Happy New Year to everyone first of all. Ringing in the new year might have been not the same as expected for everyone, but I hope you made the most of it anyway. For us, it was no different really. I was in bed before 10pm.
My blog has been quiet for a couple of months now. I wasn’t feeling it and I just wasn’t motivated enough to write down a series of blog posts. There is definitely enough content to post but work was extremely busy in 2020 and I didn’t want to spend my evening in front of the PC again.
Though in this new year of 2021, I am planning to make more of an effort and post more frequently. After all, this is my little diary and I like looking back on the posts I have created over the last six years.
With that being said, the first post of 2021 is going to be a reflection post back on the year 2020. On New Years Eve I was lying in bed looking back on all the memories we created. It wasn’t a bad year after all. Despite all the restrictions and lockdowns, we managed to do so much. 2020 is definitely a special year we are going to remember for a very long time.
January
The year 2020 didn’t start off too bad as I managed to fly to Lisbon on a long weekend trip. Who would have thought what was still yet to come. Nobody could ever imagine to get on a plane now. I probably will treasure this trip for a very long time as who knows when will be the next time I can book a plane ride again. This January I will have a very quiet birthday considering we are going to be in lockdown until the end of the month.
February
The beginning of February marked the celebration of Chloe’s fifth birthday. She was one of the lucky ones to still have the most normal party in a play centre with all her friends gathered together.
The end of the month we paid a visit to the local circus with the cousins. On our first visit the year prior to that, Chloe was not a fan of it because the main character popped the balloon. However this time round she was a lot braver. Plus she got plenty of treats such as candy floss.
March
The month the pandemic took over the world. Before all this happened though, my friend flew over from Germany at the beginning of the month and we managed to go to two The Script concerts that weekend. At the time of booking I was a bit skeptical to attend two but looking back now, I am glad we went twice. Who knows when there will be a next time for any type of concert. Crazy to think that only five days later the schools shut down and we all have been working from home since.
We also had a nice pub grub in Dublin city that weekend, as well as some exploring in the Wicklow mountains. Not to forget the delicious afternoon tea in the Summerhill House Hotel in Enniskerry.
April/May/June
I’d say this was a tough time for everyone. Nevertheless we made the most of it. We created our own little routine and each morning homeschooling was finished within a max of two hours while we were still both working. We rotated the work load and did really well I have to say to myself. The homeschooling show on RTE also helped us out a little bit and kept the kids occupied at the start.
Apart from that there was a lot of walks, plenty of arts and crafts over the Easter time period (even though I am not the craftiest mum I tried my best), some baking and take aways. With all shops being close, other than the essential ones which were groceries, we had to make the most of it.
Despite the long lockdown, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. We had a heat wave for over six weeks. We spent so much time outside. During all this I managed to order a tent online and we camped out in the garden one night. Surprisingly both kids went to sleep no problem (with a parent in the tent of course). Something for them to cherish. When Smyths opened for Click & Collect, I bought a big pool. The endless fun. Chloe was in her element and it was hard to get her out of the water each day.
June we welcomed two new members of the family. We got two new kittens and they have been loved every since. We call them the lockdown kittens.
Lockdown also saw Chloe riding her bike without stabilisers which was a huge milestone for her.
Those almost three months were definitely great quality time spent with the family. And of course it had its highs and lows. It wasn’t always fun and games.
July
When we could finally venture out in the Summer, the kids and I clocked up some serious amount of sightseeing near us. Over a year ago or so, I received a map of Ireland with all its important sights to see. The best part… the map is scratchable so once you have been to one part, you can scratch it off.
I also managed to do some more sightseeing with my friend from Germany. It was nice to see another familiar face again other than your own family.
Later that month I went to visit my friend in Sligo and we went for a hike. It was lovely catch up. After that us as a family drove down Galway to visit the kids godfather as well. Again there was no shortage of more sightseeing. If anything this year has taught us, it taught us there is so much to see in front of our own front door. No need to go abroad at all. Ireland has so many beautiful sights and hopefully I will be able to get to tick off more this year.
August
The month of August saw us going on our Summer holiday. We all had to get out and the only way was to have a staycation. It started off with a visit for a few days at the grandparents in Sligo which then led onto us heading to County Donegal. I underestimated this county. It is such a beautiful county and so big as well. We didn’t even get to do everything. What made it extra special was that the kids cousins were also over for a staycation not far from us so we got to meet up and they had a ball playing on the beach.
Before heading back home, the news were announced that we were going back in lockdown. It was back to own county restrictions. So as a last minute decision, I booked an Air B&B in county Clare and continued my sightseeing journey while hubby and the kids headed home. It was literally only an extended three day visit.
We cannot forget Matthew celebrating his eighth birthday as well as Chloe starting school the very same day.
Oh and I finally got rid of my problem car and sold it for a better one. I am now the proud owner of a Renault Megane.
September
Making the most of the freedom we had, at the end of September I went on another long weekend trip. This time it brought me to the underrated county of Mayo. What a beautiful county. I will definitely be back with the kids one day. Before I drove down to Mayo, I stayed with my friend in Sligo and we’ve done the “walk” up the Stairway to Heaven. I call it Hell though. Some walk that was. It says moderate in places but it was a tough one for me because I generally don’t exercise.
October
Halloween we celebrated as good as we could. The kids still dressed up and we set up our own little Halloween party at home. Of course we decorated the house for Halloween, too. Trick or treating wasn’t an option this time however I bought sweets for them to have. But to get them they had to look for them around the house. So we had a scavengers hunt. They loved it. We had a walk around the estate and kids they play with in the estate, dropped off some sweets at our door.
November/December
The last two months of the year were very quiet for us and we spent all the time to get prepared for Christmas. I shopped early for Christmas presents in case we go into lockdown again. We put out a few more decorations outside this time.. just because, if we didn’t go all out in 2020 when are we ever.
