Trip to California recap

So as many of you know, we took a trip home in April and May of this year. Samantha’s dad needed to have back surgery, so we decided to make a trip up and be with the family. Having been away from the states for over five months, we weren’t sure how we would react to coming home. On the one hand, there’s the possibility of falling back into the ease of living in SoCal and undoing the months of “getting-used-to-things” we went through moving to Tarija. On the other hand, what if we had become truly acclimated to Bolivian life and just plain didn’t like the US anymore? Only time would tell…

The first two weeks of our trip were spent almost entirely with family, bouncing around between El Monte and the high desert. We were there when Sam’s dad had surgery, and thankfully, it went well. It’s a good thing we were there too—her family’s car broke down the day before the surgery and we were able to rent a car and shuttle everyone around. While it’s never ideal to come together because of medical reasons, it was good to see our family and catch up. As great as Skype is, it’s no substitute for getting together.

The rest of the trip was quite a whirlwind—hanging out with friends, getting our fill of cultural activities (like going to Dodger games ;-), and I even got to go surfing. Can’t do that in Bolivia! As soon as we got home to LA my mom has asked “what kind of food are you guys looking forward to”—that’s easy: seafood and pinot noir!

Check out the pics below…

A trip to Disneyland is always good… Especially when it’s free! Thanks O&T!

Our friends the Martin’s always have “interesting” pets. This time, it’s a tarantula.  

Paella is a Sunday tradition in Spain, where they say it is taditionally prepared by men. But I suspect that's because 95% of the prep work is done by the women in the kitchen. Nice job, mom!

The night before we left. Beautiful weather, delicious food, and pinot noir…