2020: Our Local Year

Winter – Back to Normal Life in Vancouver
It’s strange to look back at 2020 and to realize that it actually started quite normal, or at least what normal used to be. For us the beginning of 2020 was all about getting back into our normal life in Vancouver after a long pause. Not only did we spend the last three months of 2019 bike touring in Japan and Taiwan, but Gili was on parental leave since the end of December of 2018… So January was all about settling into a new routine, Gili was back at work at an office downtown, Neil was back at his daycare, which he missed very much during our trip, and Kai was with me most of the time, while I was still trying to juggle part time work with Kids on Wheels.

In February we celebrated Neil’s fifth birthday with good friends and neighbours, not realizing that it was the last big get-together we’d have for a long time. There were already rumors about this crazy virus in China that had already spread big time to Italy.

Spring – The “Stay Home” Period
Spring was one of the strangest times of all. At first it was horrible. I felt like the walls were closing in on us – Neil’s daycare closed its doors indefinitely as well as the community centres, pools and playgrounds. We had to cancel our trip to Israel and everyone was talking about the new virus. The number of cases was rising in the Vancouver area. Gili started to work from home 100%.

We moved the kids to the bigger bedroom by chance just before COVID started so they had lots of room at least. Our bedroom turned into an impromptu office. My work at Kids on Wheels was cut to a minimum so it gave me the flexibility to be with the kids. We also spent a lot of time riding our bikes, realizing that once again the bikes gave us a venue to relax, to exercise and to burn off the boys’ energy. We rode to so many new places in Vancouver or rediscovered old ones we haven’t been to in a while. We took advantage of changes in the city like opening Beach Ave. and Stanley Park to bikes only which we of course loved.

We developed a very relaxed routine and despite everything around us the kids were happy and thriving and the new reality wasn’t as hard as it seemed at first.

Summer – Local Trips Around BC
In the summer it sort of looked like life was back to normal, or some sort of a new normal at least. The fact that there were no Kids on Wheels camps to run this year actually gave me a new sense of freedom I didn’t have in the last few summers. Since we cancelled our trip to Israel Gili had a lot of vacation days to use, and we figured it would be best to just use them up during the summer while travelling, at least in BC, wasn’t banned. Instead of the usual rushed weekend trips we went on a longer adventure every couple of weeks. It gave us the opportunity to hike most of the Juan de Fuca Trail and visit our good friends Jan and Warrick on the island before they sold their property.

For my 40th birthday we spent a few days in a tipi on a farm by Salmon Arm, where we did some bike rides and lake swimming. We went back to Cathedral Provincial Park, one of my favourite places. The summer would not have been complete without a proper bike trip exploring more of Vancouver Island, the Discovery Islands and the Sunshine Coast.

In the city we enjoyed our regular summer routine – lots of time on the beach and this year also in the pool. The booking system of the public pools may not have been ideal, but I actually liked the less crowded pools and the commitment we had to make in advance that actually made us go to the pool. Since Neil did not go back to daycare I registered him for two separate weeks of outdoor camp on Jericho Beach which he absolutely loved. We were also able to meet up with friends freely outside which was fun.

Fall – The Rise and Fall
The fall seemed to start on a high note. Neil started kindergarten after much anticipation. The lack of routine in the previous six months was nice but he really missed the daily social interaction with kids his own age. We had smoke through the first two weeks of September, which was late in the season and kind of depressing. At least we knew the rain would start soon and once it started the smoke cleared, but unfortunately COVID did not.

We also had a visit from Niki, Gili’s mom. When I suggested she would come for a visit I didn’t think she would jump on it so soon, but she really missed seeing the kids, and the opportunity was there. In retrospect it was perfect timing. Yes, she had to do two weeks of self isolation that were kind of harsh, but we made sure to drop off food and take the kids for a quick wave almost every day. Then when she was out of quarantining it was a huge help to have her here, and Gili and I got a glimpse of life with a grandmother around. We made sure to have a weekly date. Sometimes it was just riding around or having an ice cream together. It was refreshing to have a full-on adult conversation without being interrupted with a story about what happened on the last Paw Patrol episode.

On Thanksgiving weekend we rented an Airbnb in Chilliwack and mostly enjoyed soaking in the huge hot tub that came with the place and overlooked the beautiful valley. We celebrated Kai’s second birthday on a lovely autumn day with only close friends and Niki in our local park. I loved the small celebration, and once again we managed to squeeze it in just before a new set of restrictions were in place.

November was a tough month. Niki went back to Israel and most of my activities with Kai were cancelled due to the new restrictions. In addition, the weather was typical November Raincouver weather that didn’t make going outside with a toddler very appealing. What did help was my commitment to a new challenge I started this fall which I have named “100 by 7”. The idea behind it was to ride at least 100km per week and at least 10km per day. I managed to complete 12 weeks by the time the holidays rolled in (when I decided to take a couple of weeks off) and rode 1,361km during those 12 weeks.

I also got a membership for Science World and so far I’ve been taking Kai there once a week which gives us a couple of hours of spacious indoor activity. Gili is continuing to work from home permanently which he seems to love despite the constant interruptions from the kids and the background noise during some of his Zoom meetings.

Neil loved the first three months of school and biked there almost every day, even in hard rain. He made new friends, learned to play freeze tag, loves learning the letters, and started reading and writing a few words.

Our holiday break is a very local one which is a good representative of this very local year we had. Yes, it wasn’t ideal not to be able to visit our family in Israel and not to be able to go on a bike trip over the fall like we would have liked to. On the other hand staying local wasn’t so bad. We’ve been enjoying the cross country area at Cypress, catching up on sleep, playing in the rain, riding our bikes of course and enjoying baking and cooking at a more relaxed pace.

Moving on
Who knows what 2021 will bring – there are still a lot of question marks. I am still not sure what is the future of Kids on Wheels. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to travel, or see our extended family which was one of the hardest things this year. I am hopeful that we’ll make the best of what will come, as long as we are all healthy and happy.