2022 was a year that focused on new adventures. With travel opening up and COVID becoming… common, life began to settle in new stages of normalcy. This year we were able to travel to new and familiar places, achieve major milestones, and enjoy each other, one day at a time.

Ultra Marathon(s). run ANDY run.
What a crazy year for running! I decided to attempt an ultra marathon and ended up running two. Each week I continued to add mileage and do a milestone – run to Sasquatch for breakfast, run to Jenni’s as a marathon, run 10,000 elevation. I even surpassed 50 miles twice this year in one week (once in Hawaii). And then I ran the 50k in San Francisco/Marin County. It was beautiful, and I even placed in my age group. And then, because I was still high on mileage, I ran Bizz Johnson (and got third place overall!) And this last month, I’ll hit 1500 miles for the year which also included the Rock Tahoe and RTO. I don’t think I’ll ever do that again! But, what a year!!!
Hawaii
We went to Hawaii for spring break with Oma, Opa, and Jason.  We stayed at a beautiful resort for about two weeks. Each day we were going to different beaches, hiking, going on mopeds, snorkeling, running on trails, having tiki drinks, and exploring the area. We saw turtles and whales, we played pickleball, and we went sailing with Jordan and Andrea. It was great!
Puerto Rico
For fall break, the four of us traveled out to Puerto Rico. (Last year we tried this, but Nixon and I came down with COVID and had to cancel our trip.) This year a hurricane hit the island two weeks before we arrived. Luckily Puerto Rico wasn’t affected too much.  So, we arrived and explored the history of San Juan. We went to the beaches in the north. We loved the waterslide pools in the south. We went to the national parks, saw amazing waterfalls, and so much more.  However, my favorite part was the bioluminescent tours. There are a few bays that have this plankton that light up when the water ripples, so it glows a bit. It’s really cool.
Seattle
We traveled back to Seattle for the first time since we moved. It had been way too long. We met up with Tam who now lives there, working at Amazon. We played with his dog and went to a lot of parks. We went to our old condo, we ate breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe, we saw Snoqualmie falls, we went to the first Starbucks, we drove by Chateau St Michelle and our old hangout at Red Hook, I explored my old stomping grounds of UW, went to your Bridget’s old work, we went to a Mariners game, and a lot more. It was great to be there, despite hearing my old work, the Experimental College, closed down.
Little League Baseball
Another year of coaching with the crew – Matt, Drew and Scott. It was great to see these kids grow as the game gets more complex. By the fall, we’re now 100% player pitch. The kids can steal bases, and it’s starting to look like real baseball. It’s been fun, and we’ll how it continually evolves. I coached with Matt on the Mariners in the spring, and I coached the Guardians in the fall.

Honorable mention:

  • We have another wonderful trip planned after Christmas. That will span into 2023, but it will be a lot of fun!
  • We took the kids to their first concert and saw Jack Johnson at the lake.
  • We went to a lot of fun baseball games – Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, and the Reno Aces.

And the not so great:

  • Nema – Our Nemars. Our purrbot. She was our loyal, skittish, cuddly cat. She was very sweet. We got her and Tink when we moved to Seattle in 2005. We’ve been through school, Seattle, pre-kids, kids, and much more. She didn’t seem as if she was even sick, but while we were in Hawaii, she took a turn for the worse. Grammy had to take her to the vet to put her down, so we said our goodbyes virtually. It was very sad, but… it was probably easier this way. We still miss her.