The Summer of Love

The touch and smell of the green grasses of summer....

First let me start off with an apology.  We wholeheartedly apologize to anyone we missed this past summer on our 6 week stint in the USA.  We tried.  We tried hard.  2 coasts, 12 different beds, over 50 relatives visited, oodles and oodles of friends (lost count), the world record for amount of BBQ's attended and thrown in one summer, etc, etc.  It is not an easy task to try and see everyone that we hold dear in our hearts and thoughts but, damn, we tried.

Secondly, we'd like to thank everyone who was able to make efforts to track us down, come to a BBQ, have a dinner/lunch/drink/play-date, or whatever you were able to do.  We know it is not easy to disrupt your routines and go out of the way to see us when we had such a tight schedule that sometimes there were only a few hours of availability on a particular day. 

TOUCH DOWN

A highlight of our trip - Miss Sienna!!!

We touched down after an uneventful (trust me, you want it to be uneventful) trip back over the dateline.  A bit weird to get in a car and hit the freeway but great to see the smiles and hugs from Nan and Poppy waiting for us at the airport!

Aunt B and Uncle J conveniently live next door to Nan now and was a joy to see Miss Sienna running towards us as we pulled into the driveway.  She gave Erin and I a quick hello and her rapidly swinging tail and kissing tongue bee-lined if for the door of the car.  Graeme was still in his car-seat and she couldn't wait to kiss him.  Seeing her so happy was pure joy.  Aunt B and Uncle J have been so good for her....she lost 12 lbs, the Vet was always on me to get her to lose some weight to help out her hips but she is all muscle and I just couldn't see how to pull that off.  Well, B and J figured it out and her Vet checkup this summer came back as "Ideal weight and health".  Knowing she is in such good care and loved so dearly is very important to us.  One of the hardest things we've had to endure is her absence and knowing she is in such a good place with people who love her so much means the world to us and makes it a bit easier.

DELTA LIVING

Lazy dayz on the Delta

Such great smiles!  Uncle J!

"Aunt B, I will show you the way!"

What do you do in the Central Valley of California in the summer?  Well, you go to the Delta, of course!  We set sail for a fun weekend with Grandpa and Wicki on their luxury liner and stayed docked out at their private island.  Super fun kayaking, swimming, eating, laughing.

Delta Livin'....

Learning how to drive with Captain Grandpa!

Graeme snuck in some private Captaining lessons from Grandpa...great weekend with Aunt B, Uncle J, Grandpa and Wicki....not much more you can ask for out here....











 

 CHRISTMAS IN JULY

What else do you do in Northern California in July?  Well, Christmas of course!  In an effort to make up for a missed Christmas last year and an impending missed Christmas this year, we had Xmas in July up in Jenner....Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, G-Pops, you name it.  It was a feast for the ages.  Nan and Aunt Shazzy even managed to decorate a tree in all Red White Blue in honor of the 4th.  Pretty incredible.

Merry Fourth of July!

Look out for the left hook G-Pops!

How we roll on the North Coast....Gà Nướng

Một, Hai, Ba, ...YO!

"How many carrots do you have to eat?"

Fireworks on the coast!

Summer in Norcal on the coast = Bundled up!

Goofy cuzzins'....

Love this shot - and do not want to know what they are planning b/c just means work for me!

Think she'd fit on our carry on?

DA BAY AREA

We got to meet some newcomers to our extended family and spend some quality time in the Bay at Casa De Holmes.  Graeme was taken aback by baby Isla Rye.  She's a cutie and will break hearts in years to come, that is for sure! 

Casa De Holmes in action

The Holmes' graciously hosted a BBQ for us at their home so we could connect with our Bay Area peeps....didn't get too many pictures that day, was busy re-connecting with friends and American beer ;)

OFF TO THE RIGHT COAST

We came in hot on the redeye to stay at Aunt Donna, Uncle Keith and Cousin Noah and Sammy's house....Straight away to Diggerland, USA (maybe the coolest place on earth?) and swimming at the local pool, Downs Farms.  So much cousin love it was almost too much to handle!

