2025 in Review: Happy New Year!

We kicked off the new year with family at a Russian-style New Year's party.

The start of 2025!

Utah was a slightly different experience than usual. Karen's Dad, David, had fractured his hip in a bicycle accident in October 2024, so he wasn't allowed to ski. He flew to Snowbird (rather than driving as usual) and my Aunt Linda came for the week to keep him company during the day while we were out on the slopes. We all went up to the top of the tram station one day to have lunch to show off the pretty views to Aunt Linda, who had never been there before. Utah album

Ski trip to Utah

In April, we took a fantastic trip to Japan! There were 8 of us total, but sadly Julia couldn't come because she was busy with her last semester at Tufts. Our friend Alison planned our itinerary, and it was perfect. We saw a mix of cities and small towns, and travelled most places by train or bus. We made so many memories it would take too long to describe, so I'll describe just one morning's adventures. It started with us all spending the night in a traditional Japanese house, and then walking in the rain to a mystical and beautiful shrine. There was a small line of people taking photos by a famous torii gate that rises from a lake. Karen was taking photos for the people ahead, and the man suddenly got down on one knee and proposed. Karen unexpectedly turned into the official engagement photographer! Then on the walk back to our house, the nine year old with us got too close to the lake and slipped on the wet rocks and fell into the lake! Luckily he was fine, but it was very memorable! And this was all before 10 AM on one day. Here is a photo album that more fully captures all of our Japan adventures.

Hakone Tozan Railway, Kōdai-ji Temple in Kyoto, walk to Hakone Shrine and a view of its torii gate, Ghibli Park, and Nagoya Castle

David came out for his traditional May visit. He was still recovering from his hip fracture and had a little limp. One day, Karen suggested a walk around the neighborhood, imagining we would take the usual 3/4 mile loop on our road. However, David seemed interested in going a bit further so we decided to cross the street to get a few more steps. Then we came to the end of that street and there was a clear "No Trespassing" sign next to a house that was being built. David waltzed right past that sign while explaining that it definitely didn't apply to the path that was next to the sign. Karen protested several times as he disappeared into the woods, and then decided she better not abandon him. Onward they went, bushwhacking through swampy areas, forests, fields, and along large electrical power lines. Finally they got home 5+ miles later and Karen decided he was definitely on the mend and back to his old ways. Karen also took him to see the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Art Museum in Providence, which is surprisingly good. But we started with some of the student projects and modern art, where David was a bit skeptical and kept making snarky comments. Karen was just hoping that none of the students were anywhere nearby! #LifeWithBepa

Adventures with Dad: swamp during the bushwhack and RISD art

One of the reasons David timed his trip the way he did was to attend Julia's graduation from Tufts! She got a degree in Computer Science from the School of Engineering. It was a beautiful day, and we were very proud.

Julia's graduation

We have lots of birthdays in April and May, so we often have a big birthday bash and this year was no exception.

Family birthday party

In June, we were thrilled to have our friends Kimberly and Peter visit with three of their four adult kids. We all lived together in Quincy when we were starting our families years ago but we moved to Sharon and they moved to California so we only get to visit each other rarely. Karen was especially glad to see her goddaughter Sydney both in March and in June this year!

Meeting up with Kimberly, Peter, and family

For our 27th anniversary, we decided to indulge in a 5 course tasting menu at a fancy restaurant in Providence named Gracie's. We are really not foodies, so this was super fancy by our standards. It was our first time eating soft shell crab, which was...interesting. Overall really yummy and a fun experience.

Tiny Leo in this photo from downtown Providence after our dinner

Leo's grandfather Ded Vladik unfortunately had some health issues so moved into a rehab/assisted living facility in Braintree in January. We were thankful that Leo's family found a Russian-speaking floor for him to stay, and we visited every few weeks through the winter and spring. He died on June 12 at the age of 96, of which 67 were with his beloved wife Natasha. He lived a remarkable and full life and will be missed. Ded Vladik tribute album

A sampling of photos from Ded Vladik's remarkable life

In July, we went off to Western Massachusetts as we have often done, but this time Julia was able to join us! We took some nice hikes, went swimming, enjoyed Galina's masterful cooking, and visited the Clark Museum.

Hiking in Western Mass

August marked one of the most important events of the year! No, I am not talking about Leo's birthday but about our brand new mailbox! Our mailbox was really terrible - falling over, rusty, the door falling off and our new one is beautiful. We went from worst to first on the block. Truly a proud moment!

