Another year, another attempt to sum up a whirlwind ride in a few (many) short (long) paragraphs. Thank you all for reading our ramblings, coming over for Nic’s pizza or hot dogs, looking at all our pictures of our kiddo when we offer it, and just being great humans in our lives. We appreciate you and wish you the happiest holiday season. Here’s a look at what was a fun, wild, fantastic year for us.
One of our first big milestones was celebrating Oliver’s first birthday in April. Time has flown by with this boy, who is now almost 20 months old. A few of our favorite things about our goofy, energetic dude: Although he has his moments of caution, he is usually the loudest, sweetest person in the room, always quick to include everyone and make them smile. He will point out every basketball hoop he sees on our walks, yell “GOOOALLL” when he sees a hockey net or soccer ball, and loves to go down slides. Outside time is a MUST with him, and taking after his parents he loves to just roam and spend time outside, no matter the weather. He loves getting to walk to and from daycare every day, which is connected to a senior living facility. His favorite parts of his day are visiting the “Grandfriends.” Plus, he still gets to hang out with his real grandparents every Friday and loves his time with them!
He gets the giggles easily, has developed his language a TON more recently, and shows off his personality and smile to everyone that comes his way. He cherishes his mama’s cuddles and giggles, while being his dad’s shadow. He’s not the greatest sleeper, but he’s starting to figuring it out (maybe? A mom can dream). We are so proud of him and can’t wait to watch these crazy toddler years in the making.
This year, we had two big adventures. The first was going to visit our good friends Kyle and Riley in Vancouver, Canada in May. We spent a week with them and their daughter Romee (who is just about Oliver’s age) bopping around the area and seeing all their favorite places. We rented out a cozy beach house in Tofino and had a blast exploring the coast, trying cold water surfing and eating delicious food in town. My favorite memory, however, is sitting with them each night after the kiddos went to sleep with a bottle of wine and the Exploding Kittens card game where we laughed until we cried. We all felt pretty sad about parting ways, so don’t be surprised if you see us buying a compound in Tofino with them in a few years. It was great to catch up with a ton of other Dordt friends too!
From there, we flew to Banff to meet up with the Vicks for a family vacation and retirement celebration for my parents. We stayed in a beautiful condo and visited some of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen in our life. What a fun “bonus” adventure to celebrate!
The second big adventure: RAGBRAI! Nic had a goal of doing the entirety of RAGBRAI, the annual bike ride across the state of Iowa. At over 400 miles in seven days, the team camped and pedaled our way across Iowa. Starting in Glenwood and eventually finishing in Burlington, Rachel and Ollie set up and took down and set up again day after day while Nic and the rest of the Rad Dads Bike Club (they made that name up) pedaled from town to town. Sleeping was the hardest part, but that just meant every day we were up early to enjoy the many different small towns across Iowa. Ollie loved chasing around after his friend Wilder and we are grateful for the crew we had with us on the adventure. Shout out to Jordyn, Stephan, Wilder, and Rowan McNamara, Derek Opp, and Albert and Joyce Visscher for making this one the adventure of a lifetime.
Nic also chronicled his adventure in a different post he wrote this summer here (click link)!
Besides RAGBRAI, Nic’s highlight of the year was being Ollie’s dad and teaching him new things. As you can see in the photos below, Oliver wants to be JUST like his Dad. Sports, biking, mowing the lawn, cooking (adding extra salt to every dish just like his dad, too) – he looks up to him so much. Nic also started a new job at Post Consumer Brands in Lakeville, MN where he gets to work on the the brand management team for Nature’s Recipe Dog Food, a job that presents all kinds of fun new challenges every day. He gets to work across all aspects of the business, which he loves. As with many things, Nic is now very passionate and knowledgable about dog food so if you have questions, he’s your guy.
Rachel’s year was similar to last in a few ways: I was still navigating being postpartum and a working mom, surrounded by the best team at work. I’ve also continued coaching winter dance team with Armstrong and still love to travel, so I did a van trip in New Mexico with my friend Alysia. I breastfed Ollie until he was a year old (major win for me!) and found SO much more time in my day when I was done. So, it was fun to get back into a few of my hobbies and even started trying to pick up some new ones – like learning to play the piano (except I’ve only gotten through one lesson… oops). All in all, being a mom is the best thing in my life and spending time with my kiddo is always #1. Chasing Oliver around continues to be the best part of my days.
A bunch of random things that happened this year that made us happy:
- We saw the Northern Lights in Minnesota! It was dim, but it was there. A bucket list item, experienced right in our backyard.
- Nic had a mullet for most of the summer (to be clear: Nic wrote this one. This was not a highlight of Rachel’s year.)
- Nordy and Oliver started to mostly tolerate each other. A big win in the Enerson household.
- Many visits to our friends and family’s lake houses are always bright spots in the year.
- Oliver says so many words now, but the favorites are when he nods and says “yep” and screams “SAAAAAL” (salt) while helping Nic cook.
- It was and is a blessing to be able to have Oliver spend time with his great grandmas on either side. He has made a few trips to Iowa to see Marlene, and spent quality time with Mary before she passed in July.
- Rachel temporarily deleted social media and experienced equal parts FOMO and bliss.
- Oliver is obsessed with the bike trailer, so we’ve taken lots of rides this summer and fall as a family.
Sometimes Nic and I have to pinch ourselves that we’re here. Our home feels full with the four of us, Nordy sleeping on the couch trying to ignore the toddler screams while Nic and I get ready for the day or prep a meal. It feels like the chaos we never knew we needed, but the house full of love we’ve always dreamed of.
Enjoy this holiday season. count your blessings and always add a little extra salt.
xoxo,
Nic, Rachel, Oliver and Nordy
Enerson Adventures 