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

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.

On Friday we took a drive to the Ocean Front, where it was really cold so after a few photos of Neptune, we decided that we needed a coffee to warm up, then off to Walmart for some bargain shopping and the to the supermarket. Jenny's friend Julie came for dinner and bought along her puppy, Kagen. Charlotte was very excited to see Kagen!!! Saturday w

e went to Target - pretty much the same as Target in Australia...except that there is a Starbucks !! Sunday was an early morning for everyone, as we needed to be at the airport by about 9.00am for our flight to New York. Jenn and I managed to get ourselves, the two girls, 4 large suitcases, 1 carry on bag, a baby bag and a stroller from the carpark to the check in counter at Norfolk Airport - amazing!! Ted met us at JFK and we spent the next hour or so in a shuttle bus to the apartment. Our apartment was small, but the location was fantastic - just a couple of minutes walk to Times Square and Broadway. It is a really incredible place, we even ran into "Elmo" on the street corner! Monday we were surprised at how cold it was, and after a short walk caught the Hop on Hop Off Bus. We went to the Empire State Building, where the view from the 86th Floor was amazing, we went to the World Trade Centre, and then o Battery Park, where we caught the ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty - Wow, she is much bigger that I thought she would be!! Some great views of the Brooklyn Bridge from the bus and then back to the apartment. Jenn and Ted went out for dinner while I looked after the 2 girls.

Tuesday, we were back on the bus and our first stop was the Museum of Natural History - lots of animals and dinosaurs, after a few hours we headed back to the bus with next stop the Cathedral Church of St John the Devine, where the poet Robert Frost, Mark Twain, Edgar Alan Poe headstones are, the off to Central Park, where Charlotte played in the play area. Time to feed Victoria, where is a Starbucks Coffee shop when you need one. We walked past Tiffany's, Prada, and Trump Tower. It was Ted's turn to babysit, while Jenn and I went to see West Side Story, which we thoroughly enjoyed, then to Planet

Hollywood for something to eat. How amazing that we were able to walk to the show and the atmosphere in Times Square is something I will never forget. !!

We returned from Washington fairly late on Monday night, so Tuesday was a rest day - that's if you can have a rest day with 2 children under 3 years!!! Wednesday we decided to do some shopping and then have lunch, but Charlote had other ideas, so after a few tantrums we headed home without doing much at all - not even coffee!! Thursday we had coffee ith Jenn's friends Katie and Toni at Panerra Bread, (coffee shop) then back home for a while before heading to Katie's house to do some Pumpkin Carving in preparation for Halloween. JT (Katie's husband) showed us how it was done and then Jenn and Charlotte carved a Dora the Explorer into a large pumpkin. It is quite a messy job, cleaning out the inside of a pumpkin. The orange pumpkins are grown especially for Halloween and apparently are not for eating. Once the inside is ready, the pattern is traced onto the outside and then carved out. You can see from the photo above that Victoria was really interested in the pumpkin carving!!

We set off for Washington DC on Saturday morning. Our 1st stop was at McDonalds Williamsburg, so that Jenn could feed Victoria. After about 40 mins we were back on the road. The Interstate is lined with trees, and as the leaves are changing colour it is very pretty. Next stop was for fuel in Quantico, where we mistakenly ended up in a line of traffic heading for a Military Checkpoint. After a U turn between the witches hats, we found the Gas Statiion. Next stop Washington DC. The freeway interchanges are unbelievably huge, but I guess they need to be when there are at least 4 lanes of traffic each way !! On the way into the city centre we drove past the Pentagon. Wow, It is much bigger than I realised!! We stayed close to the city centre, only about 2mins drive from Dupont Circle. On Sunday, we caught the Hop On Hop Off Bus, and saw many of the sights in Washington - Union Station, The National Cathedral, The Capital, and The White House, all of which are amazing. Our last stop was in Georgetown. Monday we headed to the bus again, and spent the morning at the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. Our drive home took longer than we expected - a 3 1/2 hr trip took us 5 hrs, due to a couple of unexpected stops - one on the side of the Interstate to calm Victoria, and to our surprise a safety car seemed to arrive from nowhere with its lights flashing!!!

Well, I am amazed at how big Halloween is!! I knew it was celebrated here, but didn't realise the effort that is put into decorating. A lot of houses are already decorated with scarecrows, and big orange pumpkins, flags, and wreaths on front doors. On Tuesday we went to the supermarket, which is also deceorated for Halloween, and the displays or fruit and veg are like you would see at the Royal Easter Show. We also went to the Military Base, which is just like another suburb. It has it's own supermarket, and a store similar to Myer/DJ's, but it's only for Military Personnel and their families, as it is all tax free.!!Jenn also took me to Michael's which is a large craft store, which has the most amazing Xmas Decorations (I managed to find a couple of Santas for my collection) lots of scrapbooking supplies, and at this time of year an extensive range of Halloween Products. Jenn bought this Haunted House, for us to make with Charlotte, however after the first 20mins of Charlotte's help, we decided it was best to do it without her. Yesterday (after doing a search online) we visited 2 shops, one very much like spotlight, except the range is 5 times as big, and another specialised Patchwork Shop. I have at least another couple of Patchwork Shops on my list for next week.

Tomorrow we are driving to Washington DC, which is about 3 hours away, where we will stay for the weekend. Can't believe that I am going to see The White House!!!!

I arrived in Norfolk, Virginia approximately 45 mins ahead of schedule ( not quite sure why, maybe a tail wind, who knows??), so I was ready and waiting for Jenny when she arrived to collect me from the Airport. I was only expecting to see Jenny, but instead Charlottte was with her, and I was greeted with the biggest hugs and kisses, whilst being told "I Love you Nanna, I miss you Nanna", I was the most amazing feeling. Anyway after a few tears and some more hugs, we headed for Virginia Beach to see Ted and meet Victoria for the first time. She is the most adorable little baby, so of course there were lots more hugs.

Sunday lunch time we drove Ted to the Airport, where we had lunch before he headed to Sydney via New York and L.A. The rest of the day was spent just catching up with Jenn. Today we spent the day doing normal everyday things e.g washing, talking, playing with Charlotte, cuddling Victoria, more talking and more washing and folding. The area here seems lovely, the house is great and as you can see from the photos there are lots of trees, and as it is the beginning of fall, the trees have started to lose their leaves. Although this is a very bushlike setting, the water is only minutes away.