Dear Santa,
Well, here we stand again on the precipice of a new year and I find myself penning (well, typing, actually) my annual letter to you. I'm not sure, given the current circumstances in the world today, how well your Elf Intelligence Agency (EIA) has been able to ascertain about the past year in our home in particular, but I can say that things have looked a lot better overall for the Reynolds clan in Texas.
Anyway, how are you doing? Is your workshop in danger of sinking into the Arctic Ocean due to climate change, or is that all a bit of hyperbole? How have you been handling the issues regarding the current global pandemic? I'm assuming that between you, Bigfoot, and Nessie, all of you are competing for the title of "Most Isolated Being on Earth", so I am hoping that you haven't had to deal with all the nonsensicalities associated with managing high population areas during a plague. That makes me curious: does COVID-19 affect elves? It's been found in animals, so I can assume that the elf species is a closer genetic match to humans than a pug. Anyway, I hope you've stayed safe this past year.
As for us, well, I can sort of say that 2021 was probably the year we may have overcompensated a bit. With the weariness that 2020 left us and the prospect of vaccinations on the horizon, we started making quite a few plans to make the new year better than ever, in spite of what the current sociopolitical climate may have been.
Sarah and I started off the year by celebrating our 10th year of marriage. I couldn't believe we've been together a decade, but she managed to stick with me through all the ridiculousness that I constantly bring to our union.
We had stated that we'd love to do something like go to a tropical island for our anniversary, but COVID put the kibosh on that idea. Instead I managed to take her to a sub-tropical island that was much more affordable and easier to access: Galvestion, TX! Now, although it's only a 30 minute drive from our house, the truth is that we hadn't spent much time exploring the island in any real sense, so that was a nice opportunity to do so.
We got a couple's massage (one of Sarah's bucket list items), had a wonderful seafood dinner at Gaidos, visited Moody Mansion, toured Bishop's Palace, and stayed at the Coppersmith Inn (a wonderful bed and breakfast being renovated by an energetic young couple). It was a wonderful trip that we will treasure forever, and it provided us with a great chance to remember what it was like when it was just the two of us. Truthfully, we only had about two months before Sarah got pregnant with Leah, so our time as newlyweds didn't last long. It's mainly been a decade of being in a family while learning how to be married. So far, so good.
The next month we were in for an unusual surprise from your wintery rival Jack Frost, who managed to unleash a furiously frigid winter storm upon the Lone Star State that we weren't prepared for. If you recall, the power grid in Texas is separate and unregulated, which in part means that we can't draw from other states when the going gets tough. Well, the going got tough and the power grid almost entirely collapsed, leaving many in the state without power as the temperatures outside were down to 10 degrees.
We lost power for many days, which made the temperatures inside dip down into the 50s. I still managed to have power at work, so I went there during the day, but Sarah and the kids managed to find refuge over at the Hanks Family's home nearby. Over all the time where they were cycling out power to keep things from collapsing, they thankfully didn't have much time out. On the other hand, I would spend the nights in our cold home just to make sure I was there in case any of the pipes broke and I needed to shut off the water. I also got to use my generator for the first time, which was ironic because I got it in case a hurricane took out our power. I never thought I'd almost freeze to death in Texas.
Eventually after a week things thawed out and life continued as normal. We continued our tradition this year of me taking the kids camping together, which was a lot of fun. They complain, bicker, and argue a lot during these trips, but come away saying that they had the best time ever, so I try to power through the exhaustion of taking care of three kids while not in their normal environment.
As per her usual annual routine, Sarah took the kids and drove out to Utah and Idaho for a number of weeks. She was able to go see a number of friends and visit family. The first stop, thankfully, is most often the family cabin at Fish Lake. I love to go there, but this year I wasn't able to make it there. Maybe next year.
One of the main reasons we went was for a Reynolds Family reunion. The original was supposed to happen in 2020, but got delayed for obvious reasons. We all were able to gather at a set of nice vacation homes in St. George, Utah, and spend some time together. Overall it was great to see everyone that we could, although having to take care of little kids made it hard to get in the visiting with family that I wanted to do.
One of the fortunate things we were able to do this year was have Sean be baptized at the family reunion. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, many other family members were able to attend virtually and see him make the decision to follow in the steps of Jesus Christ.
