Globe Trotting

So. We spent the last four weeks traveling around the world...

On the way to the USA, we had a ten hour layover in Johannesburg, arriving just in time to watch the lions feed at Lion's Park :-)

cheetahs are my favorite and they have the cutest babies in the world!!

Next, we had 5 hours to wait in both London and Chicago...and finally we arrived in Traverse City, Michigan, where my parents drove us another hour by car to their forest home. The whole trip took us about two and a half days. A variety of critters were waiting to welcome Richard to the USA...

Charlie!!!

some doggies

wolves

some baby bears

wild turkeys

elk

a bunny

...and many little chipmunks!

We had the best time with my parents, grilling hotdogs, roasting s'mores, kayaking down rivers, climbing through forests.

We drove up to Mackinac Island...it's this little dot situated between the upper and lower peninsulas that make up the state of Michigan. You have to take a ferry to get there and they don't allow cars on the island, making it a very peaceful little hideout. We took a carriage tour around town and stopped off at the most beautiful butterfly garden I've ever visited!! 

I realize that this is probably a few too many butterfly pictures for this post but look how pretty!!!!!!

 We had the best time celebrating Sue's 60th birthday! The day started out with key lime martinis and it only got better from there:

...especially when Vader stopped by.

In the middle of all of this forest fun, we drove down to Detroit and stayed with my incredibly generous little cousins, Bob and Ash. Bob, a Marine infantry war vet, (read: real American boy) quickly took Richard under his wing and introduced him to things like golf, shooting guns, Taco Bell, and drinking too much beer with his buddies the night before a flight to California.

a new special bromance was created.

Aunts and uncles joined us to take Richard to the batting cages and mini golf, followed by an All-American day of baseball...

the coolest kids.

...annnnd we lost, but we still had an amazing time. 

The next day, we caught a flight to visit another branch of the family tree in Santa Cruz, California. The last time I saw my cousin Jen, I was about five years old, so I was kind of nervous to "meet" her again and her family. Jen and her husband Brendan found us, and within seconds I felt at ease, like I had known them this whole time :-) 

Our California adventures entailed a day at the boardwalk; riding rides and eating fried food (p.s. garlic french fries?!? omg. amazing.) Hiking through the redwood forests, beach volleyball, surfing in the pool, and hanging out with some sea lions. The kids taught Richard about peanut butter (and peanut butter s'mores!) and he taught them a little bit about Reunion Island. I think it was a fair trade. Everything was just perfect!

Jen and Brendan

Surf assist!

The sheer size of these trees seriously just takes your breath away.

Three of the most polite, interesting, and well-behaved kids I've ever met!!

The last week of vacation we spent back with my parents, buying a million things you can't find on Reunion Island and trying to fit them all in suitcases. In the end...we had seven bags with us and some kind of guardian angel because we didn't end up having to pay for ANY of the bags!?!? I have no idea how that happened, but I wasn't going to start asking around.

After a particularly heartbreaking goodbye to my family and to Charlie, we set off on our second three day tour back around the world. This time our long layover was in London. We hopped over to visit Ben, strolled along the River Thames, headed to a Covent Garden pub for fish and chips, and that was about all we could handle. Neither of us slept on the flight in from Chicago and I was so tired my head was numb.

Sadly it only got worse, and soon we found ourselves sitting in the airplane for two hours STILL waiting to leave London for some unknown reason, and I'm of course stuck in a middle seat next to an overweight lady who is already snoring. By the time we arrived in Johannesburg, eleven hours after finally taking off (still no sleep) I was a frazzled, crying mess. All I can remember saying is " I am NEVER making this trip straight through again!!!!" There might have also been a lot of bitching about why we have to live on the other side of the world...but you know, I was tired and the memories are slightly hazy.

I read once that jet lag is much worse when you're traveling East. At first I thought that I was always so excited to be home that I didn't notice it in the US, but now I'm definitely seeing a pattern. I'm knocked out for at least a week every time I come back to Reunion.

So. Today, I'm taking it slow...because tomorrow it's back to the airport for a new adventure...Madagascar!!