miluki-piluki: Year in Review

Okay, so we're not exactly on the ball, here, but nor were we for large periods of 2007. To celebrate the arrival of a lucky, lucky year, here's a small selection of some of the things we regrettably failed to tell you about last year:

1. August 2007: I See Dead Things.

As a lastsummer hurrah, Mudzuks and Vecais packed up their parents and went "down East" to insert their chaos into the tranquil serenity of VJ and Nan's latest home-away-from-home.

They actually thought they might give Mamuks the slip by heading out several days early, but unfortunately the GM ferry only makes one stop. (Mamuks found them.) But not before they had the chance to serve as apprentice marine mammal pathologists. As Mudzuks excitedly tells people when they ask her what she did last summer, "I saw porpoises! But they were dead. And I saw a whale! But it was dead, too."

When they weren't playing with dead things, their days were filled with amateur photography (that's Mudzuks' photo of Mamuks up by the crazy-windy lighthouse), hiking, relaxing with the extended fam, and some standard hunting and foraging (that last shot is of hand picked gailenes/chanterelles!).

2. Meeting "The Man."

Otherwise known as the teacher. (Although in both Mudzuks' and Vecais' cases, the Man is a Woman. Or Women.) In preparation for Mudzuks first day of real school, Mamuks rented School of Rock from the library, and she was relieved to find out that Mudzuks loved it just as much as she does (although Mudzuks didn't seem to think it was quite the tear-jerker that Mamuks takes it to be. Mamuks has an unnatural love for this movie).

Anyways, watch it. You'll get the "Man" reference.

Point is, both Hugo and Krusa were trundled off to their respective first days of school this past September. Mudzuks is a proud JK goer, while Hugo eventually stopped crying when we turned the corner heading for "skolina" (daycare)... Luckily its only a couple of days a week, and more luckily, he has now happily adjusted. Still, they both looked pretty dapper with their backpacks.

3. General "Fall Fun"

4. The Outlaws Descend

In September and October, Mudzuks and Vecais were treated to extra-special visitations by their overseas grandmother, Aunt (T.St) and cousin (Annika). No offense to the old folks, but Annika was the life of the party. Her cousins loooooved having her around. As always, the visit was too short - but sufficiently sweet!

5. Holiday Cheer

So in more recent news, Mudzuks and Vecais did their best to keep a busy social calendar over the holidays. Highlights included Mudzuks Latvian School Christmas Pageant (Eglite), where Mudzuks got to be a "doll" (isn't she always...? as these pictures surely show...?), but not until after some conspiring with Kaiva about how to snag the most loot.

But no loot can beat just hanging out and reading with Papuks...

And just before the Big Day, they were treated to a visit from those infamous Bostonians (luckily K is no longer known affectionately as the Boston Strangler). They had a crazy afternoon of serious cutting the rug, petting the dog, and trying to yank the pants down. After all, what party is complete without those well-loved party games?