A Trip to the other side of the Pond. . . by Amy

The first two weeks of September I was able to visit family and friends in the U.S. It was a short trip but definitely filled to the brim. Gabriel was able to come with me and experienced much since it was his first time in airplane, his first time to the U.S., his first time meeting my family. . . but he enjoyed it all and was able to see a lot of the country thanks to the roadtrip from Chicago to Escondido with my parents and Phil.

The first few days of our trip were spent in Chicago hanging out with Annette and seeing some of the sites. Unfortunately we only had two days in the area and I wasn´t able to see many of my friends in the area. The highlights were seeing baby Graham, staying in a hotel downtown with Annette, and taking the sunset boat tour of Chicago.

Then we hit the road in the camper! My parents and Phil had driven out for Josh and Caroline´s wedding so Gabriel and I took the opportunity to hitch a ride with them, spend more time with them, and see some of the country. Well, we stopped in Oskaloosa and got a tour of a farm there from Dad´s friend, visited the extended family in Denver and were able to climb also, stayed over with Andy and Kiara in Phoenix with a hike up Camelback Mt. and pancakes that are thrown at you in the morning, and then a climb up Suicide Rock in Idyllwild before arriving home 6 days after leaving Chitown.

Gabriel at the Black Canyon of the Gunnisen, Colorado

At the Grand Canyon

At home, the activities were packed in too. Monday was holiday and so all the fam plus some family friends came up for a BBQ. I was able to meet my new niece, Megan, what a cutie! Gabriel was a little over whelmed by the amount of people and his lack of English. . . thanks to Aunt Mary for chatting it up with him:) Andy and Kiara and kids came out for four days which was great cause we got spend more time together. We got together with Heather and kids to visit Balboa park, had a picnic there, Gabriel and I saw the expo of Body Works. We all went to the beach another day and enjoyed the nice temp of the water and then went for a great dinner at Jack and Cheryls beautiful house. Gabriel and I and Mom also went to the Wild Animal Park which is a must for any visitors to my house:) Dad took Gabriel on a tour of different constuction material stores since Gabriel works in one and was interested in the differences between the U.S. and Spain.

Watch out for the gorillas at the zoo, they might eat your finger!

What a lot of nieces and nephews, and Erin and Megan are missing!

That was our trip, before we knew it our time to leave had came and after a very looong day of traveling we were back in Valdepeñas. I will be starting my fulltime work this Thursday with a pretty full schedule of kids and also some adult classes. I´m excited to start and look forward to the new experiences and challenges that await me this year. I am going to try to be better at updates so if you don´t hear from me in a while don´t be afraid to give me a nudge.. . Also, I have set this up so that friends and family will receive an email when I make an entry. If you are reading this and did NOT receive email notice and would like to, contact me and give me your email address!

Lots of love to everyone I saw and didn´t get to see on my visit home!! Miss you guys,

Amy