...you might ask, somewhat crossly? All over the place, we are happy to answer!
At the end of November we left New Zealand for the first time since we arrived in April 2008 - almost 20 months later. We departed on the heels of our beloved reasons-for-being-together, the Youngs, and followed them up to Auckland before boarding our red-eye to San Francisco (more on their awesome visit later!)
Traveling this time around was much easier, both since the girls are older and we weren't having to fly too many consecutive flights. Our arrival to New Zealand involved 4 planes, 9 50lb. checked bags and 32 hours of travel, so we were very excited to be getting off the plane with only 2 bags in San Francisco. We also hadn't been back to the Bay Area since we moved in 2005, so it was a homecoming on many levels.
The first thing we noticed was how huge all the cars seemed. A Mitsubishi Pajero is one of the larger vehicles on the road here in Wellington, and Suburban-size trucks from what I can tell are just unheard of. SFO's Budget was out of mid-sized cars so we ended up in a very new, very huge Ford Explorer:
The second thing we noticed was fall, the perfect kind of fall Charlie Brown & his friends have. Leaves were blowing across the parking lot and the light had a beautiful, pale gold quality. We giddily made the drive up 19th Avenue to the Golden Gate, snapping pictures all along the way and rolling our windows down to breathe in the eucalyptus.
We arrived at our old neighbors' the Eversons' house in time for lunch (snacks from Trader Joe's, thanks Mark!), relaxed for a bit afterwards and then hit a nearby playground to let off some kid-energy. Of course Sophie's shoes were off before she stepped foot on the playground:
After some outdoor playtime we returned to the Eversons' and ordered our old stand-by from Amici's pizzeria in San Rafael - the Trentino. It was just as good as we remembered, and very fun to drive past both our old apartments on Mission and B Streets. I vaguely remember staying up too late catching up but then sleeping like a stone in Mark & Julie's very comfortable guest room.
At the end of November we left New Zealand for the first time since we arrived in April 2008 - almost 20 months later. We departed on the heels of our beloved reasons-for-being-together, the Youngs, and followed them up to Auckland before boarding our red-eye to San Francisco (more on their awesome visit later!)
Traveling this time around was much easier, both since the girls are older and we weren't having to fly too many consecutive flights. Our arrival to New Zealand involved 4 planes, 9 50lb. checked bags and 32 hours of travel, so we were very excited to be getting off the plane with only 2 bags in San Francisco. We also hadn't been back to the Bay Area since we moved in 2005, so it was a homecoming on many levels.
The first thing we noticed was how huge all the cars seemed. A Mitsubishi Pajero is one of the larger vehicles on the road here in Wellington, and Suburban-size trucks from what I can tell are just unheard of. SFO's Budget was out of mid-sized cars so we ended up in a very new, very huge Ford Explorer:
The second thing we noticed was fall, the perfect kind of fall Charlie Brown & his friends have. Leaves were blowing across the parking lot and the light had a beautiful, pale gold quality. We giddily made the drive up 19th Avenue to the Golden Gate, snapping pictures all along the way and rolling our windows down to breathe in the eucalyptus.
We arrived at our old neighbors' the Eversons' house in time for lunch (snacks from Trader Joe's, thanks Mark!), relaxed for a bit afterwards and then hit a nearby playground to let off some kid-energy. Of course Sophie's shoes were off before she stepped foot on the playground:
After some outdoor playtime we returned to the Eversons' and ordered our old stand-by from Amici's pizzeria in San Rafael - the Trentino. It was just as good as we remembered, and very fun to drive past both our old apartments on Mission and B Streets. I vaguely remember staying up too late catching up but then sleeping like a stone in Mark & Julie's very comfortable guest room.
Miss you guys already.
Come back real soon, and next time get a car that isn't so wimpy and small.