Family Fun List Pandemic Edition

Every year on New Year's Eve, my family writes a "Family Fun List" for the next year. Each person gets to pick three activities for the list. It has been a tradition since 2013. 

Last year, I posted our list here like usual. Little did I know, that two months later, a pandemic would scramble all of our plans for the year!

In July, we talked about revising our list for 2020, since the pandemic had ruled out so many of the items on our list. We decided not to do that, but as you'll see, we made more pandemic-friendly picks for 2021!

So... here's our list from last year:

• Go to a movie in a movie theater (Petunia) - This did not happen. However, in the early days of the pandemic, when we were under a stay at home order, I started a weekly family movie night to cheer up Petunia. The first movie we watched was Frozen 2. I did not expect to have to watch quite so many movies... but on the plus side, it was fun rediscovering the Back to the Future series, and I thought Bill and Ted Face the Music was absolutely perfect pandemic entertainment.
• Walk around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights (Pumpkin) - DONE!
• Go to a musical (Mr Snarky) - Nope. We had tickets to go see Fly at the La Jolla Playhouse for the first week of the stay at home order. Oh well....
• Visit Bunnyhenge (Me) - Nope. We discussed maybe driving up to see it, but Orange County's numbers were higher than ours at that point and so we didn't do it.
• Go to [an indoor playground in my parents' town] (Petunia) - We didn't even get to visit my parents' in their city last year. They were here the week before the stay at home order, and we all quarantined so we could do Thanksgiving here, but that was it.
• Go to Open Gym at the Y (Pumpkin) - Nope. The Y was shut for a lot of the year, and even when it was open we weren't in a hurry to visit
• Hike a peak in Mission Trails park (Mr. Snarky) - We did this one! It was our Father's Day outing.
• Walk across the Spruce Street bridge (Me) - DONE! This is one we could have done during the pandemic, but actually chose to do earlier.
• Go to the Fleet Science Museum (Petunia) - Nope.
• Go for a surrey bike ride (Pumpkin) - Nope. Technically possible, but not something that seemed like a good idea.
• Go to Mexico (Mr. Snarky) - Nope. Mr. Snarky and I went to Mexico for my sister's birthday celebration at the end of February, but we did not get to make a trip as a family.
• Go to the Museum of Making Music (Me) - Nope.
• Bonus: Go to a cultural festival (e.g., the Viking festival a friend told us about) (Mr. Snarky) - Nope.

Here's the view from the Spruce Street bridge:

The hike we did:

And some pretty flowers seen along the way:

And here's this year's list:

• Stay up until at least midnight (Petunia. And no, she doesn't count New Year's Eve!)
• Do a hike from the Hidden San Diego site (Pumpkin)
• Take a night away out of town (Mr. Snarky)
• Visit the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park (me)
• Make a book as a family (Petunia)
• Go camping (Pumpkin)
• Circumnavigate Mission Bay by bicycle (Mr. Snarky)
• Visit Bunnyhenge (Me. Damn it, we're going this year!)
• Family Roblox session (Petunia)
• Explore a new neighborhood on foot (Pumpkin. We're hoping to save this one for when we can go into restaurants and things again.)
• Go fishing (Mr. Snarky)
• Try a new ice cream shop (Me. I do love my ice cream.)
• Bonus: Build a fancy cage for our pet hamster

Here's hoping that circumstances cooperate and we can make it through our list this year!