Skip to main content

2021 Year in Review

 2021 was big changes for us. I would have never guessed at the beginning of 2021 that by the end of the year we'd have a duplex. The first half was all about hiking and the second half was house projects.


January

Scott's Birthday at the cottage.
 
Always one of my favorite weekends of the year. 


February 

We rented a movie theater for Theo's birthday. 
 
One of those nights you'll always remember. Theo had never been to a theater before. A strange high point of the pandemic years.



March

Stayed in an off-grid cabin in the Keewenaw Peninsula.
 
Hipcamp. You're amazing sometimes.


April

We hiked every weekend. 
 
Not a bad way to spend the beginning of Spring.

May

We hiked 6.2 miles over 2 days at Beaver Creek Valley State Park. 
 
Still one of my favorite state parks in Minnesota.

June

Stayed in Marquette, Michigan for a few days and hiked Sugarloaf Mountain.
 
This was an incredible hike. The way up is awesome, but the trail down to the secret beach is worth a detour.

July

Spent a couple days in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 
 
Promenade Park was worth the trip.

August

We spent a week at the cottage with Colin and Jen. 
 
I'd been trying to get them up here for years and we finally were able to make it happen.

September
 
We rolled our canoe down to Lake Harriet.  
 
Finally. Only took 4 years to paddle Harriet.

October

We sold our condo and a bought a duplex. 
 
It needs some tlc, but we can't wait to watch the kids grow up in this awesome home. Hopefully we get good tenants.

November
 
Always finding waterfalls wherever we go. Wequiock Falls near Green Bay. 
 
Got to have fun when you're in the Wisconsin for Thanksgiving.

December
 
Northwoods New Years of course. 

I mean, what else would we be doing at the end of the year?


Things We Hoped to Accomplish in 2021
1. Fitness. With working from home I've started working out or going for walks before work. In the summer I'd like to swim in the mornings. Never swam before work, really wish I had.
2. Get in 5,000 steps a day. It seems like it would be easy but when it only takes 30 steps to walk from one end of our unit to the other, I don't take many steps in my normal day. I made it about 270/365 days. So about 74%. I could definitely improve.
3. Do 3 sewing projects I think the only thing I made was a camp pillow for me.
4. Knit something for myself Still need to work on that.
5. More time outside Did pretty good with this until we bought a new house.

Scott
1. Get vaccinated. It indeed happened, made life a little bit more normal.
2. Finish Zelda: Breath of the Wild Oh, yeah. Now the kids play it all the time.
3. Get my mom moved in to her new condo. From a distance. It happened, she got moved in!
4. Go camping even more We got some camping in. Always can do more.

Meadow
1. Make the best dresses on Animal Crossing. Yes!
2. Read a whole chapter book by myself I don't think so

Theo
1. Poop on the toilet. He actually did like 2 days shy of the New Year
2. Play with another kid my age. Kind of a sad goal, but he did actually do this a couple times.



Things We Hope to Accomplish in 2022
1. Get at least 5,000 steps a day. Like actually try. 
2. Now that we have a piano I'd like to get better at playing.
3. Go bike camping
4. I know it's cliche to have diet goals but I'd like to lose 10 pounds. 
5. Knit myself some wool socks. 
6. Visit every library in Hennepin County.
 
 
Scott
1. Bike 500 miles. I guess I'll need to start tracking.
2. Get the upstairs ready. Everyone gets their own room!
3. Be more positive. Remember how special your kids and wife are.

Meadow
1. Be more active
2. Sew more things 
 
Theo
1. Be potty trained  
2. Grow 
3. Learn to ride a bike 
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Smoky Weekend at the Cottage and a Stop at Ladysmith's Northland Mardi Gras

This summer we decided to go to the cottage any weekend we had nothing else going on. This week, due to fires in the Boundary Waters and Canada, the air quality was pretty terrible. We debated if we should still go, but it looked like it would clear up by Saturday. So we took the chance. And by terrible, we mean the worst air quality we'd ever seen. Along the way we decided to stop at John and Heidi's Happy Daze . We've passed this place probably 100 times. It was about time to stop by. I ordered the prime rib sandwich special.  Yummy. The sandwich that is. Everybody's food was really good, but Brooke's was the star of the show.  I want to get back here asap. Now if only this pesky smoke would go away.

To Chippewa Falls for the Northern Wisconsin State Fair

I saw that the Northern Wisconsin State Fair was happening and we didn't have anything else planned. We booked a campsite at Lake Wissota State Park and we were on our way.  We hadn't been to a county fair yet and this seemed like it might be even better. We set up camp first in case we would be back late. This was a good excuse for a quick camping trip. Plus we'd never been to Lake Wissota State Park before or Chippewa Falls, really. Since 1897 Chippewa Falls has been hosting the Northern Wisconsin State Fair. More of a super-regional county fair, Wisconsin’s other state fair started as a way for folks up north to avoid the grueling, long haul down to Milwaukee County. Our first stop was to fill up our big jug of lemonade. I think this is the 4th year of this big jug. Brooke brings a couple of our old lemonade jugs with just in case. Then you get the refill price.

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1  Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19  precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month.  I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...