Notable in 2012

It’s New Year’s Eve, Will is finally down for a nap. Here’s a quick recap of the top 12 highlights from this past year. It’s been a busy one. Hat tip to Donna over at Email from the Embassy for the inspiration.

1. In January we returned from our trip to Thailand with Will and Chris’ family and I learned some valuable lessons about parenting overseas.

2. Just a few weeks later, we took our lessons learned with us to Tokyo where we ate ourselves silly in what we both remember to be one of our favorite weekend trips ever.

3. After two years in China, we said goodbye in April to our adopted hometown of Chengdu. We still miss the food, a lot.

4. After a 2.5 hour flight to Shanghai (with delays), a 13.5 hour flight to Chicago, followed immediately by a 4.5 hour drive from Chicago to my parents’ home in Wisconsin we found ourselves back in America. We spent the next two weeks flying across the country, driving to and from between Charlottesville, D.C. and New York and then finally settled into our temporary quarters in Rosslyn to spend a summer readjusting to America and hosting friends and family all summer long.

5. I wrote a series of expat lessons learned from our first posting overseas. I wrote a tour guide for Rosslyn–America’s other premier tourist destination. We took Will for his first trip to the zoo. And later, his second.

6. Will learned to walk in Rosslyn. One month later we celebrated his first birthday and found out how much he doesn’t like cake.

7. Two weeks after Will’s birthday, we packed our bags, got dressed for the airport and moved to India.

8. In India, we’ve visited tombs, food markets and flower markets and taken photo walks around Old Delhi. When I shared my frustrations finding a kid-friendly social circle in Delhi, the wisdom and empathy and experiences all poured in from you, dear readers. I’ve been following your proactive examples every since!

9. We visited friends in Bangkok and ate non-stop for three days.

10. I started working with an NGO and a school on a part-time basis and wrote about that decision-making process here.

11. We went to Goa for Christmas where, among other things, we received the creepiest towel sculpture in the entire world (Those are my glasses and my sons pajamas). More photos and thoughts from Christmas to come (if anyone even reads about Christmas after New Years??).

Oops that’s only 11. Oh well, here’s hoping that New Year’s Eve is especially fun and memorable!