Bowles Blog:

Happy New Year to all of you dedicated Bowles Blog readers! 2011 saw a severe drop off in my blogging activities here and I do apologize. I did however manage to successfully complete my iPhone photo a day project (!). You can relive our entire year, one iPhone photo at a time over on my iPhone2011 tumblr blog. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can click on the Archives link and see all the photos grouped together month-by-month. Pretty cool. I'm planning to continue the iPhone photo a day practice for 2012 though I haven't quite decided if I'll be posting my photos here or on a new tumblr. Not to worry, I'll let you know ;-).

Now, on to the year that was 2011. Rather, back to, the year that was 2011...

January

We dove right in to the new year by supporting Bobby Law as he participated in the Polar Plunge swim at Humarock. Luckily it was sunny and 50 degrees out.

Of course winter was bound to catch up with us at some point so we stocked up on new shovels at Lowe's.

Eventually it did snow and coated our very long driveway with lots of white fluffy stuff. During one storm we even had a bent over small tree across the driveway.

February

Rec league basketball season was in full swing

As was the boys' fascination with yo-yo'ing

Bobby Law took a trip to San Francisco for MacWorld

While he was away we got over a foot of snow and I was forced to learn to use the snowblower. Luckily we have some kind neighbors that helped clear the bottom of the driveway!

I started a new project with Bubbe: cleaning out her basement. We unearthed many treasures, including some toys and books from her childhood.

Ebby and I took a vacation week trip to NY to visit the Slyers. Well, some of the Slyers. We had fun with Kathy, Caroline and Ruby while John and Julia were busy exploring England. I had the worst cupcakes I've ever bought at a bakery in Albany during this trip.

March

This was the month of Will & Cuyler's infamous Chain Reaction project. Ugh!

The weather warmed up and basketball could once again be played outside on the driveway

My minivan, The Junkaroo, officially logged 100,000 miles (and thousands more since then)

April

Ebby expressed her individuality by getting a turquoise~blue streak in her hair. At least there were no piercings.

I took a solo trip to Charlotte where I visited with several friends (Diane! Candy! Laura!) and even more shops and hot spots. It was a welcome dose of warmth and spring time color.

Shortly after I got back, we packed up the family and our vacation daughter Danielle and drove back to North Carolina. We spend a week on the Outer Banks in a great rental house in the 4WD section of the beach. We swam, explored and saw lots of wild horses.

Easter! This year we had another one of the Bowles boys playing the part of the Easter bunny. Yep, that's Cuyler.

May

I wanted to paint the whole exterior of the house but I got lazy and settled on just painting the exterior doors. Hello apple green!

Again Bubbe and I worked on a clean out project, this time it was Sam's apartment in Lexington. Um, yeah...

Encouraged by the change made by painting our house doors, I also painted the windows and window boxes on our backyard shed. Ah, much better.

We visited several yard sales beginning in May, including one where Bobby Law purchased a Bob Marley windsurfing board. Um, yeah...

Pa and I had a chance to visit with my cousin Joshua and his wonderful family. They were in town all the way from Montana!

This month also brought our first visit of the season to Duxbury Beach. Ya-hoo!

June

This month marked Bobby Law's return to racing as he completed the obstacle and mud-filled Ruckus race. Cuyler was inspired and successfully tackled the kids' Ruckus course not once, but twice.

Will and Cuyler closed out their elementary school career and marked the event by attending the 5th grade Moving On ceremony.

Ebby completed middle school and garnered several awards and honors. She celebrated with friends at 8th grade class night.

We all celebrated the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup by attending the Bruins parade on a hot and sunny day in Boston. Incredible. The dim sum restaurant we found ourselves in after the parade? Not incredible.

With the official arrival of summer, our trips to the beach with our cookout gear increased.

Finally able to enjoy a Christmas present she'd received 6 months earlier, Ebby attended the Taylor Swift concert at Gilette Stadium. Ebby, Danielle and Katherine had a great time. I huddled under my hooded sweatshirt during the rainstorm trying to keep my phone dry and my head from getting too dizzy.

