New Year's Eve!

Matt and the kids tackled a steep hike this morning.  It was cold, wind and very steep!  When they got to the top they were rewarded with this amazing view!  

There was an interesting structure on the top with a pull up bar.  

It made Olivier's muscles strong!  

And after the tiring hike, the kids and Matt were not going to make it to midnight so we stuck with our traditional 9 p.m. celebration!  This year we had some different "poppers" including these confetti canons which were rather loud (why Anna is cringing and turned away) but the confetti was fun!  

There was lots!  

I missed getting Olivier's but here is Mason's.  

And of course we had the traditional poppers!  

We are sending our best wishes to everyone for 2021!  

New traditions, Mason's projects, and vaccine has arrived

Since we have never been home on Christmas to decide what we are eating, but this year we would be, we decided to ask the kids what they wanted to eat.  It shouldn't come as a surprise that they choose pizza!  We made some homemade pizzas and they were a hit.  

Mason's gifts consisted of almost all projects.  He quickly got to work on the wooden marble run first, then it was on to the origami lion head.  It is even more amazing than we were expecting!  

It proudly guards his bed now.  

We are thankful to see the vaccine arrive in our county this week and the first group is getting vaccinated.  We are hopeful that these vaccines will shore up the medical community since it seems as though people cannot resist gathering and the virus counts are surging.  There was a relief bill that is pending the presidents signature but it doesn't look like he will sign it, which means more suffering for those in need.  We do our best to focus on the positive but the challenges faced by so many are hard to overlook.  

Counting down to 2021 and hope that we can move forward to a brighter future.  

Merry Christmas!

Santa came!  The kids got calendars and some fun goodies in their stockings, along with chips!  Santa brought lots of chips for us too!  Yum!  (and you can see them piled on the mantle!)  

We opened stockings and Santa gifts.  Then we had a yummy breakfast before opening the rest of the gifts.  

Anna took this photo of Mabel the maple leaf that joined our family today!  She is super soft!

Although I won't go through all the gifts the kids got, I will say Olivier got a hover board.  There have been a few falls but we are super impressed at how much can do!  

And after an early lunch we had our Zoom Christmas with Matt's family.  It was fun to see everyone and although it isn't the same, it was nice to get us all in the same "room" to chat and interact.  

Tonight we are making our own pizzas and watching a movie!  Feeling very spoiled and loved!  
 

Christmas Eve!

Today is Christmas Eve!  I worked a bit in the morning and after lunch we did a Zoom celebration with my family.  In honor of 2020 there was some technical issues but we managed to make it work.  (We set up the laptop and then mirror the screen onto the TV so we can see everyone bigger.)

At bed time the kids put the goodies they made for Santa (ginger snap, sugar cookie, and peanut butter ball) and a glass of milk out for Santa.  We took advantage of the new mantle to keep it high and away from the animals!

We are ready for Santa to visit!  

"Great" Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn!

Tonight we went outside to check out what is being called the "Great" Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  From what we understand - every 20 years the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn cross and become visible from Earth depending on the time of day and how close they are varies.  This year they were the very close and at a very viewable location.  According to Nasa:  "What makes this year’s spectacle so rare, then? It’s been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky, and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will for 2020, allowing nearly everyone around the world to witness this “great conjunction.”

Exciting that we were able to enjoy! Looking for the fun stuff in 2020!

Counting down!

This week was the last week of school before the winter break.  We found out on Wednesday that Olivier will be switching teachers when they return in January in order to be ready for in person learning which we still hope might happen at some point this school year, but also acknowledge that we know it likely won't.  On Wednesday night we went downtown to see the holiday lights that they set up for the first time this year.  It was fun to see some of the displays.  They had flamingos!

An upside down tree!

A nice view of the plaza from the steps of the mission.  

A snowflake canopy was in the background where Anna was standing and I liked the view.  Hard to capture night time photos though!  

And they said they were smiling but I think the gingerbread is the only one smiling!  

And we "visited" Santa!  

On Thursday night the bus for the summer camp the kids went to in 2019 made a stop by.  He even sang a little song!  A nice treat for the kids!

On Friday the boys had a pajama day for school.  Not sure if they enforce the no pajamas the rest of the school year but for the one day at least they didn't have to!  On Friday the boys also went to their 11 year old well visits.  They are both doing well.  And the vaccine started being distributed to medical staff/first responders on Friday.  There are very few doses available but at least the process has started.  Taking this week as a win!  

 

Vaccine is coming...

This week we didn't have a lot of changes other than the uncertainty with Matt's work schedule and shipping delays.  We have worked our way around those which we are thankful for, making our stress levels a bit easier to process.

Outside of our control, the election results continue to move forward with the anticipated Electoral College vote on Monday.  Although the motions before the Supreme Court have been denied, it is still an anxious time not knowing what curve ball is around the next corner.  

And last but not least, the first vaccine has now started to be distributed.  There are not nearly enough doses but it is a start.  We are thankful that it is being provided to front line medical staff and are anxious to get more doses.  Slowly but surely progress is happening...

Back to more restrictions...

We were back to our "normal" routine this week with the added bonus of enjoying the Christmas decorations and spirit.  There has been an alarming increase in cases around the country, including in our state.  There is a lot of concern that it will continue to get worse since many people still gathered with family and friends on Thanksgiving.  The state in particular has been keeping a close eye on ICU bed availability knowing that in general in the winter there is an increase in need and that will be impacted but COVID patients.  On Thursday the Governor implemented a new matrix that will determine when a region will need to go into more of a shutdown.

Our county has had relatively few hospitalization and ICU bed usage but we were included in the Southern California region (the state was divided into five).  The Southern California region is struggling with ICU bed availability and as we anticipated as soon as the new matrix was announced, the region hit that mark Friday night, falling below 15% ICU bed availability.  They gave us a 48 hour notice for additional restrictions such as playground being close, bars being close, restaurants being only take out only, stricter restrictions on the number allowed in a store at a time.  

I will be honest, it is a bit confusing but we continue to follow the regulations as we understand them.  We haven't eaten in a restaurant since Matt's birthday in February, we limit our trips to the store, and we try and avoid playgrounds when others are around.  And of course, we wear masks.  There are vaccines that they are just starting to distribute and we know we aren't in the first priority groups but will be on the lookout for our opportunity.  

Almost nine months since that March 13th when everything really turned into a blur...

Family Photos!

We took our family photos in early November and it was the one time we seem to have gotten rain this fall and it was pouring right when we arrived at the designated location.  Thankfully we were able to hang out for a short period of time and the rain let up.  Enjoy!