Wednesday- We started out the day with surf lessons. While this was totally out of my comfort zone, I went out with the rest of the family and it ended up being a blast. I was terrible at surfing and only got up once but it was so fun trying something new.

After surfing all morning, we stopped at Tropical Taco, for some fish tacos. In the afternoon, we all spent time at the beach near our house playing in the water with the boogie boards.

Thursday- At my request, we rented kayaks and spent the morning on the river paddling through the mangrove and wildlife reserve. We saw a ton of fish and turtles.

Friday- The girls and I walked into town and did some shopping. We had açaí bowls and had a lazy morning checking out the shops while Scott dropped Sam off for a long run. Afterwards, we took a drive up the coast to Tunnels Beach and walked around. This is a popular surfing and snorkeling beach west of Hanalei Bay. Unfortunately, the surf was too high and it wasn’t a good day to get in the water. We headed back to pick up Sam and then in the afternoon, Scott and the kids rented a surf board and took turns trying to catch waves. I sat on the beach and read my book! At the end of the day, we went out to the beach near the rental house and took family pictures.

Saturday- We were suppose to fly out Saturday night, but our flight was delayed until Sunday. So, after a bit of scrambling, we made hotel reservations closer to the airport on the south side of the island. We drove to Waimea Canyon and spent the day checking out the views and overlooks. Sam and the kids did a quick hike to a beautiful overlook but I was not interested in getting muddy again:). We found a restaurant with a sunset view and enjoyed our Christmas Eve together. We had another ice cream/shave ice and walked on the beach.

Sunday- Yah! Bonus Day! We spent the day snorkeling at Poipu Beach for the day. It was an exciting day. There were two monk seals and two sea turtles on the beach all day. Sam had a fun scare when a lizard fell in his hair. It was a perfect last day at the beach in Kauai.

Saturday evening, after a long travel day, we found our way to the north shore of Kauai Island. We have been planning this Hawaiian vacation for three years but with COVID and family health issues, there wasn’t a good time to make it work. As the kids get older, it is going to get harder and harder for everyone’s schedules to line up for a family trip. I’m so glad we made this one happen! Anyway, here are the quick details of the first few days our fun island getaway:)

Sunday- we woke up to rain and clouds. The weather wasn’t ideal for the beach so we headed out for a hike up the Okolehao Trail to the peak of Kauka’ opua. Thank goodness we wore our Chaco sandals because we were not prepared for the amount of mud on the mountain. By the time we finished, we were all covered in mud from our knees down! I only fell three times (once pulling Sam down with me) and slipped a few hundred times! Aside from the mud and steep inclines, we had so much fun and laughed a lot!

Monday- the morning started out with a down pour. Again, no bueno for a beach day. We headed to the south side of the island with hopes to find some sun. We stopped at Kauai Coffee for a quick tour and coffee sampling. We hit the Safeway and Walmart for groceries and started back toward the house on Hanalei Bay. On the way around the east side of the island, we found a sunny beach so we stopped. Scott, Alice, Paige, and Mason all jumped in the water. Sam went off in search of a run and I enjoyed my book on the beach.

Tuesday- Scott, Sam and I started our day with a beach run. The surf at our beach was too dangerous for swimming so we packed back into the car and headed back to the beach from the the previous day. We stopped to rent some boogie boards and enjoyed another day at the beach.

Just a couple more shots from the beginning of the week…

I made it back in just under a year. Believe it or not, the kids miss me writing on this silly blog. What a year it’s been. Sam is finishing his sophomore year of college, Alice is finishing her freshman year, Paige is getting ready for senior year of high school and Mason is finishing up his freshman year of high school. Where have my babies gone??? Scott has been busy with real estate and I’ve continued to teach. We’ve had some challenges this year but the highs have outweighed the lows and we are super excited for summer vacation. I’m just excited for all my kiddos to be home!

I won’t bore you with all the details of the year. Nor do I have days to write it all down, so I’m just going to start back today.

Today is Mother’s Day and I had such a wonderful, relaxing day. Scott and I fished this morning and then we went for a short hike this afternoon. After a long few weeks, it felt good to feel the sun on our faces and be outside. Here is the picture recap of the day.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and my mother-in-law. They are both amazing role models for me as a mom and I could be more blessed to have both of them.

Happy Sunday!

I had to refresh my feed to make sure that I actually hadn’t posted since January. Yep. All I can say is that we have been busy. This year has been crazy, anxiety inducing and emotionally draining. Sam finished up his first year of college at Montana State, Paige is getting ready to study abroad in Ireland and Alice graduated from high school (today!). I promise to update on all things Wescott very soon but for today I want to show off our graduate.

Today, Alice graduated from Summit High School. It was a tough year to be a high school senior. Alice persevered this year and graduated Sigma Cum Laude, received the Seal of Biliteracy and earned an International Baccalaureate degree as well as her high school degree. We are super proud of our girl!

Here are a couple pics from the senior parade in Breckenridge. I love seeing my girl so happy with her friends!

Well, 2020 sure did throw us for a loop but we made it through! I know that we came out stronger and appreciate all the goodness that came from this past year.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Most years I choose pictures that I am proud of, pictures I took with my big camera. This year I used my cell phone pictures because they are the most “in the moment” shots. Much like these pictures, it wasn’t a perfect year but we are grateful for each moment we were together making memories. We will never forget 2020.

Much love, Jen

The weirdest year ever!

Here are some pics from our crazy Christmas. We have so much to be thankful for even in the strangest of years.

Another year, another set of gingerbread houses.

Every year the kids decorate gingerbread houses. It gets more and more interesting the older these kids get.

Merry Christmas peeps.

Yesterday I went out for a fun run with a couple friends before work. We got it in our heads that we would write out a message on Strava. Here’s our finished product. I think we did pretty good but now the challenge is to see what else we can write during our run 🙂 Just in case abstract running art isn’t your thing, it says Let It Snow!

This is my craZy family and I love them!

This morning we got everybody up earlier than teenagers like and trekked out to find our Christmas tree. It is a gorgeous bluebird day in Summit County. We have had a warm start to winter and there is only a couple inches of snow on the ground. We hiked for about an hour and found the perfect 2020 tree.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Happy to wrap up this weird year with some holiday spirit and lots of wine.