2009... what happened? We had another incredibly snowy winter, and I'm not quite sure how we survived it. I think the snow came in at about 9 feet in the end, including one spectacular storm where Yarmouth got 22 inches in one day.
While we waited for the snow to disappear we spent a lovely February week with Mike's mum in Anna Maria Island in Florida, including a quick trip to Disney in Orlando. It was so good we're doing it again this year. The best bit was that they had two huge snowstorms while we were away, but we missed them both.
Mike continued working at Olympia, and I got a full time job at Unum in March, as a Knowledge Management Consultant. When I work out what it means I'll let you know. We're all still feeling a bit shell-shocked by it. The children spend a lot of time with our wonderful neighbours. Mark tried full days at nursery but didn't like it, so he went back to 3 mornings a week at the local co-op, and the rest of the time hanging out with his buddies next door.
Hannah went into 3rd grade and Ellie into 1st grade - so they both have new teachers and are both very happy. Ellie is now doing full days at school and is coping beautifully.
Mum and Mike came to visit in April, and we had a trip to North Conway together in the roasting temperatures - took a train trip, played mini-golf, walked around a lake and spotted bear footprints, and hung out in Portland.
In May my uncle Keith committed suicide, after battling depression for a long time. I went over to the UK for his funeral, and caught up with many Werbs, some of whom I'd never met, and some I hadn't seen in more than 30 years. It was sad but in a way very lovely.
In August Bobby, Alistair and the children visited for the two hottest weeks of the year. I had the entire fortnight off. We went to the pool and various lakes (including our new favourite, Outlet Beach at New Gloucester), then the second week we rented two cottages up at Embden Lake. We spent a week jumping off the raft, canoeing, and watching the children learn to swim.
Then later in the year mum came back to visit with granny - who is now 87 and as a result didn't have to give her fingerprints at immigration. We had a nice peaceful time together.
Mark is now confident at swimming in deep water - Ellie's not quite there yet. Ellie is learning to read, and Mark is getting to recognise a lot of letters and all numbers. Hannah took some standardised school test and her marks were something like 99.4th centile for the country - she was very pleased, because she'd really hated doing the tests.
Did anything else happen? I'm sure it did, but that feels like most of it.
The last day of 2009 was snowy, and somewhat memorable. I did a morning at work, then left after lunch and saw several crashed cars/trucks on the way home - I-295 south ended up closed because of a car on fire. John and Colette borrowed our 4WD so they could pick up family who'd written off their car in a shunt on the Mass Pike while on their way to Maine. We decided despite the weather that we would go to the New Year 5.30pm ice hockey game - and I'm very glad we did, it was great fun. Especially the fireworks at the end. It's a great way to finish the year.
Now it's 2010, and it's still snowing. We had a lovely day at John and Colette's today, and I'm sure I've already gained a couple of pounds this year! Tonight we're due some snow, tomorrow we're due even more, and tomorrow night they're talking about 10-20 inches. We will see...
I suspect the supermarket will be packed tomorrow, and we'll be in there with the best of them stocking up.
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