2021 In Review

It seems like I can barely find time for one post a year nowadays. Life is busy with a toddler. We learned to live with Covid in 2021. There were lots of local park and beach outings. Luckily, we were able to get vaccinated in the first half of the year, which allowed us to get back to some travelling.

In February we went for a quick trip to Big Bear Lake and played in snow. Stefan loved tubing and making snowmen. We stayed in a log cabin built in the 30’s, which was a cool experience but for not more than a night. We like the modern conveniences too much.

Stefan tried soccer for the first time. Let’s just say he’s interests don’t seem to be aligned with soccer, haha.

More parks and beach outings.

We did a quick refresh to our front door.

In June we flew to the white sand beaches of Pensacola, Florida to spend some time in the heat.

First day of pre-school – what an emotional first week for both mommy and Stefan, but he adjusted relatively quickly and liked going to school and learning new things. His English vocabulary quickly surpassed his Romanian one.

In September, we added one more National Park to our list – Indiana Dunes National Park.

Tomato tasting at Chicago Botanic garden

Pumpkin time. Stefan went trick or treating for the first time and loved it.

Stefan got a new white oak bunk bed in his room.

In October, we went on a weekend trip to San Diego Zoo. On the way back, we stopped at Torrey Pines State Park and hiked down to the beach.

After Hawaii eased the travel requirements where vaccinated travelers did not need to do a Covid test anymore, we finally made to the Big Island of Hawaii. We stayed at an Airbnb in the Waikoloa Beach Resort and enjoyed breakfast on the balcony every morning. We made it to Hana one day and went down the Pololu trail on another one. Other than that we didn’t venture too far as both Stefan and I got a little sick a few days into our trip, but we spent a lot of time at the Anaeho’omalu beach every day.