Helping out. John, Heather, and Papa 

Sunset in Oregon 

Oh how cute 

Crater lake in Oregon 

Watch out for that black wild animal behind you! 

Sliding like a champ! 

Heather, Tim & Amour at the Portland Rose Gardens 

It's not all that bad.

We have the doggie!!!! She's sooo cute!
Since being back, I have been going going going. From NZ to Santa Barbara, to LA for 4 days, to Denver to play rugby, to San Francisco/Orinda for 4 days, to Sacramento, to Chico, to Portland Oregon, to Kennewick Washington to see dad for 3 days, back to Orinda! Boyo that's some time in the car! Here's some pics though of what we did...

Back in Black!

After 8 months in kiwiland, we're back! Painted black and ready to start life, we're back. I think being back has been a very strange realization on how different it can be from one place to another on this small planet. New Zealand... green, young, outdoorsy, open-minded, and absolutely rugby mad! the US... brown, harsh, old, cars, traffic, cemente, people, busy, going going going, cars, traffic! I think the oddest thing for me (Tim here) was flying out of NZ and arriving into Los Angeles. Flying over this human grid of cars, houses, and streets stretching as far as the eye can see. Non-stop movement and colors moving around and around. Landing and being shutled like cattle into the customs. Being pushed out of the womb into harsh reality where 200 people are shoving one another to get out of the terminal! Once out... you get into your car. In NZ, we got delayed by 2 hours... putting us into LA at 3:30PM. RUSH HOUR! I sat in the car for 3 hours to go 100 miles. Then got back into the car to drive to Santa Barbara for another 3.5 hours. Wheew.... welcome back!