Sarah spent lots of time in Idaho getting the chance to be with family. I think my kids really enjoyed the freedom they had at Grandma and Grandpa's house, especially with a trampoline and big yard to play in.
Because their circumstances don't allow Sarah's parents to easily travel these days, I'm grateful that my kids can go to them and spend time with them. I may be alone for weeks at a time, but I know the sacrifice is worth it. Plus the house stays very clean while they're gone.
I think it's important that the kids get to know their extended family. Mine is pretty small, relatively speaking. I only have one uncle that I actually know, and two aunts. That makes for small reunions when it's not me and the brothers.
Once their travels were over with, the three oldest kids had a minor surgical procedure that will be helpful for them with the development of their mouths. There is still some therapy that they need to do, but I'm glad we could get them some early intervention to hopefully help with other aspects in their lives.
I can't believe it, but my two oldest kids are finally at a point there they have church activities every other week. We're entering into the stage of life where we're busy for the sake of our children, making sure they get every opportunity they need in order to advance.
One of the coolest things we've been involved in during this past year is a homeschool music and performing arts co-op. It's a well-oiled organization that has been great at exposing our kids to the type of musical instruction that we haven't been able to provide them at home. I just never seem to have the time, and I don't seem to have the teaching talent when it comes to musical instruments. As part of this new endeavor, we got a Yamaha Clavinova electric piano. It's been a beautiful addition to our home and I really love seeing the kids get on it and plinking out tunes by ear. Sometimes I even try to sit down and tickle the ivories, but it's hard to do when you're a guitarist and don't have the coordination to move your hands independent of each other.
In spite of all the precautions and vaccinations, I wound up contracting COVID-19 this year. I honestly don't know how I got it because I was the only one in the family that ever tested positive in spite of being in close contact with everyone in my immediate family. Thankfully, however, my symptoms were very mild. I lost the ability to smell for about a week and got slightly fatigued. It was more of an inconvenience than anything else, which I am grateful for. I know this disease isn't something to joke with. I came out of it just fine, which I attribute to the vaccine's efficacy. I knew I probably wasn't going to avoid COVID-19 the rest of my life, but I am grateful that the impact wasn't really significant. Others haven't been that fortunate.
We are still doing taekwondo as a family, which I immensely enjoy. I think I enjoy it more than the kids, but that's probably because the only time we are able to do it is in the evening when they're tired. I'm sure they'd love it if it was a morning activity.
We even were brave enough to enter into the largest tournament in Texas, which made for a fun family trip to Dallas. The kids got to experience competition and did their best in their age ranges. I competed as well and wound up placing third in forms (kata in karate terms). I almost placed third in combat sparring but lost by the timer at the last minute of my round. In terms of being my first tournament, I'd say I did pretty good.
One of the exciting things we were also able to do was to go visit Sarah's brother and his family up in southern Oregon. We had an early morning flight that day (5AM), followed by a 4-hour drive to their home, so it made for an exhausting travel day.
I love seeing the kids interact with their cousins. I never had cousins close to my age growing up. Plus, I had a cumulative total of six cousins from both my mom and dad's sides of the family, so my odds weren't that great. To see my kids have an abundance of "built in friends" is something that I cherish.
We had a lot of fun with them exploring the venues around their area. We rode the jet boats on the Rogue River, hiked in the redwoods, and enjoyed some time at the beach.
I do love the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. It's always held a special place in my heart.
When it was time to head back to Texas, there were lots of tears shed by my kids. They love all their cousins so much and it's always hard for them to be so far away. I'm hoping that someway, somehow we can be closer to them, but I don't see that happening in the near future.
When October came around I had made the decision that Sarah and I needed to get out together again. We had so much fun in Galveston for our anniversary and after a very taxing summer we needed some alone time. So we got some great help from our friends to watch the kids and we spent a day in downtown Houston taking in the sights and smells.
Houston has more restaurants than any other city I've lived in and the food is pretty diverse. Because of its unique location we get to partake of TexMex, Texas BBQ, and Cajun food quite often. One of my new favorite pastimes is to go try a new restaurant every so often with my wife. So far we haven't run out of places to try.
'And speaking of food, this is the year I finally was able to get something that I've been longing for years to get. They say that once a man reaches a certain age he either needs to get into repairing cars or smoking meats. Given my love of food and the lack of space in our home, I went with the latter. I got a Traeger grill and became an instant evangelist for the brand. I like to think of Traeger owners the same as pilots. One of my favorite pilot joke is, "How can you tell if there's a pilot in the room? He'll tell you." It's ironically the same way with Traeger grill owners. We even have our own virtual community that we call the "Traegerhood."
