to do all seasons but summer is fun with the snow accumulation!

We did a family sledding trip to Arrowhead Park which has a hill behind the baseball fields where the boys play in the summer.   We were disappointed that not many other people were wearing masks, but the sledding was fun.   We each did a few runs and I got some serious air when I accidentally went over a mogul that was built into one of the runs.