Blogging fail.

First trip home…

So yeah… I have come to the conclusion I am a failure at blogging… not for long though!  I am finally back on track with some form of a schedule and hope to get back in to the habit of 2 blog posts a week!  (That is the goal anyways!)    We had an epic trip home and then were Australia’d with busted internet when we got back.  Followed by visitors for 2 weeks, moving to a new house for our second year (that I spent 3 weeks of full time painting and cleaning prior to the move) and then internet was turned off for 3 weeks to “transfer” from the apartment to the house (Australia’s). Thankfully we are up and running again J

It is hard to fully recap the trip home.  It was, as expected full of ups and downs and very emotional.  I had prepped myself to be more overwhelmed than I actually was which was to my benefit.  Although, the things that really stuck out in my mind and got me thinking were much different than I thought would effect me… lets just get to the quick recap and hopefully my ramblings will start to make a bit more sense J

We arrived at LAX after our long direct flight from Sydney to find ourselves with a flight delay to Boston.  Not a huge deal, as it gave us more time to grab a quick bite to eat.  What better way to welcome ourselves back to the States than lunch/dinner (whatever time our bodies thought it was at the moment) than Chili’s.  Woo.  Brings me back to my high school days.  But I digress…

I can’t exactly remember the last time we had gone to Chili’s, as the one in Natick/Framingham had closed years ago.  I do however fondly remember the south west egg rolls.  Yum. 

So we go and quickly get seated for our sampling of fried appetizer goodness.  Then something crazy happened… we were re-introduced to American service.  Holy crap.  I swear to you all, I thought this was the most amazing service we have had at a restaurant in months (and yes I am aware it was at an airport Chilis).  A waitress checking in to make sure everything is okay,  free refills on my iced tea, the waitress just getting me more iced tea without having to ask?!  Yup, it was good to be back.

Back in Boston/The 603

We got to my parents much later than anticipated due to the flight delay.  But that didn’t stop us from eating some Tripoli pizza, having wine and a long catch up chat with my parents and brother.  Good times.  Even though over 10 months had gone by at that point, it felt like no time had past since we were last sitting in the kitchen talking.  Very strange.

Part of the reason for the timing of our trip was to see my brother graduate from high school.  It was supposed to be the following day, but was delayed due to rain/thunderstorms.  We took advantage of the extra time by running some errands to pick up stuff on our “to buy in the states” list.  Really a modge podge of food stuff we can’t easily/cheaply get in Sydney (ie peanut butter M&Ms.  You know, the important stuff).  I did a quick Target run with my sister.  Reverse culture shock #2.  How did I forget about the size of stores like Target/Walmart?!  Not to mention the sheer magnitude of options for everything… You would have thought I had never lived in the States based on how I was reacting to my excessive options for cereals, candy, sunscreens… everything really. 

All of these observations led to one of my internal debates which I will get to in more detail at a later time… but really as Americans we do have the luxury of excess in most aspects of life.  There is a part of me, which loves having so many options when I am at a store.  It certainly makes things easier than it can be in Australia where I have trouble finding things I need sometimes.  But walking around Target that day, I questioned myself a bit regarding the need for quite so many choices.

 Kind of random photo, but this is liquorice made here in Sydney and it is

cheaper at Target in Salem, NH... go figure.

 Run with Katelyn/Graduation

Quick back track now to the brother’s graduation.  Because they pushed it back a day, it was a bit chaotic.  In my quest to get other’s in my life more into running, I had conned one of my sisters into doing a 10K with me up in Portsmouth, NH.  This was her longest run and she did awesome.  It was a pretty fun atmosphere for the run as it was during the Market Day festivities.  Running through certain parts of neighborhoods there was almost a block party vibe with people out cheering and drinking… good times.  Here is a picture of us pre-race looking good… yes, we did coordinate outfits.

Post-race we went off to the graduation.  It was really nice to be home for this as we have missed so many important life events over the past year. 

 Nice picture of the family after graduation.  Katelyn and I were looking 

very festive in our running gear.

Touring around Boston

The following week was spent running around like crazy people. I did in fact feel I needed a vacation from this vacation.  It is hard being back for such a short time and feeling like there are so many people to see.  I think I was a bit worried that I would feel like a tourist coming back and not at home anymore.  That thought disappeared the first day we drove into Boston for appointments and meeting up with friends.  Yeah.  It still feels like home.

 Meghan took Katelyn and I out for a birthday dinner at the Melting Pot.  

Fun sister bonding time :)

Jackson

There were several “happy places” on the trip home.  This area of New Hampshire is really special… I spent holidays here when I was young, we got married at an inn there… it was really relaxing and great to get away for a few days here.

A little bit of a nature walk in the White Mountains.  

This is a picture using our new camera from Jackson Falls.  

 Oh Jackson Bridge.  Makes me think of our wedding weekend.

Random thoughts post trip

Things have really changed in my views of life and the world (not to get too deep here).  I didn’t realize how different I am now after living overseas for a year until I was dropped back into our “old life”.  Sometimes it just felt strange to be there.  It was like really nothing has changed for people at home since we left.  I know that is not entirely true… friends have gotten married, people have kids, moves to new homes, new jobs, etc… but something seemed stagnant in a way.  Not to say it was a bad thing entirely.  I think it will be easy to jump back to life as we knew it next year, but I am realizing now there are A LOT of things I love about my life in Sydney.  I suppose there will be more talk of all this throughout the year as I have more time to process it all.

 My obsession with road signs continues.  

Wedding/Disneyland

The trip capped off with our good friends wedding and a stop over in LA (side trip to Disneyland!) to see the brother-in-law.  Both super fun.  Seeing that this post is so long, I will just show some fun pics  (not to mention there will be more Disney soon…)

My brother-in-law is trying to rival our views in Sydney from his apartment :)

Alright... one more post to come to update on life in Sydney since returning... should be up in the next 2 days.  Then my goal is one quick recipe post before we head back to the states next Friday.  Yeah, you read right... back to the states.  Hubby has a work training session.  Lucky for me it is in Orlando.  That means Disney World.  And yes, that is enough reason to do the epic flight again.  More to come on that next time!