We're Home!

Dan, Alexandra and I at Farnsborough Beach, QLD, Australia

(Alex's first trip to the beach!)

Ahhhhhhhh! It's good to be back in our own space! However, it was a little bit sad coming home. I love Australia and Dan's family both, so coming back was kind of bittersweet. Yeah, three weeks isn't long enough and, depending on some things such as pregnancy, we would love to stay six or eight weeks next year.

Anyway-we had a fabulous time! Alexandra did phenomenally well on the plane trips-despite being in the air for an obscene amount of time! Unfortunately, Alex did end up getting sick at the end of the trip-but that's a whole 'nother story. We mostly stayed in Yeppoon with Dan's family, but also squeezed in an outback trip too. That was great fun, especially because I've never been to the outback. This was my fifth trip to Australia and until now, I've just stayed on the coast. Anyway, I'll probably blog separately about the outback experience. Let's just put it this way-it's a WHOLE different world! In Yeppoon, we had a very relaxing visit...a lot of beach walks and picnics, mountain walks, etc. Alex was able to spend a lot of time with her aunties and her nana and deda (dan's parents), who hadn't seen her since she was 7 weeks old! Boy, has she changed a lot. Alex was also able to meet both sets of great grandparents...what a lucky girl to be able to meet both sides!

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Alex adjusted to all the changes. Not only to the different time zone (I have no idea how many we crossed...but there's 14 hours difference between where we live and Australia) but to all the new people and surroundings. She seemed to become more relaxed to change and travel as the trip progressed, which is a relief. Alex has become quite a little flirt too-trying to catch any one's eye to grin at them and poking her tongue at them as well...funny girl!

At the end of the trip, Dan, Alex and I spent a few days in Brisbane to hang out with friends from uni and a day on the Gold Coast. Boy, did that bring back memories!!! Very bittersweet. Dan and I met at Bond University on the Gold Coast in October 2001 when I was studying abroad there. We went back to see the campus and so much has changed. But it was surreal to be back to that same place we met as a new family of three. Especially when the odds were very much stacked against us in the beginning. I was looking for someone to take a picture of the three of us in front of the main campus-but couldn't find anyone. We really wanted to get Alexandra a Bond Uni sweatshirt, but the shop was closed. Oh well, next summer.

Anyway, I was just really flooded with memories of how, for lack of a better word, magical that time was when Dan and I first met. But it was so sad and stressful too because at the back of our minds, my imminent departure was always looming. But man-we had a wonderful, crazy whirlwind time of it. It's different now, of course, but certainly just as wonderful. Being back on the Gold Coast reminded me of who I was nine years ago and who I am now and I can only say that I am so thankful that I had every experience I've had (even the gut-wrenching one of saying goodbye at the train station nine years back, not knowing if we would ever see each other again) and that Dan and I were able to stay committed despite prolonged separations of the geographic variety. It all makes me so thankful for where we are today <3