The Year in Review
As I sat waiting for the oven to heat up so I can throw in the breakfast casserole, my mind started heading on a little trip down memory lane. 2012 was such a busy, full, year! I tried, and cannot think of a year that has been loaded up more than this past year has been for our family.
We took two long weekend trips skiing the first two months of the year, the boys and I headed to Dublin, Matt went to the States for an Army school followed by his brother's wedding, and then in May our family started a jam packed final tour of Europe! We squeezed in Cyprus, Budapest, The Normandy Beaches, an Eastern Mediterranean cruise, and finally a long weekend at Bodensee (the lake bordered by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). Days after returning from the lake the boys and I began our journey back to the US in mid-July.
Our first leg took us to Baltimore where we were greeted by a team of 30+ USO volunteers who cheered on the Soldiers and family members returning to the US after deployments and serving at European duty stations. When the customs officer reviewed our paperwork he said "welcome home". I was overwhelmed with emotion. I wasn't sure if it was joy or panic.
We spent the next few weeks in California visiting family and friends whom we hadn't seen in years. Matt and I made our way to our first baseball game in 3 years and all four of us spent a few days camping near Mendocino. Eli went fishing on the ocean for the first time and we all enjoyed the dirty, lazy camping lifestyle.
By mid-August it was time to get down to business. The boys stayed in California for 2+ weeks with my family while Matt and I loaded up the little Pretty Pretty Princess and headed to Washington. We checked in to our hotel that would be our home for the next 30 days, and immediately started our home search. Two days later we put an offer on the house, a week later the kids joined us in Washington and we spend the next few weeks waiting.
Matt was getting settled in his new job, we got the kids enrolled in school and we started looking for a church.
We moved in the first week of September and are still settling in. Over the coarse of the past few months we have been blessed with some visitors to our new home, we spent a few weekends here and there with family up in the Blaine area, we found a church home, got plugged in to a few different activities and things are starting to feel a wee bit like we belong here.
I know that 2013 will have much, much less travel going on and I don't foresee a transcontinental move, new job, new house, and new schools in the near future so I think it is safe to say, next year should be pretty quiet by comparison!
We took two long weekend trips skiing the first two months of the year, the boys and I headed to Dublin, Matt went to the States for an Army school followed by his brother's wedding, and then in May our family started a jam packed final tour of Europe! We squeezed in Cyprus, Budapest, The Normandy Beaches, an Eastern Mediterranean cruise, and finally a long weekend at Bodensee (the lake bordered by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). Days after returning from the lake the boys and I began our journey back to the US in mid-July.
Our first leg took us to Baltimore where we were greeted by a team of 30+ USO volunteers who cheered on the Soldiers and family members returning to the US after deployments and serving at European duty stations. When the customs officer reviewed our paperwork he said "welcome home". I was overwhelmed with emotion. I wasn't sure if it was joy or panic.
We spent the next few weeks in California visiting family and friends whom we hadn't seen in years. Matt and I made our way to our first baseball game in 3 years and all four of us spent a few days camping near Mendocino. Eli went fishing on the ocean for the first time and we all enjoyed the dirty, lazy camping lifestyle.
By mid-August it was time to get down to business. The boys stayed in California for 2+ weeks with my family while Matt and I loaded up the little Pretty Pretty Princess and headed to Washington. We checked in to our hotel that would be our home for the next 30 days, and immediately started our home search. Two days later we put an offer on the house, a week later the kids joined us in Washington and we spend the next few weeks waiting.
Matt was getting settled in his new job, we got the kids enrolled in school and we started looking for a church.
We moved in the first week of September and are still settling in. Over the coarse of the past few months we have been blessed with some visitors to our new home, we spent a few weekends here and there with family up in the Blaine area, we found a church home, got plugged in to a few different activities and things are starting to feel a wee bit like we belong here.
I know that 2013 will have much, much less travel going on and I don't foresee a transcontinental move, new job, new house, and new schools in the near future so I think it is safe to say, next year should be pretty quiet by comparison!
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