How can it possibly have been a whole year since we were home for the holidays in the US last Christmas?? Every year I say time flies, and every year it just flies faster.
This year, for once, Liz did more traveling than Anders! She went on several work trips, including jaunts to Madrid, Turin, Paris, Singapore (!) and the US. Anders did a 2-week stint in Bangkok and a week’s conference in Finland. Anders was honored at a ceremony for his 25-year anniversary with Tetra Pak (it was actually 27 years!) and received a gold watch. He went on a ski trip to Czech Republic with work buddies and plans to repeat the fun this coming January. He continues in the Technical Training Center there, and Liz is still at Axis Communications, though her title has been upgraded to SENIOR Corporate Graphic Designer, which has the bonus of making her feel old as well as experienced.
In March, Karin went on a week-long soccer trip to Dallas, Texas with half of her soccer team to play in an elite international girl’s tournament. She loved her time there, and wants to move back. My mom, and sister and her family, plus Aunt Judy and our friends Kathey and Russell were on hand to cheer her on, as she played goalie, which is not her usual position.
Martin won the BIG Challenge, a nationwide English exam and received a trophy and was interviewed in the paper about his accomplishment. In May he and his class went on a weekend trip to Mölle before the end of their 9th grade year.
Our big family vacation trip this year was to England. We went first to Leighton Buzzard where we spent 4 nights on a canal longboat, then we visited Salisbury where we saw the Cathedral, Stonehenge and Old Sarum. And finally, we spent 3 days in London sightseeing, which included the Tower of London, Madame Tussaud’s and Harry Potter World Studio Tour.
Karin participated in the Gothia Cup, another week-long soccer tournament, which her team won last year…they had to settle for making the playoffs this time, but had fun anyway. She turned 14 the same week!
Jordon, one of Liz’s cousin’s daughters, came to visit in August for a week, after spending a week in Germany with Liz’s brother John (and the full summer before that in Spain studying). We had fun showing her around Skåne and Copenhagen…and on a visit to Ales Stenar (a stone circle on the southern coast) she and Karin got to go paragliding! August saw Martin starting high school (gymnasium) in the IB Diploma Program at Katedralskolan in Lund. It is the oldest school in Scandinavia!
At the end of August, Liz spent a week’s vacation in Michigan, just hanging out with her mom and sister, which was fantastic. Afterward, she and her mom drove through Canada (via Niagara Falls) and stayed with Uncle Sam and Joanne for Labor Day weekend before Liz went to work in the Boston office for a week.
Karin started 8th grade and is still at the same school in Södra Sandby where she plays soccer…though due to knee issues, she is currently on hiatus. At the end of October, Anders and the kids took a weekend trip down to the resort dome, Tropical Islands, outside of Berlin and now we are enjoying Liz’s mom visit for the Christmas holidays as well as the arrival (a little late…c’mon baby!) of John’s second child, due any day now! Martin turned 16 at the beginning of December and we will begin driving license lessons for him during the holidays! BEWARE, WORLD.
Enjoy a happy, warm and safe holiday season and we’ll catch up with you in the New Year!
Link to photos PDF: www.lizardek.com/lj_images/xmaspics_2013.pdf
Liz, Anders, Martin and Karin