In January, our brother-in-law Garry was baptized in the Russian Orthodox faith.
A few days later, we went to Garry and Katy's house to celebrate Orthodox Christmas

We got some decent snow this winter (finally), which Cookie and I enjoyed.
The girls continued their tradition of unusual snow sculptures with this snow fairy

Tequila, our latest dog, likes the snow too

Super Bowl Sunday found us at No Place, the local Steelers bar, to cheer on our heroes with the
kids, Joni's sister Alex, and many rowdy and very friendly Steeler fans

Beth and Gix texting during commercials; Beth and I watching the tense final two minutes. As you
might imagine, after Santonio Holmes caught that TD pass, pandemonium reigned at No Place

Also in February, my former boss Dorbi
invited me, Joni, and my folks to her house
for an awesome Serbian dinner

Our friends Dan and Jessica Motto had their first child, Lucas Michael. 
Beth performed in the chorus of her high school's production of 42nd Street,
and really shined in the "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" number (far right)

While we were in Florida to scatter my stepfather Terry's ashes, we went out looking for manatees...

...scored a lot of "holes-in-one" playing mini-golf, and went to the beach 

The girls and the Gulf of Mexico, which Terry will always be a part of

At the Naples Zoo, we took in a show that featured an ocelot, a sloth...

...and an Asian bearcat. Ally enjoyed feeding the very friendly ducks. Speaking of feeding...

...you couldn't pay me enough to feed gators by hand.

While in Tallahassee to visit Joni's cousins, the Lentz family, we went to the zoo there...

...where, in addition to the usual animals, we saw a wild white squirrel, a red wolf...

...and an extremely rare Florida panther.

In April, Beth was inducted into the National Honor Society, and Alex
(with Garry as her sponsor) converted to the Orthodox faith, too

Ally (here with her friends Shannon and Delaney)
got straight A's all year in every subject

In May, Ally's class took a field trip to St. Mary's City to learn about life in colonial Maryland.
At the printer's shop, she served as the printer's impromptu, temporary apprentice

At "The Dove," a reconstructed colonial-era ship in St. Mary's. Heave to, ye swabs!

Ally and her friends Jade and Lexie at a birthday party for Lexie and her cousin Dylan, our neighbor; 
Ally also raised painted lady butterflies from caterpillars and set them free in our backyard

We hosted birthday parties for the girls' younger cousins, Maggie and Dmitri
We also went to see the Bowie Baysox and their way-cool green mascot, Louie

Towards the end of the school year, Ally's school has Field Day, where each classroom competes 
against the others in various outdoor games. Mrs. Cox's class had a Survivor theme for their shirts

Reminder #5342 that I live in a semi-rural area: my neighbor Mike found a snapping turtle in his driveway.
I put the turtle in Ally's wagon, and Mike and I (with our neighbor Andy and our kids following along)
took the turtle to the water's edge (the next street down from our place) and let him go

In June, the girls had their annual performance with their dance troupe

To finish the school year, Ally's class had a "mock trial,"
where her friend Delaney was the "Judge" and Ally
was "The Mayor." 

Also in June, we lost our cat Cougar to terminal lung disease.
We only had him a year, but he was an awesome cat