Tragedy and Triumph: Late November 2020 - Schneider-Farris Family Update

COVID-19 made it possible for this photo shoot to happen!

Thanksgiving 2020 weekend is almost over, so I thought it would be a good idea to write an update on what is going on with the Schneider-Farris Family.

Our holiday was very non-traditional this year. I imagine many others also experienced Thanksgivings that are not normal during this strange 2020 year.

Thanksgiving weekend should be about a relaxing holiday weekend, but our family is about to undergo a lot of changes and actually have already experienced many changes!

ThanksXmas 2020!

On Thanksgiving morning, we've decided to open presents together since we won't be together in December for the holidays. Who knows when we will be together again? Covid-19 made being together possible in the first place!

We called our November 2020 holiday ThanksXmas! We even sang "We Need a Little Christmas" together which is really true during 2020.

On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, my daughter Annabelle flew back to Colorado from her college in upstate New York. Because of Covid-19, Binghamton University decided to send its students back for the Thanksgiving break and to not have them return for the remainder of the fall semester. The college also required all students to take Covid tests before leaving campus and to self-isolate. With these precautions, we hoped Annabelle had a safe flight back to Colorado.

We had a Thanksgiving Breakfast rather than a dinner because Rebekah and Dan left for Florida at 1 pm on Thanksgiving day.. Rebekah has an internship at Panther Ridge Conservation Center working with Big Cats and began the internship on Sunday 11/29. Dan flies back to Colorado on Sunday morning. They drove there so Rebekah can have a car while she is in Florida.

The day after Thanksgiving Joel and I packed up our cars to get ready to drive to Sun Valley. Joel and I begin training to begin our jobs as ski instructors in Sun Valley during the first or second week of December. Joel and I and my dad left for Sun Valley at 6:15 am on Saturday morning.

In late December, Joel will go to Florida to begin rehearsals for Disney On Ice! Yes..."it's complicated!" (In 2021, Rebekah will also be going back..the two will be together!)

Annabelle and our sweet dog Duchess will join Joel and my dad and I in Sun Valley in a couple of weeks after she completes the rest of her semester online.

My husband Dan will continue to work from home in Colorado for Veterans Affairs and "hold down the fort."

That's the update for immediate future plans, but I will now summarize what has gone on in our lives since my last blog update:

After spending most of March, April, and May enjoying the Colorado mountains and not going anywhere and doing hiking, biking, scootering, and kayaking and stand up paddle boarding while quarantining, Rebekah took on an internship at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Annabelle did summer classes online through Pikes Peak Community College. Ice rinks began to open in June, and so Joel and I began to skate. Rebekah and Annabelle skated when they could fit skating into their busy schedules.

One of the first rinks we went to was Big Bear Ice Arena in Denver. We just loved the rink!

The first day we went to that rink, we met Jill Mintz. That encounter changed our lives a bit since Jill asked us to teach skating for her Lace Em Up Skating program!

For me, that was such a breakthrough since I had essentially "retired" since there are just so many coaches in Colorado Springs that I just didn't think I was needed, but Jill appreciated my teaching and coaching talents so much that I just had to accept her offer to teach! Joel, too, was thrilled to teach for Jill since she just makes teaching skating fun!

Lace Em Up Skating

Annabelle and her boyfriend Ben left Colorado in a rented car for upstate New York at the end of August to begin the fall semester at Binghamton University.

In early September, Joel and I and my dad drove to Sun Valley and spent a month there. Joel got to finally see the condo he bought in Elkhorn and got to enjoy it! We skated almost every day at Sun Valley's outdoor rink and both of us found that our skating improved! It was absolutely amazing to be in Sun Valley too. We hiked in Galena and on Bald Mountain and did some scooter and bike riding too. We also went to Redfish Lake and went kayaking and stand up paddleboarding. We enjoyed eating out in Hailey, Bellevue, Ketchum, and at the Sun Valley hotel. It was a great month.

When we returned to Colorado, we began teaching for Jill and Lace Em Up Skating quite a bit. That kept me and Joel so busy! Rebekah began a new internship at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Her first internship was working with gorillas and apes and the second internship was with Australian animals.

For Dan, 2020 has brought a loss in his family. His Uncle Ford, his mother's brother, passed away. Dan has been so supportive of me and our kids and my dad during this very difficult year.

As 2021 comes near, like most people, we hope a vaccine for this horrible COVID-19 virus is available soon and that the world will return to normal.

To all our friends: We are thinking of you and are sending virtual hugs.