I don't think that I need to tell anyone that 2020 has been a rough year. So many changes, challenges, and disappointments. The biggest disappointment for my husband and me, I think, was the cancellation of our 10 year wedding anniversary trip to Iceland. We’d been saving and planning for months, and then COVID.

We decided to make an alternate plan and booked a condo in Banff. We figured, for sure, the Canadian border would be open by September when we wanted to go. Well, you know the rest.

With Plan A and Plan B cancelled, and remote school announced for our kids, we started to talk about how we could turn this weird time in our lives into an opportunity. My husband had read something about Barbados inviting people to work remotely from the islands and we started to dream. We looked up a couple of bucket list travel destinations that we'd need to fly to, but decided against it due to also having two dogs to “pack” along with us. 😊 Finally, one night I was looking at a map and said, “hmmm… where's the coolest, more interesting place that we could drive to in a day or two? And what kind of Airbnb's are available there?” And that's how my family ended up in Whitehall, Montana for the month of September.

My kids started 3rd grade and kindergarten this year and were slated to start at a BRAND NEW school. We've been watching the construction happening for months; my son loved for us to drive by the site so that he could identify the machinery. I knew that the beginning of the school year would be hard for my kids, and was really hoping that an adventure would help.

The first week was definitely a struggle… figuring out the technology and applications, the schedule, and just getting used to everything was emotionally draining for my two. However, I've never been more grateful for a “vacation” decision. When the kids got too stressed or frustrated, they could go outside and pet horses or jump on the trampoline, and everything was right in the world again. ♥️

Of course, we had to make the trek down to Yellowstone while we were there. My husband and I went to the park for an anniversary adventure last year, and I adamantly said that I would NOT take the kids to the park for several years because I was not into having to deal with all of the complaining about the amount of walking and time in the car… guess who a) completely remembered saying that, and b) did it anyway? LOL It wasn’t TOO terrible, but I am still looking forward to the time (in several years, I’m sure) when my kids are actually interested in exploring things that require more than 10 steps! Someone please tell me when that will be? lol

The thing that I think is super funny about taking kids on adventures like this, is that, while they may complain the. entire. time. when it’s all said and done, they still talk about how awesome it was and tell everyone they know about the cool things that they saw. Their perception of events is SO MUCH different than my own. ;)

We were lucky enough to already be out of town when the fires and smoke hit our area… for days I sat at “home” watching, reading, and listening to everything that was going on here in the Portland, Vancouver, Salem, Eugene, and Talent/Phoenix areas. With loved ones and memories in ALL of those places, it was really challenging for me to not be on my phone 24/7 following the news, evacuation zones, and making sure that everyone was ok. As I watched the smoke from the fires in Oregon cover the sun in Montana, I was (and still am) very thankful that there were no major losses for my friends and family, but am absolutely heart broken for those who lives were lost and homes were destroyed.

After four weeks of adventures (river play, rock climbing, horseback riding and goat milking, trampoline jumping, park exploring, deer spotting, and so much more), yesterday we made the LONG drive home. It was very bitter sweet to pack up our (INCREDIBLY) dirty van and drive away from our little house for the last time. I’m sad again just writing this, honestly. It was an absolutely amazing adventure that I’m SO glad that we were able to experience. We made some memories and DELICIOUS lemonade out of these shitty COVID lemons that we were handed. I hoping that this trip is how my kids remember 2020.

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Making Lemonade