For the first post to my new blog, I thought that I would write a family summary of 2008. Yes, one of those typical 'painful-year-in-review-form-letter-type-things' that people send you around the holidays. I'll try to hit the highlights and not blabber too much. Hopefully it will not be the end of 2009 before I publish my next post. :)

We started the year in Panama. We went there for Christmas and stayed through the first week or so of January. We spent Christmas in Panama City exploring the city, the canal and the surrounding areas. There are some cool places to go for hikes through the jungle in and around the city. Here is Charlie holding a frog that we caught during one of our hikes:

Then we went to a town called El Valle that is in the crater of an old volcano up in the mountains north west of Panama City. It was a very scenic little town with some really cool sights including 'arboles cuadrados' (square trees). It is known as the home of the golden Panamanian tree frog. We went on a very fun trip through the jungle on horseback:

Then we stayed on a place called Gamboa that is right near the lake/reservoir that makes up much of the Panama canal. There is a nice resort hotel there in the heart of the jungle with lots of tours in and around the canal. Went on a few of the tours to see wild monkeys and sloths as well as a native village in the jungle. Here is a photo of the family from the resort:

Here is Charlie on one of our hikes in the jungle:




















The last place that we stayed was a fancy beach resort near Panama City. The kids loved it because there were countless hermit crabs on the beach to play with. They liked to create a coral for them and do 'hermit crab roundups'

I had a bit of a mishap while we were in this resort. Early one morning I got out of bed to close the curtains as the sun was rising over the ocean. On my way to the window, I fainted and hit my head on the corner of a marble table. I cut a large gash in the top of my head and I lost a lot of blood. I got to experience an ambulance ride through the streets of Panama City as well as the Panamanian health-care system. I needed 17 stitches in my scalp. Fortunately, Nina's Spanish is much better than mine, so was able to translate for me when needed.

On our last day in Panama, we went drove to the Atlantic coast and visited the Gaton locks, the largest set of lock on the canal. It is fascinating watching ships go through the locks from up close. Then we found a forest reserve near there at the mouth of the Chagres river. At the mouth of the river is a Spanish fortress that was used to guard the entrance of the river. This was the main trade route that was used to travel between the Pacific and the Atlantic, back in the days of Cortes. It is how Inca gold was transported to Europe. It is a very well preserved fortress that still has original cannons in place!

-----------------------------------------------------------
In February, we hosted a 10 year old exchange student, Mariana, from Oaxaca Mexico for a week. We had fun showing her around Colorado while she experienced snow for the first time. We even took her skiing! The next part of the exchange program was for Nina to visit Oaxaca, in June. We were a little nervous about Nina traveling to Mexico without us, so we decided to take a family trip (with Tina, too) to Oaxaca to visit her prospective host family during spring break in March. Mariana's family turned out to be the most delightful people imaginable. Much to our surprise, they dropped everything and became our personal tour guides for the entire week. Here is Charlie with the members of the Vargas family (Mariana is on the left). In the background is the largest and oldest (1500 years) tree in Mexico.

---------------------------------------------------------

While we were in Mexico during spring break we all got sick. In fact the Vargas family got sick as well, so we assume that we got some bad food somewhere that we had eaten. I was very sick for a day, but everyone else was only mildly sick while we were in Mexico. However, when we returned, Charlie continued to get more and more sick, even after visiting several doctors. after a couple of weeks, he was so sick that he needed to be admitted to the hospital. As you can imagine, this was a very stressful time for all of us. After three days, he was eventually discharged from the hospital, with no definitive diagnosis. Eventually, he recovered fully.

----------------------------------------------------------

Throughout last winter and the spring, one of the teachers at Martha's school, Tracy Ayers, was battling cancer. So this was a difficult time in general, especially for Martha. Martha spent much of her time helping and supporting Tracy while helping the staff and students cope with their fears surrounding her illness. Her treatment appeared to be going very well for several months. But her illness took a sudden turn for the worse in the spring and Tracy passed away in April. Martha and the people at her school continue to struggle to cope with the loss of Tracy as they progress through the school year without her. Martha and our kids spend time with Tracy's kids almost every week.

---------------------------------------------------------

Near the end of April we sold our house and moved into an apartment while we were waiting for our condo in Boulder to finish being built. It was an interesting experience to downsize from 4000 square feed to 1200 square feet. It turned out to be a pleasant arrangement for the summer.

-----------------------------------------------------------

In June we traveled to Europe for a few weeks. This turned out to be one of our best family vacations ever! Our friend (and former Nanny) Peter traveled with us, and we met our friend (and former Nanny) Tina there. So we were fortunate to be traveling with our friends who are fluent Italian (Peter) and German (Tina) speakers. We flew into Rome and we started out spending several days in Tuscany:

Then we traveled to Innsbruck Austria to visit our friend Zack where watched him play for and coach the Tyrolean Raiders professional American football team in their 'Superbowl' championship game.

Munich:

Lake Como:

The island of Sardinia:

And Rome:

---------------------------------------------------------

In September our condo in Boulder was completed and we moved in. The kids and Martha returned to school. Charlie is in 4th grade and Nina started middle school (6th grade) in the school where Martha is the principal. It has been a busy semester and both kids are enjoying school this year.

For Thanksgiving we decided to take a road trip west and south, with no particular destination. About 30 miles south of Grand Junction, our car (the white expedition) died. I hate to admit it, but I destroyed the engine by running it out of oil. We decided that it was not worth the money that it would cost to replace the engine, so it sits in Grand Junction to this day. There is someone interested in buying it and putting a new engine in it. But for now, one less gas guzzler is on the road. :^) Within 24 hours we had rented a car and we were back on the road! We went to the Black Canyon, spent a great night in Durango, and spent a day at Mesa Verde. We were considering going to the Grand Canyon, and perhaps Phoenix, but Charlie was comming down with a cold so we decided to head home. After a stop at four corners and a night in Moab, we made it home in time for a great Thanksgiving in Castle Rock at the Marker residence (Martha's brother & family).

This Christmas season we have been home, relaxing and continuing to get settled in our new home. Last week we were dog sitting for two Vishla's. The dogs took a special liking to Charlie and the kids had a fun week taking care of them and playing with them.

Whew - this turned out to be a lot longer than I had expected. If you actually made it this far, I hope all is well with you and the people in your lives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!