Off and about

Drawing to a close

2010-01-18T04:56:00.004+10:30

It's been a busy last week here but not a lot to say. We've been hurried with last minute trips around the state to say hello to lots of people that we thought we had a lot of time to catch up with! I must remember to start booking nights out earlier next trip! We've been especially sad to have missed catching up with many of our ex-Denbigh High colleagues who have moved on from DHS - you know, it would have been a lot easier if y'all had stayed in the same building!! Ryan's grandmother has not been well which has been worrying and obviously, time consuming as she lives in Suffolk which is quite a distance from where we have been staying with Ryan's sister's family. However, we WILL be back sometime and hope to catch up with those we missed as a first priority.

Not too many photos to share - just one of Ryan and Cassie in Washington DC. We went up for a quick visit last weekend, to catch up with friends and see some of the museums. Bob and Kirsten were fabulous hosts as always and it was a delight to meet their son for the first time. We ate a ton of food and had a lot of fun, hanging out. On the Sunday, the Fatzes sensibly stayed home and Ryan and I braved a sunny, but below freezing day to go and see some sights. Ryan was especially keen to visit the National Archives and see the original documents of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the proclamation that freed the slaves and many other relics of American history and government. I was thrilled that there were no lines and the buildings were well heated :) I took the pic (left) on the mall in the walk between the Archives and the Museum of American History where we went afterwards - it was so so so cold but once again, Cassie refused her gloves so we were unable to do too much walking to see the monuments. We had brave plans to visit the new WWII memorial which was in construction last time we visited, but the Arctic wind blasting up the Mall from the Potomac River changed our minds!!

Thankfully, there's been a change in the weather over the last few days - mid to high 50s F (about 13-15 Celsius) and we have perceived it as so warm, we've spent a fair few hours outside! We took Cassie and her cousins to Colonial Williamsburg for more photos on Friday - Jared and Cate were very patient as they not only have a paparazzo mother who is an awesome and avid photographer but now they have a photo mad aunt to deal with too! I took most of those photos in RAW format though so I am dying to get home and start playing with them in my processing software!

Today, we will be seeing a few of the cousins and Cassie will get one last crazy playtime with the older kids as we leave for New York tomorrow. Sadly, it's raining here and the forecast is for more in NYC but we figure we'll spend tomorrow at the Met which is always great anyhow. I found a great deal on a 4 star hotel on Times Square so that will soften the blow of departure hopefully! We arrive home on Thursday morning and have our first day of meetings for the new school year on Friday so all of this will seem like another world! We've had such a blast and again leave wishing it was cheaper and closer so we could do this trip more often. Cassie has had such fun, as have we. Love to all here and there - bye for now!

Sightseeing in Hampton Roads

2010-01-08T11:08:00.010+10:30

After living here for two years way back when, it's nice to visit places that are familiar and sentimental, and also to discover new haunts. For the last few days, we've been doing just that:

College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg - where Ryan got his Masters in Education.

Colonial Williamsburg

and today we spent the day in Norfolk, which is a nearby city, reminiscing at Waterside about the club there where we spent many a youthful night... It was my first visit to Norfolk in daylight that didn't involve the mall there. Very exciting and quite enlightening - who knew it was quite this pretty!
We also went to a very cool museum called "Nauticus" which is a combination of Naval History, shipping history and aquarium. Being near freezing out and in the beginning of school term, the museum was absolutely empty so we just let Cassie run wild and she had a blast. She especially loved the touch tanks - see left, patting a Horseshoe Crab with Aunt Robin. This did lead to an interesting moment at the baby sharks tank where she almost launched herself in! No patting baby sharks, Cassie!! A very fun day in all, and of course, Ryan was very happy to be able to play all the flight simulators that the Navy use. Tomorrow is Friday again, and we are planning a "quiet" day - running some errands, eating Mexican food for lunch, perhaps visiting the Indian Reservations nearby and then dinner with relatives to celebrate the birthday of one of the young cousins. This weekend, we're heading up to Washington D.C. too. We're going to visit and stay with a friend who taught at Denbigh High with us, and meet her 18 month old son, Jamie. Lots of sweet photos to follow, I'm sure! Ryan also is keen to visit the National Archives and the Smithsonian which should be awesome. We're just hoping that the snow holds off so we don't free to pieces on the Washington Mall!! Can't wait though - should be a good few days.

...and a happy New Year!

2010-01-03T11:32:00.006+10:30

Another busy few days with lots of family time to enjoy. We spent Boxing Day (the day after Christmas for all those non-Aussies) exploring the Christmas Town event at Busch Gardens, an amusement park near Williamsburg. They apparently had 1 million lights up - it was all very very pretty. Very very cold too but worth it! I was very sad that, being pregnant, I wasn't able to do any of the big rollercoasters :( but Cassie had a turn on her first amusement park ride - and loved it. She was a bit hesitant at first but as soon as it started, she was giggling and waving like a girl twice her age! There was no line so she had a second turn and chucked a HUGE tantrum while waiting for the ride to start again :) She also continued this when her second ride was over - despite her hands being almost frozen, I had to pry both of them off the handles and drag her off! Ah, my little thrill seeker. She also got to meet Elmo and gave him a huge kiss, going all the way into his throat like a little lion tamer! I think the actor inside may have been a little surprise. We ended the night by dragging all of Cassie's older cousins into the Sesame St Christmas show but it was all worth it as Cassie was SO excited to see all of her faves live on stage.

The other big excitement this week was celebrating the beginning of the "tens" decade - happy 2010! Robin had organised a beach cottage for us all to celebrate together, in Nag's Head, North Carolina, which is about a 3 hour drive from where we are staying. It was a lovely place and Cassie treated us very well, not falling down any of the three staircases and sleeping like an angel in a portacot in yet another strange environment. It was really really cold down there but we had a great time anyhow. We took the kids down to the beach on New Years Day - Cassie and I lasted about 10 minutes - to search for sea glass. It was really pretty down there, despite it being a bit grey out. See below for a couple of pics that Robin took - (funnily enough, Ryan looked at me like I was crazy to go wandering down to the beach on an almost freezing day, just to take pictures, and hence, went out to lunch with Jack instead....)

We're "home" again now in West Point, and hoping to see more of Ryan's dad this week as he's had a really nasty flu over the holidays. I've also got plans to do a LITTLE more shopping - for one thing, I have to buy another suitcase to take all this stuff home....

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T13:28:00.002+10:30

We've had a LONG and wonderful day with all of us being thoroughly spoiled. Wishing everyone many days like this!

My gorgeous Cassie and my gorgeous niece, Cate in their Christmas dresses. Absolute cherubs!

Snow!

2009-12-24T14:33:00.006+10:30

That's pretty much it for news of our activities for the last few days. West Point, where Ryan's sister's family lives, got a proper load for the kids to play in. Snowmen, snowladies, sledding and lots of snowballs ensued. Pictures below...

We have also had a few successful meetings with Santa over the last few days of frantic shopping. Cassie loves him - so I thought I'd share this non-professional shot :) though I have a GORGEOUS prof one to share at some stage when I hit a scanner...

