2020
As was the case for most of the world, 2020 was a unique year. Starting in March, Eric began working remotely. Eric generally prefers working from home since he doesn’t have to endure the ~45 min one way commute to/from Bellevue every day. For the kids and education, COVID really didn’t create any disruption since we were already homeschooling. This was such a blessing!
When things started to lockdown in the spring, Eric and I decided to take advantage of the extra time at home and finish our home renovations that we’d been slowly working on since moving into our home in 2013. In 2020, Eric renovated two bathrooms, built a chicken coop, redid several closets, and was going to paint the house but decided to be done and pay for someone else to pick up that job. Having our house “done” has been wonderful and has freed up a lot of time to enjoy as a family, as opposed to living in a constant state of “weekend warrior” projects.
In 2020, our family spent the 4th of July on Orcas Island at a really cool home with a great view of the water. After several days, miles of beautiful hikes, and a really fun whale watching trip, Eric and I decided we’d make a tradition of the 4th of July on one of the San Juan Islands. Later in 2020 we set out on an ambitious 10-day vacation starting with a couple days of “chill” in Phoenix then road tripped through Sedona, Flagstaff, Cortez, CO, and Moab and Salt Lake City, UT. During the trip we drove 1,500 miles, hiked 30 miles and visited Horseshoe Bend and The Grand Canyon, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater/Wupatki, Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks/Monuments. It was awesome! We are planning to create another itinerary in 2023 in hopes that our little guy would be adopted by then and able to join us.
In December of 2020, Calvin and Georgia started ski lessons and loved it. Unfortunately, with COVID, Crystal Mountain did not offer lessons for younger kids.
2021
Originally our 2020 plan included a trip to Disneyland, but California never opened ☹. In response we pivoted to Disneyworld and traveled there in January. While things in Florida were largely normal (covid wise) compared to Washington, the crowds at Disneyworld were light. This was our greatest COVID “win”. We’d heard of friends waiting in crazy lines for things we literally walked through. The only downside is that any subsequent Disney trip will likely take a lot more patience! After Disneyworld, we spent a couple days in Seaside FL. The highlight of part 2 of the trip was ironically a trip to the Florida cavers state park. I’d highly recommend their tour there.
In February, Eric and I celebrated our 15-year anniversary. We were blessed to enjoy a wonderful night away at the Art of the Table that re-opened for indoor dining the night we went. The atmosphere was so awesome and service/food top notch. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had out. I’m thankful for Eric and our years together. Each and every year we continue to grow in love and understanding for each other and I look forward to how God works in our lives the next 15 years.
In the spring, we spent a couple days near Mission Ridge in Wenatchee and enjoyed some of the most beautiful wildflower hikes in the Sage Hills and wooded hikes up the Icicle Creek in Leavenworth. Later in the summer we camped at a couple new places (Takhlakh Lake near Mt Adams and Diablo Lake in the North Cascades). Both locations were breathtaking beautiful, and we had so much fun. In the summer we hiked around Mt Rainier, the Olympic Peninsula, and some off the Mountain Highway. For the 4th of July, we opted to try Lopez Island as opposed to Orcas where we stayed in 2020. Lopez island is full of awesome hikes. On one, there was a huge rope swing Eric and I had no idea was there. We stayed for almost an hour enjoying views of the sound at the top of a bluff overlooking the beach and bay below. We finished off the 2021 summer with a trip to Cannon Beach and enjoyed unseasonably good weather to which we were super thankful for. In 2020, our trip to Cannon Beach was really rainy, which we made the best of anyway!
In the fall, after months of doing church online, we started to attend a church in Snohomish (about 50 minutes from our house). There is nowhere that we could find more locally online with our theology that is actually “open” without a bunch of woke ideology and restrictions. We love our church now and even with the drive, it’s been a real blessing for our family.
In December we added Hazel to the mix of kids in Ski lessons. Eric has his hands pretty full with three kids in lessons but then he gets to ski while they’re in lessons still and enjoys it very much. We’ll continue lessons through March 2022.
Current Life
Calvin, our oldest is 11 now. He’s in Boy Scouts, enjoys horse riding, legos, skiing, school, reading, piano and video games. He’s an incredibly creative, gifted, and sweet kid. I’m so proud of him.
Georgia is 8. She also loves horse riding, reading and skiing. She’s an artist, loves to create anything and recently has become quite the seamstress. Georgia is in her fourth year of ballet, loves to be social, and is such a sweet part of my life.
Hazel is 7. Along with her older brother and sister, Hazel is also enjoying being an equestrian at lessons each week, is in her third year of ballet and like her sister is getting more serious about the art. Hazel is an animal lover. She adores our little bunny and chickens.
We’ve had our foster son in our family for 3 ½ years now and are hoping and praying for closure for him and our family. The process has been so frustrating. That said he loves to be outside, ride bikes, swing, play baseball, use his imagination (in any way) and play with Calvin, Georgia, and Hazel.
Eric is still working from home. In February, he will have completed nine years with Amazon. While he’ll be back at the office more frequently in 2022 (1-2 days per week), we expect that in large part the majority of Eric’s working time will be remote indefinitely.
I am gearing up for the second ½ of the 2021/2022 school year. A lot of my life centers around teaching, fostering, cooking, and homemaking and I love it. I enjoy capturing our family’s life on Instagram, and not as much as I’d like to, on this blog. I wouldn’t trade my life for the world. I am grateful for your friendship and support as you follow along.
May God continue to bless you this year and throughout all your days!
RachelWalkerPhotography.com always captures my family beautifully.
