2024 in Review

[Previous years in review: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013]

This year went by so fast, but we were able to continue the theme of this blog with quite a number of crafts and home improvements. Chase is still into 3D printing and I have been keeping up with my embroidery. Chase once again crafted a unique Halloween costume. In terms of home improvements, we got a new couch for our TV room and painted the outside of our house! We also had a huge success planting and harvesting a ton of vegetables in our garden. 

We were very fortunate to see almost all of our family this year and quite a number of friends, either through visits of theirs to our ho
use or through our travels. And we did travel quite a bit: 
early March: I went to Vancouver and Whistler, BC for a conference (just me)

late March: Easter in TN

early April: Solar eclipse in NY

mid April: Chase's 10th birthday trip to Orlando

May: I went to a conference in Boston and Tony visited for Nate's birthday

August: Barcelona to see my grandparents for the first time in 4.5 years

November: I went to a conference in Houston, TX

early December: (outside) Barcelona again (just me)

late December: cruise to the Caribbean

Chase added to his US count with Florida and Puerto Rico, bringing his total to 15 states and territories (MA, CT, RI, NY, NE, CA, NV, IA, IL, PA, NJ,  MD [& DC], TN, FL, and PR). He also added to his country count by 5: Netherlands (St. Maarten), Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica for a grand total of 18 countries (those 5 above plus USA, Switzerland, France, Spain, Morocco, Ukraine, Great Britain, Mexico, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Austria, and Denmark). Since the Caribbean is technically part of North America, his continent count still stands at 3 (N. America, Europe, and Africa).  

Chase turned 10 this year. He is still into 3D printing, flags, and coins. He has gotten more into chess, but is still doing French, piano and violin lessons. He learned to swim this year in a relatively short time (a few weeks) and keeps getting stronger and more comfortable in the water. He will start middle school next year!

2024 was a busy year with little rest so let's see what 2025 brings!

Here is an Instagram collage of photos from the year: 

Caribbean Cruise

This year, Chase had a whole week and a half off from school for winter break, so we decided to plan a more serious vacation. Chase has really been into flags for a few years now so his request was to go on a vacation where he could visit the largest number of countries with different and cool flags. We decided the Caribbean would be a good way to accomplish that goal. He was particularly set on going to St. Lucia so that narrowed down our options to a few possible cruises within our time frame. We decided to go on a Celebrity cruise from and back to Puerto Rico that visited 5 different islands. We saw St. Maarten/Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica. Chase not only loved visiting each of the islands and doing specific shore excursions (snorkling, zip lining, tubing, going to caves, and the beach) but also getting flag souvenirs and a few local coins from each country. 

In Puerto Rico, before and after the cruise, checking out the castles

In St. Martin, on the french side (Marigot) which we took a bus to. We then went for a boat ride in the lagoon. These two countries were still rebuilding from Hurricanes Irma and Maria about 7 years back. 

On the beach in Antigua after snorkling; by the waterfall in Dominica before tubing

We took a boat around St. Lucia down to the south (Soufriere) near the dormant volcanoes to do some zip lining

In Barbados, drinking coconut water out of a coconut and down in the caves

Visiting My Grandparents Again

[Previous trips to Barcelona: 2024, 2023, 2017]

My grandparents ended up staying outside Barcelona since we saw them last in the summer. I decided to go visit them for a few days to keep them company and see the sights of their apartment by the sea. We had a great time walking around their town, eating yummy food, and spending time together. 

Fall 2024

[Previous fall activities: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2012]

[Previous homemade halloween costumes: flags, siphonophore]

This year, Chase decided he wanted to be an orange cat for halloween so he cut out and ironed on the orange patches on a white jump suit. He had a ton of fun trick or treating with friends and going to all the Halloween school activities (his last year of elementary!). We also did some leaf peeping and I had some fancy glow in the dark stick-on nails that I felt like documenting. A highlight was celebration Thanksgiving with my aunt/uncle/cousin who have just moved to the US. Nate and I managed to cook a 20-lb turkey and make all the fixings for a wonderful meal together. Chase and his cousin uncle also had lots of time to play the week of Thanksgiving.  

All the halloween fun with trick-or-treating and school trunk-or-treat

Leaf peeping, the zoo, and my fun nails

Hosting a real Thanksgiving meal for the full family

Gardening Success

This year was our most successful year yet with gardening after a sort of failure 2 years ago and nothing last year. We started off the summer having planted watermelons, pumpkins, tomatoes, jalapeños, and eggplants. We ended up growing all of them, although the deer got too friendly and ate the pumpkins and watermelons. We harvested jalapeños, tomatoes, and eggplants clear until November! So fun and now we know how to improve for next year. 

Not only was it a good year for vegetables, it was a wonderful year for all sort of flowers, specifically our beautiful hydrangeas. 

Our deer friends were very interested in our garden as well and ended up eating all three of our huge pumpkins and our lone watermelon. We fixed the fence around September which kept them out for the remainder of the gardening season. 

Despite the deer, we were able to harvest lots of vegetables all summer and fall

Some more pictures of our harvests -- including finding out jalapeños turn red when they are ripening and are even spicier!

Chase didn't shy away from eating his home-grown vegetables. He said they were tastier (he rated the tomatoes 7/10) than in store (4/10). 

Painting Our House

[Previous home improvement projects: fixed fence and minisplits, reupholstered chairs and solar panels]

This year, our big home improvement project was repainting the outside of the house. We hired a local company and deliberated the color choice. We wanted a similar gray but also wanted to switch to a fun new door color. Thankfully, we managed to do both and we love how it looks now. The previous paint job didn't sand off the previous coat so the paint had started bubbling and cracking off the cedar siding. They sanded off all previous paint layers and also fixed a lot of rotten wood and other issues. It's so nice to have this done nicely and correctly for many years to come. 

Edit: Another home improvement that we did this year is we did indeed get a new couch for our TV room that comfortably fits all 3 of us. It's from La-Z-boy and has a mechanical side and a manual side along with a console and chaise. It is exactly what we were looking for and has been so comfy! 

Summer 2024

Chase had a very full summer! He spent the majority of it in camps in the morning and then spending time with his grandparents in the afternoons. Two highlights were some fishing camps (where he caught 14 fish in one of the weeks) and a STEM camp at Hamden Hall School which he just loved. We were all able to go on another trip to Barcelona to see his great grandparents for the first time since before Covid. 

Getting 1500 minutes in the local library reading challenge, catching a fish, and starting 5th grade!

Playing with his cousin uncle and the whole family together for my dad's birthday