Hello there buddy. Man – so much to say but too much to write.

We are still in the covid cloud. That said, major breakthrough – there is a vaccine and your mom and I got it! But the story is awesome.

We had plans to go to Maui in April of this year (2021). It was going to be the first trip we had done since January of 2020 due to the covid outbreak. Being blunt, as I normally am, your mother and I see this whole thing a bit differently. If you can imagine this – she is overboard cautious and I am likely underboard (is that a word?) concerned. She is quite scared of this thing while I don’t see it as a serious threat, more like a cold/flu that you should try to protect against and be aware of, but not something to change the world for. We will see how this opinion ages in time :).

Anyway – we had Maui planned and both really wanted to go, as did both of you. Your mom was reticent if we were not vaccinated, which I can understand but would not have stopped me. We continued to converse about it for weeks. Finally she came to the conclusion that if we were not vaccinated that we could not travel. I of course would respect her wishes, but also realllllly want to go.

The Saturday morning following this decision I woke up and decided I needed to solve for it. I left early (after brining you guys your hot chocolate that you get every Saturday morning – you also get donuts every Sunday), and went to the pharmacies. We were not yet eligible to get the vaccine as it was reserved only for those that were 65+ or had illnesses that warranted it. But you could go to the various places and get on wait lists, and if someone didn’t show they would give you a ring and you could come get the dose so it didn’t go to waste (it was time sensitive).

I went to 8 pharmacies. All 8 put me on a list with very little expectations around calling. But, around 3:30 that day, I got a call from Fred Meyer up on Federal Way. They had two doses that were going to go un-used, but they needed to be used by 4pm. I told your mom, we, almost literally, threw you both in the car, and headed up. We got our first dose and were guaranteed our second while there. It gave your mom the solace she needed to get on a plane and fly to Maui (btw, for the last two years nearly it has been required to wear masks on planes, and many other places, which is why you are wearing them in the pictures).

I copied this to your sister’s webpage as well – not being lazy just trying to be consistent 🙂

McCall

We had a great trip to McCall. We rented a Vacasa unit right on the golf course, and there was a ton of snow. We skied, went out to eat, played a ton of board games, and took Layla out all the time. It was a fantastic trip, and as you can see we got a ton of amazing pictures.

Maui

As mentioned above, we went to Maui! It was the first vacation other than to SV that we had taken since covid began. Cannot tell you how great it was. Being locked down for over a year and then getting to do that was wildy freeing and a great mental health break for us all.

That said, Hawaii was super locked down. They required masks even outside on paths, and on the beach you had to maintain a healthy distance. Most of the businesses were closed, and the opportunity to go out to dinner and things of that nature were very limited.

It was worth it though, and we all had a great time.

Skiing

You are becoming quite the little skier. Unlike your sister who I had to push to go faster and take some chances, you are of course the opposite. I have had to chase you down a number of times just trying to bomb down the mountain as fast as you can go. Mom calls you me – and while she’s using it in a way of explaining recklessness, I love it.

Outside of all this, you are with us a lot. Your school got cancelled due to covidd (although it was only from 9-12 4 days a week). I am still working from home as well and it has now been over a year. I don’t know what is going to happen or if I will ever return to an office. Still rocking my home depot $30 table that I bought in March of 2020 that I figured I would need for a few weeks until this blew over – but instead here I am a year later.

You also love your “sissy” more than anything, and as you can see in the pictures you guys spend a ton of time together. It’s great because we can’t really spend too much time with others right now but that doesn’t seem to bother either of you.

You are growing into a loving, sweet, excited, ambitious, athletic young boy – and I could not be happier. Looking forward to the next time we get to talk when you turn 5.

I Love you more than you will ever know.

Love, Dad