Mask On, Mask Off

 Hello!

Greetings from the Cunningham family! We are doing well and are happy to have survived another interesting year in the 'pandemic era'. Like Daniel LaRusso from Karate Kid who learned "wax on, wax off", we've been exercising our muscles all year to build flexibility, practice tolerance and stay resilient in a world where requirements for masking, vaccinations, and social protocols are subjective at times and pretty much always changing. 

Don't get me wrong, I am totally fine with doing whatever is needed to keep people safe from the Covid virus, but admittedly it can get exhausting. In some ways, 2021 was actually harder than 2020 because as life opened back up, the world got back to spinning faster than ever, but some of the same restrictions and hurdles remained, making life more difficult to navigate. 

On top of all that, the global supply chain disruptions and the 'great resignation' where millions of people quit their jobs made running a company or getting anything actually done difficult at times. Luckily, the kids were mostly shielded from all of this by me and Jason but it has been a stressful year and one that I would rather not relive.

1. For our first Halloween in the new house, Jason went all out with the exterior decorations that made our house look really spooky! 

A Player for the Self-Playing Piano!

Talking Pumpkins w/ Graveyard

Giant Spider w/ Skeleton Underneath

Olivia w/ Friends as Hocus Pocus Sisters!

2. Our animals have been a bright spot for us! Murphy is a really sweet, young-hearted Laborador who is ALWAYS ready to play fetch! Here's a picture of Murphy trying to convince Jason to stop working and go out and play 😂

We got Hannibal in April from a Craigslist posting and he has been a really easy keeper and sweet addition to the family!

Happy Dragon!

3. The kids have really excelled in hockey this season! Quinn is playing up to U10/Squirts level and both of the kids made the Squirts Gold team for Carriage Club as well as the KC Kings Squirts Select travel team. 

As I'm typing this, Jason is working to create a patch of ice on our driveway out of wood forms and a tarp so the kids can practice shooting at home on actual ice 😆

Olivia Ready for the Game!

4. We finally finished remodeling the condo in Big Sky, Montana this past Fall and we stayed there after Christmas until New Years. It turned out really nice and will provide a great place for us to stop over any time of the year to visit the beautiful Paradise Valley/Gallatin River part of Montana. 

We've spotted all kinds of animals out there including foxes, moose, bears, mountain goats and so on. Here's a picture of a ram we saw along the road. Also, the kids playing around on an igloo that someone made along the main road.  

Ski Monsters!

Signing off for now. Here's looking forward to 2022 and all that is in store. Our prayers go out to everyone to stay safe and well.

xoxo Claire & Family 💗

Aloha!

Hello!

Aloha from the Cunningham Family! I am calling this blog installment "Aloha" because it means "hello" and "goodbye". Since our last update, we have had some life changes that have had us saying goodbye to some things and hello to others. Without further ado, I will dive right in!

1. In mid-July, Quinn swam backstroke and freestyle in the city-wide Swim Championships and his boys 8 & Under relay teams took home two gold medals! We're really proud of him and it was fun to cheer his team on.

Quinn kicking off Champs relay with the backstroke!

2. Jason was researching current selling prices for RV's and decided that we should list our camper and see what happens. After about a month on the market, we ended up selling it for more than we paid for it 3 years ago! I guess the demand for RV's is really up due to Covid. We miss the camper but enjoyed it tremendously. Someday we may get another one.

3. Also in July and somewhat spur of the moment, we decided to take a peek at what other houses were on the market. I've absolutely loved the home I bought in KCMO back in 2006 and since I met Jason, so much has been done to improve it. But after 16 years, it was time to see what else is out there. We found a house nearby on the Kansas side and took the leap! The new house has been recently remodeled and has ample space for 2 home offices and other amenities.

We were able to close on the new house about 6 weeks after putting it under contract and we moved Labor Day weekend! Packing and moving was fairly exhausting, but it has been well worth it. Jason's mom Patti came out for several days to help set everything up and that support was so much appreciated :) 

We are completing some final touches on the old house (renovating two bathrooms and a bedroom) before we will list it for sale later this year or next year.  

4. Amidst all of this moving, we actually had a 2 week trip to the Big Island of Hawaii during the first half of August. Getting there was quite an adventure with the COVID testing delays for the kids and all (thank heavens for airport testing!), but we made it work. We stayed in a condo with a nice kitchen and probably ate half of our meals there which was important since island restaurants were pretty slim pickings and reservations were pretty scarce.

Setting up for another (slow) day at the beach!

Enjoying the fruits of the island - another incredible meal!

Gorgeous black sand beach

Chocolate farm outside Hilo

Dolphin Quest!

On this trip, we had our share of beach days but we also explored all over the island. One day we drove to Volcano National Park and hiked the volcanoes. That night we stayed at a B&B in the middle of a Hawaiian forest with all kinds of critters chirping and bleating all night long. 

In a rare turn to experience the more touristy side of the island, we took a sunset dinner cruise that was quite interesting! The seas were pretty rough and by the end, I believe about 40% of the people on the boat, servers included, had gotten seasick! Luckily our group was fine but we had some good laughs and stories to tell.

The day after we got back from Hawaii, the kids were off to school - first day at St Paul's for another round. This time 3rd and 4th grades. Here's a picture of Olivia ready to go take on her first day of school! When I was a kid, I would get nervous on the first day of school, so I love seeing her all ready to go tackle it!

Love always, Claire & Family (including Murphy 🐾)

OBX Adventures

Hello!

It's been a while since my last post so I'll dive right in! We planned a big camper trip right at the beginning of Summer to Outer Banks, NC. While the trip involved a lot of miles, we took our time a bit more with the drive and stopped in campgrounds most nights there and back so we could all stretch our legs, cook out and let the kids explore the campgrounds.  

Our first stop was in Lexington, KY where we stayed at the Kentucky Horse Park campground. We explored the horse museum there and saw the "Circle of Champions" including Go For Gin who is the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner! He is quite beautiful and well situated in one of the primary paddocks there.

We ate a wonderful dinner out in Lexington where Dad and Quinn shared a 48 oz Porterhouse steak and between them, they ate the whole thing! The kids were both so polite at dinner and displayed such great manners that they had both definitely earned a nice dessert. When the server explained the dessert options including chocolate mousse, Olivia said "I've had that before and it actually tasted like pudding... So is this really a chocolate moose or more like pudding?"  It was really cute and we both told the server they needed to up their game in the chocolate moose department (!).

We really loved Outer Banks, NC and hope to return someday. I was expecting it to be more similar to Florida panhandle beaches, and it really was completely unique. The beaches were endless with picturesque sand dunes. We got a beach driving permit and could easily find beach spots without another soul in sight.

Jason fished from the shore, the kids played in the sand and I played fetch with Murphy and just took in the beautiful sights. The campground we stayed at actually spanned both the sound side and the Atlantic ocean side of the island. So we could walk to the beach in the AM to watch the sun rise over the ocean, and in the evening, we could watch the sun set right by our camping spot on the sound side.

Beautiful Sunsets

Kids Playing at the Beach

One of the days, we drove as far south on the island as you can and hopped the ferry to Ocracoke. It is this darling little place where the primary mode of transportation is a golf cart. We definitely want to return there someday.

I also enjoyed learning about the history in OBX including the Wright Brothers First Flight at Kitty Hawk, the demise of Blackbeard the Pirate in Ocracoke, the marine history including thousands of shipwrecks, the really cool lighthouses, and the list goes on.

There are also some oddities with the area, including these really weird fish that look kind of like snakes. The local fishermen encourage you to fish with "blood worms" which actually have little teeth and they know how to use them! The locals don't tell you this but you should NOT swim in the ocean past your knees because the waters are actually shark infested.

It wouldn't be a Cunningham vacation without a few days out on the water fishing, right? One of the days, we caught several Mahi Mahi. It's fair to say our freezer is stocked for the foreseeable future!

In other news, Jason brought home a new toy that we have been using on weekends to get out and about on lakes near KC. It's been fun to take just a few hours and play on the water for a bit.

We also have launched in to a garage remodel that is coming along nicely.

The kids have a Summer packed with sports this year including swim, dive, tennis, lacrosse, golf and hockey. Signing off for now. 

Love~claire

Imagine Dragon

 Hi All!

Another blog update from the Cunningham family coming right at you 😀.  First off, we need to report the newest addition to our family!

Quinn had his heart set on a bearded dragon and so last Summer, Dad and Quinn started building a cage during Covid shutdown. We staved off actually getting a dragon until a few weeks ago. Luckily, the Universe heeded the call and we found the perfect full grown dragon on Craigslist! He is very sweet and Quinn is very happy. He does a lot to help care for Hannibal (his given name) AKA Buddy including feedings and lots of social time.

Olivia also got two poison dart frogs for her vivarium (also a Covid project with Dad), and they are doing well. They are really tiny and hard to capture in pictures though! Below is a picture from the internet of what they look like 😀

A few weeks ago, the kids had their hockey finale which culminated in a playoff game where we sadly did not come out on top. Quinn was asked to play 'up' in the U10 game though which was a big honor and here he is just before the game with his great friend, Maxwell.

Last time I mentioned that we spent some time skiing with friends in Big Sky, MT - full story is that we actually purchased the condo we stayed in last December and we are now remodeling it to give it an updated look. It's a great rental property and it will be completed sometime this Summer. Here's a picture after Jason and I went out and gutted the main floor in late March.

This past Easter weekend, we actually ventured to Disney World and had overall a really good time. It was different with the Covid protocols but once you figure out how to navigate it and adjust your expectations, it was overall really worth it.

Quinn is really notorious for forgetting his mask. By the way, this is what you do with your kids soccer jersey when they forget their mask when you go out for pizza 😆.

I'll leave you with a picture of the Critter in his new digs up in Quinn's room. Life is good, I think.

Love, Claire & Family

Six Feet Apart

Hello!

Here's a blog update to catch us on the state of things during the last part of 2020 and the first part of 2021!

Jason and I have been so blessed as we have been able to adapt to the remote work and not miss a beat with the businesses we are running and the jobs we are doing. The kids are doing great at St. Paul's which is a private school that has been fully open since mid-August to in person learning. With very few exceptions for remote learning, they have been in the classroom alongside their friends. And most importantly, we have all stayed completely healthy during these crazy times!

The pumpkin pictures below kind of tell a story for how things went down for us towards the end of 2020.... things were a bit simplified and stripped down just like the pumpkins we carved this year vs. 2019's versions. But that's just fine by me, and in a way, it has allowed us to take things a little easier, cook at home more and focus on things that matter to us. 

The kids did fall soccer and have really enjoyed hockey this past year. Olivia moved up to the Squirts/10 & Under age group while Quinn is still in the 8U group, however he is good enough that he is practicing and playing lots of games on the 'full ice' with Olivia's team. Last June, hockey camps were one of the first things to open up so we did several indoor camps through the summer and it really helped them build their skills.

Like I said, we have been eating at home more, but still taking the time to support our favorite local restaurants such as Il Centro (AKA The Good Spaghetti Place!), which is a cute little Italian place about a mile from our house. Olivia and I got our toenails done for my birthday and also for her birthday. As much as we can, we're supporting the places that have suffered during the shutdown.

While we haven't traveled much (other than Jason who has been going back and forth to the new car wash build in Colorado Springs most weeks), we did decide to take a quick 4 day trip to Cabo, Mexico over the kid's Fall Break. We stayed at the Rosewood resort there and it was heavenly! We had an ATV adventure on the beach, hung out in the pool, and enjoyed the ocean views... just what we needed to fill up our tanks in advance of the winter spent mostly indoors and whatever imminent stricter Covid restrictions that we will all be facing soon.

With the car wash almost ready to launch (it officially opened December 1st!), we spent the week of Thanksgiving in Cascade, CO with my parents. The plan was to have TG dinner with the Thomas family, but things didn't work out for that to happen as we'd hoped. So at kind of the last minute, Jason and I shouldered the load and pulled together a TG feast for Cunningham's plus my parents that was out of this world good.

As you can see above, the kids pitched in on the decor and had fun finding napkin folding instructions on YouTube. This was one of many really well decorated dinner settings that we were treated to by the kids. The week after Christmas and over New Year's, we also stayed at Burnbrae and hosted some of the managers from the car wash and their families. For that dinner, the kids did animal shaped napkins, and Olivia hid a "joke" inside each napkin that people would go around the table and read. Very fun :)

We skied Vail a few days after Christmas and it was really nuts. Way too crowded, but at least on the last day we had 10"+ of powder. Quinn had a little trouble with it but he eventually got the hang of it! My motto, never ever complain about powder!

After New Year's, we hosted some of the cousins for Quinn's 8th Birthday skating party at the Club.

To keep the skiing theme going, in mid-Jan we hit Big Sky, MT for a really fun trip where we met up with the Howa family. We had some unexpected visitors around the condo there which was really neat!

The Fox of Big Horn Condos!

Ski Racers!

We also made it out to Beaver Creek at the end of January and had a blast seeing my friend Elizabeth on a few different occasions out in Colorado. In between weekends packed with numerous hockey games and a few ski trips, to say the least, the kids have stayed busy with various sports this winter!

Signing off for now. 

Love Always, 

~The Cunningham Family