Saturday, November 26, 2011
















On Wednesday 16th November, we dropped Charlotte to school and then went to a shoe warehouse - 2 pair of boots for $70 -not bad!! then off to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch with Katie, her sister & friend (also visiting from Aust)& Treena and her Mum (also visiting from Perth). The lunch was great and the Cheesecakes are unbelieveable !!Thursday afternoon was Charlottte's Dance class. It was supposed to be visitors day, but to my dismay it was cancelled !! Luckily however, Jenn mentioned that I was visiting from Australia, and they made an exception for me and I was allowed to sit in on the class. It was really cute watching them, and in particular Charlotte going through the various ballet positions, and then changing into their tap shoes - How does one explain to a group of under 5's that they can't tap all the time!!





Friday was school again for Charlotte, and when we collected her we headed on a road trip to North Carolina, about 4hrs drive from Virginia Beach. We stayed the night in Rahleigh, and the following morning headed for Durham to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular










We all thoroughly enjoyed the show - Charlotte was enthrawled by the dancers as was Victoria, but only for a short time!! She slept the entire 2 nd half of the show on my shoulder. After driving around the city for a while , we decided to make our way home




Wednesday, November 16, 2011

USA - November 2011

I left Albury on Sunday 13th November, and fly to Sydney, where Chris picked me up from the airport and took me to see Mum. The 3 of us had a lovely Thai dinner, before I returned to the Formula 1 Motel at Sydney Airport to spend the night.
I caught the 7.50am shuttle bus to the International Terminal and checked in and received my boarding pass. Getting through customs and immigration & security was quite quick and not a problem.
The plane boarded at about 11.20, but ended up leaving about 1hr late. The flight was long (14hrs) but uneventful and I was able to get a few hours sleep (sort of)!! Arrival into Los Angeles was 25 mins late, but much to my surprise, there were no queues at Customs and Immigration and I was cleared within 45mins. My next flight wasn't for about 5 hrs, so I made my way to Terminal 7, which of course was the furtherest one from where I landed!! not good for the legs and feet!! Check in on the United flight took over 1 hour, but at least I had plenty of time. Flights in the USA all seem to be over booked, and it is quite common to hear an announcement asking people to give up their seat on the flight for a guaranteed seat on the next flight, sometimes in business class and anything from $200 - $400 in vouchers. It really has to be seen to be believed just how disorganised they seem !!!!The flight from LA to Washington, was about 4 1/2 hrs and again uneventful. Washington Dulles Airport is huge - you even catch a train to the luggage collection, but thankfully my bags were checked from LA to Norfolk, but of course the flight to Norfolk departed from the other end of the airport - so after a short train ride, about 4 sets of escalators and a long walk I was finally ready to board for the final flight to Norfolk. After a 35min flight, I arrived in Norfolk at 11.10pm approx 33hours after leaving Sydney JT was kind enough to collect me from the airport and take me to Jenn's, where of course we sat and had a cup of tea and talked until nearly 2am.
I was woken later that morning, by the patter of little feet coming up the stairs and Charlotte running to the bed saying "Nanna, I love you, l miss you so much" in her American accent!!!
Shortly after Jenn and Victoria came upstairs and Victoria recognised me straight away. After a slow morning, we headed out to do some grocery shopping at the Commissory, home to unpack, then off to Charlotte's swimming lesson.