As the new year begins, I look back at 2011 and the memories it holds. Some good and some bad but all a stepping stone toward 2012. Here is a recap of the interesting things that happened in the Perryman household last year.
Our family participates in a non-profit organization known as the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), which recreates the middle ages in Europe. Many of the things I write about will be SCA-related. Homeschooling will also be written about a lot. So let’s go back to January 2011.
Last January, Jenna took a trip to Ireland for 2 weeks with her college. It was a class for credit which she enjoyed greatly. Both girls returned to college for the second half of their year - Jenna to Bay Path College in Longmeadow, MA, and Kelli to Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI. Randy and Eric participated in the ski/snowboard program at Loon Mountain through the homeschool group, First Agape. They have been doing this for many years and always enjoy it. Randy also took a business trip to St. Louis. As for me, I took on an apprenticeship in the SCA, hoping to improve my weaving skills, among other things.
February was fairly quiet. Randy took a trip to Texas for work and to visit family. But other than that, not much happened.
In March, Randy, Jenna, Eric, and myself, along with Chris Steele, went to see the Harlaam Globetrotters at the Verizon Wireless Arena. It was a great show and brought back memories from my childhood of watching them on tv. Also in March, Eric tried out for the baseball team at the high school. While he didn’t make it onto the team, it was still a good experience for him.
April and May were similar to past years. Eric participated in Babe Ruth baseball through the town. That keeps us busy with practices and games right through June. And this year, due to lots of rescheduling due to weather, the season ran late. Also, Kelli and Jenna returned home from college for the summer in May. Kelli got a job at Canobie Lake and Jenna got a job at Taco Bell.
Which brings us to June. Because his baseball season ran late, Eric missed the end of play-offs. Instead, he boarded a plane to Texas to visit his aunt, uncle, and cousin. He spent a little over 2 weeks down in Texas. One week of that was spent at idtech camp (Robocontenders) with his cousin, Alex. He had a blast both at camp and with his cousin. I, on the other hand, was nervous about the whole trip since it was the first time he’s been away from me for any length of time. Such is the life of a parent.
While Eric was gone, Randy and I took a trip to Vegas. We spent 5 days there and got to see Penn & Teller, Cirque du Soleil (O), and Hoover Dam. I also finally figured out the difference between a dry heat and humid heat.
In July, Eric returned from Texas. Picking him up from the airport was an adventure for Randy and I which I will not go into here. Both Randy and I also had a medical adventure during July which I am also not going into here. For my family and close friends who really want to hear these stories, you are welcome to ask me in person at some point.
With August came our annual camping trip (Pennsic) to western Pennsylvania. Randy, Eric, and I spent the full two weeks at Pennsic while Kelli and Jenna came for the second week. Pennsic is an SCA camping event that happens every August and includes fighting, archery, fencing, thrown weapons, classes, dancing, shopping, kingdom courts, parties, and bonding with old and new friends. It can be a lot of work but is also a lot of fun. It also usually brings in between 10,000 and 12,000 people.
September started a new school year. Kelli returned to Johnson & Wales while Jenna decided not to return to Bay Path. She spent the fall semester attending classes at Nashua Community College and Manchester Community College while living at home. She has also continued working at Taco Bell. She is changing her major and will be attending Southern New Hampshire University in the Spring.
Eric began his sophomore year at home. In addition to what I assign him, he is taking a class at First Agape, 2 online classes through VLACS (Virtual Learning Academy), bass lessons, art lessons, and strength training. We both keep busy with school and extracurricular activities.
At the end of September, Randy, Jenna, Eric, and I took a weekend trip to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. The falls are beautiful and it’s nice to finally be able to say that I’ve seen them. While there, we also spent a few hours at an SCA event nearby where we saw the coronation of a friend in the kingdom of Ealdormere. It was neat seeing how they do things in another kingdom.
October was quiet with the exception of the huge snowstorm right before Halloween. A lot of snow fell and a lot of damage followed. Due to the leaves still being on the trees and the heavy snow, much of the state lost power and many trees were damaged. While many people were without power for days, we were lucky to only lose it for 1 day.
In November, Eric attended Splash at MIT down in Cambridge, MA. Splash is a program of many types of classes taught mostly by MIT students over a 2 day period. Eric very much enjoyed his time there.
I, once again, participated in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo for short). The idea of nanowrimo is to write the first draft of a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. This was my 7th year of participating and my first year of actually making it over 50,000. I was very excited to be a winner this year. However, the novel is not done yet. I’m hoping to complete it before next November when it is time to start a new novel. For anyone interested in trying this, the website is www.nanowrimo.org.
We spent a quiet day at home for Thanksgiving with our friends Trevor, Sheri, and Amanda. We had homemade raviolis and several people spent the day watching The Godfather on tv. The rest of us spent time visiting and going through sales papers for black Friday. Later that weekend, we had other friends over for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Most of December was spent getting ready for Christmas – sending cards, purchasing gifts, etc. Randy took a trip to Connecticut for work. Before I knew it, Christmas was here. The weekend was spent with family and friends. Then, it was New Year’s Eve. We spent a quiet evening at home with our friends Mike, Jeanne, and Chris. We had chinese food and other snacks, visited and played a game, and then toasted the new year in with champagne.
The year was also sprinkled with things such as SCA events, school field trips, weaving circle, and get-togethers with friends.
And now we are in 2012. I am going to attempt to do quarterly updates this year instead of one annual letter. And, I hope to post other blogs in between. So keep an eye out. Hopefully, you’ll hear from me more often this year.
Happy New Year!!
Amy