And we're back!

After nearly two months of packing, saying good-bye, traveling, unpacking, saying hello, and getting settled back into life in the Northern Hemisphere, we have finally achieved enough organization in our life that we can start blogging again. But before we tell you about all of Zach's newest adventures, we thought it was only fair to share a few of the highlights from the last two months. Warning: we've been busy. We'll start with Australia and share pictures from Montana and Seattle in subsequent posts.



We spent our penultimate weekend in Australia returning to some of our favorite stops on the Great Ocean Road. Despite it being early winter, the weather was gorgeous--cool, mild, calm.



We marvelled at the Twelve Apostles again.



And watched, mesmerized, as the massive waves crashed against the beach, one after another after another.



The final week in Australia was punctuated by several good-bye dinners. Rather than say good-bye, we chose to say "see ya latah" in our best Aussie accent. (It was better than using our best Arnold accent and saying "I'll be bahk.")



On our final night in Shepparton, Zach got to feed Paula the Camel one last time (Mom cried when we said good-bye to her).



Then on June 17, it was off to the airport for the long flight home (we all cried when Glenn dropped us off at the airport).



But Zach's tears didn't last long. He was thrilled when our plane ("vroom-vroom" in Zach-speak), the massive A-380, arrived. The seasoned traveller couldn't wait to get on board!


June 17, 2009


June 30, 2008

The after and before shots are a nice reminder of how much things can change in a year. It feels like Zach left his last vestige of babyhood behind in Australia. As you'll see, he's 100% toddler now!

We have thought long and hard about the best way to sum up our year Down Under in words and pictures, but there's no easy way to do it. It was an incredibly profound, important, life-changing, eye-opening year for all three of us as a family and we're incredibly grateful for the people who helped give us the opportunity to experience such a warm, welcoming country for the people who made us feel at home there.

We miss it (you) everyday....