Meanwhile, back in the U.S....

I have fallen behind in our weekly blogress, and forgot to report my vacation!

I (Zach) went home to the US for a week in June, for my high school friend Dan's wedding.

It was a beautiful wedding at a northern California winery. I swear, when I flew in from China, the first thing I noticed was how deliciously fragrant the air was back in my hometown of Piedmont. According to my parents, the air is pretty much the same as it always was, so I'm thinking it may be that the air here in China isn't exactly pristine... Anyway, you can see that Dan and his new wife, Carol could not have asked for a nicer day.

The wedding was beautiful, conducted by friends and family, I cried (I think the long hair is making me more sensitive), and then we ate, drank and were merry! In a particularly humbling moment, I was challenged to a "dance off" contest by a 7-year old girl, who then proceeded to embarrass me thoroughly on the dance floor. Yes, that's me trying to do the splits... I think I managed to sprain every muscle in my body.

Also, that week I got to meet my friends Mike and Becky's son, Dylan, who was born in September, after Tiffany and I had already left for China. Here is the proud papa with his adorable and super happy boy! Dylan is always ready with a quick smile and laugh - very cute!

I also went to dinner with my family to celebrate my brother Aaron's birthday, saw my extended family at a Father's Day luncheon, filled a major burrito craving (at El Farolito on 24th and Mission in San Fran), and squeezed in an overnight trip to Las Vegas.

In a brilliantly aggressive bit of planning, I flew with my friends Cali and Parag to Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon, gambled all night, and took a 7am flight out Thursday morning. Let me tell you that all-nighters at 30-something are definitely not as easy as they were in our 20's. Mentally we are still in 20's mode (which isn't exactly a positive comment on our maturity...), but physically we are definitely in our 30's. So Thursday we hit the proverbial "wall" -- and the wall won.





All in all it was a great week. Exhausting, but it was tons of fun to see everyone again. I still need to talk about Tiffany's big 30th birthday celebration, but I have to go now. We are heading out to see Mission Impossible III - which they finally released here in China. Apparently Chinese officials were grumbling about the film's portrayal of China. There is reportedly footage of old people playing mah jong and laundry hanging out in the street. Really? We had NO idea!!!