Super-subdued Superbowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday, COVID edition, was pretty quiet around these parts.

In the morning, the kids snuggled over the heater vent with their new helium balloons (from Papa) which have provided many hours of home entertainment this weekend. We FaceTimed with my parents and realized that it's been almost exactly one year since my kids have seen any of their relatives. This time last year, we were en route to Orange County to celebrate Niall's second birthday with Kelvin's family and to start our kid-free Patagonia trip.

We took a morning trip to the Ma-le'l Dunes, where the kids wore themselves out climbing and sledding down the sand hills and playing chase. Morning is the best time to visit the dunes, as it's less windy.

We had more cozy inside time with all of us robed! 

We geared up to watch Superbowl LV home alone just with us four (no Superbowl-spreader events in these parts!). We don't really have "a team" we followed this year (but will root for the 49ers if they're in it like they were last year, and I will always root for whatever team is opposing Tom Brady). We cobbled together some sports-themed attire, including a 49ers hoodie for me, an Odell Beckham jersey for Niall, a red sports tank for Iver, and a Kansas shirt for Kelvin. Being a pretty ardent Brady critic, it's been a rough couple of decades watching NFL seasons/playoffs for me, and this game, hyped up greatly due to the quarterback match-up (but which was won 31-9 in a very one-sided victory by Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs) was, disappointingly, one of the most abysmally uncompetitive and boring final sporting events I've watched in the last decade.  However, I now know far better than to hope for the outcome I desire. At least the pre-show tributes, musical numbers including the anthem, poem/appearance by Amanda Gorman, and commercials were decent. 

I made a personal buffalo chicken dip for one (me), and Superbowl Broccoli-Cheese Stromboli for the kids (with only one of two children finding it edible).

Despite the COVID circumstances, watching the Big Game festivities today and seeing Brady pull off another (his 7th) Superbowl win felt almost... normal.  When he comes back in 2022 at age forty-four to break my heart again, will COVID be behind us?