ethan little e paddling pool siblings june 2020

Our Siblings In 2020 – The Year Of The Pandemic

What a year our siblings had in 2020! In 2019 our siblings had a year full of adventures. For our siblings in 2020, it was the year of change and staying at home. Even though the pandemic brought some upsets and big changes to routines I’m very proud of how our siblings have handled it.

This Is Our Siblings In 2020

January

January started on a real high for our siblings. We had surprised them with a trip to Disneyland Paris. I wanted to share the experience of the Christmas season with them. We could only fit in two nights but were able to stay at the Disneyland Hotel for the very first time. Something that I have wanted to do for many years. When we left we told the children we would be returning in March to celebrate my 40th birthday. Unbeknown to us life had other ideas!

ethan little e mike wazowski boos door disneyland paris

February

We had quite a few adventures in February. Including two trips to London and a visit to Barleylands Farm Park. Ethan was starting to enjoy days in London and I was hoping we would get the chance to explore more. We were invited to the London Transport Museum. Somewhere I haven’t visited since I was a child. We also had an invite to an Andy and the Band Premiere. Ethan was very excited about this. Nanny joined us on this day out, I’m so glad we got this time with her. This was also when we were starting to become aware of the Covid-19 virus. We have friends in Italy so we were watching it closely. London did feel very quiet that day.

ethan little e andy and the oddsocks siblings february 2020

March

In March everything changed and we were asked to stay at home. The week of my 40th birthday the country went into lock-down. I already worked from home but I had to quickly adapt to my whole team working from home. As well as working around our siblings. We tried some homeschooling and PE with Joe Wicks. It was an unusual time but our siblings coped well all things considering. We did have tears from Ethan when we told him he couldn’t go to his nanny’s. Little E also cried herself to sleep at night as she worried she would make her grandparents very ill.

ethan little e joe wicks workout siblings march 2020

April

In April we started to get out of the house a bit more. I treated the children to some new scooters as they had both grown out of their old ones. They were a godsend during the lockdown. The children enjoyed taking them out on our daily walks and it was good to get some fresh air. We also spent a lot of time watching Disney+ which I had treated myself to for my birthday. This was something else that really helped to get us through the months of staying at home.

ethan little e siblings april 2020

May

May was a bit harder for our siblings. Ethan started to struggle with his lack of routine and getting out of the house. Little E was putting up a fight over homeschooling, it was becoming a bit of a battleground. Ethan celebrated his tenth birthday with afternoon tea in the garden. The real highlight of the month was that both children learned how to ride their bikes on two wheels. Surprisingly Ethan was first quickly followed by Little E.

ethan little e bike riding siblings may 2020

June

In June our siblings returned to school all be it in a very different form. It was important for us to bring in some kind of normality for our siblings. We also started to venture out and about a bit more locally too. We were able to visit the zoo again too.

ethan little e paddling pool siblings june 2020

July

In July Little E celebrated her sixth birthday. We were able to celebrate this birthday with her grandparents. It was fantastic being able to see them again but after being just us four for so long Little E got a bit overwhelmed. We had some great adventures in July including strawberry picking and feeding the giraffes at the zoo. Darren surprised us all by saying that we would drive to Disneyland Paris. So we booked a last-minute trip to Disneyland Paris meaning we celebrated our wedding anniversary at Disney.

ethan little e monsters inc characters siblings july 2020

August

August also contained some adventures for our siblings. We got the chance to take the children to Roarr Dinosaur Adventure. This is somewhere I have wanted to take Ethan for a while. We also booked another last-minute trip. This time to Butlins a new adventure for us. We got a great deal and by then I really needed a break from work. Little E cried for a whole week when we returned as she wanted to go back.

ethan little e emu like dinosaur roarr dinosaur adventure

September

In September the children went back to school. This time all of their friends also returned. Little E loved seeing all of her friends. I’m sure Ethan did too but he just couldn’t tell me as much as his sister. We were also asked to review 360 Play a soft play in Basildon. I never knew how much I had missed soft plays this year. The children loved every minute of being able to run, climb, and slide.

little e ethan top of slide 360 play basildon

October

In October Ethan had to take a Covid-19 test. It was something I hope we wouldn’t have to do because of Ethan’s sensory issues. It was an experience I hope we never have to repeat anytime soon. I booked the half-term holiday off which also turned out to be the week that Darren returned to the working world and started a new job. We did get the chance to visit Marsh Farm as Ethan did request that we visit the pumpkins.

ethan little e big spider marsh farm

November

In November the country entered another lockdown. This time the children could continue to go to school. This did cancel some of the Christmas activities I had planned but our siblings didn’t know about them. So in November, we returned to our local walks. I was upset that we didn’t get to see fireworks this year as the drive-in event I had booked was also cancelled. We were able to give Little E the chance to experience sparklers for the first time. Something both of our siblings really enjoyed.

ethan little e sparklers

December

When the lockdown ended we were able to celebrate Christmas locally in December. Colchester Zoo had a scaled-down Christmas event. We went ice skating at Colchester Firstsite. We visited Santa’s grotto at the Lion Walk Shopping Centre and the pink castle in Culver Square. Saw Christmas lights at the Illuminated Garden Trail at Helmingham Hall. We also visited Santa at Fenwick Colchester.

ethan little e light tunnel helmingham hall gardens

Looking back at our siblings in 2020 we did get the chance to create some amazing memories. I’m so grateful for our Disney time and the fun we had in the different Disney magic. This year did make us appreciate our local area more. We also wanted to make sure we supported our local economy. I would never have dreamed that our siblings in 2020 would experience a pandemic.

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