America, the Beautiful - Part 1

Our three week American extravaganza has sadly come to an end.  There were essentially three parts to our trip, so I'm going to split these blogs up.

Our trip started and ended in the same way - through somewhat major typhoons.  We were scheduled to leave on Saturday, June 30th, however,  the night before, a level 8 typhoon flag was hoisted.  Look, I'm not sure where this flag is, or who is hoisting it, but that is the lingo in these parts.  I have never been in winds so strong - it was pretty scary!  And, where were we?  Well, we decided that in preparation for being with lots of people non-stop, we should have one last night to ourselves before we left.  So... we were in the tallest building in Hong Kong, ICC, on the 100th floor observation deck.  It was a pretty cool location, but, in hindsight, it might have been better to be a little closer to the ground!

I went to sleep that night thinking that there was no way we were going to be able to take off in the morning, but, when the morning came, the skies were calm and our flight went off without a hitch!  We flew first to Tokyo, where we ran into one of my old colleagues from Nike (seriously... this happens all the time in major Asian airports!).  It was great to catch up.  Our flight from Tokyo to Portland was less than relaxing, even with my new noise-cancelling headphones.  Brian and I had been debating whether we wanted two or three kids prior to this trip, and, I have to say, after being surrounded by a family of four little boys ages three to seven, I'm good with two!  :)  The poor mother of these kids was just outnumbered with a constant chorus of needs for the entire flight.  They were pretty good kids, but it wasn't their bedtime, so they didn't quite get the "they are turning the lights off so it is time to go to sleep even if you aren't tired" thing.  Needless to say, Brian and I got little sleep.  The boys, of course, fell fast asleep as soon as we landed in Portland.  ;)

The next few hours were a blur of happy reunions.  My dear friend Raelee picked Brian and I up at the airport, and then he joined his best man's family for the afternoon while I went to brunch with my "sole sisters" at one of our favorite restaurants.  These ladies are what makes Portland "home" for me.  Most of us met while training for our first marathon back in 2003, and the group just stuck.  It was so great to see them all, but the time is just never enough.

  

My best girls in Portland

We had a few other happy reunions during the trip, of which I took zero pictures.  I'm terrible.  All I can say is, it was wonderful to get to see all of these people that we miss so much!  And... get to eat at all the restaurants we miss... and... get to go shopping for clothing that actually fits!  :)  We did some major damage at Banana Republic - they actually kept the store open for an extra hour so we could check out! 

Bye bye for now, Portland!!

After two jam-packed days in Portland, we flew to Ohio to see my side of the family.  It had been September since we had seen them, and it was just wonderful.  Ohio is still the place where I go when I need to re-charge my batteries, and, though our time was short, it was great to be home with the people that know me best.  Also, though it was hot, the humidity was no where near what it is in Hong Kong - that was a welcome change!!

We needed to pick up a few things in Ohio.  This deodorant absolutely cracked me up - I love the packaging - "same awesomeness, new look".  That's America for you!  :)  (PS - it is pretty awesome!  Brian smells like a cowboy.)

Mom and Dad treated us to tickets to see David Gray for our anniversary.  It was such a nice night.

We also got to see my best friend from college, Ellen, and her husband, John.  They are expecting their first child in October and I couldn't be more excited for them!

On our way back from meeting Ellen & John, we took a quick trip by the Armstrong Space Museum... I'm representing Asia here!

We were trying to pack as many "American" experiences in as we can, so of course we had to pick up a 6 pack of beer at the drive-thru!  Too funny!  :)

We didn't do it on purpose, but our trip home happened to include the 4th of July.  You can't get much more American than that (although, we did NOT eat any apple pie).  We had a great time celebrating at my sister Emily's house.  Mom and Em went over the top preparing yummy food for the day, including a fun American flag dip, which quickly no longer looked like an American flag.  ;)

Matchy-matchy

Oh, yum!

Happy 4th!

Fireworks on the lake by Em & Matt's house - not quite what you see in Hong Kong, but still great to get to be home for the 4th!

We also happened to be in town for the Pitstick family reunion, so that was a great way to get to see my dad's whole side of the family.  Needless to say, we packed a lot into this part of our trip, but still found plenty of time to lounge around in my parents' pool.  We are looking forward to having my family come to Hong Kong, hopefully next year.

We ended our trip with a family photo session... I think it came out pretty nice!!