A Look Back at My Summer 2020

I'm pretty sure that everyone is in agreement that 2020 is just not a great year in a LOT of ways. For me, summer went by so quickly because of COVID--the quarantine changed our way of life and I think that's why the time just flew by. 

The unusual way of life is still happening, of course. My kids are schooling virtually, which is just so weird. And super frustrating! I'm worried they aren't going to learn much this year. Wearing masks everywhere feels like something out of a movie. And speaking of movies, I miss going to see them! We didn't go often, but at least it was an option.

Since it's officially fall now, I thought I'd write out some notables from the summer. In case you missed it...

I rang in the summer with a summer solstice walk at 5:43 PM (the "official" start of summer). I felt very determined to complete the Cookies Summer Run/Walk Challenge this year!

I was determined to finish the garage--I'd started insulating and drywalling in the spring, and then I continued to work on it daily.

I continued making face masks after a quarter of the first batch I made ended up getting lost in the mail!

My brother, Brian, put on an amazing fireworks display for the fourth of July--and he's already planning out an even bigger show next year (not kidding--Jerry went over to help him build the "holder" things for the fireworks). He even got a special permit so that he could use some particular fireworks, hahaha.

I drove Eli to one of his favorite fishing spots at least a few days a week. He always wanted to get there early (like 6:00 AM!) and it's a 20-minute drive each way. So I would drive him there, drive home, go pick him up, then drive home. It felt like the school year when I spent so much time in the car! But I'm so glad he was fishing instead of playing video games or something. 

My first-born turned 16!! I have a 16 year old. I cannot believe it. (When we get cookie cakes, we always make them as wordy as possible so we get more frosting--hahaha! Hence, the Noah Benjamin...)

We cut down the giant bushes on either side of the house. They were way too high and we wanted to work on starting our landscaping over from scratch. It was fun to get rid of them!

I pulled my bike out of the garage, brushed off the last two years' worth of dust, and took it for a spin. I learned that my heart rate gets higher while biking than while walking, which was interesting to me because biking feels easier. However, I don't enjoy it as much because I can't listen to audiobooks (for safety reasons, I don't use headphones while biking).

I finished the garage!! About three months and roughly $2,000 and it looks a trillion times better. Here are all of the before and after photos.

My friend Adam convinced me to try a challenge called 75 Hard. I didn't do it to the extreme, but I've done really well with it. I started intermittent fasting, and I love it!! I'm actually almost done with 75 Hard--Friday is my last day.

I learned what "sploot" means--I had no idea it was a thing! Joey does it, but when I saw Duck laying like this on the floor all the time, it cracked me up. I posted a picture to Instagram, and learned that it's called a "sploot".

I caught the boys spending quality time together! They were making some sort of brownie cheesecake in the kitchen, and I was so happy to see them talking and working on something together. They are such opposites that they don't spend a lot of time together.

My parents went on a biking adventure for their anniversary, only to have their bikes STOLEN. I was SO mad that someone would do that. I posted about it on Facebook, and behold the power of social media, they were found!! They had some mild cosmetic damage, but my parents were thrilled to get them back. I wrote the whole story here.

We went on a little vacation up north to my sister's property, and we stopped in Mackinaw. Jerry took the boys to get some lunch while I went on a walk with Joey. We found the perfect spot! It was so pretty with the Mackinac Bridge in the background.

While up north, I had the chance to catch up with Shawn, my brother-in-law. I hadn't seen him in three years! We worked on cutting down boards to make shiplap. Totally in my element ;)

Jerry and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. I was horrified when I saw the photos that Noah took of us, and was almost too embarrassed to post them. But our anniversary is about more than my weight--duh--and how I look. Seventeen years is something to celebrate!

Riley turned two years old! She is the cutest and SMARTEST two year old ever. (This is Riley with my dad...)

Finally... Jerry turned 40 on September 14! We started dating as teenagers, so this was a big (scary) milestone. But he looks great for 40, right? ;) 

There are several other things I'm remembering but don't have pictures of. Even though it feels like the summer was uneventful, all things considered, it flew by and we stayed pretty busy. I'm really hoping that fall is going to be great--and that things with COVID will start turning around!