The year of 2011 was fantastic! Here is our annual collage of photographs we took during the year (click on it for the large version). Among our highlights were a visit to Glacier Bay and our dear friends in Gustavus, many hikes in the mountains, tasty wild mushrooms, snow in Anacortes, Mount St. Helens wilderness, visits back east to friends and family, and our kitties always providing warmth, laughter, and love at home.
Speaking of trips back east - we had the most wonderful time with our families and friends over our two week visit. It was especially nice not to rush around in one week trying to see everyone! This time we had a nice chunk of time with both families and we even managed to sneak in a few hours with friends. I already gave a brief summary of our time on the Cape with Jay's family - so here is my summary of the rest of our trip, completed with the help of photos!
We celebrated Christmas on Boxing Day with the Barbers and Barber-Justs! Jay and I decided to do an "all-homemade" Christmas this year. Part of the gifts included a homemade blackberry liqueur - made from berries we picked right here in Anacortes. Here are the girls tasting the liqueur in two different cocktail varieties. Yummy.
Jackson strikes a pose with Aunt Julie.
Boy pile! Gramps, Jay, Henry (orange) and Jackson (green).
The Barber-Just family headed back to eastern MA on Thursday. This gave Jay and I some one-on-one time with my parents which was really nice too! We went for a hike to High Falls, the highest waterfalls in Columbia County. Photos of the falls are in my Picasa album.... they were gorgeous!
My old friends from high school were able to come to my parent's house for a homemade pizza lunch! Allison (on the right), and her husband Brian, just recently had a cute little girl, Kenzie! We were excited to meet her after seeing many photos; she was totally chill and really sweet! Sarah (on the left) is also doing great (she stuffed us with tasty "chubby hubbies " for dessert) and we were thrilled to get updates on what both friends have been up to lately.
We left my parent's house on New Years Eve and headed to my sister's house in western MA. They had a few friends over for a fancy New Years Eve party (after Henry and Jackson hit the hay). We drank delicious cocktails, feasted on fantastic hors d'oeuvres
, and brought in 2012 with a bang (literally - Sara's parents live next door and they set off some fireworks!). Henry and Jackson slept through it all and still managed to wake Christina and Sara up at 6 am the next day, although they sort of let them sleep past 8 am.
We went for a family walk up Rattlesnake Gutter (or glutch?) on New Years Day. It was a gorgeous spot right in their town, Leverett.
Icicles!
On the 2nd, we had a nice breakfast with Christina, Sara, Henry, and Jackson and then said our goodbyes (my least favorite part). Then we drove south a few miles and met up with Lee and Daron! Lee is in nursing school at UMass Amherst and she and Daron recently rented a place in South Hadley. We were proud to be the first family members to see their sweet spot and sleep in the guest room! Before we went to their place though we headed over to Mt. Tom and did a freezing but gorgeous little hike up to the top!
The lovebirds.
I had no clue how cool Mt. Tom was! Really neat geology and topology. Here are the nuggets on top of Mt. Tom with Easthampton (I think) in the background.
We had a lovely dinner out in Northampton with Lee and Daron and then crashed at their place. In the morning they were kind enough to take us to the airport (Bradley) so we could head home. Actually, I should take this chance to thank my parents too.....they loaned us their small truck for the entire time we were here, saving us a ton of money and time! So we dropped their truck off at a spot where they could pick it up later in the day, and then Lee and Daron swept us off to the airport. I'm already looking forward to our next visit back east, although that may not be until August for the annual Barber-Lockman Adirondack pilgrimage and a trip to the Cape for summer (since it doesn't really exist here).
Arriving home = undying love from kitties that were so happy we were back they meowed non-stop for days. They are bit more normal now. =)
1 comment:
Glad you had fun on Mt. Tom! Easthampton is my hometown :). We weren't there for New Year's though, we were in PA. Sounds like you had fun holidays, we did too.
Happy 2012!
Love, Kelly
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