back at it!

In 2010 we quit our jobs to travel the world.  On that trip we started to dream about starting a family and hoped that one day we could return to some of the amazing places we visited with this family.  So it is truly a dream come true to bring our kids back to one of our favorite places from our travels, Tanzania! To share this adventure it seems fitting to restart our blog, this time as a family of four, and this time getting to see this magical place through our kids eyes.  It has been incredible to watch them fall in love with this place and these very warm people.  There are a lot of definitions of success, but for us, raising kids who are curious, kind, and enthusiastic about adventure and other cultures is a big one.  We feel like we have won the lottery!

However, this time the travel has been quite different....we flew in, rather than traveling overland on a tuck; smartphones and wi-fi are now ubiquitous; our accommodations have been just a little nicer than the mostly tent camping we did last time; and we are schlepping a lot more stuff because, kids.  

It took us 32 hours to get here, including a 9 hour layover in London.  Which we took advantage of by taking the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station for a whirlwind tour. From there we took another red eye through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a short enough layover that we didn’t leave the airport and then onto Kilimanjaro International Airport to begin our big adventure.  The kids did great with the travel and all the time changes, honestly better than us, it definitely helps to be small with adult sized pillows to lay on.

Aloha, Paradise!

I will start out thanking Scott and Megan for this post. Like his older brother Ben and wife Lisa, who had us travel to Malaysia and Indonesia for their wedding, Scotty and Megan took us to Hawai'i.

Although this was our second time to the island of Oahu, it was our first time to the Big Island of Hawai'i. We spent 4 days around Honolulu, attending the wedding and relaxing with friends. The wedding was amazing, a happy couple, a beautiful location and a great time.











Thanks to our friend Mo, who also made that amazing cake you see above, we got to spend an evening sailing on 'Siesta' off the coast of Honolulu.









After our brief stay on Oahu we took a short flight to the Big Island of Hawai'i where we filled our days exploring. From snorkeling with sea turtles to summiting the 13k ft Mauna Kea (don't be too impressed it was in a Jeep) to seeing the active volcano Kīlauea, we tried to enjoy everything Hawai'i had to offer.













Abby and I were both pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoyed Hawai'i. The different ecosystems take you from barren lava rocks to lush forests. It's really amazing to have so much packed in to an area smaller than the size of Connecticut.






And who can forget the sunsets!







I don't think it will be too long before we're back...

Scenes from Savannah

Quite a change of scenery from last year's Khmer Feast in Cambodia we celebrated Turkey Day with my family in Savannah.  We all ran a Thanksgiving 5k, ate an amazing spread all weekend, took a boat cruise around the island my parents live on and fed the wild dolphins, visited the beach at Tybee Island, and all around enjoyed a family filled weekend.  Here are some trip highlights and I think it is safe to say we have the cutest nephews in the world.

Wine Country

It's been a while since our last post; spending time behind a desk isn't quite as exciting to write about as traveling, but that doesn't mean we're not getting out to explore. We've spent a few long weekends traveling around the US. Our most recent trip was to Sonoma County, California with two of our great friends. We flew into SFO, had an awesome french creole dinner at Brenda's and then drove out to Healdsburg for a weekend of food and wine. We attended the 13th Annual A Wine & Food Affair and tasted our way around the region.

As with our previous trip to Sonoma, the wine was great and the people were friendly, not much more to ask for. It's always tough to pick a favorite winery, but we are huge fans (and wine club members) of Longboard Vineyards. Their wine is consistently amazing and it's a great time hanging out with the Longboard team.

Now for the pics...