One thing I keep exclaiming about is the number of Santas here who have real beards!! There seem to be an absolute abundance of them! I love it though - so much better than a synthetic one :) I'll never be able to look at a David Jones' Santa in the same way!

So I've just wrapped the last of the presents and should probably head off to bed. Lots of family to visit with tomorrow and the next day. Plus Cassie still needs to be convinced about unwrapping - she doesn't quite get the concept yet but I am hoping her cousins will lead the way on this too! Happy Christmas all - stay safe!

Another US update

2009-12-19T14:33:00.005+10:30

A fun week so far again.

We've not done a huge amount, just visiting with family and a few minor shops. On Tuesday, we toured the historic little town of Smithfield which was cool, including visiting the oldest church in the US, built in the early 1600s. We also went out for some spectacular BBQ last night - at a CUTE little family place called "Frank and Bubba's". (For those not in the know, BBQ here is slow cooked pork, "pulled" (shredded when it's tender enough to fall apart anyhow) and mixed with sauce and vinegar. It is far far far too good. Cassie wouldn't try it but is a big fan of hush puppies :)

Today, Ryan, Robin, Cassie and I hit the outlet mall - $300 or so later and I am half-sated. (That was pretty much in three stores...there's still 40 or 50 to go!) We then had some awesome Mexican food (Australia, learn learn learn!) and then came back to Robin's to pick up her kids, before heading to the local school to see the junior grades of the Elementary school in their Christmas concert. See left- our niece Cate, who is just cute as a bug. As we headed out, it began to snow and it's been falling steadily ever since. I just hopped outside to take the first shot below about ten minutes ago. It's so gorgeous and still out there - and I think we'll be sleeping over at Robin and Jack's for another night at least! Not wanting to drive on icy, snowy roads in a hurry!!! Cassie wasn't sure what to think of the snow at first and even her cousin Jared couldn't convince her to walk on it, but kind Momma Lynn just picked her up and dumped her in it and she soon got over that. She loved it after that and threw an absolute fit when I brought her inside because she wouldn't keep her hand covered and kept digging in it! She's hopefully going to sleep well tonight - can't wait to take some more photos tomorrow!

More than a year since my last post....

2009-12-14T21:04:00.006+10:30

...but all the saving has been worth it!

A quick roundup of this week so far:

Well, the first two days of this week, we were in Australia!! That seems crazy to believe now. Despite my good intentions, it was still a manic rush on the last night and I was finishing up some vital sewing at 1am - two items I haven't actually used yet :)

We were at the airport bright and early the next day and ran Cassie ragged. She particularly liked running the crappy airport stroller around into other passengers - yes, we are those parents occasionally - but was happy enough to sit and look out the window for the entire flight to Sydney as a result. We did a race across Sydney airport (why are the Qantas connections so ridiculously close always??) and then we were on the "big flight" - 14 hours with a 21 month old. Well, despite everything I'd anticipated, it was actually not bad at all. Hurrah for Qantas - the steward kindly upgraded one of the passengers next to us to premium economy and so we had a spare seat which was great, plus their inflight kids entertainment included two episodes of "In the Night Garden" which Cassie was happy to watch about six times through without sound. I am sure the rest of the passengers LOVED the constant cries of "UP D" and "ACK ACK ACK" but at least she wasn't screaming. She didn't really sleep on that leg but blissfully, she slept for about four hours after running herself COMPLETELY ragged in LAX so we all got a nap in. Arrival in New York was simple enough but joy of joys, we discovered Qantas had left our pram in Sydney. It's not great to carry a 13kg toddler around the city that never sleeps after 4 hours of sleep in 30 hours...just sayin'.

Our New York stay was pretty brief. Admired the skyline and found awesome NY pizza which was good. It's not American pizza unless you have to blot it with a serviette :) The next morning we were headed to another airport for the hour ish flight to VA. Ryan's dad, his wife, Ryan's sister and her kids and it was SO great to see them. Cassie took to her two big cousins immediately, letting Jared push her around in the stroller and giggling her head off. So sweet.

On Friday, we tried to sleep in (I'm not doing so well in the jetlag department - why I am typing this at 5am!) and then had a lazy morning before meeting Ryan's sister, Robin for more cousin time and chat. Saturday was fun as we celebrated Ryan's dad's birthday with all the kids and also Nancy's daughter and grand-kids. With six kids barrelling around the house, we didn't stop laughing all day. And today was Sunday so Ryan decided to indulge in some much-missed Sunday football with his brother in law, while they watched all of the kids - in theory. Not sure how much "watching" was going on, but Cassie did learn to burp on cue. How lovely. Ryan's sister and I escaped the kids to drive up to a mall near Richmond and do some much needed, last minute Christmas shopping. Is it last minute yet? I hope not, because otherwise I'm in deep trouble. I checked out the most adorable kids' clothes today but I've been quite restrained so far...so far....

So that's it til now. Happy 6am everyone - hope your holidays are going well and all is happy as it should be. A few pics to end the post - Ryan and Cassie all rugged up for the cold and Cassie with her cousin, Cate!

Travelling with Cassie - Melbourne 2008

2008-10-08T17:59:00.015+10:30

Well, a few weeks ago, I was inspired by Lisa, a friend from Mothers Group and also by the fact that we hadn't been away since July 2007, to arrange a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Melbourne. The lovely Sarah offered us a place to stay and once I had gotten over my initial freak-out at the thought of everything I had to pack, Ryan and I decided to brave it and do our first Holiday as Parents.

The packing, and the thinking about packing which was actually more arduous, was finally over by Thursday at 4pm and we headed off to pick up Cassie from childcare so we could hit the road. We'd had a slight change of plans that day as Sarah had come down with a fairly unpleasant illness so we were now staying with Catherine instead in a last minute switch.

Taking an hour or so to get through peak-hour traffic (yeah it was Adelaide, we have peak hour, dammit, especially on Glen Osmond Road!), we hit the freeway, with Cassie asleep in the backseat. All was pretty peaceful til Bordertown so that's where we stayed for the first night away. Cassie did really well in her portacot and we all woke refreshed the next day at 7am, ready for breakfast at the Bordertown Bakery (so good - definitely worth a stop every trip!) and a walking tour of historic buildings in town. The highlight was ex-PM Bob Hawke's childhood home which is now a Centrelink office (see photo below) and the old Takeaway (now closed) which is Bordertown's oldest building.

Driving across the country with a baby is pretty alright, for the most part. IF THE BABY IS RESTED. The rest of Friday was fairly uneventful until we stopped in Bacchus Marsh, just outside Melbourne, for a wander around Aldi (had to get those nappies that everyone keeps raving about!!) and then Cassie decided she was done. Upon strapping her in, she threw a fit and we screamed our way into Melbourne.

Saturday dawned with a early wakeup from Cassie for the household. Thankfully, Catherine has an excellent coffee machine. We went round to visit poor ol' Sarah who was much better but still probably a bit germy :) so she couldn't have a cuddle and then went on to Pam's, who was hosting a BBQ so we could catch up with people en masse. It was great to see Bram and Elizabeth's gorgeous girl, Amelia after all this time, and also to meet Harriet Scott who was born a week previously! It was also absolutely wonderful to see a lot of our Melbourne friends who we miss seeing regularly. Sadly, I didn't take the camera inside :)

After the BBQ would down, we headed to Julia and Rob's - who also have had a daughter since we saw them last!! It seems like a bit of a trend among our friends ;) We had a delicious dinner, thanks to Julia, and Cassie also got a ton of hand-me-downs from their girls (which kept her entertained for most of the trip home, so thanks guys!!)

