Meredith had the duck face going on while we were in town.

Good times in Beecher!

Lucky for me I got to experience May Day at Joseph and Sarah’s house, a few doctor appointments with Alison’s baby’s doctor, and been helping her prepare for the arrival of Owen.

Alison is due any minute now!  She looks really good.

The girls!!!

The next day, November 3rd, Sebastien went to a real salon and had an expert shave it off.

After we were clean, waxed, and packed we headed to the Phoenix airport for the first leg of our flight.  My big backpack was stuffed and my carry on backpack was full as well.  A little heavy but doable.  Our flight to LAX was about an hour with no complications.  Once in LAX we had walked about a half a mile to the international gate.  Qantas had a very small area for check in and the lady at the counter was not very friendly.  I had to eliminate a book from my carry on because I was over the carry on limit.  The most you could carry on is 7 kilos.

Once we had our bags checked-in Alison picked us up for dinner.   I am bummed that I will be missing watching her transformation over the next 9 months.  After some food we returned to the airport and tearfully said “good bye”.  Now it was just Sebastien and I on our puffin adventure.

We quickly made it through the security checks and headed to Chili’s for some beers.  There we meet two New Zealand guys who come to the states about 4 times a year to buy old cars .  They were very interesting and I only understood half of what they were saying.  However, they were able to inform us that instead of our flight being 16 hours (which is what we had initially believed) it was only a 12/13 hour flight.  YIPPEEEE!!!  After a few laughs with them we boarded our sold out plane towards Brisbane.

I sat next to this gal who had flown from Brisbane to New York City to run in the marathon.  I couldn’t believe she had flown all that way just for the marathon and then back within 5 days.  She provided us with some hints and tips for getting around Aussie.  The flight on a whole wasn’t to bad.  We both got about 4-6 hours of sleep and the food was decent.  It was a good idea to leave late at night.  We landed around 8 AM on the 5th of November.  We lost a full day somewhere over the Pacific.

Once we landed we gathered our belongings and conveniently took and train and bus to Burleigh Heads.  Which is a beach town south of Surfers Paradise.  We are staying in a Quality Inn like hotel called Outrigger Hotel.  It is decent.  It is a block from the beach which after we dropped off our stuff we checked out.  The sand here reminds me of the sand on Coronado.  Very beautiful stretch of beach.  There were a ton of clear jelly fish on the beach.  We asked John, the lifeguard, about the dangers of them.  He chatted with us for about 10 minutes about this and that.  From surfboards to his motivation in life.  Again, we understood about half of what he was talking about.

We also went grocery shopping which was a shock!  Food here is very expensive.  We purchased a loaf of bread, hummus, some fruit, chicken, and a few other things which cost bout $50.00.  A 4 pack of Guinness was $15.00.  After making ourselves some dinner I was exhausted and we feel asleep pretty early.  Our bed is very hard but it didn’t seem to disrupt my sleep.

Since we fell asleep so early we were up around 6:30 this morning.  After doing our morning routines we walked to the beach and eat our breakfast.  We noticed a dark sky far off the coast and as we watched it the darkness grew closer and closer.  After about 30 minutes it was upon us as was the rain.  So we returned to our hotel and was able to skype with my mom and Alison.

Here are some pictures the view we have of Surfers Paradise and the area where we are staying.

Last night, we slept on the full bed.  Transitioning from the California king to a full bed wasn’t that bad but I will miss the luxury of sprawling out when I sleep.  There is going to be a lot of spooning from here on out.

It is finally hitting me.  I had dinner with my friend Judith last night and there were moments when I became very present that I will not see her for a long time.  I am going to meet up with Carina and, hopefully, Tammy today to also say “good bye”.  All this is making it much more real!

Sebastien has also been making comments about leaving his comforts.  This has been a very comfortable house for us.  Now that we are leaving tomorrow I am realizing how wonderful this puffin nest was for our first place together.  Where we got engaged.  When we return to San Diego we will live up in North County so this is also the end of my time in OB.

This is a picture from Guy’s house taken about a week or so ago.  Guy, Megan, and Pepa had a gathering of sorts to celebrate our engagement and to say “bye”.  I tried to find a picture of our puffin nest but it was not on the mini computer.  Which is what I am operating on now that I sold my other computer.  Lots of minimizing going on in our lives at the moment.

I am really going to try hard to post often.  My guess is that it maybe hard since now Sebastien and I will be sharing this computer.

We had a yard sale this past weekend.  We really needed to sell the motorcycle and the California King bed and a ton of other stuff.   We did pretty good on the little stuff but didn’t sell the bike or the bed.  I think that we are going to take the bed to Good Will.  Here are some pictures of the festivities.

