In Retrospect

Not a palm tree in sight.

We are enjoying life on land, with its not-boiling-hot weather (I love fall!!), stand-up refrigerators (no more taking everything out of the fridge for that last piece of cheese), employment opportunities, family fun times and vast floor space perfect for crawling babies. But the transition has not been without some nostalgia.  

For one thing, we had an amazing time. With each other, with our boat and with the ocean. We met tons of new people, made lasting friendships, spoke regularly in a foreign language, hiked through jungles, swam in pristine reefs, learned the sport of spearfishing and lived on the ocean for days at a time with no outside contact except the occasional sea bird or passing dolphin pod. People rarely get to experience such complete solitude or to travel so extensively, bringing their home with them.

And I wish we could have kept going for a few more years, especially up into the Sea of Cortez with its electric blue water and storms of sea life and desert landscape. It just looked incredible, but so it goes sometimes. Even though we didn't travel much this last year, I'm happy that we accomplished something much more important. We were able to stay with our baby, both of us, for almost his entire first year, which is just unheard of normally. You can't get much better than that. 

So without further ado, here are some photos of our trip and beyond. 

And because it just wouldn't be a blog post without some baby pics, here are some photos of Jari since we've been back in the States. I can hardly believe it, but he's almost 1. Just a month and half to go.