On Sunday, we had the only social event that I organised in advance - a meet up with the girls from AYW. Breaking the trend, Michie had given birth to a BOY recently and Julia is working on a boy too! It was great to meet Michie after years of chatting on line and to see Julia and Ronan again. Ryan suffered through our talk with remarkable patience, helped by the pancakes, bacon and eggs on offer. Ryan and I spent an hour or so wandering around Chadstone after saying goodbye to the girls - we only meant to have a QUICK look around but the place is a rabbit warren with NOT ENOUGH LIFTS, We're still a bit scarred from the experience and won't be heading back to the "Fashion Capital" in a hurry.

We decided to make the most of our weekend pass on the CityLink and crossed the city again to Williamstown to visit our old haunts and have some gelati in the sun. We pulled out the picnic blanket and played on the grass for a bit with Cassie which she loved. I think it was the only time for the whole trip where we actually had perfect weather. Sadly, my favourite store down that way doesn't open on Sundays so I had to make do with just looking wistfully in the window :)

When we got back to Catherine's, it was time to head off again to dinner on Sydney Road with our host and our would-be host :) Yummmy Thai food!

On Monday morning, we had our first sign of things to come - Cassie is teething and had a restless night, followed by an even more restless morning. We ended up having to cancel our morning plans and were terribly late to meet the gracious Sarah Willy for a late lunch on Brunswick Street. Sadly, I didn't take the camera AGAIN! On our way out of the city, I caught up with another AYW friend, Meagan, and met her gorgeous children as well. Finally leaving Melbourne at about 6.30pm, we drove to Geelong and had a great meal out at a lovely pub near the water.

The next morning dawned pretty cold and blowy so we drove the Esplanade but that was about all we could see of Geelong's main tourist attraction. It looked very pretty despite the weather so we hope to go back sometime in the future. We did wander around the shopping precints which was fun - we found a great candy store that not only sold Dutch liquorice and American chocolate but also sold Jolly Ranchers!! We jumped in the car and drove to Warrnabool where we still didn't spot any whales off the coast :( but did have a nice lunch despite a very grumpy baby. Getting back in the car, Cassie alternated between sleeping and whinging but did pretty well until we checked into our hotel in Mt Gambier where she threw a fit and basically condemned us to a dinner of cookies and drinks from the vending machine so she could sleep.

Today was the last day of our trip and we set off fairly early from Mt Gambier because it was raining again, driving pretty much non-stop to Padthaway. We stopped for a drink there and found a bit of sun and a fun playground where Cassie had her first slide and a swing. The rest of the trip passed quickly and now we're home with a tired little girl who is very glad to be in her cot again. We're not too sorry that the trip is over either, and are glad that there are four more days before term 4 starts so we can recover from our holiday!

The North Lands!

2007-07-26T18:40:00.000+09:30

We've been back almost a week from our trip up north to S.E. Queensland so I thought I should get around to this. Ryan (as will come as a surprise to none who know him well) is having an afternoon nanna nap so I have free access to the computer and a little bit of enthusiasm to get it done! It's been a long first-four-days-of-second-semester though so I am not promising to be coherent.

We set off obscenely early on the 11th of July, arriving in Brisbane at around 10am. Of course, after staying up far too late the night before and packing once again at about midnight, all we wanted to do was nap! We checked into our hotel and proceeded to do just that, getting up around 3pm, watching some cable (we miss cable :) ) and then went out to explore a little before meeting some friends for dinner. It was great to meet these girls that I had met online, planning our wedding more than three years ago. Ryan was happy to know that they weren't very committed axe murderers, posing as newly-marrieds. We ended up walking across to the South Bank with my friend, Anita and her husband, Arthur, then walking down the river and through the QUT city campus before heading back for a good night's rest. The next day, we wandered around Brisbane, taking in the sights. We went down to the mall and did some window shopping before visiting the Art Gallery and the Museum. Later, we met up with Anita and Arthur again who cooked us a lovely dinner at their house and then took us to see the new Harry Potter film.

On the Friday, we checked out of the hotel and trundled down to pick up our rental car. We drove down to Surfer's Paradise for breakfast and a glorious walk in the sunshine, down the beach and through the shopping area. We then drove down to Burleigh Heads, stopping at a Wildlife Park where we especially admired the biggest crocodile I've ever seen!

We then went for a walk through a mangrove area and a bamboo plantation - beautiful. The bamboo is bright yellow for some reason in this area of Queensland which makes for lovely photos.
Later, that day, we drove up to Oxenford where we stayed for the night, before driving to Mt. Tambourine and Lamington National Park.

The area is amazingly beautiful. It's thick forests have lovely walks and the mountain views are stunning. There are lots of little gourmet cafes to stop in at too!

We did a great walk in the afternoon to a natural rock formation called Natural Arch. You can actually walk into the cave, behind the arch and stand almost underneath the waterfall. There were some crazies swimming in the pool but the temperature's supposedly pretty arctic so we gave that a miss!

After that, we drove up to Toowomba, a surprisingly busy country town where we stayed the night and saw what a kickin' place it is to spend a Saturday night. However, being old, we were tucked up in bed by 10pm with our books! :)

The next day, Sunday, was our big driving day - about 5 hours. We drove most of the day away, with some unsuccessful attempts to reach a few National Parks along the way. Who would have thought that major roads to National Parks that were marked on all the tourist maps would have been unpaved, dirt roads?! Not this little rental-car-driving black duck! All in all, it was a little frustrating, but arriving back on the coast in Hervey Bay was wonderful. We got there in the late afternoon and had a lovely walk around the marina area.

We considered going on a cruise to Fraser Island but decided to save that for a trip when someone who is excited by dolphins is with us (hint hint, Robin!). Instead, we drove to Noosa Heads which was absolutely gorgeous. It's a cute little resort town with a stunning beach

and a little national park with a short, but lovely rainforest walk. The walk overlooks the coastline and it was all just gorgeous!

We then drove further down the coast and back up into the mountains to an area called the Hinterlands. We stayed at a gorgeous B&B for two nights, spending the day wandering in the local towns of Maleny and Montville, eating yummy food and doing the occasional walk up hills to admire the view. All too soon, it was time to head south again, back to Brisbane, stopping on the way to admire the Glass House Mountains. No climbing this time - we just admired from a distance!
(Yes, we also drove past the Irwin family's Australia Zoo, but no, we couldn't bring ourselves to pay the exorbitant entry fee!)

Arriving back in Brisbane, we hastily checked back in to the hotel and then set off for a final dinner with our now good friends, Anita and Arthur :) also meeting up with Tanya who I taught with in London and her new husband, Steven. After a yummy Greek meal, we ended up chatting away at a pub on the South Bank, before heading off.