Look Ma, one hand!

"I will show you, Cousin Noah"

Downs Farms love

What's not fun about this?

Cuzzin Toss!

"Ssshhh!  Don't tell Noah I can swim!"

"So, show me how this Snapchat thing works"

One of the coolest things we did has sort of become a tradition.  My cousin, Casey and her family (Eric and cousin Rielyn) have generously hosted a family BBQ the past 3 summers or so at their house.  Their backyard is beyond ideal for a great time to be had by all.  Grill, fire pit, blow up pool, more then one type of sprinkler to jump through, full on play set like you find at a really good park, bocce ball, you name it.

We were lucky enough to have our entire family attend.  Some had to fly in, some had last minute changes in schedule that made them available to be there; whatever the case, all 29 Hawken's were there....somehow we were able to wrangle a group shot and it's pretty epic:

The Hawken's Rule!

Gramcracker was able to hang out with all 8 of her Great Grandchildren, 7 Grandchildren and 3 sons along with all the rest of the family that comes along with it.  Just epic.

Graeme and Gramcracker!

The grass in NJ is killer!

Duck walk....

Incoming!

We scooted over to Long Valley, NJ (yeah, I had to googlemap it too!) to hang with Erin's Auntie Mim, Uncle Bob and Cousins Ashley and Emily (2nd round for Emily as she was in Jenner with us!).  Cousin Jake couldn't make it from North Dakota, we will just keep warm thoughts for him ;)  More BBQ, balloon launch fights over the house, Jersey Corn, games and tons of laughter.  Always a good time with this crew.

One thing NJ is really good at...

Graeme with a couple of dinosaurs....MNH, NYC

MNH, NYC

GOING BACK HOME

We limped back across the country after a jam packed 2 weeks on the East Coast.  A few more weeks of BBQ, family and friends and before you know it we were out shopping for goods to smuggle back with us to Vietnam.

Another uneventeful trip across the dateline (I think that is # 5 in a year, are we a day older or younger?) we made it back home in Vietnam, along with all of our overweight luggage.

There is a Melissa & Doug Market in there somewhere...

We arrived to a spotless house, fresh flowers spread throughout the house and fresh fruit cut up in the fridge to snack on.  Not too bad of a way to land....

Considering that about 1/2 of the 300lbs of allowable luggage was toys for Graeme, we figured we had better jump on teaching him about GIVING versus RECIEVING (I swear not a day went by in 6 weeks that he didn't get a gift from someone).....We made a trip the first weekend to an orphanage run by Monks in a pagoda (Phap Vo - you can check out a video HERE).  It was a treat to see the kids smile and play with us, themselves and each other.  We got a tour of the grounds and seeing as it is only a 10 minute bike ride we will be going back often to hang out with the girls (90 girls, 2 boys - aged from 5 months to 22 yrs old, and one bad ass cat).

The only blue eye in SE Asia....

Well, that wraps up a full year!  Where did the time go???  Our first year abroad, in a country where English pretty much isn't spoken, everything is different - I mean everything, and we survived!  I'd say we more than survived.  We have been loving it.  So many great adventures, so many great people we've met.  No regrets on the decisions we made about a year and a half ago, that is for sure.

Remember how we kept saying all last year "When Graeme starts school next year..."   Well, that is tomorrow!  (stay tuned for a quick blog on that in a day or so..)  Erin is full on entrenched at work, Graeme and I have been running around getting us reacquainted with things we need to restock on or gather for his upcoming school year.  Change is in motion....

Thanks again for everyone making our summer trip home so special.  We really had a blast and enjoyed so much seeing everybody (and meeting newbies!).  It's always so great to go back and see Family and Friends and realize that you just pick right back up where you left off from as if no time has passed.

You can check out all the pictures from the summer by clicking HERE.

Bring on the next chapter.....

 Hòa Bình,
 The Hawken's in HCMC
#thetaoofgraeme