2009 in Review

So 2009 is already complete and in the past by nearly a quarter of a year.  It was a pretty good year for us, despite a few hiccups.

We began looking for a house - then stopped when decades of mismanagement by idiot politicians in NJ finally caught up with the state and as a result the governor took away promised raises and then essentially gave us paycuts by requiring us to take unpaid furlough days.   After a while we began looking again - and then stopped when the new republican governor was elected on a slash-and-burn campaign and I wasn't sure how long I'd still have a job.  That roller coaster has repeated itself again, but in 2010, so I wont go there. 

Sarah got pregnant again. 

Jackson had a big year:   He started the year looking like this:

And soon after began eating solid food, then crawling, and eventually walking and running.  He made his first trip to Cabela's, and his first trip out of the country - to Costa Rica!  Of course he had his 1st birthday and gets cuter and more fun every day.  By the end of the year, he looked like this:

 We didn't go too many places this year, but the trips we did take were great.  Our week-long camping trip around PA in May was wonderful. 

We didn't go to as many national parks as we would have liked either.  Well, I say that, but maybe we went to more than I'm remembrimg.  Let's see:
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
Steamtown National Historic Site
Friendship Hill National Historic Site
Fort Necessity national Historic Site
Fire Island National Seashore
Denali National Park
Horseshoe Bend National Military Park

So 8 parks isn't bad.  Sarah and I are up to nearly 14% and 15% of the parks, respectively.  Jackson is up to 3%.  We have a long way to go.  We also visited Katmai National Park, but I don't think I can count it because the park is so huge and we saw such a tiny part of it.  Plus, that park was originally founded to protect the "Valley of 10,000 Smokes", which we didn't see.

2009 was a great year, and so far 2010 is looking good too.