Our final day was spent wandering again in Brisbane. We took the City Cat to New Farm, wandered around the shops there, found the Powerhouse and its collection of amusing signs and then pottered around at South Bank again. Soon it was time to head off home again to our very cute furbaby, who was exhausted after staying with my parents and their far-too-energetic border collie! And I'm going to add one more picture, just 'cause Jessie's so cute when she's plum-tuckered. :)

For anyone who reads this occasionally....

2007-06-13T20:20:00.001+09:30

I've got a new project. :) Cause I don't procrastinate enough.

See: www.linkyloulists.blogspot.com for details.

Mount Gambier

2007-06-11T21:05:00.000+09:30

I know it's not very exotic for South Aussies but we just are back from a GREAT weekend in Mount Gambier. It's the second biggest town in our state (Adelaide is the largest) with a population of about 24,000. It's part of the Limestone Coast and so there are lots of geological features to keep Ryan happy. I was just glad to get away from my marking :)

First off, we went to visit the Umpherstone Sinkhole. From the tourism website:

"Once a cave formed through dissolution of the limestone, this sinkhole was created when the top of the chamber fell to the floor of the cave, creating the perfect environment for its "sunken garden"."

This is us, funnily enough in front of the sinkhole. It was really bright out and I didn't check whether this photo worked. As you can see, it didn't. However, it's the only photo from the weekend with us in it, so I figured I'd post it anyhow.

The sinkhole is remarkably cool, even from the point of view of the geological ignorant (ie. me). There is a full time gardener who volunteers to keep it all pretty, and it certainly was!

Can you tell I liked the sinkhole garden? :) I think I was just impressed that it was so green. It rains a lot in Mt. Gambier. After viewing the Umpherstone sinkhole, we went into Mt. Gambier proper to see that it had closed for the entire long weekend - yay provincial towns! So we went and looked at another sinkhole and then wandered around the Blue Lake for a bit.

Once again, from the Mt. Gambier tourism website:

"The Blue Lake was formed when the volcano erupted through the limestone allowing the underground water to fill the crater, creating the lake that we see today. Each year in November the lake starts its colour change from winter sombre blue to brilliant turquoise blue, before returning to its winter hue in March."

So yeah, it was a bit grey. Ryan wanted me to take this photo so you can all see the different layers in the rock. :) You can see the blue colours around the bank though.

After walking around the Lake for a bit, we went on a bush walk. It was great though a little more strenuous than the "Easy, gradual slope" that the sign advertised. We spent a lot of time admiring the view as there was an old man in one of those electric buggies in front of us and we were sure he was going to get bogged and need our assistance at some stages!

As you can see, the recent rainfall made the whole area pretty vibrant! We ended our full day in Mt. Gambier with dinner and a movie, then wandered back to the sinkhole which is floodlit at night. So here's the last photo of it, I swear :)

So that's the "travel journal" updated - we had a really lovely time. Totally recommend the area for a quick getaway!

Adelaide to Melbourne - April 2007

2007-05-05T12:36:00.000+09:30

Well, we went on a short trip the other week, just to visit friends in Melbourne. We normally fly over but since it was school holidays and we had time, we decided to save money and drive over instead. This was a pretty shocking trip. Officially, Australia is the driest continent (having the least precipitation - at least Antarctica has snow!), and has one of the most variable rainfall climates in the world. Our current drought is the worst on record and recently, the government has announced that water restrictions on farmers will be further increased so that they will be unable to irrigate from the river at all. This is especially a problem in South Australia and Victoria, the two states we drove through, as they have had only the smallest percentage of rainfall expected over the last two years.

Anyhow, I took these photos on the drive - I just couldn't believe how dry it is out there. Remember, these were taken at the very end of April, when we usually have had heavy autumn rains!

This one has a little greenery in it - thank goodness for the hard-living gum trees. This really shows how important it is for Australia to encourage the re-growth of our natural flora - cause when things get bad, they can survive on very little water.

And just to include some pics of us, here's one of me, having a stretch-break on the 8 hour drive:

And here's one of Ryan, relaxing at an outdoor cafe in Williamstown to end on a high note:

We're going to Brisbane in July - will post again then!

Ryan's 30th birthday party

2007-04-27T16:11:00.000+09:30

Okay, so this isn't really a travel post but I'm going to post it here just so I can share some of the photos of this great night. Thanks very much to Cheryl from Xavier for her shots - they're the good ones :)

If your pic appears here and you don't want it to, please let me know. Comments about how gorgeous we all are are appreciated too :)

A few pictures...

2007-01-28T17:03:00.000+10:30

...and then that's it for a bit.

We're all settled in back at home. All the laundry is finally done and all the gift distributed!! I've even lit my first candle :)

I've had a fun time getting used to driving on this side of the road though. Weird. I think I've hit the windscreen wipers hundreds of times - more than I did in the US!!

This first pic was taken in Kyoto. These guys are hawking for rickshaw passengers. I just love the trees and the light in this shot!

This is a gorgeous tree that I photographed in Kyoto. I think I'm going to have this shot framed. There was only the last of the autumn colours around when we were there. It must be AMAZING in fall.

Ryan is a big fan of the site Engrish.com and this was such a stunning example.

This is one of the Buddhist temples we visited. I had to lie down on cold marble steps to manage this shot. Andrea, Miyao and Ryan were standing below in the cold cold evening and thought I was quite mad!!

A shot of the Great Lawn in Central Park. I had a very well-timed flock of birds fly straight through the shot :)

Ryan's friend, Ken, took us to the riverwalk in Brooklyn and this is a shot of Manhattan from there. I just love the light in this photo. I don't think it takes any skill to take good shots in this light :)

This one is of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. The coolest thing about it is that it was absolutely pitch dark when I took this and I couldn't see any of the detail! I just gave night vision a go and I love the result!

This is one of my shots of West Point, Virginia, where Ryan's sister lives.

And that's it for a bit. I've left out pictures of people as I don't know if they want them posted on the net. We had such a blast - can't wait to do it again.

Back to work tomorrow - looking forward to it in one way, but gee, holidays are nice!!

Love to all who read this,

Lynn
xx

VA, NYC and home again

2007-01-22T20:13:00.000+10:30

Well, this will be my last post I should imagine for a bit, though I might play with some photos and post them later in the week... I'm sitting home in Adelaide, eating watermelon in my PJs (yay Gin for bringing me watermelon - you're right, it is the best thing ever!) and thought I'd post the last final days before I hang out the first load of laundry and then crash out. Ryan is already asleep on the couch - he made it through half a suitcase before fatigue grabbed him!!

Well, when I last wrote, I was about to head off for yet more shopping... :) I had a fun time driving around checking out shoe stores in Hampton and Newport News before crossing the bridge to Norfolk. Can you believe I STILL didn't find the dream boots that I have been searching for?? Ah well, had a fun time trying. The way home from the Norfolk mall was not so fun - I did a huge tour of some of the less salubrious areas of Hampton Roads in the dark and I seem to have lost the "accelerate and pray" method of driving that is needed for the interstates of Virginia during rush hour. Eventually, I made it back to Randy and Lucy's to meet up with Ryan and quickly change for dinner.