A few more days till we leave for Arizona to drop off my car.  November 3rd we will be on our way to Brisbane, Australia.

When we returned from dinner I laid down on the couch and was playing with my iPod Touch.  While I was doing my brain exercises Sebastien came up behind me and was petting my head.  Again, not unusual.

But then he came and kinda sat down on the floor next to me and said, “I lied to you today.  I wasn’t craving sushi I wanted to go celebrate.”  He then proceed to get down on one knee and I really couldn’t tell you what he said next because I was waving my hands and giggling with excitement.   Of course I said, “YES!!!”.

Sebastien picked out the most perfect ring for me!  It is a band style ring with three rows of diamonds laying flat.  I love it!  We had it sized the next day and now it will not come off when I surf!

The first person we called was my GiaGia (Greek for grandmother) and she was very excited!  My mom and George were coming out on Friday for my birthday so we decided to wait till then to tell them.  Sebastien had told his family a few days earlier and I emailed his mom (thank you google translate) about my excitement.

As of today we have 17 more days before we depart for our puffin trip which we are now calling our honeymoon (before we get married).  We haven’t yet decided if we are going to get married while on our trip or here in San Diego.  Everyone is very excited for us as are we!

Any wedding ideas, places, advise is appreciated!

Carina, Alberto and the lovely Amy picked us up from our hotel and we drove over the Golden Gate bridge to Saulsalitos.  This is an adorable little town that you get to through several very winding roads.  Tammy and Ralph were married in this BEAUTIFUL church!  The whole church was made out of this dark wood.  It had a very intimate feel to it!  She looked beautiful and Ralph looked happy and very relaxed.

After the wedding we were shuttled to the reception which was at a restaurant right on the water facing San Francisco.  It was a very beautiful setting.  Carina, Amy, and I greeted guests at the reception and helped them to their seat.  All the tables were labeled with San Diego beach names.  The theme was beachy and yellow.  Very simple, elegant and romantic!

Sebastien and I had a lot of fun!  My favorite part was watching Sebastien catch the garter!  You all know what that means!!!  We loved being part of that day and look forward to hearing all about the honeymoon!!

The next day we were exhausted but we didn’t fly out till 6 pm.  Of course we had to be out of the room around 12 and for some reason we couldn’t sleep in.  The story of my life lately.  So we got up, dealt with some bathroom/shower issues, and walked around San Francisco.  However, we were so tired that we ended up heading to the public library and taking a nap.  Yea… Just like the homeless people do.

Lars and Seb

After 20 days in the Midwest and out of our routine we were anxious and excited to get back home.  When I saw the Pacific a big smile came over my face.  As soon as we landed we got a cab, took the motor cycle to check the surf, and then grab our boards and wash our energies in the Pacific.  It was a wonderful trip and I look forward to more puffin adventures.

The following day we visited Skip and walked around downtown.  It was one of the most beautiful days of our trip!  Later that evening we had dinner in Greek Town with the Davis’s, Giagia, and Nouna.  It was nice to visit with them and hear about their Key West adventure!  Love you guys!!!

On one of the days we attended a local specialty call a fish broil. Basically you throw fish into a huge pot of boiling water and boil them for 10 minutes. Then the guy throws oil onto the fire and it broils over. Sebastien said that the fish was delicious but it was to bony for me.

The highlight of the trip was when George rented a boat from Sister Bay. Oh what an adventure the puffins had that day! George didn’t feel very comfortable driving the boat, since he had never done so, in which case it was left up to Sebastien and I to operate the water vessel. Honestly the whole thing made me nervous because; 1. we had a baby on board, 2. the water was very choppy, 3. Sebastien had never driven a boat before, and 4. George wanted to show off and anchor near other boats….

For the most part it was a lot of fun and very entertaining. The funniest was watching George and Nick tube. They managed to stay on even though the water was really choppy. Good job boys!!!

A scary moment on the boat, which we laugh about now, is when George wanted to anchor for lunch and I decided to go where there were less boats. Unfortunately, the anchor didn’t seem to ground well and with the windy conditions causing us to drift into the shallow and rocky shore line. Luckily, Sebastien was smart enough to lift the motor out of the water as we struggled to get the motor started.  Sebastien and I seemed to be the only ones stressed about the whole thing.  In the end we managed to escape near death with only a few scratches (which were to the motor). All in all, I think Abby had the best time. She smiled and laughed the most!

It was a wonderful vacation and very nice to spend time with my family.   We defiantly appreciate the time we got to spend with everyone and all the love!