Vacation Recap

O.K., here's the recap you've all been waiting for...my much anticipated trip to California. All in all, we had a good time, but as you might have guessed if you've been following my blog for any time now, the weather didn't necessarily cooperate. Imagine that! While we were there, Southern California experienced an "arctic blast", which took temperatures down into the 30s while we were there. So much for the much anticipated warmth and sunshine. I do have to say that we did have a few beautiful days toward the end of our stay, so it wasn't all terrible. Just typical for my luck. I was fortunate enough, however, to break out my shorts one day.

As many of you know, going back "home" after an extended absencence has its pros and cons. I feel terrible that I wasn't able to visit everyone I would have liked to, but I can certainly say that I did the best I could to squeeze in as many visits as possible. I want to give a big shout out to the staff at Shull Elementary School, that I sadly was not able to visit with. I had absentmindedly arranged to have dinner the night of the Christmas party and was not able to make it. If it's any consolation, I was thinking of you all while I was plumping up at The Melting Pot.

We sort of played the roles of nomads during our visit and I have to thank our parents, Patty & Cam, and Gary and Leslie for letting us sack out at their homes. Staying with our good friends was a nice way to be able to do our thing, but still spend time with them. The boys and I had a blast visiting with my life-long friend Sydney, at Knott's Berry Farm, and although we were able to spend time with my dear friend Barbara and her family, it just wasn't enough. Her husband happens to be one of the police officers who had to deal with that terrible mass murder in the city of Covina, CA. Let me tell you, something like that sure gives family, life, and friends a whole new perspective.

Speaking of family, one of the highlights of my trip was being able to meet my nephew Andrew for the first time. He even has my brother's blue eyes! My brother and sister-in-law were fortunate to have the opportunity to adopt him as a newborn, earlier in the year and he is such an adorable and easy going baby. We would all be lucky to have babies as chill as him. It was nice to be able to hold him, feed him, and to give him back to his mom when he got fussy. Now that's what being an aunt is all about!

All in all, we had a very busy, but very nice time visiting our friends and family. Eric was able to do a little hunting, I got to shop, we ate a ton of good/fattening food, the boys and I went to Knotts, and we had a fabulous tea at The Huntington Library to celebrate Eric's mom and brother's birthday on 12/27. I don't know that we could have squeezed in any more activities or visits into our trip. Needless to say, I wasn't sad to head back home to Alaska.

Although being away from home for an extended period gives "home" a whole different perspective, I do plan to leave Alaska more than once during 2009. I have decided that living here isn't a terrible thing, but when you're able to leave a few times during the year, living here is even better.