We wrapped up the month by attending the always interesting Ballou Family Picnic in Burlington, MA. Talking with my Great Aunt Mary is always a hoot!

July

For the first time in a while, we skipped the 4th of July parade in Hingham and had a mellow day at home. I did take Cuyler and Will to Rexhame beach later in the afternoon to enjoy the waves, sand and sun.

July marked the beginning of demo and reno at Pa's house in Bradley Woods. Though most of the major work is complete, the overall project is still on-going...

Bobby Law returned to San Francisco this month. Accompanied by Nana, they represented the East Coast Bowles at a family wedding. While there, BL ran over and Nana walked, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Back at home, we did our best to stay cool by visiting our neighbor's pool and of course, the beach.

We celebrated Will and Cuyler's 11th birthday with a trip to the Dream Machine arcade where we made short work of amassing thousands of tickets.

At the kids' family birthday party we had a blast putting on the 2nd Annual Bowles Family Talent Show. 6 words: Surrey with the Fringe on Top.

Ebby's 14th birthday was a whirlwind of activity culminating with pizza and cupcakes at the beach.

Of course a few days later we had a birthday party with Ebby's friends that included an IKEA scavenger hunt and an adorable birthday cupcake vignette.

August

This was a busy month.

For one week, all 3 kids were busy all day (9-3) at Y camp. Two of them enjoyed it.

Bobby Law and I belatedly celebrated our 17th anniversary with a day trip to Cape Cod. We explored Chatham and parts of the National Seashore. We even saw whale jawbones.

My 2nd concert of the summer was J Geils at the Bank of America pavillion in Boston. Bobby Law's birthday present to himself. At least that way I know he liked it.

Meanwhile we did our best to enjoy the dog days of summer. The boys joined with our neighbors in the running of a successful lemonade stand. Cuyler won an Oreo stacking contest at a local grocery store. Bobby Law and I even made it to Duxbury Beach one morning to see a glorious sunrise.

We had a family day trip to Maine.

We had a visit from the well-traveled Julia Slyer. We were so excited to see her that we brewed up Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene while she was here. We were without power for the last 2+ days of her visit, severely cramping our plans. Irene also interfered with our town's plans to start school as the first day of school was canceled.

Fortunately we started up the very next day.

September

We kept cool in Auntie Shelley's pool with a visit over Labor Day weekend.

Soon after it was time to gear up for Fantasy Football season with the annual draft.

It wasn't all about Fall as Ebby and I enjoyed a late summer beachcombing trip to Duxbury.

Now in high school, Ebby participated in her very first XC (cross country) meet. Run, Ebby, Run!

October

As a member of Key Club (high school branch of Kiwanis), Ebby was obligated to attend the Homecoming Dance. Luckily she had lots of company.

The boys kept busy by working out--the table hockey game.

Bobby Law surprised me one Sunday when I returned home from a walk by busting out the power tools to construct our very own graveyard. Such artistry, such Halloween spirit!

Ebby ran her final XC race of the season, successfully shaving several minutes (4+) off her time from the beginning of the season.

Halloween was met with varying degrees of enthusiasm with most of it coming from Will and his {killer} clown costume.

November

Ebby and I returned to New York this month--to New York City! It was Ebby's first trip and I did my best to show her as many cool places as I could in 10 hours.

The very next day we attended the Bat Mitzvah of my friend Marianne's daughter Abigail. It was a lovely, moving service followed by a fun-filled party.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Two Dog Hill with the usual suspects and the usual fare. New this year: a raucous game of Pictionary. Good times.

December

We kicked off the month with a new Advent calendar. Bought unfinished and then painted, embellished and filled by Bubbe, it was a hit.

With Bobby Law spending a lot of time in the Steel City for work this month, Ebby and I were lucky enough to attend the Nutcracker Magic gala with tickets he won at work. Pre-performance activities were held at the Ritz including meet & greets with Nutcracker characters and Celtics champion Scott Pollard. We had dinner in a ballroom and Mayor Mumbles Menino was the featured speaker. The Nutcracker ballet itself at the amazing Opera House was pretty magical as well. Except when I couldn't find our parking garage when it was time to go home...