Christmas 2020

 Even Christmas was low key this year.

No Black Friday shopping.

No Christmas programs.

No parades.

No Christmas Eve at Jim and Marcia's.

No big Christmas dinner.

Again - Covid sucks.

But - we still had Christmas.  

We did our own thing - just less of it.

We still put up the tree together. 

(I love our tree!)

We decided not to do gingerbread houses this year - they always fall apart anyway.

Instead, we made gingerbread 'ugly Christmas sweaters' this time.  

Personally, I liked them better.

I am always, always grateful when the kids show up and go to church with us.

Christmas Eve - we stayed home this time and played some games.

Christmas morning was a snowy one.  (White Christmas - woohoo!)

Christmas Day

Christmas Night

Rather than concentrating on all the things we couldn't do and places we couldn't go - we need to be thankful for what we did.

CANCUN!

 We were given the opportunity in November to go to Cancun the week after Thanksgiving.

A very dear friend / relative had a week booked at an all-inclusive resort and couldn't go.

She offered it to us. 

We debated about going out of the country with Covid and all, 

but ultimately decided to go.

I am SO SO glad we did.

It was one of the best vacations ever.

We had never been to an all-inclusive before, and it was great.

In fact - it's the best way to go for us.

Normally I am worrying constantly about money 

- can't order drinks, try to eat only 2 meals a day, don't order appetizers, etc 

- whereas, David has the attitude that we're on vacation and should enjoy ourselves.

With this - no worries!

We also tend to disagree on activities.  

I want to go go go - I want to see and do everything.

David, on the other hand, thinks vacations should be for relaxing.

This vacation was a compromise on that.

We flew to Mexico on Sat, went on an 'excursion' on Sun, laid around the resort on Mon, went again on Tues, rested on Wed, went on Thurs, rested on Fri and came home on Sat.  

Our 'activities' included a day scuba diving at the Underwater Museum, a day traveling to Chichen Itza (ancient Mayan ruins) and swimming in a cenote, and a day at XPlor (a water / adventure  type park).  

Our resort days included: for Leila - lots of beach volleyball; for us - lots of laying in the sun with a fruity drink and watching her.

Apparently, Dec is a great time to be in Mexico.  The weather is perfect - not hot, not cold - just right.

Our room was right on the beach - overlooking the blue, blue, crystal clear Caribbean.  

I could put hundreds of pictures, but I'll try to limit.

Scuba Diving at the Underwater Museum

Chichen Itza - Temple of Kukulcan (Mayan Ruins)

Swimming in the X-Cajum Cenote

City Park in Valladolid on the Yucatan Peninsula

XPlor Adventure Park

                                                 Underground River

              Paddle Boats

                                               Ziplining

Jeep Rides through the jungle and caves

    Fun Pictures

Beach Volleyball on 'Resort Days'

Being Lazy and Relaxing

Mini Photo Shoot on the Beach

We were heartbroken to leave the beach and the warm weather and come back to cold, 

but at least we came back to the Christmas Season.

Cancun - We'll be back.  

We're planning another trip next year!

Fall 2020

 Labor Day seems to signify the end of summer, and this year - life started picking back up once September came.

We started the month with a 4-wheeler / side-by-side trip to Ritchie County.

School finally started - partly.  

We're on what they called 'blended learning'.  

They go to school 2 days a week, and do remote learning the other 3.  

I know some kids / parents don't like it - but we most definitely do.

Leila has the best grades now that she's ever had.

And Charlie loves having her home for school.

She's in Jr High now - 7th grade.

She made both the Varsity Cheer Team and the Jr Varsity Volleyball Team.

I'm glad school is only part-time, otherwise - I'm not sure she would have time to stay caught up with everything.

Sept 16 was our 12th Gotcha Day!  

It surely does not seem like it's been that long.

We had our annual Chinese Gotcha Day dinner.  

I am so grateful that ALL of our kids take the time to do this with us.

We're really trying to use the side-by-side as much as possible to justify having it.

We met some friends from DC (John and Angie Phelps) at the Hatfield & McCoy trails for a weekend of riding.

We rented 2 cute little cabins beside each other, rode all day and visited in the evenings.

The end of October - another set of birthdays.

Leila turned 13.

She had a birthday party with some of her volleyball friends at a trampoline place in Charleston.

Surprisingly, they all liked the dodge ball part better than any of the trampoline and flipping or climbing parts.

Darrell turned 24 a few days later on Halloween. 

It wasn't actually supposed to be a 'birthday party', 

but it worked out that way because we ended up having a 'Craig Cousins Party' at Scott and Wendy's house that night. 

Suffice it to say - we all had fun.

Caleb's 1st Trick or Treat turned out to be the year that Leila decided she was too old to go trick or treating.  

He was a pretty cute little lion though.

Caleb turned a year old on Nov 16. 

I don't know, maybe I'm prejudice - but he seems pretty advanced for his age.

He's been walking since August.  

I can see both Austin and Casey in him.