Monday, April 22, 2019

I'm baaaaack...

Hello everyone!  I know I don't have many readers that stop by here and that is A-OK.  I've realized that in the 2 years I've not been blogging, I've missed out on recording and reliving our memories of travels and everyday life.  So, I'm going to endeavor to start this bad boy up again.  Wish me luck.  Here are some highlights from our last 2 years:

Down Under - Australia - Tasmania and the Sydney area.  OK, so Tasmania has THE cutest wildlife.  We loved this island state and I definitely want to make it back someday (soon).  The first highlight for me was our night feeding tour at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary (https://www.bonorong.com.au/), not to be missed if you are in the Hobart area.  Also, Cradle Mountain - where we got to come very very close to my favorite Tasmanian creature - wombats!

Tom and his wallaby:


Melissa and her kangaroos:


Next destination - Antarctica!  Yes, we made it to the 7th continent and it was amazing.  We spent about 2 weeks on a boat exploring the Antarctic coast - I successfully crossed the Drake Passage twice without tossing my cookies (thanks to modern pharmacology).  We also spent some time hiking in Patagonia:



Mountaineering in Antarctica.  Spigot Peak, complete with penguins!


Unfortunately in much sadder news, we lost our Ellie Mae to cancer later in 2018.  She was such a sweet girl, we'll never find another one like you, Ellie. We miss you...


Ellie Mae did get a kitten while she was still with us, and he, after a nasty fall (and skewer onto a grounding rod) from our high roof, is still with us and loving life, meet Jethro - who is much larger than this now:


We also moved to the mountains!  We now live at about 7300ft and are absolutely loving it.  We aren't sure why we took so long to get out of the 'burbs!  Now, our backyard looks like this:


A new pup joined our family - meet Daisy, 2/3 pit bull, 1/3 bull dog - aka a "Bully Pit".  She is a sweet girl and so so so adorable.  Welcome, Daisy Maisy, or better known as "Piglet":



We also snuck away for a couple of weeks exploring Japan and the Philippines (Bohol Island to be exact).  We saw snow monkeys in Nagano and tarsiers in Bohol.  We had a little scooter accident but had a great time anyway!




We've also done TONS of hiking and skiing, I've hit all the trails around our new home quite hard with my running shoes, we've fostered multiple dogs through Circle 2 Rescue (https://www.circle2rescue.com/ - currently fostering "Malone") and we've added 4 more chickens to our flock, bringing our hen count up to 8!  More to come...