2021 Highlights

Dear family and friends,

My mom usually begins her letter with —-oh, where do we begin? I feel that here. It has been on hell of a year. I never understood how mom shared enough to create a multi-page letter, but I’m already feeling like this will be a doozy.

I’ll try to begin chronologically and lean in to Mother Mag’s style of just writing until I’ve touched on all the major highlights (and lowlights). We kicked off the year in Colorado visiting Bri Bri, my college room mate, and her family. I guess I should step back and share more about the “we” . He is a patient, kind, and loving man named Hunter. We started dating right before the pandemic hit and this coming January will be two years! Crazy. This was our first trip together due to COVID and we made the best of it by spending a lot of time outside. We went snowmobiling, took a magical (very bachelorette vibes) sleigh ride, and ripped some power in Keystone. Hunter did great skiing for the first time and I was still able to chug a Coors while riding down the mountain. Mama still got it! Big thanks to Bri and Mike (and Sloane) for being the best hosts!

My brother is always so thoughtful around Christmas. He is a minimalist and always likes giving “experiences” rather than gifts for Christmas. He treated the family to a weekend in Maggie Valley, NC. It was a bittersweet trip for us all as it was Zoë’s first time on a snowboard and Dad’s last time on skis. It was Hunter’s second time and his form improved with “ski bum” Gary’s ski lessons. Zoë loved the chair lift and Evan helped me teach her. We look forward to having her become our little ripper to keep the Thibaud’s love for skiing/snowboarding going.

We had a lot of great weekends with dear friends. A few of Zoë’s outside weekend highlights were visiting the Noojin family farm and visiting Hutch and Mary Joan’s cabin. We were able to take our first jeep ride together, ride 4-wheelers, fish, ride a donkey bareback, love on some baby goats, and feed the cows. Zoë is a huge animal lover so visiting Ashley, Tripp, and Ward is always a huge hit! It’s always fun for Z to fish with Hunter and Hutch (and the entire Love family).

We also spent a lot of time outside learning how to skateboard. Z loves the skate park and she is fearless! I’m one proud mama when she hits the ramps and looks back at me with a proud twinkle in her eye and her confident smirk. She’s a little bad ass and I hope this fearless and determined spirit remains as she grows up.

We also learned how to climb at the local climbing gym. Z’s good friend, Cora Jane, had her birthday party there and Zoë instantly fell in love. We went back a few times (with masks of course) and love seeing Zoë’s fearless spirit head straight to the top.

I got my first SHOT right as we were entering spring. Whoohoo! I found a loop hole (I am my mother’s daughter) and was able to get the shot pretty early. It was an exciting few months that followed. It was cut short due to the delta spread which hit our area harder and faster than we could have ever imagined. We spent spring break in Savannah visiting Aunt Mallory. Zoë is obsessed with her and all the science lessons she teaches her while they hunt for all the sea creatures along Tybee Island while I sit back and enjoy my white claws and those adult freezer pops from Costco (really a dream come true). Hunter took us to Savannah for my birthday and then Zoe and I stayed to hang with Mallory for a few days. Zoë learned how to swim in Mallory’s pool last year and this year enjoyed playing with the diving sticks (yes, diving). Zoë still talks about how many starfish she found at the beach this year. She is our little fish and we are so thankful for this little slice of GA heaven as a getaway.

We were also able to visit a dear friend and college bestie in Nashville a few times. Baby Ramy was “Zoë’s baby” for awhile and we just think Christine and John are the best parents! We had a fun time visiting with Mckenzie that weekend too and we all reunited again in Johnson City to meet baby Palmer. It sure was fun to see all of our girls play together and envision what trouble the next ‘continuum’ may get into. Speaking of trouble… ask me about Zoë’s trip to the Carnige Hotel in Johnson City next time you see me. That “highlight” isn’t really Christmas Card material, but -like- def a highlight.

Right before the big Delta wave hit, we jumped on the plane and went to visit cousin Kerry, Annie, Grace, and Jack! We had the best time soaking up the California sunshine. Cousin Kerry is always the best host. We love Santa Monica and are so fortunate that we have family that live there. We went on an electric boat ride, shopped, boogie boarded (or tried), and did all the bougie things. Ker took the girls on a college tour so they were able to see us in Chattanooga again too which was great.

We went on another magical trip just two hours south a month or so after California. Zoë refers to it as HOTlanta. Aunt Jaime jumped in the car with us and we went down for the day to enjoy the Van Gogh immersive experience. Z broke out into dance in the main room where all the projections where taking place. Her immersive experience had many viewers in awe and giggles. She has been enrolled in a movement class over the past year and absolutely loves her dance teacher, Miss Sarah, and all things movement, song, and dance. It’s a joy to see.

