Home and Away

Two weeks ago, we returned back home to Christchurch from a four-week vacation to the States. It was our first time back during the northern-hemisphere summer, and it was divine. SoCal was typically hot and sunny, but the Pacific Northwest also experienced a stretch of warm and beautiful weather, unusual (at least in my memory) for the middle of June.

In addition to spending lots of fun time with our whole family, we had a ton of fantastic new and repeat adventures during our visit: birthday parties, Disneyland, hiking, kayaking, fishing, meeting up with old friends, swimming in the lake, seeing cool dinosaur fossils, camping out in the back yard,
seeing spacecraft, and going to a 3-D movie.

Some snippets:

But as good as it was to be back in our old stomping grounds, and as much fun as we had, we were also glad to come home.

To reunite with best friends:

 To revisit favorite places:

And to remind ourselves of what a privilege it is to live in such a beautiful place: