Happy Holidays 2021

 Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

We wish you all the joys of the season, and hope that you have a wonderful holiday and a very special New Year! 

8 Years Old!

Well, I am now officially 8 years old, and this past year has been one for the books! The pandemic certainly put a damper on our travel plans, but we made the most of it, and spent a lot of time hiking local trails, enjoying time at the lake and spending time as a family.

Mask Up and check out my Top 10 for this year (Even with COVID, my adventures never stop!)

1. Jump, Jump... When COVID hit, everything closed...so we brought the Trampoline Park to us...my parents were able to get their hands on a trampoline for our backyard before they ran out of stock! After 4 hours of attempting to put it together herself, Mom finally asked for help and Dad came to the rescue. (I have to note it was over 100 degrees when my mom was trying to set it up.) Once it was up and ready, I was able to enjoy it...and I love it! I spend time jumping on it every night, and I am getting good at tricks! 

2.  Daily Adventures... These have become something my mom and I have done all summer long last year. We loved being able to spend out days playing outside, going to the train yards, picnics in the backyard, and LOTS of science experiments.  Mom made sure to save the cool experiments for when my dad got home from work though so he could join in on the fun - Mentos and Diet Coke are my favorite thing to do with my dad!

 

3.  Lake Life... With COVID numbers so high this past summer we decided to spend a lot of our quarantine time at the lake. I was able to enjoy eating s'mores by the campfire, being in the water, and with my Uncle Kevin's help, we found a snake!

4.  Adventures in Train Watching... Who doesn't love going to find trains? Since all of the train rides around the area were canceled due to COVID, we decided to hit the road and look for all sorts of trains! We found so many; Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX, and  Canadian Pacific just to name a few. (Yes, my list could go on and on!) 

5. Deck the Halls...  Christmas this year was very different. Because of the state restrictions we stayed home and celebrated just the 3 of us but made sure to FaceTime family to make it feel like we were all together. Santa must have noticed I had been extra good because he really went all out with surprising me with a model train to start my collection! (With extra batteries for my dad to make sure he was stalked up to replace them for me!) 

6.  Dancing Fever... While my dance class was virtual to start, once COVID numbers went down we were able to go back into the studio. I love dance, and even received a 1st place trophy from my first competition I did! 

7. Winter Adventures... What do you do in MN when almost everything is closed because of the pandemic and it is cold outside? Making snowmen and ice skating were at the top of my list. When it was warm enough to go outside, I laced up my skates and with the help of mom, dad, Auntie Kimmy, and Uncle Kevin we all went skating. I also made a few snowmen in our yard as well. 

8. A long Weekend Getaway... We decided to hit the open road for a 5 day adventure to enjoy the trails, make some memories and see some cool waterfalls. We headed up north and enjoyed the views of Lake Superior. 

9. 2nd Grade, COVID addition...  I officially finished 2nd grade at the beginning of June and my teacher, Ms. Miller was awesome! The year started off as Distance Learning, then went to Hybrid, then back to Distance Learning before we finally got to go back full time in-person for the rest of the school year. It was nice to be able to see all of my friends in-person again, even though we all had to wear masks! 

10. Official Start to Summer... Summer is here, and to officially kick it off, we enjoyed a night away at a hotel where I swam, had a pizza party, and ate popcorn in bed while we watched my current show of choice, Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives! 

Well, now that I am officially 8 years old, I can't wait to see what the year has in store for me.. Stay tuned for the next update as I am sure there are many more adventures coming my way!

- Donovan