2010 was an exciting year for our family to say the least. We started the year welcoming our daughter into the world and moved half-way around the world to Berlin, Germany. These have been some big changes for us and very exciting.
We celebrated Christmas in Texas with my family at my sister’s house. She and her husband were so generous opening up their home for us for the holidays. Alani and I flew in on December 18th and Valentin came in on the 23rd. Alani had so much fun playing with all of her family, she was truly the star. Her favorite though, Shannon’s dog Oxley. That poor pup was so sweet and let Alani literally pull clumps of hair out without a peep. Alani was very spoiled for her first Christmas and received many wonderful gifts from the entire family. Her favorite, of course, was all the boxes and bags and paper and ribbons.
We had planned to leave Houston on the 27th to fly up to NYC, however the weather changed those plans. A huge snow storm closed all the airports around NYC, so we spent a couple extra days in Houston. Alani also caught a cold from her Daddy during this time so it was good to have a couple more days in the milder weather. We finally made it up to NYC in time for New Year’s which we spent at our friend Liz and Lino’s wonderful home in Connecticut. After that we headed down to the city for a couple days in our old neighborhood in Brooklyn and catching up with all of our friends around New York. After that we flew from NYC to Frankfurt where we spent a few days at Valentin’s parents’ home. We had such a wonderful time, but after so much traveling it was really nice to get back to Berlin.
Since we have been back here we have just been getting back into our usual routine. Valentin is back at work and is trying to spend as much time with Alani as possible in the mornings and evenings. Alani and I are back to our classes and having play-dates. I am also starting to meet with people about possible jobs beginning next August when Alani starts preschool.
We are looking to spending more time exploring our new city in 2011. It is hard to believe we have been here since September and have not even covered a quarter of all there is to see. We are hoping friends and family will visit us soon to make us get out and explore!
