Where have you been?

Highlights of the Easter Egg Hunt. Above photos are from the back yard.

And from the front yard. These photos are compliments of my sister.

Easter Sunday was spent with my family. First we had a small bite to eat at my brother's house with his in-laws and some friends. Then, after a short drive, we had a second Easter at my aunt and uncle's house. There was more family for my girlfriend to meet (my mother's family this time) and some traditional American Easter activities. There was the normal meal (which is less traditional and extensive than the usual Polish Easter feast) plus Easter Egg things. We started with an Easter Egg Hunt in the back and front yards of the house. Normally this is reserved for the "children" of the family but a special concession was made because it was my girlfriend's first hunt - she and I both participated against the younger generation. These two pictures show all of us after the hunt demonstrating our juggling skills.


Apparently the Polish are professional Easter Egg hunters because my girlfriend tied for first place her very first time! This picture shows her opening her prize.

After the Easter Egg Hunt we then had an egg painting competition. We each painted one wooden egg and then everyone voted on their favorite. The photo on the left shows my girlfriend and sister working diligently on their eggs. The right hand photo is my skillfully painted and patriotic egg. He is a period egg set in the American frontier complete with a coonskin cap. Dispite all this my egg did not even place in the competition. There must have been a conspiracy against my 'Eggy Crocket' egg.

After basking in the sunshine for several hours in downtown Long Beach we headed over to my buddies house for a BBQ. It was the gang from UC Irvine and it was nice to find out that everyone was doing well. Here are a few photos from the day.


Sorry ladies but I have just found out that Mr Wonderful (pictured above) has recently been approached by a lovely young lady in whoes company he is now spending his time. If he becomes available again I will be sure to post details here!

Our first Saturday morning was spent in downtown Long Beach. We walked aroud the shops, the lighthouse and Rainbow Harbor. I have already posted several photos from Long Beach so here a just a few news ones including two of us there.

One of the main points of our trip was for my girlfriend to meet my family. A big step in most relationships, in our's it was quite overwhelming considering my girlfriend's family consists of about seven people, her included, while in mine there are over sixty people. She only met about half of my family but all in the first four days of our trip. Naturally the first person she met was my father, who met us at the airport. Then, a bit later that day, my mother and my brother's family (who we stayed with). Then, that evening, my step-mom and two of my step-sisters with their children. So, we had been in the country for about six hours and already she had met eleven people.

On Friday we went to a BBQ at my step-grand parents home where she met an additional twenty people or so. Not only was there family but also long time family friends as well as some of my step-sister's in-laws. The picture above left is from their house. From left to right we have my girlfriend, my father with one grand child on his lap, and me with another grand child on my lap. The picture on the right shows my girlfriend with my niece and thier new dog Dylan.


Dylan didn't like me very much at the beginning but eventually he came around. We played fetch, I fed him treats, we played tug-of-war, all that stuff. But as we can see in this picture the first few days he was a bit leery of my presence in the house.

In addition to all of my family we also met with many of my friends. The photo above left shows my girlfriend chatting with three of my friends at another BBQ on Saturday. For all of you Polish girls out there that handsome bald guy second from left is available and will travel! And finally on Sunday, Easter, we met with my mother's family, an additional twenty or so people. The picture on the right is from that event and shows my sister and her family talking with my girlfriend.

Our first few days were spent getting over jet lag, doing a bit of sightseeing, and of course shopping! It was pretty amazing to come to LA and have it actually be as perfect as I had told my girlfriend - sunny, 25C (77F), good roads, big beds, etc.


After a nice late morning and a marathon visit to Del Amo Shopping Mall we drove into Palos Verdes. It is the local rich area and, while it is not exactly like the huge mansions in Beverly Hills with palm tree lined streets, it is pretty impressive. The top photo is on the clifs above Haggerty's while the second one is from Malaga Cove, both places where I surfed in High School.


This photo is also at Malaga Cove and shows our sweet rental car. Thats rigth, we got a Mustang. It was her first trip to America so why not drive an American classic. Besides, it was the same cost as the shitty Dodge Caliper that we would have otherwise rented. I think the guy gave us a deal on the Mustang because we paid through the nose for insurance.


As we made our way around Palos Verdes we stopped at several spots including Point Vicente Lighthouse.

As I said our trip was a success and we had a fantastic time. Over the next few weeks I will be posting photos and stories of everything that we did and saw (which I hope you find interesting). It was my girlfriend's first trip to America so I hope to include some of her revelations and maybe even get her to post some comments or do an entire post.

One thing I can say for sure is that she loved big American SUVs and cheap American gas. She doens't have a favorite but she did really enjoy riding in my sister's Suburban. Here is a picture of her standing in front of what would be one of the biggest cars we saw, a lifted Ford Excursion, at the harbor in Long Beach California.

Hello again! Our trip to America was fantastic but we are back in Europe settling into our normal lives now. We saw and did many amazing things while in America and took loads of nice photographs. Unfortunately we were both very sick the last 4 days, I even had to fly home sick. I am over my cold now and will begin posting photos starting this Tuesday. I wanted to say a quick thanks to all of my family and friends that made this trip very memorable; I hope it will not be too long before we see you all again.