Newsletter

Every year when I put together our family newsletter, I reflect and think, "Wow.  What a great year we've had.  This is the best one yet!"  And, yet again, it's true.  We've had a wonderful year, filled with great new experiences.

I'm still doing research and teaching at the University of Texas at Austin.  My research has been really exciting lately (at least to me), and I'm doing some really cool projects related to pervasive computing (the idea that there are computers everywhere in your environments, and interacting with them is becoming increasingly transparent to our daily activities).  I love doing it. And I love teaching, too.  So that's all great.

 

Tim's still at Central Texas Animal Hospital, where, to my understanding, he does sundry things to dogs and cats.  It's a fabulous place to work, he loves his co-workers, and he loves his job.

Maya's a blossoming pre-schooler/pre-kindergardener/kindergardener depending on which month and location she is in.  One of Maya's favorite activities this year was dance class.  She's matured quite a bit this year and has really become quite an opinionated conversationalist.  Her insights on various things are also interesting, sweet, and funny sometimes.  She's also super photogenic.

We did some significant traveling this year, too.  In May, we took a two-week trip to Hawaii.  The first week was a pure family vacation that we spent on Kauai.  It was perfect for us.  We did some hiking, saw a canyon, laid on some beaches, and just had an all around relaxing time.  The second week, we spent in Honolulu, where I had a conference, and Tim and Maya partook of some more vacationing.  We also all saw Pearl Harbor together.  It was really one of the most lovely trips we've taken in some time.

In June, Tim and I went to Reykjavik, Iceland.  I admit, Iceland had never really made it on my radar of places to visit.  But, again, I had a conference there, and, after just a tiny bit of research, it was clear that Tim would tag along.  The types of things we planned to do there (hot mineral springs, long hikes, scenic drives, glacier walking, etc.) didn't seem like the kinds of things that were particularly great for a kiddo, so Maya stayed home with her grandparents.  The trip was amazing.  It's actually surprisingly easy to get to Iceland from the US, and the country is so small and beautiful, it's really easy to see amazing things.  I highly recommend it.

But the biggest event for us, clearly, were the four months we spent late this year in Italy.  I went on a research sabbatical to visit the University of Trento in northern Italy.  Tim went along as a "veterinarian on vacation."  And Maya came along as a kindergardener.  That's right, while I got an amazing amount of work done in decreased working hours, Maya went to Italian school, and Tim did some sightseeing on his own.  Maya created her own blog to describe her adventures, and she even learned a decent amount of Italian in school.  Tim took thousands of photos.  He also broke his hand playing basketball, but it healed up before we came home.  We returned to Texas shortly after Thanksgiving, but not before actually cooking a Thanksgiving feast (along with one of our hosts, who is an American living in Trento) for some intrigued Italians.

We're definitely glad to be settling back into our life in Texas, though there are many things we miss dearly about our time abroad.  It was a truly amazing way to experience a different place, and so indescribably different than simply vacationing in a new place.  For a short time, we actually lived in this new place.  We had a routine, Maya had school, Tim was friendly with the vegetable guy.  It was truly the experience of a lifetime.

I have no idea what another new year will bring us, but since each year has a habit of beating the previous one, we're really looking forward to 2012.