Don't we make a nice looking group? From left to right, Ryan and I (duh), Jack and Robin (Ryan's sister and BIL) and Bryan and Nancy (Nancy is Lucy's daughter). We went to a new area of Newport News which has been developed since we were last in Virginia, called Port Warwick. It's a lovely little place - will be interesting to see how it develops character in the next few years. The meal was amazing - especially the chocolate mousse gateaux dessert.

On Thursday, Robin brought her kids over as did Nancy and we had a crazy, noisy, kid-filled day! Nancy, Robin and I did sneak off to this great store for an hour or so, leaving four kids under 7 behind :) and did some last minute shopping. I found some fabulous candles again, but I knew Ryan would go mad if I bought any more wax so I was good and only bought two tops, a stubby holder and some earrings... The highlight of the day for Ryan was taking his nephew, Jared, to show him the family military collection. Many members of Ryan's family have served in various roles and since it was Jared's birthday on Saturday, he was allowed to choose something to inherit. He ended up choosing a huge, decommissioned WWII shell (and Robin told us the next day that he was so excited by it that he slept with it in his bed that night - waking up all smelly and musty!!) It was really sad to say goodbye to Robin and the kids and I cried yet again and Ryan didn't... Honestly!! I had to convince Ryan to accompany me on a late night trip to Walgreens to make me feel better...

The next day, we got up and did the final bits of packing before Randy and Lucy drove us over to the airport in Newport News. We stopped for lunch and were nice and early to check in...then we found out that our flight had been delayed by high winds in New York. Grrr! What made this really disappointing is that we had booked tickets to see Company on Broadway and because of the delay, we had to ring up and cancel. Very disappointing as I have only managed to see one show this trip :( Still, our flight finally left just after 6pm and we made it to our hotel by 9ish. We decided to head out to dinner to a Mexican place that Ken took us to, when we were in New York at New Year's. GREAT Margaritas!! We even got to sign the wall as we left -

As we left the restaurant, it was pretty darn cold but that lovely husband of mine still indulged me in a girlie dream - to ride around Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage at night.

It was so gorgeous. All the tourists from New Year's had gone home, I think, because as we went through the park, we couldn't hear any other carriages. It hasn't snowed much this year but the snowfall this week was just heavy enough to stick so the park was blanketed in the lightest touch of white. We passed the ice rink (which was deserted), the carousel, the Chess House and the Great Lawn - all silent and wintery....gorgeous!

Coming home, I took this great shot of the library which I'm going to post just because....

The flights back to Australia were pretty uneventful. Ryan slept more than usual which was good cause he wasn't as crabby as usual :) I apparently slept through some pretty bumpy turbulence which I'm pretty pleased about. We had icecream in Tokyo. Sydney airport was very dull. And my mum picked us up in Adelaide with as much excitement as she usually does... my brothers will know what I mean. She didn't try to leap the barrier this time though. :P

And now we're back to the mundane - laundry, tidying, thinking about school starting next week. Sigh. We had a fabulous trip though and I'm loving unpacking and seeing all the stuff that I bought in my month of shopping frenzy! We ended up buying one BIG new suitcase and a smaller gym bag specifically for all the candles that I purchased but managed to fit everything in and make it back in one piece!

So bye for now, will post pics in the week as I get a bit more organised - I have over 270 shots to look through!

Richmond

2007-01-16T11:44:00.001+10:30

Had a great day on Sunday in Richmond. It's been unseasonably warm so we could sit outside and have a long, leisurely lunch with our friends. We then went for a stroll and had a look in some of the shops in Carytown. I managed to come away with yet another candle to add to the seven pounds of scented wax that I've already bought.

After saying farewell to Bob and Kirsten and also checking out a few more shoe stores in the Short Pump shopping area, we drove back to Newport News to meet up with Alex and Courtney for Mexican food at our favourite restaurant in Virginia, Tequila Rose. Thankfully, the food is still fabulous and the margaritas are still yummy...and huge! This is the small size!

It was a great night and so lovely to meet Alex's new girlfriend. Well, new to us - they've been living together for almost two years!! The night stayed warm so we got to eat outside on the deck - a bit of a novelty in January in Virginia!!

On Monday, Ryan was off with the "boys", doing who knows what and I toodled around on my own in the rental car. Popped past the Prime Outlets again, stopped in at the Christmas store and then drove down to Newport News Park where I did the 2.6 mile trail. So so so pretty - dammit though, I forgot the camera battery so will have to do without pics. It was again lovely weather - 75 degrees, whatever that is in Celsius - so it was lovely to walk around and once again, there was no one there. I really don't understand why no one walks these trails. I walked them every weekend when I lived here but I only passed about six people and it was a public holiday here. I love this trail - it winds around a lake and you can spot deer and squirrels as you go. I also love how the path itself is soft with dry pine needles and fall leaves.

Monday night, we spent hanging out with Ryan's sister, her husband and our neice and nephew for the last time at their place. Cate and Jared have grown so much since we saw them in 2004 and we're sad that it will be a long while til we see them again! Who knows what sort of personality traits they will develop by then! We're now at Ryan's dad's house in Suffolk for the rest of the trip. We're trying to make the most of the last few days though and avoid thinking about how much we'll soon be missing everyone here. (I'm trying to drink my body weight in Diet Dr Pepper too.) We drove over here yesterday morning and then went for lunch with Ryan's grandparents to celebrate his grandfather's 85th birthday. We came back to their house after lunch and looked at some family pictures - quite fun to see photos from the 1930s when Paw Paw was in 2nd grade in the middle of the Depression!

Last night, we also caught up with the last of the Denbigh crowd, having dinner in Chesapeake with Sue and Bill. We had forgotten the joys of the interstate in peak hour though - nightmare! Sue cooked up a massive meal - roasted game hens, sweet potato and cranberry bake, green bean casserole, herbed pototoes and berries and angel food cake for dessert. It was wonderful to see their home and meet their furbabies.

Today, we're having a day in at Randy and Lucy's. Lucy has organised some barbeque (which is slow cooked pork, shredded when it's tender and then mixed with BBQ sauce and vinegar...sounds a bit odd but it's DIVINE!) for dinner. I am thinking I may pop out to the mall in Norfolk this afternoon, though it's turned really cold out there (36 degrees Fahrenheit) so we'll see if that happens. Robin and Jack are coming past tonight and we are going out for dinner with Nancy and Bryan, Lucy's daughter and her husband. We always have a fun time when we go out as a six, so we're looking forward to that too! Tomorrow, Robin is bringing her kids over for our last full day and then we're flying up to New York on Friday! I can't believe it's all almost over but we're enjoying the last few days with family as much as we can.

West Point, Virginia

2007-01-15T02:39:00.000+10:30

We've had a wonderful weekend so far in Virginia...

When I last wrote, it was Thursday morning and we were about to head into West Point to look around. West Point is a lovely area of Virginia and somewhere that we would love to live if we do come back to the States someday. It has a really sweet small town feel and everyone is so friendly. We went in to meet Ryan's sister and then we went to the downtown area, perusing the antique store, the art gallery/coffee shop (Mmmm, lemon chess cheesecake!) and also the jewellery store. I took some photos around town as well...

We picked up Robin's kids and had a great seafood dinner in West Point at a place called Nick's. Very very yummy but we were totally decimated again by the amount of deep frying involved! We obviously need to build up "fry stamina" again!