So far I've tried a variety of things on it. One of the favorite family dishes was smoked salmon. We picked that sucker clean when we were done.
I've also made a few batches of beef jerky with it, which was some of the juiciest I've ever had. The first batch made about 4 pounds and it didn't even last a week.
For our church chili cook-off I wound up doing it on the Traeger. There wasn't much left when I picked the pot back up.
I even tried the piece de resistance of Texas barbecue: beef brisket. It turned out really tasty the first time around, but now I'm learning things every time I do a cook. But, look at me, I'm evangelizing it to you, St. Nick! You can see how we Traeger owners are a unique breed that are just excited to cook stuff.
I have still taken up the hobby of running Dungeon and Dragons games for my kids and their characters, although this year I don't think I did that many. They really get into playing their characters and Leah has taken to playing a ranger like a bugbear to swamp grass. I really wish I could do more of that for them, but work and activities seem to take most of my free time these days.
Occasionally I get the chance to let my geek flag fly high, especially when it comes to playing tabletop games. I have a few friends that are able to get together for wargaming and role-playing adventures. It's hard to do when you have kids, but I have a great time every time I come away from it.
This summer during our trip to Oregon my kids were introduced to the cartoon "Gravity Falls" and promptly decided that our family Halloween costume should be the characters from the show. I busily got to work developing the props and backgrounds needed to complete the theme. At our church's trunk-or-treat we were able to blow everyone away with our totally accurate recreation of the Mystery Shack made from cardboard. I even won the prize for best individual costume, mainly because I whited out my hair and beard and no one honestly recognized me. Now that's a sign of a good costume if you ask me.
After years of waiting, we finally were able to take a family trip to Florida for some fun. One of the things we did on the way was stop for the night in Wakulla Springs, one of the largest freshwater springs in the United States. This place was, consequently, also the filming location for the old movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon." We stayed the night at the lodge there, which was really quite fun. In the morning we were able to meet up with my brother Dave and his family who were staying nearby, and we took a river cruise along with them to tour the spring. It was good to catch up and spend some more time with cousins.
I have to admit that the kids did great on this trip, even though we really were going at full throttle the entire time. Malcolm held his own really well, but there were times when he just tuckered right out.
My parents were able to join us on this trip, which was both convenient and memorable. One of our first stops was going to Kennedy Space Center to see the exhibits there. Being the NASA nerd that I am (hey, it pays the bills), it was fun to take my kids to see the awesome exhibits they have there. I think they were just a little too young for some of it, but it was fun to take them anyway. One of the touching moments for me was seeing the Atlantis shuttle orbiter in its final resting place. I had watched many launches and landings of space shuttles over the years and to see one in person was quite humbling. Much of my childhood was wrapped up in space activities and to see one of the artifacts that I had watched and read about so many times really blew me away.
One of the things about my job is that I never know who is going to use my work. When we were touring the KSC visitor center, I managed to see one of the models I created being used in some wall artwork. It made me chuckle. I also saw some of my animation work being shown in some of the presentations. I wondered how many people there would be surprised if I mentioned to them, "Hey, I made that!"
Of course the main event for the trip was visiting Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. We had made the decision that when we decided to go to the theme parks that the youngest would have to be at least five years old. When Malcolm came into our family, we decided to rethink our strategy and decided to go for it. We were planning on going in 2020, but, you know...
Actually I think half of the people that were there at the same time as us were planning on going in 2020 but had to change their plans. We were supposedly going at a time when it wasn't supposed to be busy, but it felt packed anyway. Either way, though, we made the magic happen.
I have to admit that one of the coolest places we visited was the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge land at Hollywood Studios. They really went all out on the theming and it really pays off. We stood in a lot of long lines, but thankfully every time my kids admitted that they thought it was totally worth it.
We did all the typical stuff for the kids like making droids and getting Harry Potter wands, which made for a fun time. Boy howdy, though, do they nickel and dime you there. I can't believe how much we had to pay for certain below average pieces of food. It was nuts. Well, not actual nuts, but it definitely was crazy. I wonder what the upcharge for nuts actually is?
