Final 2020 Moments

Goodbye 2020.  We found the silver linings where we could - all being together healthy at home (especially grateful for Oma and Opa's health), Nate very much enjoying the no commute work from home setup, all of us in lounge wear all day every day, plenty of family meals, elite-level handwashing skills, COVID vaccine, each of my kids having a close neighbor friend to see fairly regularly outside, and embracing technology to stay connected virtually with loved ones.

The whole truth of our 2020 was unfortunately more about feeling the sadness, disbelief, and frustration at the state of the world - so much mindboggling selfish behavior, divisiveness, lies, and death. For my kids, it was missing their friends, activities, and learning like they are used to.  For Nate and me, it was more about the mental drain of adulting and parenting in a world with COVID, distance learning, political chaos, BLM, a dangerous week-long forest fire which kept us in true lockdown since the air was off-the-charts unhealthy, and an alarming increase in Portland crime.  It's hard to feel grateful when over 340K Americans have died from COVID in the last 9 months and that corner we need to turn for the better still feels a little far off.    

Yet we will keep going toggling back and forth between treasuring the simple moments of joy and working through the tough moments while we keep our fingers crossed that we'll get back to the people and activities we miss as we figure out what normal means on the other side of pandemic pandemonium.

Furrow Christmas Tree Farm saved the day on a Christmas tree hunt we almost called quits on.

Elise's intricate Playmobil setups never cease to impress us.  We continue to be big Playmobil fans.

German tradition.  Lighting actual candles on Oma and Opa's tree on 4th Advent this year.

Paul and Elise turned 9.  Scavenger Hunt - Pinata - Whole Bowl - Burgerville.  Elise is all about Harry Potter, Chai tea, earrings, and our new kitten Mochi while she is NOT all about getting out of the house, refraining from sweets, and not screaming when upset.  Paul is all about being active outside, playing SO MUCH ping pong, and watching his Dude Perfect and You Tube Mountain biking videos and is NOT all about keeping his emotions in check when school frustrations occur, playing by himself, and hugging his sisters.  

After 10 years at Intel followed by10 years as a stay at home mom, I started work again at Ampere Computing in the recruiting team - all remote from home.  It's a maternity coverage for a few months and we'll see what happens after that depending how it all goes.  Been working for a month - haven't been fired yet. Even though Paul wants me to quit already, I'm personally all good with how it's going so far- embracing the weirdness and craziness of it. My office set up is between the Barbies and the costumes and next to the ping pong table.  

MAC tennis closed down again.  Coach Paul got creative and started masked conditioning workouts in the parking garage.

Traditional Christmas cookie decorating with Oma.

Family tradition of filling up each of the kid's advent calendars with little daily surprises.  Hits this year included personalized ornaments and Paul getting a much needed stick of deodorant.

Christmas Eve Family Zoom 

Opa with his 2 greatest loves: Oma and steak

Right after this picture, Paul and Elise set up camp to try and catch Santa in the act.  Santa prevailed.

Christmas morning.  Obligatory window seat picture.

Paul's Christmas gift to me.  Short and sweet and packed a punch.

Christmas day chill time

Letting lily practice the important life skills

We call our garage the bike cafe - equipped with patio heater.  Enjoying an evening drink with friends.

This view from Pittock Mansion was my most often hiked to 2020 destination.  Fitting it was my last hike of 2020 too.  

A common sight this year was Elise and her friend and neighbor playing on each other's front porches regardless of weather.

Toasting with friends to the end of 2020 and the arrival of our dear friends moving next door.

This patio heater is to me like a body pillow is to pregnant women.  Comfortable, cozy, and must be next to it.

2020 Music Playlist

Under Pressure - Queen & David Bowie

    Podcast urban hikes a many in 2020.  Lin Manuel Miranda on Conan O'Brien's "Conan Needs A Friend" was really fun. The song was described as an accidental miracle.

What A Man Gotta Do - The Jonas Brothers

     Reminds me of the Grease Song "Born to Hand Jive."  It's one of the few songs all of my kids liked at the same time.  

     

Haim - The entire album Women in Music. Part III

    Most played album on our 2020 summer car adventures.

      

Boom - X Ambassadors

    Another car song for us this year.  Even Paul joined me for a choreographed shoulder heavy dance routine.

You'll Be Back - Hamilton - Johnathan Groff

    2020 brought us Hamilton. This song just completely blew me away based on Johnathan's performance. Spot on.

Americans - Janelle Monae. 

     My election celebration song. A memorable few minutes dancing to it in celebration with my Girls Night crew on a rainy cold night outside.

Don't give up on Me - Andy Grammar.  

