Goodbye 2011

Like most of you, we’re wondering how 2011 seemed to fly by so quickly! We were just talking with a long time friend about how the years go by faster as you get older. As a kid, even a day seemed to last forever. Now, there simply doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day. For us, some memorable highlights of this past year included…

We celebrated birthdays, of course. Darius turned 7, Steph hit 44 (and 44 hit back with a painful frozen shoulder), and the growing number of white hairs ushered in 46 and a mid-life crisis for Ali (see Mini Cooper purchase below =). Our family website launched, finally. Although in this day and age with Facebook and so many other online resources, I think a personal website feels a bit old fashioned somehow! Neverthelesss…

Darius enjoyed his first ever sparkler this 4th of July, as we decided to celebrate at home with our own fireworks. Sometimes, it’s these little moments that can mean the most =)

Ali pedaled his bike from Seattle to Portland this past July, and raised some money for the fight against children’s cancer. Many thanks to his support crew (Steph, Darius, and Kim) and all donors.

We started hiking a lot more of our Pacific Northwest trails. We had to get Darius in shape for the McCusker’s visit and the hike we had planned. The little guy actually hiked some 4-5 mile trails with moderate difficulty levels; impressive.

Ali’s sister, Christine, and her family finally came to visit us (McCusker’s visit)! This was a first and a very memorable occasion… we had a great time and learned we don’t want to paintball ever again. Our hearts and house felt so empty when they left, but we look forward to our next reunion.

Ali cracked a couple of ribs mountain biking. Just being consistent with years past =)

Darius started home-schooling this year and the benefits are clear. He enjoys learning while jumping on his trampoline, and all of the funny characters that Steph uses to teach different subjects.

Darius officially branched out of cartoons and is now enjoying such TV shows as Myth Busters, Storm Chasers, and other natural disaster shows. He also sat through his first feature length movie, Dolphin Tale.

Steph paraglided! Yeah, she really did.

Ali got a Mini Cooper S and fell in love with driving again.

Johnny actually came out again to visit. Although it was only for a short weekend, it sure was great to have him here.

Steph and Ali went to Microsoft’s IEB holiday party at the famous Experience Music Project (EMP) and got to see Cee Lo Green perform; we also geeked out a bit at the Avatar exhibit (last year we geeked out at the Battlestar Galactica exhibit).

Darius lost a lot of his baby teeth.

Looking forward, we wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and fulfilling 2012. More love and hugs to you all.