On Friday, we met up with Ryan's dad in Williamsburg and he, Ryan and our nephew, Jared went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not musuem. They had a blast and Robin and I grabbed the opportunity to shop at one of the Christmas stores that Williamsburg hosts! An hour later, I have lots of new CUUUUUTTTTEEE things. Ryan was especially sad to miss that store.

After a quick lunch, Ryan and I went down to Denbigh High School, where we used to teach. It was so fun wandering the halls, freaking people out. Lots of people had no idea at all that we were in town, so there was lots of blank looks before recognition dawned! We arrived just as school was letting out and had a good giggle at some of the "gangsta" looks that the kids were sporting. I can't believe I taught kids with their belts around their knees without cracking up!! We then headed over to Uno's where we used to spend Friday afternoons at Happy Hour when we worked here. We caught up with a whole new bunch of Denbigh people which was wonderful. It was quite funny that a lot of them hadn't seen each other for almost as long as we'd been away too!

Yesterday, we had a fun day in the house with the kids and Robin. The kids got a rock painting kit for Christmas so we went out into the woods behing the house. Jared has a little motorised John Deere Gator and it was so cute to see him "Driving Miss Daisy" with Cate.

Robin and I got totally into the rock painting, even after the kids had lost interest :) It was great fun to sit on the screened in porch in the afternoon warmth anyhow. It's been such great weather that we're really able to enjoy the outdoors!

Later in the afternoon, Ryan, Robin and I went to a wine tasting in Williamsburg with even more Denbigh people which was fun. The Australian wine was labelled from Melbourne which was a bit odd but it was pretty gross so maybe it was grown down by the river.... We then went over to the Outback Steakhouse, where I had a very Australian meal of Hickory Smoked Ribs :)

I then convinced Ryan and our friends, Alex and Courtney that we should walk around Colonial Williamsburg in the dark, stop for a drink and takes photos. I don't think they really had any idea of how many photos that involved....

It is just sooo pretty in Colonial Williamsburg. I'm going to go back in the daylight to get some better pictures of some of the old buildings too. There wasn't much light around last night though I did take this gorgeous shot on the William and Mary college campus.

Today, we're heading up to Richmond to meet up with even MORE ex-Denbigh people. Can't wait. We're going to this cool, funky shopping district and then I have some directions from Robin to some GREAT shoe stores....

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

2007-01-13T16:33:00.001+10:30

We've only got one more week to go!!!

Back to Virginia

2007-01-12T03:38:00.001+10:30

Well, when we last left our intrepid travellers....

We had a great day out in Baltimore and saw the aquarium and the waterfront area. It ws a beautiful crisp day - perfect for photos but the camera battery was dead! :( Ryan loved the aquarium especially and the shark exhibit was very cool. They had an Australian exhbition on which was funny - looking at blue tongues and galahs in Maryland! Apparently, they made a bit of a tactical error when it first opened. They have recently moved the kookaburras into a separate location as they had been eating the display lizards!!

That night, we had a fun final night in Baltimore. James, his brother, Ben, Courtney, Ryan and I went out to a very cool Japanese steakhouse where they do all the cooking right in front of you on the grill. Twas very entertaining! Then we went on to another bar in the Towson area and played some pool.

On Tuesday morning, we got up reasonably bright and early and rented a brand new PT Cruiser to drive down to Virginia. The drive itself was pretty uneventful, though it kept threatening to snow. In Williamsburg, we checked into our hotel and then wandered around the historical Colonial Williamsburg area with James and Courtney until it got too dark and cold to see much! We then walked up to one of Ryan's college eatery hangouts - the College Delly (sic) and Courtney and I tried our first Ruebens for this trip.... MMMMMMM!

We went back to "rest" in the hotel after eating these huge meals but then Courtney and I had the fab idea that since it was only 7pm, there were two perfectly good shopping hours available and the Prime Outlets mall was just down the road!! Ryan and James reluctantly joined us, though we split up when we got there. Ryan and James reckon they did the entire mall twice but Courtney and I maybe managed a quarter before we got "trapped by the savings" at my favourite store in the Outlets - Wilson's Leather. Bags and jackets basically but all heavily reduced!! I got a replacement work bag, leather gloves and a wallet for Ryan - Courtney got two bags, hat, gloves and an incredibly soft black leather jacket. When the boys finally found us in there, we convinced James into a leather jacket too. Courtney and I both commented that we had shopping frenzy adrenalin going by the time we left to head back to the hotel with our booty! I'm going to have to go back one more time as I STILL haven't done all the stores...

We then headed out to the Green Leafe pub, an old favourite of Ryan's and a newer favourite of mine. This was the pub that we went to after the July wedding and we had an equally fun night this time. James kept ordering Courtney cocktails that she wouldn't drink though....

Then yesterday, we did a wander around Colonial Williamsburg again in the daylight and then drove down to Newport News to pick up our car and wave Courtney and James off in theirs as they had to head back to Baltimore. Our car has cost us an ABSOLUTE fortune so we're determined to enjoy it for the next ten days!! I've only turned the windscreen wipers on five times instead of the indicators so far...

We drove up to West Point, where Ryan's sister, Robin lives and caught up with her at the newspaper office where she is editor. It was great to see her and we hung out with her workmates for a while until it was time to head out and pick up the kids. They were so excited to see us - so sweet! We had a quiet night in last night, doing laundry mostly and chatting - and Robin made Ryan fried porkchops which had him in heaven!!

Today we've continued the slow start. We're off to meet up with Robin in downtown West Point. I've charged the camera battery and want to take a whole lot of pics - it's so gorgeous down there!! Not sure what we'll do tonight but tomorrow, Ryan, his dad and Jared are going to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and later we're going to meet up with all the Denbigh people that we've missed so far in Newport News. Ryan and I are also hoping to swing past Denbight High School to say hello in the afternoon so we'll see what happens.

Baltimore

2007-01-09T02:53:00.000+10:30

Hello from Baltimore! We arrived here last night and it is great to see Courtney and James again. Not much to report yet, just wanted to let my mother and anyone else who might call the embassy know that we made it. :)

We had a great night out last night in Baltimore, going to a pool hall and playing darts as well. James' mother also spoiled us with a delicious spread when we arrived. We're heading out and about today - Ryan is keen to see the Baltimore Aquarium which is apparently one of the best in the country and Courtney and I are happy to do a little more shopping.

The plan is to head out tonight to Howl at the Moon (www.howlatthemoon.com) which is a dueling piano venue. Should be a blast. Then we'll drive down to Williamsburg tomorrow to show Courtney and James the wonders of Ryan's hometown. So should be in touch in a few days, perhaps with a few fun stories to tell!

Last post from Boston

2007-01-07T10:09:00.000+10:30

Hello again! Another fun few days in Boston and now everyone is napping pre-dinner so I thought I'd update this log again.

So yesterday was a nice warm day again, though a bit rainy. We are really been blessed with some great weather while we're here. It's an absoute winter heatwave here with highs in the high teens, low 20s each day. Probably doesn't sound that incredible in Australia but since this should be one of the coldest spots in the US right now, we're feeling pretty lucky when we walk around without coats like we did today! My brother was walking around the park this morning in a tee shirt! The flora is all confused as well - there are cherry blossoms in the Public Gardens and the willows are all green again!

