Family Reunion in California

Hola! We spent the last 3 weeks in California resting and visiting with family. All our kids flew in from Germany and/or Mexico and it was so great to see them. We relaxed from our travels to South East Asia and our kids enjoyed the sun after a long, cold winter.

Oranges and Tangerines in my parent's yard

My mother’s house is in the badlands where you can walk for hours… if you bring water. It is dry, dry, dry and about 30 degrees in the spring.

My parents live in Moreno Valley, they have a great house with foosball (kicker), pool table and nice big garden. It was really hot in Moreno Valley - about 30 degrees.

Our family hike to Box Springs was like a poor man's safari when wild burros surrounded our car and  we saw California Roadrunners.

Wild burros in Southern California are abundant in the local hills and will eat everything in your garden if you do not keep them out

It seems like the Brainloop employees are better at foosball because they had several tables at work

Family Reunion

We were very happy that our family from Colorado also joined us at beach. This is the whole group and for those of you who have often asked me how many people are staying at our house when family is visiting from USA… this is it. Lots and lots of cousins from Germany, California and Colorado

It is never boring with this many kids so … and we are all very competitive so a game of volleyball between all cousins was quickly organized.

Also, my brother prepared a Crab boil for over 20 people at the camper on Camp Pendleton. This involves throwing corn, potatoes, crab legs, shrimp and spices in huge pots and then eating it with your hands covered in butter.

Carlsbad, California

We stayed a week at Carlsbad in a house which was part of the Ocean Palms Resort. This was a bit pricier then camping at Camp Pendleton but Uli does not like camping (neither do I).

In Carlsbad, there were many baby seals on the beach. They are very cute but stay away… they bite. Due to warming of the oceans many of the mothers are leaving their babies for longer to find food and the babies end up on the beach looking for mama.

The house was decorated in Hawaiian style which made us homesick for Hawaii.

The house had a full kitchen with Granite Island where we cooked big meals for everyone

Whale Watching at Dana Point

California is famous for the whales which go up and down the coast to mate in Baja Mexico. Capt. Dave has a catamaran which we went out on to see these whales and dolphins up close. This is the most animal-friendly tour that I know of in Southern California. Capt. Dave also regularly saves whales and dolphins tangled up in fisher nets.

The catamaran is a lot of fun and you can stand up front in the splash zone which is very fun after you get out of harbor. Notice, I am up with the kids… front and center. I  basically pushed all the kids out of the way to get the front spot.

Andreas and Erika enjoyed the Whale watching

Graduation Ceremony

Andrea graduated from University of Klagenfurt in January and was not able to attend her graduation because she was in Mexico so we had an impromptu graduation for her in Carlsbad.

Uli made a very nice speech and Amanda provided the graduation robe and cap from her high school.

All good things must come to an end; Andrea, Erika, Michi and Naomi are back to school and work and we are on our way to South America. I am writing this blog from the airport in Mexico City.

The plan is to tour Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands with a first stop in Aeriquipo to learn Spanish.  Maybe the next blog entries will be in Spanish. (I really feel sorry for the poor person who has to teach us Spanish as we are both pretty language resistant. The last language I learned was c# or maybe java.)

Adios Amigos! Michelle