The mailbox before and after. The "before" picture is definitely not AI generated with the prompt "photo of an old and decrepit mailbox that is falling apart and leaning over".

At the end of August we left for a long anticipated family trip to Norway, the land of Karen's roots (or at least a few tendrils of roots since she is a bit of a European mutt). We started and ended in Rotterdam and Amsterdam respectively (as we were taking a Holland America cruise) and enjoyed some fun times there, but the highlights were enjoying the spectacular scenery of the Norwegian fjords, exploring the cultural highlights in Oslo, an extremely memorable cliff-side disc golf course, and having the chance to visit to village of Flekkefjord where Karen's great great grandparents had emigrated from! Norway album

Rotterdam's cube houses, the Fram Museum and Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, Tømmerrenna timber slide, family homestead site in Flekkefjord, and Skjolden

At the end of September, David was back for his traditional bike trip with New York friends and for more family time.

Family hike at World's End and at Waterfire in Providence

We had fun apple picking with friends and then visiting a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

Apple picking with friends

We are happy/sad that two of the couples that we used to regularly get together with to play games, go out to eat, and generally hang out with in Sharon all moved away. We're happy for them and their new adventures but sad for ourselves.

Escape room that we scheduled while Al and Simon were visiting from the UK and just before Beth and David moved to New Zealand

The week before Thanksgiving we were thinking about how our 2012 Subaru was getting a bit old to make the long drive and launched into action to see if we could find ourselves a new-to-us used car before the drive. We bought a 2023 Kia Sportage plug in hybrid, in part thanks to Karen's sister's research from earlier in the year when she was on the car hunt herself. We braved the drive to New Holland, Pennsylvania to visit Karen's cousins and Aunt and Uncle for the Thanksgiving holiday. We even squeezed in dropping off Julia's friend Sophi at her house near Philly. The Sportage did well overall, although its navigation system was very naive about what's allowed in New York City. It kept suggesting illegal U-turns at every street, so we ended up needing to take an interesting detour a few blocks into the city proper. This year's Thanksgiving in New Holland also featured Karen's cousin Chris, his wife Marchiel, and two of their four adult children. It was really nice to spend time with them all!

Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania

December was a whirlwind of house projects. We had one of those door-to-door salespeople stop by to offer a free estimate, which is annoying but also actually useful for people like us who tend not to think about things like gutters until they fail us. We had already been in the process of getting some more solar panels, so we ended up getting a new roof, solar panels, gutters, trim, and some siding and deck repair all within a few weeks. Our handyman Cole even discovered an unexpected animal guest living in a hole in our siding.

Hole with a vole that was fixed by Cole

We hemmed and hawed for many months about what to do for the Christmas holiday week and in the end we couldn't resist taking a cruise with Galina and Katya. The cruise was a shorter 5 day itinerary around beaches in the Bahamas, which was quite relaxing, followed by a few days in an Airbnb where we explored the Florida coast and St. Augustine. We didn't have four people to play bridge so instead played some rousing rounds of The Gang, our new favorite game of 2025. Bahamas/Florida album

Bahamas and Florida

Leo is continuing to work on Game of Thrones: Conquest at WB Games Boston. He still has fun at work and goes to the office two or three times a week. His interest in Magic: The Gathering is potentially getting rekindled due to the resurrection of the Magic league at work (although he no longer runs it). He played in an Avatar the Last Airbender Magic Prerelease together with Greg. The main side activity for the last year has been studying Japanese. In addition to Duolingo, where he has completed the main Japanese course (although is still working on completing everything on Legendary difficulty and definitely doesn’t know everything super well yet), he is using Wanikani, Bunpro, Renshuu, Lingo Legends, etc. He probably spent about 2 hours a day on average studying Japanese and still has way way way more to learn! Other fun activities continue to be: putting together and taking apart Legos (although usually it’s been Lumibricks instead of actual Legos), Disc Golf, Bridge, Pathfinder, Rocket League, and various other games. In order to make room for Japanese, he did quit Marvel Snap and Pokemon Pocket.

