Back to the USA and back to the blog for a quick update. We’ve been having so much fun meeting up with friends and family since we arrived in California two weeks ago that there hasn’t been much time for anything else. We’ve done far too much to capture in one post, but here’s the quick recap.
After 5 months in New Zealand and 30+ hours of traveling, could there be anything more American than going to the San Diego Fair, eating fried oreos, twinkies, apples and avocados, seeing a Johnny Cash cover band, and trying to win cheap stuffed animals? Probably not. We met up with our friends Ryan and Karin in San Diego and had a great couple of days that also included a Swedish Midsummer’s party and a snorkeling adventure in search of sharks (only saw one).
We then zipped up the coast to San Francisco to meet up with the Hipple family and the start of a two week feeding frenzy. The past week has been a blur of good times, burritos, hills, donuts, surrey rides, burritos, laughter, trips to the playground with the kids and good music. After a few days in San Fran with Ethan as our tour guide we all drove north to the Kate Wolf Music Festival where spent a few days listening to good music and surviving the 100+ degree heat.
Now we’re back in San Fran in the midst of Albers Fest with Mom, Dad, Ken, Ellen and little Timmy. I’ll get into all that we’ve done and how awesome it is to have the cutest nephew in the world later. As hard as it was to leave New Zealand and the dream life we were living there, coming back to our family and friends was just what we needed. We had been looking forward to these few weeks for a while, and the time that we’ll have with Joanie’s family when we get to Michigan. There’s still more to come with a quick trip out to Yosemite and then we’re back on the road heading east again.
More pictures will be coming soon…once I find that camera cord.
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Tags: California, family, friends

So glad you are on your way to The BEACH! Wish we could have been there with you last week!
We can’t wait to see you all. We miss you soooooo much. We’ll be in PA from July 11th through July 27th or so. Then I’ll be in Santa Barbara from August 8th through August 13th. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to do the whole week of the beach. I have something for work right in the middle of the week.
When will you be this way?