Our new addition!

I'd like to introduce you to Mieka's brother Josh!

He was an enormous surprise for us - literally. He's just over a year and weighs just over 90 Lbs and he is insanely sweet.

My parents have had him for a month and were able to keep him a secret from us until we got home for Christmas. You can imagine how excited and surprised we were to see him wearing his bright red bow when we arrived from the airport.

He's extremely handsome, somewhat clumsy, and very curious / skittish, but he's a great addition. I need a dog in Munich!

Merry Christmas!

We are on our way to Ohio... I am actually writing this on the plane! Why don't more planes have free wifi? That definitely would have allowed me to write here more often.

Our trip has taken us to so many unforgettable places. I have to admit it's going to be harder and harder to make travel plans, because there are so many places I'd love to revisit - and my list of places to see continues to grow. Life is certainly too short!

I've neglected this blog, but for good reason. Our travels have just kept us too busy to write. The end of my day usually finds me uploading photos and then falling asleep very quickly. Between visits with friends, family, and tons of holiday parties I think we will go into hibernation mode in Ohio.

We're desperately missing lebkuchen, gluehwein, and of course our neighborhood Christmasmarkets, so if you are in Munich / Germany please enjoy some for us. We were happy to find some at the World Market, so that was a great surprise... but it's definitely not a replacement for the German christmas spirit.

I will write a more cohesive summary of the things we did and saw thus far when I get some more time. I promise that will come soon, because sadly our trip will end at the end of January. We visited cities, canyons, beaches, sand dunes, meadows, national parks, historical sites, and even an active volcano! Stefan and I keep reminding ourselves that it's not the end... it's merely a pause.

Since I last wrote we have seen so many phenomenal things and been to what feels like the ends of the earth and back. Some days it seems like forever ago and it's difficult to remember a life that's not constantly being on the road and flying from one city to the next.

Here's the laundry list of places we have visited that I will write about...
(feel free to leave a comment if there's something you're particularly interested in!)
Northern India
Nepal
Thailand
Malaysia
Singapore
Cambodia
Vietnam
Hong Kong
China
Japan
New Zealand
The Cook Islands
Hawaii
The Southwest US

...and we are still going to visit New York City and the Southeast US coast in early January.