Every year I am amazed again at how fast 365 days can pass. Here it is, the end of 2016 and Christmas is upon us once again! We\u2019ve had a busy year with many celebrations in it and lots of traveling. There were some major milestones, and some big birthdays as well.<\/p>\n
Anders has had a great year of mountain-biking, participating in a series of X Cup tournaments as well as doing the Cyckel Vasa for the first time, which is a race on the same track that the Vasaloppet Ski Race takes place on. His job has taken him to Italy multiple times, as well as Shanghai, so he\u2019s done a fair bit of traveling during the course of the year.<\/p>\n
In June, Liz and Anders celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and had a lovely dinner at the newly opened Gastro Gaspari in Flyingeby. And Martin graduated from high school! He is now a certified diploma-carrying International Baccalaureate graduate. We celebrated his \u201cStudenten\u201d with a big party in our backyard with friends and family. And July was packed with fun things. We left on the 1st and landed on the east coast of the US for a week at Liz\u2019 sister\u2019s home in Connecticut. Our good friends Kathey and Russell joined us and we had a fantastic week, spending a day in Boston, a day in New York City, a day in Hartford and a real American 4th of July which included a picnic in the park and fireworks. The rest of the week was spent shopping, hanging out and enjoying each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
We then headed to Michigan, by way of 1 night in New York with Aunt Joanne and arrived at Liz\u2019s mom\u2019s on the 8th of July, the day after Liz\u2019s brother John and family had arrived. Sarah and her kids came the day after we did, and it was a full house in the best way. So fun to have the whole family gathered together! During the month, we celebrated several birthdays: Sammy turned 5, Karin turned 17, 2 of Liz\u2019s cousin\u2019s kids had birthdays, and Liz\u2019s mom turned 75. But the big birthday was part of a family reunion which snowballed from a small get-together into 63 people at the house for 3 days straight…<\/p>\n
Liz\u2019s grandmother turned 100 and we had 3 days of families parties to celebrate. We started with a memorial service for Liz\u2019s Uncle Sam in Bad Axe and then had 2 days of fun and food with relatives from all over the country. Thanks to the generous use of a friend\u2019s beach house, we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy our family and the kids. Our family went up to Traverse City to spend a couple of nights with Aunt Judy and Liz\u2019s college roommate, and Liz, Martin and Danely took a day trip to MSU to tour the campus (and meet up with a friend from Sweden). <\/p>\n
Martin got a couple of part-time jobs after our return, working at a caf\u00e9 and tutoring kids. He has started the application process for 4 colleges in Michigan that have programs he is interested in, and then, on Halloween, he left for 7.5 weeks on his post-graduation trip. 6.5 weeks in Peru with his best friends Claudia & Frida, and a week in the US visiting a friend and spending a few nights with his grandma. He won\u2019t be back until December 20, just in time for Christmas.<\/p>\n
While he was gone, Anders, Liz and Karin went to Berlin for 4 days, sightsaw everything possible and even got to meet another one of Liz\u2019s cousins who lives there! Karin has also been working, both continuing her soccer referee work and a new job as a telemarketer. Her junior year of high school is going well, especially since she\u2019s got a much easier schedule than last year! She has also done some work acting, as an extra in a short student film and in a product launch video for Liz\u2019s company!<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s hoping your holidays are filled with love, laughter, kindness, NO political wrangling, and hope for a peaceful and positive 2017.<\/p>\n