silver and gold: make new friends and keep the old

a quick email before bed... day 2 in australia and it's been sooooo cool connecting with old friends. friends to me are friends for life and i've made a major effort in the past couple years to stay in better contact with and to visit with friends. So in the past 4 days I've visited Paige who was a kindred spirit in LA when I lived there (she had a homebirth with the same midwife and we were in playgroup together when our kids were toddlers) and visited my 2nd cousin Daria & met her adorable 2 year old son Reed, and saw Jenny in Brisbane who befriended me in Australia and introduced me to sea turtles for the first time at Mon Repos National Park (where we scouted for turtles all night long) and one of my best friends from high school Kelli who I'd lost touch with for years before reconnecting last year. Tonight I'm with Kelli and its sooo cool to catch up. I tell ya, all of these gals they are awesome people.

So the kids are having a blast also, meeting new friends and seeing new things. We had a long flight and only arrived in Australia yesterday and spent some time exploring the Brisbane suburb of Redcliffe where Jenny lives (Savannah loved it so much she says she wants to live in Redcliffe). :) The thing I noticed about Brisbane is how clean & beautiful and how free of graffiti and billboards. I had fun with the kids walking along the ocean, having ice cream etc. Today we flew to the Whitsunday Islands & I let the kids play in a manmade lagoon at Shute Harbor, we went down to collect seashells and we saw a tree full of rainbow lorikeets. Had some lunch in town. All for now!

Paige and I at Caltech. Paige had the same midwife as I and we were in playgroup when our kids were toddlers in CA! She is an awesome person!

Paige's and my kids at Caltech. Being goofy!

My dear friend Jenny and I in Redcliffe, a suburb of Brisbane. It's been 15 years and it seems like yesterday! Jenny and I met when I did volunteer wildlife work at Griffith Uni in Brisbane and she took me to watch sea turtles at Mon Repos.

Teggun, Savannah, Sam and Kai (in front) all painted! This was on the Fantasea snorkeling trip to Hardy Reef, part of the southern portion of the Great Barrier Reef in the Whitsunday islands. Teggun and Kai are my friend Kelli's kids - Kelli and I went to high school together and were very close, and she moved to Australia about 10 years ago.