     A song in Lily's 5th grade graduation slideshow.  Her virtual graduation and the disappointment of it hit me harder than expected.

Elise's 2020 favorites

Ms Americana & The Heartbreak Prince - Taylor Swift

I forgot you existed - Taylor Swift

Paul's favorite

Bang - AJR

Lily's favorites

Dynamite - BTS

Mad At Disney - Salem Ilese

Nate's favorites (that I like too)

The Strokes - The Adults are Talking.  Really don't want to like them but it's damn catchy.

Become a Mountain - Dan Deacon

(and that I didn't like) new albums by Deep Sea Diver, Idles, Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens

Election, 1st Communion, Macrodactyly

     In my last post, I hoped my next blog post would have a brighter outlook in terms of COVID and the election outcome.  The best day of 2020 happened to fall on my Birthday.  11/07/2020 was when Joe Biden & Kamala Harris were declared the winners of the 2020 presidential election.  My vote for sanity, science, equality, and compassion won by a staggering 6 million votes and a very comfortable electoral college margin.  I didn't realize just how much I missed hearing a president speak with compassion to what so many American families are struggling through this past year.  The other new bright spot was multiple vaccines coming out in record time (a year compared to a decade in the past - just wow).  Unfortunately, COVID cases have continued to rise all over the world dimming those bright spots.  I read somewhere that the US has 5% of the world's population but almost 20% of COVID deaths.  Experts say we are in the "densest" part of the pandemic with more than 1000 COVID deaths per day in the US.  Hospitals are once again stretched thin even though they are better prepared to treat the patients compared to the spring.  We are again in a lockdown-light aka a freeze.  The freeze feels messier now with pandemic fatigue impacting the actions of many and the restrictions not being consistent.  I do believe our Governor and her team of experts are doing the best they can.  

    The other big news from November was Paul and Elise's rescheduled first communion.  Because of the freeze, it was suggested to pick a mass and they would just make it work.  So, on a rainy Tuesday evening, Paul and Elise accepted the Eucharist for the first time with an audience of 20 people in a cathedral that can hold over a thousand.  No music and everyone masked. The 6 month delay and not attending mass these last 6 months definitely didn't help make the occasion as special as it is intended but it was memorable nonetheless.  One's relationship with God is a lifelong journey and however this milestone plays out for them over the course of their life, Nate and I hope they see the value in a spiritual path.  

Sunrise on 11/3, election morning

                                                                

These two know how to calm our hearts

                                                                                

Happy Dance after hearing the election results

Opa's 83rd Birthday with steak of course

                                           

Macrodactyly appointment with Elise at Shriners Hospital.  Monitoring 3 things. 1. X-ray on leg length difference increased from just under 2cm to just over 2cm in the last year and change.  Over 2cm is when surgery option is on the table - but not until she's probably between 12-14.  2. Measure and monitor soft tissue growth and how it impacts shoe fit and comfort. That is up to us on whether or when to do surgery.  Little return compared to the surgical risks. 3. Big toe bone is growing and rate needs to be monitored.  If it's growing too fast, might have to go in and destroy the growth plate before a possible leg length surgery.  The emotional relationship Elise is having with her special foot is getting more complicated and I see her getting a bit more down about it than I'm used to.  She's growing up.  

Oma's Birthday - kids helped make her favorite - a BLT - for her lunch

Walk with Oma near Reed College. even with masks, they can make silly faces.

First communion

Glad we could at least do this with our dear friends.  

I can see us now pulling out this crazy picture decades from now.

Thanksgiving 2020 meant takeout and taking the usual family picture except this time Opa covered up his bald spot

A hike I've been doing alone weekly for months now up to Pittock Mansion.  First time I got my whole family to hike with me.  No view at the top this time but still worth it.

Fall 2020 News

 After 9 days of wildfire smoke, mostly blue skies and mild temperatures thankfully returned these past 8 weeks.  The kids continue to do online school full time from home.  It's far from fun and regularly frustrating.  Screen time is a necessary evil and I feel like I am far from keeping the screen beast under control in our house.  Sometimes getting Lily or Elise out of their pj's and outside for a walk around the block is a victory worth celebrating.

We managed to escape for a long weekend to the Mt. Hood National Forest with Oma and Opa.  Mountain fresh air, a change in scenery, and some aggressive air hockey duels felt good.  I took Paul down to central Oregon to visit his buddy for some boy time as well.  Even though mountain biking and building forts with his friend made him happy, being away from his sisters probably made him happier.  I didn't mind having him to myself either at all.

