Along Spain’s southern coast, the perfect stopping point on a drive between Marbella and Granada, is Nerja. Nerja doesn’t get the same top billing recognition as Marbella or Malaga, but this smaller town gets just as much sun and arguably has even better food along the beach. Paella, the traditional food of choice in this region, doesn’t come any fresher. It’s literally cooked in massive skillets right on the sand of the beach.

Sending kids back to daycare in the midst of a pandemic isn’t a decision I take lightly. But for every parent, the question will come of when to send kids back as daycares and other care opens back up. It will be a complex calculus to weigh risks versus benefits for each parent, and the decision shouldn’t come lightly. Every parent needs to evaluate what makes most sense for them. For us, we believe it makes sense to get the back soon and feel the risks are controllable enough to be made up for by the benefits of getting them back.

2020 had to be the longest year in history. Each week feels like a year and they are getting longer and worse. This week alone has to have set a record for the most terrible news crammed into a 7 day period ever. It’s getting harder and harder to focus on anything other than the dreadful news day after day. Optimism is especially tough to come by in this country right now, and I, like many others am having a difficult time focusing on work, family, and anything else right now.

Back at the beginning of March, my wife and I took the Amtrak down to D.C. - and what would be one of the last regular Acela trains back up to Newark, just before the Corona virus started moving into the mainstream. It was a strange experience because most people weren’t reacting to it yet, though there was a sense of some danger in the air. The following week my office closed down and my wife’s followed the week after.

Austin has somehow become like a third home to us over the last few years. Starting with our first visit for the Formula One race in 2012, then proceeding with two more trips for work, and finally followed by a recent trip for our third child’s babymoon, we’ve seen our fair share of the incredible Texas State Capital. From running the banks of Lady Bird Lake to hanging out on Rainey Street to a relaxed weekend day beneath the shade of trees at a local brewery in Hill Country, it feels like we’ve received a great sample of what makes the city great.

By no means am I bored at home during the COVID pandemic lockdown like many others seem to be. With three kids under four, there aren’t a lot of down moments to get bored. I’m not looking for the next Netflix binge recommendation or a knitting project. However, I have needed an outlet for some of my home time and I’ve largely found baking and experimenting with new types of coffee to be best for me.

The hospital where we welcomed our third child began a shift to a “baby friendly” hospital in the time between when we had the twins and our third. While we absolutely love the hospital - enough to go back for our third - and the nurses and other staff there, I’m not sure I’m completely down with the changes we noticed as part of this transition. While I applaud the ability for mothers to chose their preferred methods of bonding with their children and appreciate the support, I actually found a few of the changes to present less choice for parents and it made me worry about how our experience would have differed with the twins had they done it earlier.

To say my family has the travel bug might qualify as the understatement of the century. I’ve been to every continent save Antarctica, our not-yet-four-year-olds have been to a half dozen countries, across the country, and above the arctic circle, and my wife and I have been to over 30 countries together in 15 years of being together. Getting away and experiencing different cultures and places has been our escape for years, and 2020 seems to be the year that will finally buck that trend thanks to the stay at home orders, massive disruption to the travel industry, and lack of safe feelings about travel in general at the moment.

While everyone else was staying home, keeping as far away from others as possible, and staying away from hospitals to prevent the spread of COVID-19, my wife and I had to head into the hospital to bring our third son into the world in the middle of the pandemic. Donned in masks, we arrived at the hospital knowing we wouldn’t have any visitors and that we’d be in for an interesting experience over the next several days.

Maybe a family drive up to Toronto in the middle of a blustery winter isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. However, we decided to give it a shot and discovered Toronto, besides being Canada’s largest city, is perfect for a family trip with toddlers. Even when the sun sets or the snow blows, there’s plenty to do around town inside that’s tailor made for kids. Whether its skating out in one of the free public rinks on a sunny day, or discovering the marine animals at the Ripley’s Aquarium, kids will love exploring the Great White North.