Our pathfinder group (plus Karen who is taking the photo) and getting bubble tea with Julia

Karen's still working from home as an independent Salesforce consultant, and this year she started an online weekly "support group" with some other consultants from the "Solo Nonprofit Salesforce Consultants" Slack group. Both the online group and Slack are great ways to get support and advice for a job that can sometimes feel a little isolated. In addition to the activities with Leo like Lumibricks, disc golf, and Pathfinder, she also attended her monthly book club and enjoyed periodic gatherings with old friends from Pegasystems. She joined in for several of the "No Kings" protests and is a bit of a news junky. She especially loves a daily newsletter called Tangle, which brings a refreshing level of non-partisan nuance to current events.

Dinner with Pega friends and at a protest

As usual, Gregory failed to submit his update to me. However no worries! We live in a brand new world so I just had ChatGPT write his update for him. I think it did a wonderful job: At 24 years old, I am thrilled to announce that I still have absolutely no idea what’s going on, but things seem to be working out. I continue my heroic journey at Warner Brothers Games Boston, where I bravely click buttons, solve mysteries, and ask “why is it doing that?” at least twice a day. When I’m not working, I’m dominating (and by dominating, I mean politely negotiating with) the new Jewelry City disc golf course nearby. Trees remain my greatest rival, and the wind is clearly cheating. I also love my parents an unreasonable amount. Truly. Big fan. 10/10 humans. I am extremely thankful for their love, support, patience, and wisdom. Wishing everyone a fun, cozy, and snack-filled holiday season!

Greg playing "The Gang" with Rosie providing advice

Julia had a busy and exciting year that was split into three parts: finishing up her senior spring semester at Tufts (Jan-May), traveling with friends (June-July), and then starting full-time work as a software engineer at Tatum Robotics (July-Present). Highlights of the year included lots of final joyful memories with Tufts friends, backpacking the Camino de Santiago (walked 200 miles from Portugal to Spain), visiting friends in Seattle and NYC, Nantucket visits (July 4th and November dog sitting), summer camping trips, Tatumsgiving (Tatum’s potluck Thanksgiving), competing in a recreational beach volleyball league, many game nights, and more. She was very grateful to her aunt Katya for allowing her to live in her condo in Newton in the summer and then starting in September, she moved to an apartment in Cambridge with 4 of her close friends from Tufts. She is looking forward to what 2026 brings, though she will dearly miss her beloved Ded Vladik and cat Bliss.

Julia's graduation and at the end of the Camino de Santiago

We were all very sad when we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat Bliss this fall. She had such a spunky, outgoing, and unique personality, and we miss her so much! We are grateful to still have her two kittens, Momo and Rosie (we celebrated their 10th birthday this year).

Bliss was a special member of our family

This year featured only 21 foster kitties because several sets stayed with us longer than usual. The first was a pair of completely feral older kittens. The rescuers thought they were younger because they were small, but they turned out to be around 6 months old and stayed with us for 3 months as Karen tried with mixed results to teach them that people can be nice. Karen had to use a toothbrush taped to chopsticks in order to have a long enough tool to try to pet the kittens without getting horribly scratched. This story does have a happy ending because these kittens found the most amazing adopter who was willing to give them a loving home even if they will never be lap cats, and who continues to send fun photo updates of the kitties. The shelter wanted to give Karen a nice easy set of mom and kittens next, but when she went to pick them up there was bad news: they had discovered on intake that they had ringworm. Ringworm is a fungus that is contagious to both people and other cats and takes months of stinky sulfur baths, oral medication, strict environmental cleaning, and weekly vet visits for skin tests. Karen had to decide on the spot whether to take them, but who are we kidding, of course she took them. That was another 3 months of intense fostering work. Then there were a few sets of easy moms with kittens, including one set of four kittens born at our house.

Fosters!

We've been fish sitting a pair of beautiful goldfish and a weather loach since June. The cats were very surprised the first day we got them but have ignored them ever since.

Momo meeting our fish visitors!

And finally, one last story for those that have made it this far! In April, David (who lives in San Jose, California) had an old shed torn down on the property and the workers came to the house with a box of 5 one week old kittens, explaining that they found these unexpected little ones and the feral mama cat had run away. After unsuccessful attempts to reunify the kittens with their mom, Mary bottle fed the kittens and now they have five beautiful kitties living with them. After years of making fun of Karen for her love of cats, David is completely besotted with his kittens. We have a family call almost every Saturday, so we've been able to watch them grow up. It's very cute to see him loving his babies.

Screenshot of a family call with two of Karen's new cat siblings

That's all folks! Wishing all our friends and family a happy and healthy 2026!