2017 Review

It’s that time of year again! December 30th 2017, the day when lots of people start planning what to wear in order to see the beginning of 2018 in style. In our family we’ll be going for our annual curry (albeit at a different restaurant this year) and having a nice calm evening with a bit of TV or background music while we play a few games, maybe open a bottle of nice wine and gently welcome 2018 into our lives. But before the curry I always find it a good idea to review the last 12 months on a personal level, I do lots of evaluations of myself and my progress through the year regarding work related things, but I don’t very often sit back and review the personal achievements, family events etc. So what did 2017 see in the Ward world?

• RIAT 2017 – an awesome show of military might, this year we just did the one day trip and took the mother in law! The gallery can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qPCITLLSqgKQnZHZ2
• The Big Bear Hunt – back in our home city of Birmingham we spent a day hunting these artistic bears in glorious sunshine, several miles covered and 35 bears found, we have a few pics here: https://goo.gl/photos/N7X1LvKi32VehaHfA
• USA 2017 – we managed a fortnight over in the US, including a one dayer at Disney Magic Kingdom, it looked similar to when I visited 20 years previous, but a few newer rides and Disney characters made it just a magical (if not more so), gallery of the magic can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cw66ug9HbV578wtG3

On top of those fun events it was work, work, work for the two of us, with Hannah studying and working hard to boost the quality of our fantastic NHS and myself travelling around the country trying to educate and enhance various manufacturing companies, in efforts to put the UK back at the top of the Manufacturing and Tech trees! Into December, we rescued two kittens so that Clara (who’s been with us 3 years today!) could have some playmates, only downside for me is I’m now overrun with females in the house! The newbies, or Kitlets as I call them, are called River and Oswin – spot the Doctor Who references! As Christmas approached I managed to book the 2 weeks off and have spent the majority of it having some quality family time, both in the Ward household with the wife and 3 cats, and also with our wider extended families, most of whom are fairly local. In amongst the hours on Xbox with the 9 year old little brother and fetching cats out of the Christmas tree I have spent some ever so important quality time with Hannah, and as it has been our 3rd Christmas as a married couple and homeowners I think the chill out was long overdue! Chaos resumes on January 2nd Happy New Year Everyone!