Yesterday, we had an educational day at the Boston Science Museum. Lots to see and lots of buttons to push. We went for a very late lunch to the bar that inspired the TV show, Cheers. I had Boston Cream Pie - oooh yum! We then went back to the apartment to catch up with my brother and then went out to a funky, very authentic restaurant in the North End - the area known as Little Italy. I had butternut pumpkin ravoli in an aspargus and lobster cream sauce....to die for!! We then adjourned for liquor coffees and good conversation before wandering back home.

Today, we had another late, lazy start and managed to miss the breakfast, brunch and lunch rush. I think we actually started eating at about 2pm! We went to a lovely place near Ryan and Bec's place and had a nice walk there too, along a cool old style street with lots of interesting little shops. After "lunch", we walked over to the Prudential Tower and had a drink in their bar on the 52nd floor. The sun sets really early here at the moment so it was only around quarter past four but we got to watch the sun set and all the lights come on in the city.

We're off out for dinner in a while and then tomorrow, we're leaving on a jetplane for Baltimore to meet up with our friends from Adelaide, Courtney and James! We've had a blast in Boston - great city and wonderful company!

My Goodness!

2007-01-06T03:44:00.000+10:30

There are too many Dunkin' Donuts shops in this town for any rational society!! And there's lines in all of them. Madness!!

So, last time I wrote, we were heading off to a pro-basketball game. We watched Boston take on the Cleveland team While I know nothing about basketball, we had a great time cheering on the Celtics. It was a very close match with Boston often a few points ahead but Cleveland won in the end by 3 points. I knew none of the players, though I did recognise one name on the Cleveland team - LeBron James - and he really was an awesome player - a complete standout even though I didn't really know what I was looking for in terms of skills! We came home via a cool little pub named "The 21st Amendment" which we thought was quite fitting :)

Yesterday, we had another wandering-around day in Boston. We started off at the Boston Public Library and were lucky enough to find three free exhibitions going on. One was about the idea of public morality in 18th/19th century London and how this was reflected in print – so basically tons of old books – another was etchings of places in the US and Europe by Gardner, a Bostonian artist of the 1900-50s, and the third was the John Addams Library. Addams was the second president of the USA and a manic book collector. He had an amazing variety of books and they are all available to students today, though now mostly on-line. After the library, we had another meander through the shops and streets, followed by a nice dinner and a bottle of McLaren Vale red at Bec and Ryan’s.

And now it’s time to rug up and head off into the cold again! And for Ryan to find more donuts....

Day 1 in Boston!

2007-01-04T08:33:00.001+10:30

Well, after a lazy morning, we headed out and about around Boston. Ryan and Bec live in a gorgeous building on Commonwealth Avenue, right in the middle of the city, so it's wonderfully central for us!

We've basically had a day of wandering around the city today. It's been brisk out but not too cold and the sky has been clear so perfect walking weather. We started off walking through Boston Common and the public gardens and then went down to the river for a bit, then into the city and then down to Faneuil Hall and Quincey Market .

http://www.boston.world-guides.com/markets.html>

Didn't buy much but it's a good place to browse. I came VERY close to buying a couch throw with the Pledge of Allegiance on it...

We then walked down to the port and as it was 4.30 - ish, the sun was setting so it was time to head back here to meet my brother (Ha ha - Ryan has to work!!).

I like sunset shots anyhow. :)

By the time we walked back, the sun set entirely and now it's pitch dark again. I just went out to the street to take a photo of the Christmas lights - aren't they gorgeous??

Tonight, the wonderful Bec has organised tickets for us to go to the basketball. We're heading off soonish so time again to sign off! Go Celtics!!

Boston

2007-01-03T10:41:00.000+10:30

Have arrived in Boston and am sitting in the lovely warm apartment of my brother, Ryan and his wife, Bec. We've also met Macy the hairless cat who is actually far cuter than we anticipated!Ryan has decided it's time to open the Christmas presents that we've brought over so I guess we're signing off. Awesome!

New York!

2007-01-02T14:54:00.000+10:30

For a city hosting millions of tourists, it's quite a challenge to find a net cafe here....

New York has been fun as always. If you've ever seen a Christmas movie set here and thought it couldn't REALLY be that pretty (like London seems to be in Love Actually which *IS* a total crock!) - well, it really is here. Americans really know how to decorate and New York is absolutely gorgeous!! Everywhere you go, there are lighted wreaths, trees, reindeer, Santas...you name it! We've been wandering the streets a fair bit at night, going here and there, and it is just far too pretty here. My favourite spots have to be Grand Central Station at night (generally gorgeous anyhow but even better with a big wreath the size of one whole storey), Macy's which has a light show, Rockefeller Plaza (which always looks pretty in films but is STUNNING in real life too, despite the thousands of people....well, I could go on!

We've been having some fun times, especially while catching up with one of Ryan's college friends, Ken, who lives in the city. We went out on a very messy night in Brooklyn, checking out some cool clubs, bars and restaurants. Ryan got to introduce Ken to Coopers too - the waiter seemed quite bemused. Apparently, the only people who order it are ex-pat Aussies...

And New Years - yes, we did make it to Times Square...almost. We made it to the huge crowd that bordered Central Park and watched the big screen, cause they weren't willing to line up at 2pm to get into Times Square itself!! Still, we did make it til midnight to see the ball drop and caught the fireworks over the park. Ryan and I have both had horrible colds so it was a bit of tokenism to stay out til 1am in the freezing cold but we've done it now and so that's another tick off my list!

Tonight we went to our only show - this city is packed and it seems almost everything is sold out! We saw "Altar Boyz" which was pretty good and even Ryan enjoyed it. Tomorrow we head up to Boston to visit my brother and SIL - yay!

I'm in heaven!

2006-12-29T01:52:00.000+10:30

I bought a brown suede coat for $25 the other day in the sales here. I have just realised it's REAL leather too!! Whoo. I love shopping in America!!

Off to Prime Outlets this morning too :)

Happy Christmas!

2006-12-26T01:43:00.000+10:30

Happy Christmas!!

Just took this shot a second ago - it's Christmas morning here and the kids have just headed off to the other branch of the Lawson family tree to open presents! We decided to stay at Robin (Ryan's sister) and Jack's house last night so we could see the presents being opened and despite the 7.30am wakeup, it was well worth it!

We've had a great couple of days here in Virginia. On Saturday, we went to visit Ryan's grandparents who are doing well and were very pleased to see us. We'll see them again today hopefully. Then Saturday night, we had arranged a meetup point for all of our Denbigh teaching friends. Because we were so crazy at the end of the school year, we didn't really make a list of who could come and all, so we were only sure we were going to catch up with one person! Well, we ended up meeting up with about a dozen people, had a great meal and then adjoined to the new hotspot in Newport News. It was a great night and all the stories from NNPS surely convinced us that we're pretty blessed with our teaching jobs in Adelaide!!

