Week 72: One year later

This week marks one year exactly since we moved to Madison so it was fitting that we started off the week in our old hometown of Boston and wrapped it up here.  Here's what things looked like a year ago, aboard our amazing private flight to move out here to the southern edge of the Arctic Circle:

We had an amazing time on this trip "back home," and were so fortunate to be able to spend a solid 10 days in our former stomping grounds.  We visited with so many wonderful friends and relatives in Boston that I can't possibly list them all or show pictures of all of them, but here are a few representative samples:

Uncle Jared, Aunt Lauren, and Great Grandma Frieda

Lemon's new musical idol Great-Uncle Joel (and of course Great-Aunt Donna, not pictured)

Dear friend Jen and her little cutie Hannah who we met for the first time

And on and on.  Like our last visit to Boston, we had people scheduled basically every waking moment of every day, and managed to see almost everyone.  Leaving Boston for Madison this morning was definitely hard.  On the one hand, our life is very much in Madison now--our house, all our stuff, our jobs.  But, on the other hand, our life is still very much back in Boston, where we have such a strong community.  We keep reminding ourselves that it took 20 years to build our community in Boston, and that we won't forge the same connections in Madison overnight, but the contrast between the two places is pretty stark.

Lemon definitely views Madison as his home, though--he was delighted to be back in his familiar surroundings with all his toys and puzzles.  There were even a few new holiday treats waiting to greet him.  As those of you who know him personally are well aware, for the past month or so he has been absolutely obsessed with buses.  And, lo and behold, a bus of his very own was here to meet him when he arrived (thanks, Uncle Jared!).  He picked it up immediately, carried it all around the house, said the word bus about every 10 seconds for a full hour, and cried whenever anyone attempted to pry it out of his little hands.

There are a few holiday treats in store for me as well--it's snowing at the moment, and the forecast high temperature for Wednesday is -3F.  Welcome home?