We have been back in LA for two months now and are enjoying our time immensely. It is great to be be with family and to get back in touch.

Also there have been a number of exciting things that we have done and that have taken place. Among them are. . . . .

January 22 - Mighty Ducks hockey game. LA has a tonne of sporting teams and having ties to Canada how could we not go see a hockey game. We headed off the Arrowhead Pond where Disney's Mighty Duck were playing (one thing that hasn't abated since we left is the number of corporate sponsorships!!).The high light of the expererience was after a fight broke out and the two players were sent to the penalty box. There was blood all over the ice and an elementary school student behind us remarked to her dad, " This should be rated PG!!" We had to break out laughing.

January 27, 28 - trip to Encinitas. When we left Japan for our trip around Asia we couldn't take all of our stuff with on our bikes. So we dumped some, gave some away, sent some home in boxes, but there was one thing that we couldn't take care of so easily. Sarah's violin. Eventually it worked out that a friend from Japan brought the violin to California and dropped it off to a common friend who lives in Encinitas. So we had to go and pick it up. We made a bit of a trip out of it and enjoyed some of the beautiful coast line near San Diego. The highlight was the area around La Jolla. La Jolla is a cove on the coast where every year seals gather to have babies. The beach itself is roped off so the tourists don't interfere with the seals but you can get quite close to the seals. The first baby of the year had been born the day we visited and it was quite exciting to see it and all the other seals swimming around and enjoying themselves in the water and on the shore.

February 8 - 15 - Adrian's visit. Since we have been back we had had the chance to see all our immediate family, except for Adrian. So it was great that he got some time off of work and decided to come to LA where it nice and warm (pretty much the opposite of conditions in Michigan!!). We had a great week catching up and seeing some sight around LA. On the weekend Adrian's girlfriend, Jen, flew in from North Caroline, where she is teaching, to meet up for Valentine's Day. And what a Valentine's Day it was!! Adrian took Jen to the a stretch of romantic coastline along the Calfiornia coast and asked her to marry him. And she said, " YES!!". Needless to say we were all excited for them. They have decided to get married this July and so we are looking forward to the big day.

Febrary 19 - Joshua Tree National Park. There are some great parks in California and Joshua Tree ranks up there as one of the best ones. The park lies right on the border of the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert. As you go north in the park there is a major elevation gain. Because of this the vegetation in the south of the park is much different that the vegetation in the north of the park. The most obvious diffenrence is the appearance of the Joshua tree species which can only be found at the higher elevation. The Joshua tree is a unique species of tree that is a bit like a small palm tree that can survive in the desert beacuse it has adapted itself to the arid conditions.

We spend the day using our car to get from one short nature walk to another. Each walk had something unique to enjoy. One walk featured cactuses, another featured huge boulders, yet another featured mountain top views, and the last one was a walk through a valley that was once used for grazing cattle because a lot of water collected there. Each walk was spectacular and we had a great day enjoying nature and eachother's company.