This year feels like a snowball rolling down a mountain. It started out slow and small. Not too much happened the first few months. Then, once we got vaccinated.... the momentum picked up and we began living our "new normal."
January: January just kind of happened. We were both working from home. We cooked a lot. We ate a lot. We put in a new backsplash and molding on the van.
February: We did some camping up in Jenner, CA at Stillwater Cove Campground and continued trying to enjoy as much social distancing as possible.
March: I got vaccinated! And things started to feel a little better. We would call this now "the new normal." We celebrated Andrea's 40th online and then Ryan's 41st in person! We had a small backyard party with pop-up tents and masks, individual Bundt cakes, and pizza!
April: I got my second shot and we were off on SPRING BREAK!! We were restricted to road trips, but with Ember that is no problem for us. We headed to Oregon and had a wonderful time. Check out our post from that trip.
May: Within the span of one week, Ryan bought a new Tesla, returned it and bought a hot tub instead. We have enjoyed that hot tub everyday since! We camped at MacKerricher State Park and found the most beautiful winery we have ever seen (Pacific Star Winery). We also started going out to restaurants again after Ryan got his vaccine! Our tummies were happy but our bank account was not. We also got to escape up to Strawberry, CA for Memorial Day weekend with our awesome neighbors again this year.
June: We finished out the insane school year, camped in Bodega Bay, and celebrated with our Nacho Party! I made a bunch of ice cream and we did some huge upgrades to the van, new battery, and new solar panels.
July: Scott came to visit and Ryan gave me a brand new KitchenAid mixer with fun attachments (as part of my 40th Birthyear celebration...we will get to that in a few months). We took our Summer Trip to the PNW and even with excessive heat warnings, we loved every minute of it. Check out our post from that adventure here. When we got back, I made more ice cream, we celebrated Drew's 40th birthday and Dan came into town! We finished the month with a Summer Backyard party.
August: Started the new school year. After the 2020 insane year from hell, I decided to switch back to Preschool Special Ed, where I would be able to see my kids smiling faces (even with their masks on). I moved back into my previous classroom and started the school year. That very same day the Paine family lost a wonderful man. Ryan's Father Lloyd passed away in San Diego and we flew down to honor him and celebrate his life and his legacy. He and Joyce were married for 52 years, raised 5 excellent sons, and built a family filled with laughter and love.
September: Epic Birthmonth! I turned 40 this year and even though I still want to deny it, it really isn't that bad. We had friends over for charcutiers and fire pit time, went camping in the rain, and enjoyed an amazing 3 Michelin star dinner. We also got a new driveway in September.
October: I have said it before and I will say it again, October Break is the best invention ever created. We contemplated for a while and then decided to go on an Alaskan Cruise for break this year. All passengers need to have been vaccinated, have negative COVID tests, and then test again before boarding the ship. Vaccine requirement meant that there would be no kids on the ship... which was a huge selling point for us. These requirements made us feel pretty safe. The ship was only half capacity but it was full of staff. We took the Norwegian Encore trip from Seattle to Alaska and it was wonderful! We had a suite with a balcony and upgraded to the ultimate drink package as part of the cruise line's deals for trying to get more people on the ship. Ryan got us the "Romance Package" as part of my birthday celebration which meant I got flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries when we arrived. We also got to go out to a wonderful French restaurant on the ship one of the nights. We had been dieting before the trip because we had heard that we would eat like kings on the ship. We sure did! We also got free Starbucks included with our drink package. The baristas knew us by name by the end of the week and we truly loved seeing their creations in the latte foam each day. My parents' joke that all of our photos look like we were the only people on the ship, and honestly, at times, it felt like that too. This was both of our first cruise, so we didn't really know what to expect. We ate at every restaurant, drank top-shelf whiskeys all week, enjoyed the cigar bar next to the whiskey bar, and saw some really fun shows (Kinky Boots and Choir of Man). Neither of us are big gamblers so my $5 in the slot machines was plenty of excitement for us. The ship also had an arcade which we had all to ourselves since there were no children on board. Being that it was October, the weather was cold and rainy most of the time. It was beautiful! Most of our shore excursions got canceled but that was ok. We walked around Juneau and still saw whales from the shore in Icy Strait Point. One of the days "at sea" was spent in Glacier Bay National Park. Our 13th park together! As we entered the bay, National Park Rangers boarded our ship and spent the day telling us about the wildlife and fun fact about the park. The ship cruised through the bay and brought us to the dead-end at the largest glacier in the park. The ship then (slowly) spun around 4 or 5 times so that everyone could see the glacier from everywhere on the ship. It was snowing at the time and it was AMAZING! That evening, we got pedicures as we watched the glaciers outside the windows. It was a wonderful trip that we are glad we took, but we most likely will not be doing another cruise again for several more years. We like making our own campfires and cooking our own meals way too much.
November: November brought vaccine boosters and fun times with friends. We flew down to San Diego to celebrate Jenny's 30th birthday and continued the fun back at our house and up in Napa. It was a great week of celebrating and having fun! Then we had a visit from Clark as he made his big move to Oregon. We then had Friendsgiving and a visit from my parents. It had been almost 2 years since we saw them in person and it was great to have them here. They flew into Seattle and took the train down the west coast to us. After us, they continued on the train to LA and then switched over to the east-bound route to stop in Albuquerque, NM to see my brother. While they were here, we had Thanksgiving dinner, took a drive down the coast, and my mom and I went to a beautiful local historic garden (Filoli, you should check it out). It was nice to be able to be with them and to show them our west coast life.
December: We started the month out with our Cookies and Cocktails Party and then went to Minnesota for the company Holiday Party the next weekend. They got 2 feet of snow the day we arrived. We were very grateful for our friend Dan who expertly drove us around and kept us safe. When we got back from MN, we had a few days at home and then we were off again. We drove down to San Diego to spend Christmas with Ryan's mom and aunt. We took a slower and more scenic route down the 101. Crazy California weather made us take that same route back home but we made a trip of it and stopped in Solvang and Pismo Beach on the way back up.
Looking back, 2021 was indeed a snowball of a year. We both got vaccinated and stayed healthy. We spent time with family and friends. We saw some beautiful new places in nature. Our families suffered losses and while we will deeply miss Ryan's Father and my Aunt Bernadette, it is comforting to know that our families have and will continue to support everyone while we all adjust to the new normal.
Here’s to 2022
