Good-bye Winter... Hello Summer

We can't really complain about winter, especially an Australian winter.  However, we did arrive back home in the US just in time for the first semi-big snow storm in the midwest.  We arrived home on Dec. 7th, sometime in the evening - we were a bit delusional with what time and what day it was, so I will just say it was dark and cold.  It was good to be home, but the flip flops were not a good idea.  We left and it was over 100 degrees here and arrived and it was about 5 degrees, a bit of a difference.  It took us a few days to get over the jet lag.  The first day was running a few errands, mainly getting socks, jeans all stuff expensive in Australia.  I had Joe drive as I was in a state of panic going back to the other side of the road.  At every intersection we just kept saying aloud to each other "turning left, stay in the right stay in the right...." you get the picture.  I was going to give my driving skills a whirl, but then it snowed, and that possessed other challenges, like driving on icy roads.

After about a week in Escanaba we headed out to Colorado to see a few friends and well the mountains.  We sure do miss the mountains and by that time we were freaking out not seeing any sunshine.  We forgot how depressing it was to see no sunshine and just clouds.  So we spent 4 days in Colorado.  I then headed to Elisa's in Madison, WI and Joe headed to Florida to see his brother and pick up our cat to transport to his grandparents home.  Ethan the guy that was watching the cat is in the Air Force and moving again, we just didn't want to see him be bothered by dealing with the cat.  So from there Joe went to Lansing to see his family and deliver the cat, which is a bit overweight since we last saw...a bit of fur stretched across a larger body.  I was a bit bummed not being able to see the cat, but I did get to spend some time with my sister.  

Joe and I met back in Michigan on the 22nd.  I rented a car and drove north and Joe flew home from Lansing.  We then got to visit with a lot of family and headed back home on the 27th to summer.  

We arrived in Australia on the 29th and since we stayed up most of our first flight, we slept a good 8 hours on our second flight, which put us in good shape and less jet lag.  Thank goodness because we were back to work on the 31st.  I think we made it to 7:30 pm on New Years Eve.  I think thats the earliest I've gone to bed on NYE.  This week at work was extremely hot, high 40's C, which is 115 + degrees, with wind = convection oven.  

We are back in Darlington for our 5 days off and it is a bit cooler, high 90's, but I can deal with that over the 100 + flies = misery.

Hope you are all doing well and staying warm.  So good to see you over Christmas.