2012: Year In Review

2012. It will be known as the year we went trick-or-treating, ate a Thanksgiving meal and bought a Christmas tree all within the same month. Everyone thought the world was going to end, again. We took our voices to the polls (even Yuula) and joined a CSA that steered us in the direction of good health. We barely resisted. We saw two amazing concerts, Lost In The Trees at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC and Sigur Rós in Philadelphia. We enjoyed the company of some greatest friends from Sante Fe and oldest ones from Houston and Brooklyn. The Estler family took a group vacation to the mountains and sects of Krupps assembled at our house throughout the year, coming from the south and the midwest. Kevin and Mariah got engaged and Theresa and Bubba popped out baby Nolan. The Giants won the Super Bowl! The Mets were good and then ultimately sucked. Then Giants were good but then ultimately sucked. We hung out with the Trunks a lot. I think they're our friends now.


As for Yuula, the obvious developments, expanding her vocabulary, wardrobe and stuffed animal army was in play, as well as the advancement in her general understanding of human interactions. She's managed to string together words into what can loosely be defined as sentences, tho her mother and I are often the only ones who can interpret them to anything even closely resembling statements. Her personality has grown leaps and bounds, mostly in the weird directions. She finds some real joy in things like wildlife, ice cream and all things cute and pink that she can "aww" at. She has some quirks that we hope she keeps forever and some habits we hope she breaks soon. She's become quite independent, but still wants her cuddle-time. She's imaginative and self-sufficient, but enjoys playtime even more if you join in her games. The terrible twos are trying yes, but I wouldn't trade the good moments in between for anything. And the potty is still a barren wasteland that serves as a side table for her new Mickey couch. 


This year we managed to make it about 6 months eating dinner around the table, as a family. Then we saw our DVR piling up with shows and took our meals in front of the old boob tube, like good old Americans. This year's favorites are New Girl, Portlandia, and the Walking Dead, which Laura finally overcame her fear of fearful things to fall in love with. Maybe it was because I suffered thru her Dance Moms marathons, those women are their own little horror show. I managed to squeeze in Battlestar Galactica, in its entirety, sans Laura, since she don't do sci-fi. We watched very few movies, in their whole forms. I think one day this summer we had a triple feature and it took us until early this year to see one we've been waiting to see. Moonrise Kingdom was a spur of the moment gift from my parents, and other than that... I watched The Grey one night, by myself. That's kind of it.


I think our finest moments, as a trio, came while killing it in some garage sakes. But outside that, it was probably while we were out on the island of Assateague, merely because it was our first stab at the fabled family vacation. Yeah, Laura will tell you her back hurt from sleeping in a tent, and Yuula's body swelled up like a puffer fish from all the horsefly bites and I cursed a little bit too much at the bonfire, but we had fun. The wild horses, the boardwalk in Ocean City, the general and sincere wandering, and possibly the first time in a long time I've had a genuinely good time on the beach, our little early fall getaway was joyous and relaxing. And the first time you do anything, you're really just working the bugs out. So family vacation #1 down, it can only get better. This year, Russia! But Chicago, Nantucket and Lake Erie are also in the mix.   


In disappointments, I guess that would be our outdoor efforts. Not that we didn't get anything done, but more got things done and have not much to show for it, creating blank slates and all. We did a lot of removal of landscaping and not a lot of addition, and that which we did add, didn't amount to much. Our garden did not flourish, to our own faults, and a possibly over-ambitious to-do list was left mostly unchecked. Once again I couldn't even rake all the leaves before the snows fell. That's just shameful. We'll spend all winter gazing out the frosty windows and building up our spring urges. Let's hope for a full on bloom.

I guess 2013 can now begin.