This year will certainly be remembered in World History. Nothing like a global pandemic, extensive wildfires, murder hornets, 6 major hurricanes, 8 major earthquakes and countless other natural disasters sprinkled with some political mayhem to mark the 20th anniversary of the year 2000. For us it was a year of working from home, canceling trips, Zoom chat happy hours, counting our blessings and saving money.

January: We started the year in Tennessee at a cabin near Great Smoky Mountain National Park with the Lupos. We rang in the New Year together, without knowing that would be the only trip we would all take together for a while.

February: We traded in Suzie the Subaru and bought Toni the Toyota, Rav 4 with airconditioned seats and amazing gas mileage. We had an awesome visit from my friend of more than 30+ years, Andrea Wardell. With her, we went to Santa Cruz for some coastal adventure and wine tasting and to Tahoe and we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was great to have her here and share in the beauty that is northern California.

March: We were beyond lucky enough to celebrate Ryan's 40th Birthday just in the nick of time. I had planned his surprise party for a few weeks before his actual birthday and I am so glad that I did. We had the party Friday night and the world went into COVID lockdown on Sunday. From that day forward, we both started working from home and collecting masks that my mom made.

April: We had planned a pretty epic 2 week road trip through Oregon and Washington to North Cascade National Park. However, with everything shut down, we stayed home and stayed safe instead. Spring Break was spent with a lot of cooking, crafting and creative ways to keep busy at home. Our friend, Jean, wrote a book to remind everyone what to do. (Make sure you click the link to read her book!)

May: Ryan bought a smoker and we smoked all of the meats. We were also lucky enough to escape to Strawberry, CA to our friends' cabin in the mountains. It was a beautiful relief.

June: In June, we went tent camping in Truckee, CA and enjoyed the beauty of Tahoe. I wrapped up the end of the school year and Ryan continued to work from home. By having canceled our Spring Break trip and not going out for months we actually were able to save a bunch of money and rustled together a good sized down payment for our dream campervan. In June, we drove down to San Diego to see Ryan's parents and check out a van we found online.

July: On July 4th, we celebrated my 5 year Anniversary of living in California by driving back down to San Diego to pick up Ember, the newest member of CampPaine. We picked her up in SoCal and drove back up Highway 1. It was a wonderful way to test her out. When we got home, we helped our good friends Weston and Yoshi get married (in our backyard) and shared it with everyone on Zoom. Later in the month, we loaded up the van and headed North. We did an amazing Road Trip up and down the California and Oregon coast and enjoyed the built in Social Distancing that camping has to offer.

August: School started online and I moved my desk and work space into the guest room. It quickly exploded with children's books, curriculum and crafts. The entire month was pretty much consumed with school work and heat waves. We did a few small projects in the van and cooked a few tasty meals at home.

September: For Birthmonth, Ryan cooked a fantastic fancy pants dinner that we got to enjoy in our pajamas at home! We did a few more projects in the van and then were lucky enough to join our friends on a House Boating Adventure on Lake Shasta. It was a fun weekend trip and a nice way to celebrate 39!

October: My School District has October Break every year and I must say... it is the greatest thing ever! It is always so needed and it is a great time of year to travel because no one else is. This year we drove to Idaho and explored the Sawtooth National Forest and got to visit with Ryan's nephew. The rest of the month was filled with more wildfires and working from home. For Halloween weekend, we camped in Bodega Bay (where they filmed Hitchcock's The Birds) That movie is the setting of my nightmares but I brought my slingshot and were survived with beautiful weather and a chance to explore with our bikes.

November: This is when the baking started. All of the baked good. Friendsgiving got canceled but we still had pie! We did a few drives down the coast and got the house ready for Christmas.

December: We usually would travel to Minnesota for the company Holiday Party in December. This year, due to COVID, the party did not happen. So we gathered the California people and celebrated at our house. It was the first time we had people over since March and it was fantastic. We had a mini White Elephant Gift exchange and enjoyed 3 dimensional human company. A few weeks later, we drove back down to San Diego where we spent Christmas on the porch with Ryan's family and got to visit friends.

As crazy of a year as it was, looking back, 2020 was not all that bad. We got to spend a lot of time together. We connected with friends (virtually) much more than ever before. We added Ember and the adventures she will bring to our lives. And we both stayed healthy. Overall, it was a challenge but we did okay with 2020.

Here's to 2021

Here is the video of our One Second a Day for 365 days in the life of the Paines 2020.