Speaking of dance (this is what my mom use to do… this whole “speaking of”… wow…it’s happening. I am her)…. Zoë had one heck of a summer enrolled in all the fun summer camps. She went to forest school camp, dance camp, ballet camp, and HORSE camp. It was a logistical nightmare, but Zoë was able to experience so much and I’m so grateful for it all. I’m also very grateful for Mimi and her help with picking up and watching Zoë until I’m off work. She loves her ‘mimi and papa’ time so much.

She had a few extra ‘mimi and papa’ times while mama got away for some girl trips. A few highlights include:

• Glass House Collective was invited to speak at a Walk, Bike, Places conference in Indy so we made a girls trip with my fun colleagues.

• Katherine, Zoë’s godmother, hosted a very fun weekend to celebrate her birthday with some of the most fun folks I know. We laughed so hard and enjoyed the end of summer on the lake.

• My good friend, Kelly, turned 40 last year and her father passed away so she organized a girls trip to mexico and it was exactly what our souls needed. I’ve never been to an all exclusive resort and honestly feel like they lost a LOT of money on me, but i’m here for it! It was so fun to enjoy all the food and drinks without having to budget it all. It will be hard to go back to ballin’ on a budget after that trip, but thankful we went all out! There were so many good times over the past year and these girl trips make it to the top of the list.

We went to New York to celebrate Kate’s 50th and made some damn good memories. We ended up camping during a tropical storm with 2342034 cousins. It was a total shit show, but a trip we will never forget. We try to make it to Long Beach every summer and I hope that tradition continues. It is so fun to spend time with our kid and adult cousins and are so very thankful for them.

Speaking of traditions (hahahaha)…. Danielle and I grew up going to Camp Ocoee and we took our daughters there this year for “Moms on the Mountain”. We froze our butts off, but loved doing the camp life with Madison and Zoë and look forward to making it a yearly event. Zoë was in full thrive mode at the camp. She busted into some sort of skit/song to end the skit night, enjoyed roasting hot dogs by the fire, BB guns, archery, climbing wall, and canoeing. She may be the camp counselor I always wanted to be and follow in her uncle’s footsteps (damn, this is such a mother mag’s sentence).

We finally were able to visit my Aunt and Uncle in The Villages for Thanksgiving this year. She told a stranger at the grocery store the other day how much her Aunt Ellen loves her. This child— I swear. Anyway, we haven’t seen them in 2 years due to COVID so spending a few days together was so nice. Aunt Ellen always goes above and beyond with cooking everything for our big thanksgiving meal and we are always so thankful for it. She also treated us to a air boat ride and we found lots of alligators and we even got to hold and hug one too!

It’s been a weird year of ups and downs and new beginnings. Dad have surgery on his heart and has been in more pain this year than ever before. We lost a some family members and welcomed new family members into the world (I consider Ava and Livie family ;) ). I’m starting a new business called Little Things and plan to link the website here once it’s launched. Zoë has enjoyed forest school so much. Her curiosity and love for learning has been fostered at this sweet school and we are so thankful she gets to bundle up and learn in the great outdoors. We were especially thankful for an outside school during COVID. Unfortunately, COVID hit the Thibaud family pretty hard in Sept/ Oct. Thankfully, my mom and brother were vaccinated so their cases were mild. Dad caught it before the vaccine and is still dealing with post-covid symptoms today. I’m the last one standing (for all we know) and plan to schedule my booster next week. Zoë had a fever, but kicked it pretty early and did well. The 22 day quarantine that took place was not ideal, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

To close this letter, I thought I’d mention one final highlight. Roan Mountain has been a place close to my heart all through college (and a few years before). I’ve camped, snowboarded, and spent hours doing homework up there. I also “found myself” (I know that sounds ridiculous) on a tree branch one late (maybe under the influence) night. Zoë and I climbed up this bald mountain along the AT Trail last month which was a pretty emotional experience. She complained about the hike and I made sure to encourage her and share that we can do hard things. It wasn’t easy, but we made it. She sat next to me silently as she took in the views and kept looking up at me while holding on to my arm with her eyes glazed over in awe. She took a deep breath, threw her arms up, and said, “this is beautiful, mama. That was worth it”. I feel that in my soul. Life is hard sometimes, but man it is beautiful and so damn worth it.

______

Rapid Fire memories (brene brown vibes)

• Binge watching show:

  • Teal: Yellowstone (and MAID but damn that was hard and triggering)

  • Zoë: Blippi

• New favorite activity:

  • Teal: Acupuncture at CHA Holistic Medicine, total game changer

  • Zoë: Skating and climbing

• Favorite drink:

  • Teal: the year of tequila

  • Zoë: kombucha

• Favorite song:

  • Teal and Zoë: Easy on Me by Adele

• Most relaxed:

  • Teal: In my “funk” on a float in the TN river thanks to Hunter and his family’s Boston Whaler

  • Zoë: in nature and on hikes

• Most scared:

  • Teal: future of ghc/ leaving my “first born”/ the fear of the unknown professionally

  • Zoë: learning how to bike without training wheels