Been a While : Part 1/3
Ohhhh it’s been a while. <3
I took quite the hiatus from social media when it felt like the world was crumbling. While most days I still feel like I did in March, I definitely feel some days have a sense of normalcy to them, so I think I’m ready to be “back.” Ever since we brought Ollie home, I’ve wanted to do quarterly roundups of favorite personal photos, so I thought now was as good a time as any to share a little bit about what our life has looked like the past six months!
Disney’s announcement to close their parks happened *on* Nate’s birthday, and mine, just 5 days later, was the day after they temporarily shut down. To say there was a bit of a dark cloud looming over was an extreme understatement; and of course, we thought it was only a two week pause! All this was happening while I was recovering from surgery!
A few weeks later, we celebrated Easter still in lock down, but had our first “visitors,” two of Ollie’s favorite teachers stopped to bring him some candy. <3
Ollie proudly sharing our feast for the Easter bunny! Dyed eggs, baby carrots, and coffee. You know. <3
Easter weekend was when I started making masks! I put a call out to Facebook to see who needed PPE and the feedback was insane! Before I knew it, we *all* needed masks, and Nate and I estimate that I’ve made nearly 1000 this year. CRAZY!!! (I’ve now turned this into an official side hustle with a website and everything- check out Huck and Ollie here!)
The beginning stages of packing up orders! :)
One thing we’ve clung onto are our Starbucks family dates. Once or twice a week during lock down, we’d go to the Starbucks drive thru for coffee, and do a trunk parking lot family date. Ollie would sit in the open trunk and read with Nate and I just outside in camping chairs. We’ve recently become a little nostalgic for this and started doing it again. :)
My little Starbucks junkie! God bless the sweet girls there who will “scan” his pretend phone so he can pay, too!
Always on the hunt for affordable, covid-friendly toddler family dates! This was Ollie’s first drive in movie! We brought him in jammies and sat him on a sleeping bag and saw How to Train Your Dragon. None of us watched a minute of the movie, but Ollie was just shocked and THRILLED to sit in the front seat and eat junk food and hit all the buttons, lol!
Thankfully, Orlando had amazing weather until mid-May, so every morning we hung out on the front driveway until lunchtime!
Yes, we’re Animal Crossing addicts. (Ollie’s favorite thing to do on our family walks is to pretend he’s holding a net and catch butterflies!)
The best quarantine purchase was this little pool! This kid could live in a swimming pool.
On our walks, we let Ollie bring whatever he wants. Sometimes it’s a superhero cape and a roll of wrapping paper, sometimes it’s Kermit, his hook, and camera. <3
Ollie’s third birthdaaaaay! We had two driveway guests and his best friends all sent surprise birthday video messages for him- He felt so loved!! His best friend Miss Mary (from the UPS Store!) gave him these balloons and bananas, and all he wanted for his birthday dinner was a Happy Meal. It was just such a special day!
I had big plans of an ornate Muppet cake, but all he wanted was an all-white Publix cake! At the last minute, he let me throw on a little Kermit. :)
His birthday portrait. <3
We barely gave him anything for his birthday this year but man did Aunt Lolo and Uncle Jon pull through with a surprise bounce house!!
We’ve really only done one pandemic project! I was wanting this office wall for ages and Nate made it happen! Day one of project day…
Ta daaaa! <3
Ooooooooof Ollie and I were feeling all the feelings when I had to cut his curls! I cried and he kept telling me I was doing a good job but ohhhhh emmmm geeee! I love this photo with his little unsure face, the scissors, and clipped curls!
Been a While : Part 2/3
If part one of our “Been a While” series was our quarantine, part two is when we go visit a couple places!
One beautiful day in June, we left our home to visit favorite friends so Ollie could look at faces other than ours and play somewhere that wasn’t our backyard. Lucky for us, we have plenty of beaches to choose from! Our friends know we’re more on the phobic end of the Covid spectrum, so they suggested this quiet spot.
He always smiles this big when Tim and John are around, but I’ll never forget how happy he was to be OUT with them here!!
It took alllll day (and some safety goggles!) for Muppet to muster up the courage to hold a sparkler and I loooooved him for it! <3 The highlight of our 4th of July right here!
We made reservations for the character breakfast at Disney’s Riviera Resort. It was my first time on property since February, and I cried. A lot. (That’s a common theme to come!)
Favorite times a million. <3
Finding empty places at Disney is getting harder but still my favorite past time!
It was an odd day when Nate pulled our camera gear out to clean and pack for our first wedding back!!
His first was this sweet Winter Park elopement…
… Our first wedding back together was Noelle and Phil’s in St. Cloud!
If you have a kid, or remember being a kid, you know. THIS was a biiiiiiig day for Ollie!
*Sigh.* Had to make the impossible decision for our oldest. <3
I knew I wanted to have Huck “give” Ollie something to remember him. I ended up taking a Boo stuffed animal I’ve had for ages, ripped out the eye, and sewed it shut. Ollie calls him “little Huck” and loves him to pieces.
We took a special trip with Huckleberry to Fort Wilderness to celebrate our last week with him. We spent the week having last “holidays” with him, feeding him food he’s never allowed to have, and loving on him like crazy. Our first night there, Ollie’s “guncles” came over for a swim and to say goodbye to Huck!
Ollie *really* wanted to be Josh from Blue’s Clues for Halloween and he wanted Huck to be Blue. Once we knew it wasn’t possible, I made sure to dress Ollie as “Josh” as I could and I’ll Photoshop Huck blue for him later <3
Can you spot tiny Huck outside of our cabin??
In September we needed a family pick me up after Huck and *another* blow from 2020. BUT on the plus side, we booked the Contemporary for a night for less than we’ll probably pay the rest of our lives! Did my son spend the entire night asking “Can we PLEASE go home and sleep in MY bed?!” Yes. But did he love the pool? YES!
First park day since February. Were our masks insanely hot in August? Yes. Was I happy to have it hiding my ugly cry down Main Street? YES!
Highlight of 2020 right here- We were waiting to wave at the characters, and they all came out and said hello to Ollie by name. <3 <3 <3 The most unexpected was Prince Ali coming out and saying, “Hey! It’s Prince Ollie, like Prince Ali!” Ollie wants nothing to do with Aladdin but is OBSESSED with Prince Ali now! <3
Don’t let his face fool you- He was *smitten!* Just totally not loving that I kept making him turn AWAY from his favorite characters to take photos with them! :) Alice in Wonderland is played on the weekly in our home. He told me he either wanted to yell “I love you Alice!” or “Huck died last week!” to her. Lucky for us, he chose the former!!
Definitely too young to explain Covid-19 to him, but he’s such a little rule follower and is AMAZING at not touching things he’s not supposed to and waiting his turn to jump from line to line!
Real life:
Instagram life! <3
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