First trip home!

Hello and sorry for the delays in my postings. The great thing about traveling a lot is the travel. The bad part is that you never seem to have enough time to get anything done (blogging, sleeping...you know the basics). I am now in L.A. after my first trip back to Colorado since my move to NZ. It was great and hectic. Sorry for those I wasn't able to connect with but I guess that means you have to come visit me now :-)

I've written a few things on the differences I've seen in NZ and now after returning I've noticed some "differences" in the U.S. as well. First and foremost it's so much bigger! In NZ I live in the largest city in the country (Auckland is about 1 mil) but it seems small by comparison. When I landed in LAX after a 12 hour flight I looked like Crocodile Dundee staring at the skyline and trying to maneuver my luggage cart onto the elevator crammed with about 15 other people...at one point I just watched as hundreds of cars whizzed by. I also immediately noticed the use of cell phones and blackberries. Now as a recovering crackberry addict I understand the benefits but now living in NZ I only have 60 minutes on my cellphone and blackberry service is just cost prohibitive so returning to the lands of 3,000 anytime minutes was a change. Finally, the shopping. Wow. Some could accuse us Americans as being obsessed with consuming but I have to admit I miss some of the selection while I'm on our little island. When I first walked into Target I was walking around in awe. So many choices! In NZ you can get pretty much anything you can get in the States but all the choices aren't in one place and you're going to pay a lot more for it- so seeing rows of shampoos and streets full of large shops was almost a shock. When I lived in Denver I felt like I had to go to L.A. or New York to really access a big city with big-city options. By comparison, Denver is now my new mecca. But like all good things too much of it was overkill and after experiencing Cherry Creek mall with Christmas crowds more than once I did get a craving for some small town Kiwi shopping.

As always my trip home was busy and I didn't get to do half of what I'd planned. However I did get to hang out with my nephews and learn that Brady can read heavier books than I, Cory is going to be the next Zach Effron, Rylie likes to body slam my dog and Lucas taught me the valuable lesson of saying "hi" with a cute smile can get you out of any awkward situation.

My parents were amazing as always including when I wrecked my dad's car I borrowed and driving me to the airport at 4am this morning to ship the dog. The siblings are great and the Dunn household is never a dull moment.

I am now in LA and just dropped Dempsey off at the USDA before he boards a plane to NZ. He will arrive there a few days before I do and has to remain in custody for 30 days. The process has been a project (to say the least) but I'm excited to have my little friend in our house abroad. I can't wait to see his reaction to the ocean.

As always we'd love some visitors and until then, send me your holiday news and I'll be share my first Christmas away from my family. If you're going to be away doing it with your love and on the beach is a great alternative!

Merry Merry to all
-C