We are coming to an end of our month long vacation back home in sunny California. The Peace Corps gave us 30 days break when we extended our contract an additional 12 months. We arrived at the end of October to be welcomed to LA engulfed in smoke from the Santa Ana wind fires that took over southern California.
We have been enjoying every minute being back home with our friends and family. We can't tell you how nice it is to not have
mosquitoes swarming, and dirt between our toes.
We have been travelling quite a bit to see everyone this last month. We were able to be a part of
Drew's longest friend's beautiful wedding: Congratulations Mike and
Nika Starkey! We went up to San
Francisco to see our brother Scott and friends in their band,
Arcadio (See link to the right, for a sound clip). We also took a few days to go out to Arizona to see Melissa's Aunt Roxanne and check out potential dental schools.
Phoenix was a definite highlight of our trip topped off with a Suns vs. Bulls basketball game with Roxanne and our grandma.
For our third-year anniversary we stayed at a lodge in the Sequoia National Park to see the giant sequoia trees and take moment to ourselves between all the visiting. Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of family and the of course, scrumptious food.
It was Drew's first time doing a double Thanksgiving in one day on Melissa's side and he didn't seem to have a problem devouring turkey dinners back to back. A day later we joined up with the
Loganbill family in
Cambria for another Thanksgiving at a beautiful house on the ocean.
Now we are preparing for our return to Fiji and picking up on the projects we were working on before we left.
Liss will continue to teach computer skills at the school, and Drew will begin the construction of his water distribution project. We also look forward to opening our village dispensary, and beginning the construction of a new compost latrine facility at the school which both were greatly supported by our friends the
Massy-Greene family.
We appreciate everything that all of our family and friends have done to support us over the last two and half years. We thank you so much for the time you have taken to spend with us this last month and we wish all of you a wonderful holiday season! We love you all!
We have been travelling quite a bit to see everyone this last month. We were able to be a part of 
Drew's longest friend's beautiful wedding: Congratulations Mike and Nika Starkey! We went up to San Francisco to see our brother Scott and friends in their band, Arcadio (See link to the right, for a sound clip). We also took a few days to go out to Arizona to see Melissa's Aunt Roxanne and check out potential dental schools. Phoenix was a definite highlight of our trip topped off with a Suns vs. Bulls basketball game with Roxanne and our grandma.
For our third-year anniversary we stayed at a lodge in the Sequoia National Park to see the giant sequoia trees and take moment to ourselves between all the visiting. Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of family and the of course, scrumptious food.
It was Drew's first time doing a double Thanksgiving in one day on Melissa's side and he didn't seem to have a problem devouring turkey dinners back to back. A day later we joined up with the Loganbill family in Cambria for another Thanksgiving at a beautiful house on the ocean.
Now we are preparing for our return to Fiji and picking up on the projects we were working on before we left. Liss will continue to teach computer skills at the school, and Drew will begin the construction of his water distribution project. We also look forward to opening our village dispensary, and beginning the construction of a new compost latrine facility at the school which both were greatly supported by our friends the Massy-Greene family.
We appreciate everything that all of our family and friends have done to support us over the last two and half years. We thank you so much for the time you have taken to spend with us this last month and we wish all of you a wonderful holiday season! We love you all!
