Best of ...the Best

I had a work meltdown last night (Everyone has those, right? Just nod your head and go along with me here), so today seemed a fitting time to post a 2011 recap (also, if I wait one more day, it's likely to become a 2012 recap the way my work week is going).

We rang in 2012 the same way we rang in 2011--with really awesome friends and their equally awesome kids. This was a different group than last year's NYE group, and I feel pretty lucky that we have so many great friends, both old and new (though not really so new anymore!), who have the planning abilities to pull this kind of thing off. We spent a long weekend in Glen Arbor, Michigan, and closed out the year skiing--an activity that neither the girls nor I had tried before. Once I had pulled off my skis and was walking back to the car, I had this moment where I realized what a lucky, happy 2011 we had. It was probably either post-skiing endorphins or the heady after-effects of whatever injury I incurred to my knee while demonstrating to the world that I cannot learn a new sport without looking like a complete and total spaz. At one point, I told my ski instructor that I had run a marathon (something I tend not to brag about since I think anyone could run a marathon in the time it took me) just so he would realize that I'm not completely nonathletic. There is something humbling about seeing a pack of kids (who have also never been on skis before) pick up a new task before you do. They're off to the ski lift, and you're stuck on the bunny hill.... I think there's a metaphor in there.

Anyhow, it would bore you to tears for me to recap 2011 blow by blow. But I feel pretty blessed that in a year that was pretty challenging economically, we were able to have so many wonderful adventures, including--but not limited to:

1. A road trip to Saugatuck, Michigan, for New Year's 2011, where we spent New Year's Day (or was it Eve?) on a beach on a 50-degree day (maybe there is something to this whole global warming thing after all?).
2. What was probably the best family vacation we've taken so far in our parenting lives. Our trip to Mexico included encounters with seals and parrots and monkeys and iguanas. The girls tried zip lining and kayaking and (very briefly) snorkeling.
3. A family 5K and crossing the finish line for the first time with Ella.
4. Meeting our lovely little niece for the first time.
5. A tenth wedding anniversary, which we celebrated with a weekend away in Saugatuck, Michigan. I'm sure I don't take enough time to celebrate my marriage, but it is definitely something to be thankful for. 
6. A fourth half-marathon.
7. An amazing road trip to the Poconos to spend a lovely (but too short) weekend with our college friends. I never thought the girls could handle 12 hours in the car, but they are proving me wrong right and left lately. The Poconos were beautiful, we got to step ever so briefly into New York, and we got to meet our friends' new son (who was followed just eight months later by his new sister--see if you can figure out how that happened...).
8. Another awesome road trip to Glen Arbor, Michigan, where the girls and I got to experience skiing and cross another item off the bucket list.

The end of 2011, beginning of 2012 has proven to be pretty interesting. I changed jobs in October, and Dean is in the midst of a job change heading into the first weeks of 2012. It makes for some stress--these job changes--but I hope it will be the beginning of great new things. In the meantime, what 2011 taught me above all else is that we're lucky to be a family, and a healthy, happy one at that. The rest is cake. Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy 2012 filled with adventure, new experiences, and really great friends.