Another year bites the dust

As the year draws to a close it's impossible not to think about what the past 12 months have held and what the next will bring. I'm a fairly nostalgic person so I quite like pondering on what has been and how things have changed since December 31 last year.

As a family, we've become more settled into our lives in Dubai. We've had adventures in the desert, on the creek and on the beach. We've brunched, we've played, we've sweated (a lot). We had a visit home to see loved ones with a fun stopover in Singapore, but we were happy to return to our life in the Middle East ready for new adventures. We ended the year playing in the snow in Germany. What a life! How on earth can I be anything but pleased with myself?!

The kids have grown so, so much. Lil-lil is a little lady, Goosey is a bright spark reading and writing and Darbs is our little bruiser.

Skip and I have too. The pair of us were having lunch the other day at a lovely restaurant and were saying that we still pinch ourselves that we live here and this is our life. The experiences we've had, the people we've met and now call friends. We still can't believe that we ended up here - we really are very, very lucky.

What does the next 12 months have in store? Well, I hope it has just as many adventures as this year. I hope we're just as happy as we are now. I hope the kids remain as healthy as they are and continue to grow and learn as they have. I hope there are a few fun surprises as well, as what is life without surprises?

I want all of us to push ourselves just a little in 2014 too and I've been inspired by a lovely friend to write out new things I want to do and try in the coming year. I'll hopefully share that with you tomorrow.