2020

2020 started off with us returning from our trip to Disney World.  The girls got a trampoline for Christmas from grandma Jan and grandpa Bruce.  Over the past months, the trampoline has been a way to unwind especially when the weather was not the nicest.  

Analise celebrated her sixth birthday in February.  Her friends came over for a snow themed party.  The kids played outside, painted pictures and jumped on the trampoline.  Analise wanted hot cocoa and ice cream for her birthday treats.

Snow birthday party!

When Dan traveled to India this year, both girls got violently sick and Erin had a tear on her cornea.  The whole family was suffering.  Dan had an elbow injury from skating that was very painful.  When Dan came back, we got another round of sickness.  Thankfully the sickness ended by the time we were ready for spring break from school.

It has been about half a year since we began our new life with the pandemic.  This past spring, the girls worked from home.  As a family, we were all lucky to still be able to attend school and have our jobs.  It was a stressful time and there were limited things to do beyond going for a walk or bike ride.  As a result, Analise learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.  Both girls had their first experience riding on the bike trails on their own bikes.  We also purchased a small swimming pool so the girls could swim every day.  Besides the pool, we walked and biked to the lake on almost a daily basis and fit in a few canoe trips.  We are lucky we live so close and the beach is sandy.

Our chore chart...To do, In the process, done

It lasted about a week.

Ani mastered the moon ball game and made it to the end space

An outdoor play for Erin's birthday

                                           The new window seat Dan built for the girls' room

Mini toad we found while walking in Stillwater

Stopping for a picnic dinner after some canoeing down by Hastings

We took a few family trips to Madison and the Iron Range.  While in Madison, we spent a lot of time on the boat swimming and fishing.  We also got to see some fireworks on the Fourth of July as well as lightning bugs.  Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bruce have a nice new house on the prairie and there are a lot of wild animals.  

Lots of swimming off the boat

Lots of Groundhogs...Erin put her head a bit too close to the silo.

In Mountain Iron, the girls got to visit where their great grandma Burrell had lived.  We swam in Mott Pitt, one of grandma Burrell's favorite places to swim.  Erin could feel grandma's spirit at the pit.  We also took photos outside of grandma's old house.  The neighbors came out and talked to us for a bit.  They still remembered her.  We toured the town and learned where grandma Kathy grew up.  Analise found some wild plum and crab apple trees.

The fall of 2020 started with hybrid learning.  The girls go 4 days a week to their regular classroom and a 5th day with the Tier one worker program in a distance format. 

 First Day of 3rd Grade and 1st Grade

This fall we are spending a lot of time outside biking and hiking.  We have visited a few apple orchards too.