2020 keeps serving up plenty of challenges for us from a health perspective.  Lily's headaches had gotten bad enough that an MRI was justified. Her results were a-ok so we can focus on helping her migraines.  I have had a series of iron IV infusions to combat a battle inside my own body that feels like a never ending war.  Elise has her next macrodactyly appointment coming up in early November and her next surgery timing is starting to crawl onto our radar.  There was one challenge that has now come up that's different from the others because I completely willingly chose to take it on.  I accepted a full time job offer back in the semiconductor industry starting in December.  The craziness of it is real to me but the excited kind of nervousness is even more real. The desire to give it a go is strong. We will see how it plays out.  Watch out work - I'm back.  

COVID cases seem to be rising all around the US and in Europe.  Election day is in 3 days and I'm so over it.  Love the record breaking voter turnout and hate how ugly the election is and how it truly feels like so much is at stake.  The near future feels a bit ominous but I'm hopeful that by my next blog post,  the outlook will be a little brighter.

Getaway to Welches Oregon

Lily out for a hike with Oma and Opa (yes, Opa actually went for a hike)

Our Halloween front yard decor

Paul hangin' with his buddy Alex in Black Butte

Mountain biking is by far the passion they share together

VOTED!

    

My gut told me Lily's MRI would turn out normal but the power of doubt can rear it's ugly head at moments.  This was taken on our rockin Friday night at OHSU for her MRI.  

Playing in the leaves at Wallace Park

Decorating Halloween cookies with Oma

Lily the two face modernistic purple evil elf, Paul the grumpy businessman, and Elise as a Slytherin

Halloween fun with our dear friends

Instead of carving pumpkins this year, we decided to smash them instead.  Felt like it was a much more 2020 appropriate thing to do.

Here are some videos of pumpkin batting practice. Much more satisfying smashing pumpkins than carving pumpkins this year.

https://youtu.be/EKif713KIkQ (Lily)

https://youtu.be/jAKfH3UpzFo (Paul)

Happy Halloween!

September Wildfires and Online Start to the School Year

If you could really see COVID, I think it would look like the ominous skies we have outside.  Oregon is on fire.  The west coast is on fire;  Oregon has never had this amount of uncontained burning, double the annual acreage average in just the last few days.  The hazardous air quality has forced us inside the last couple of days and we have what looks like at least couple more days to go.  Portland has the worst air quality of any major city on the planet.  Portland has kept us on edge for months now with BLM protests clashing with law enforcement and the continuous impact COVID has on every aspect of people's lives.  Enough already.  ENOUGH.  I know easier days are coming, better days are coming, but to be honest, it feels like we still have a ways to to go to push through all the screwballs being pitched at us.  That's why taking it a day at a time, finding the joy where we can, and supporting our kids is more important than ever.  

You can barely make out the Portland skyline

By day, the last 5 days, snapshot of Portland.

It's mind blowing just how many fires are burning and how many towns it's destroyed and families having to flee with little notice.  So many hearts are hurting right now.  

We just finished a very soft two week start to online school to really just get acquainted with the online platforms and do some social emotional connection activities.  Due to COVID, school is 100% virtual until further notice. The real test starts Monday when school starts focusing on academics.  

Even with all the challenges, we found a good rhythm in August. We made sure our kids were making memories while Nate and I quietly weighed the benefits versus the risks of every single decision every day.  The girls got their ears pierced, individual day dates with mom that they could set up, swim time in the rivers, and biking continued to fill up our summer.  Our 5th annual neighborhood block party was replaced with "come outside and have a sidewalk chat with a neighbor" every Sunday in August at 7pm. It turned out to be personally fulfilling catching up with neighbors and meeting some really delightful new neighbors as well.  

Here are some nice pictures from our August but in truth, overall, life is really weird right now.

Random shot of our Irving Street Social Stroll (replacing the Block Party) on a Sunday August evening

Sunset marine drive bike ride

Day date with Lily

Ears pierced!

Elise paved the way getting her ears pierced first on our day date

Chillin on the river

Elise date with Dad.  To show just how weird times are, as they were walking to the ice cream shop they saw the tail end of a pro-Trump truck parade - the same one which was involved in a guy getting shot dead later that evening, a 10 minute walk from where this photo was taken.

Ping Pong with Opa

This is Elise after just finishing the Harry Potter series.   She came to me crying tears of joy after finishing the last page holding me in the tightest hug for the longest time.  A moment neither of us will forget.  I'm not a Harry Potter fan but I sure am now.  So grateful for the Harry Potter world Elise got to escape to, her love of reading, and how proud she was of herself for finishing the series.

a few random videos catching my kids doing things they were proud of

Paul's bike weave

Paul's balance beam bike trick

Lily's water flip