Home again!
Well, we got Will back home yesterday. Yay!

Dave and I went up to LAX to meet him off the plane from Sydney. I know he's a resourceful 17-year-old, but, secretly, I was just a bit nervous about him doing the trip from Perth alone for the first time. Four hours from Perth to Sydney at sparrow's; then getting from the domestic to the international terminal at Sydney; green form for Australian immigration; a fourteen-hour flight; white form for US immigration; US customs ... you know the stuff.


Of course, it was a breeze for him. He wasn't even tired! And his phone started buzzing almost immediately - before we even got to the car.


Once back at the house, he was soon off to catch up with his mates and spent the afternoon on the beach at Encinitas.
Bed at 8.30 last night and up at 7am for lots of this:

It's SO GOOD to have him home!

:: This is a pic of David and me with Lily and Will at the farm at Eagle Bay, just a few days before Dave and I left to come back to the US:

:: It was wonderful for Lily and Will to get back and see all their mates and to be back on home turf. Will says he was sad to leave Perth again but ready to get back to San Diego all at the same time. And looking forward to school!
:: There's an oak tree at the farm, just the same size and look as the one Garry and I used to play on when we were kids in England; we called it The Old Oak, but it probably was only about 20 years old.
Lily and Will climbed this one with Devon (left) and James. Devon was our next-door neighbour at Gloster Street, and James lived three houses down. They were all born while their families lived in Gloster Street, and they've remained friends.
Dev's studying psych at Curtin; James is studying aviation and aiming for the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra; Lily's a sophomore at the Evergreen State, WA; and Will's about to enter his last year at high school with his sights firmly set on the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara.
James took Will to Perth airport to see him off on Tuesday night - such a kind thing to do at 4am. Dev and James are coming out to California to spend Christmas with us - so I'd better get cracking and book a cabin up in the snow!
:: Now all I need is for Lily to return to the fold!