Goodbye, 2022

As we're mere hours from the start of 2023, I thought it time to catch up on our lives since the beginning of September.

We took our biannual family pictures with some gorgeous fall colors. The kids were being a little goofy at the end. :o)

Felix started 8th grade and Iris started 5th. Felix has been struggling to turn in assignments on time in some classes (we're working on that...), but he started taking German and is looking forward to his trimester with Art. He was also in Engineering Club this fall, building a neat miniature catapult with a friend. He spends most of his free time playing computer games (loudly) with friends. Iris has been having a good year so far, and is a captain on the school safety patrol. She's been working hard on the Y swim team again. In the two meets she's attended so far this year, she shaved seven seconds off her 50-yard freestyle time, which is impressive. She's already planning on doing volleyball, swimming and softball next year in 6th grade. She has also gotten hooked on reading the Harry Potter series. I've been making her wait to watch the last movies until she reads the books first.

Nick and Cara took a trip to Porto, Portugal, for a week, and enjoyed the atmosphere, the countryside, and, of course, the port wine. After we came back, Nick finalized the purchase of a second office building in Black River Falls, where he spends one day a week now working with the two staff there. Cara continues to be the region's work zone engineer and sees no reason why that should change anytime soon.

Much closer to home, we took a trip up to Merrill to see the "star" of our favorite bad movie - Giant Spider Invasion, showcased on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The kids went a little low-key for Halloween. Iris was a banana and Felix was Aaron Rodgers at a charity event (maybe?).

Our friends had their annual holiday party after a two-year COVID pause, so we got all dressed up and had a nice time there. My sister found that dress at Goodwill in the late 90s, and it got a lot of well-deserved compliments at the party.

We continued our tradition of themed Christmas pictures. This year, we went with Caddyshack. 

We took a trip to Madison yesterday to eat at an Indian buffet for the first time in years, and took a walk through the zoo. It turns out, we aren't very big birds.

We hope your 2023 brings you much happiness! Cheers!

Awesome things: MST3K's season 13 (and upcoming season 14!), What We Do in the Shadows, all the birds in my backyard