We made it to Illinois for Christmas despite the pandemic and even got to bring Iris with us! It was so great to spend so much time with my mom and siblings and also get to see Roy. It was supposed to be our last hurrah as a family at Sanctuary as it’s set to close on January 22nd, but unfortunately my dad got called away to Florida just before we arrived so we were down a Ritchie for the festivities. Despite dad being away, we had lots of fun and spent must of the time in sweatpants lounging in one living room after the next. We also got to check out Ryan and Allison’s new place in the city which was pretty neat. Staying at Amanda and Trevor’s is always wonderful. Everyone loved Iris and it was nice to have her around. Introducing Charlie and Iris was a saga, but Carl was so patient and calm (which is NOT what I can say for Chris and Maya, lol), and in the end they could easily be around each other. We were hoping to see some friends while we were in town, but agreed with COVID 19 in full force it didn’t make sense so it was a family only trip.
In other exciting news, right before we left for Illinois I hit my personal mileage goals for biking and running in 2020! I had set a 500 running miles goal early in the year while the biking 1,000 miles didn’t get added until July. It was a struggle at the end as it got a bit chilly (I know, I know, nothing like Illinois) and I hadn’t really accounted for the lack of daylight and an indoor facility to use since we quit our gym earlier in the year, but I DID IT!
New Year’s Eve was anticlimactic, but we did have a delicious dinner thanks to a gift card to the New York Butcher!