On Sunday, Nancy (who is Ryan's sort of stepsister) and her husband Bryan, came around to Randy and Lucy's with her kids. Robin and Jack also brought Jared and Cate (our neice and nephew) and we opened presents with all five grandkids! It was so fun - I've forgotten the Christmas vibe with children in the mix. The kids all loved their Australian chocolate and Jared is very pleased with the model airplanes that I bought him and Ryan - they'll hopefully get a chance to build and fly them this week. Last night, we went to Ryan's mom's sister's house - Caroline. There were a lot of family members there who we hadn't caught up with and so that was lovely. We once again were extremely spoiled with gifts and also got to see the kids from that side of the family - they're all so big!!

Today, we've been up early and opening presents with the kids. Robin and Jack have taken the kids to see their grandparents so I have a moment of peace to update this. The kids are certainly high energy and perenially hyped on sugar at this time of year so we're reconsidering the idea of EVER having our own. Maybe the furbaby that can be put in the backyard when she's annoying is enough....

Ho ho ho to you all. We've got a few more days left here in Virginia and then we're off to New York for New Years. We've got a few plans that mostly involve the various malls in the area and the post-Christmas sales...Ryan is SO excited. I've already managed to buy 6 tops and a new pair of jeans so I have a groove going that can't be stopped! Hope the holidays were kind to everyone.

Pictures from Japan!

2006-12-24T01:16:00.000+10:30

I've just worked out that I can upload photos from our digital camera so here are some choice ones! They don't do the trip justice at all as I can't use any of the one taken on the side which are all the cool ones :)

Here we are in Osaka - unfortunately I'll have to play around with the light as I had the camera on the night setting.

This is in Kyoto. These guys are touting for rickshaw passengers. Most of the trees had lost their leaves by the time we visited Japan but there were still some beautiful ones!

Here I am in a Japanese garden in Kyoto. It surrounds some beautiful old temples and was a glorious place for a walk.

Andrea, Miyao and Ryan eating all kinds of tofu and other yummy stuff at a restaurant in Kyoto.

Okay, it's taken me forever to work this out so I'll sign off now. Merry Christmas again!!

Safe in Virginia

2006-12-23T05:28:00.000+10:30

Oh my goodness, my feet are cold! I've forgotten to put on ug boots and now and paying for it. I'm currently sitting in the basement of Ryan's dad's house and the concrete floor is not particularly pleasant in the midwinter!!

Anyhow!

Well, we made it! We had a great final day in Japan with Miyao and Andrea. They were such wonderful hosts and we had an amazing insight to what life is really like in Japan through staying with them. On Tuesday, we got up to another wonderful Japanese breakfast made my Miyao's mother. It was Japanese rice, salmon and chives, with miso soup...so yummy! Ryan has a new obsession with nori (seaweed) and so added that liberally. Miyao told his mother about my wasabi obsession so she got out the hottest wasabi I've ever tasted! Bit of a new experience at breakfast but that didn't stop me!!

We caught the train (after dropping in on Andrea and my forum!) to Osaka city, dropping off our bags at the station and then hitting the shopping district. Ryan and I definitely didn't have much space left to pack things so we were mostly window shopping but it was amazing! I know now why my international students at USC say Adelaide's shopping is so terrible. We only went to one district and it was HUGE! Lots of bright lights and neon too - very impressive.

Andrea and Miyao took us to a Japanese omellete house for lunch. There is a hotplate built into the table and the waitresses come and pile up all sorts of things to cook in front of you. We had an egg dish, fried noodles and also the traditional omelettes, stuffed with fresh cabbage and pork and topped with BBQ sauce and mayonnaise. Sounds scary but yummmmmmmm!!

After lunch, we sadly made our way to the train station to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo. It was really sad to say goodbye to Andrea and Miyao - I got a bit teary - as they looked after us so well. The train journey itself was quite fun. We had bought donuts and coffee in a can from vending machines to keep us occupied and so whiled away the two and a half hour trip watching the country fly past. Unfortunately, it got dark about an hour or so out of Osaka so we missed Mt Fuji but there's always next time. Once in Tokyo, we went straight to the hotel which was just lovely and since we were still full from lunch, had a vending machine drink (I think mine was peach vodka but who knows since the writing was kanji only) and watched the news on CNN. (Do you know that there's snow in Denver?? I think this was the main news story repeated every ten minutes...cause nothing else is going on in the world, right??)

The flight to New York was fine and we arrived around 12 noon on Wednesday at our hotel in New York. I had a raging headache and Ryan wanted to nap so we stopped at the drugstore and then went to our room to rest. (I indulged my Diet Dr Pepper obsession too - priorities!) Well, that was a bit of a mistake as we slept til 9pm and missed the entire day but at least we're not jetlagged anymore! The next day, we pretty much had to head straight to the airport to catch our flight to Virginia so we didn't see much of New York at all this time. However, since we're heading back up in a week or so for New Years' I wasn't too gutted!

We arrived last night in Virginia after a ton of delays at JFK. The gate was absolutely packed with all the holiday travel and Delta was doing a pretty average job of managing the crowd. Still, once on the plane, the flight was fine and we were met at the gate in Richmond by Ryan's dad, his wife Lucy, Ryan's sister and our neice and nephew. Jared was especially excited to see us and we even got hugs without prompting this time! He's gorgeous and so big! Cate is a bit unsure of us for now as she was so little when we were last here. That will soon fade, I think. She's so beautiful and we can't believe how big she's gotten too!

So yes, now we're at the house and doing all the little errands that need to be done before Christmas. Don't know if I'll be able to get online much with all that has to be done, but if not, happy Christmas all!

Tokyo

2006-12-19T23:57:00.000+10:30

Only have a minute of email time in one of those hotel lobby booths but wanted to let you all know, especially my mother :) (don't call the embassy) that we made it to Tokyo with minimum fuss, the hotel is lovely and all is well.

Our flight is at 12 tomorrow so looking forward to touching down in New York soon enough.
More to say about today but running out of time!

A quick pic from Kyoto!

2006-12-19T02:26:00.000+10:30

Taken with Andrea's phone!

Osaka

2006-12-19T00:52:00.000+10:30

Having a great time here. We arrived late last night and were met at the airport by Miyao and Andrea. It was gusty and cold - quite a change from the warm day we left in Sydney! The flight itself was pretty uneventful. We did meet up with our Adelaide friends who are also heading to the US for Christmas in Sydney which was fun but otherwise, nothing much to report! Ryan will tell you there was lots of wind and turbulence but I didn't notice a thing so it can't have been that bad!!

After arriving in Japan and getting through customs/quarantine with our boatload of chocolate :) we went with Miyao and Andrea to what I guess is the Japanese equivalent of a tapas bar. Very yummy though we had no idea what we were looking at until Miyao would explain what it was. Lots of seaweed!! Which was just wonderful for us. We came back to their home late and found Miyao's parents had waited up to meet up so we shared tea and remarkably understood details about our trip. We have decided that Miyao's father is very much like my Dutch father and Ryan's American father - interested in everything and loving to get the atlas out!! They are spoiling us rotten. For example, we had an absolute smorgasbord of a Japanese breakfast this morning (complete with scary little bug~eyed fish!!)

Today, we have been sightseeing in Kyoto. We started off at the Bamboo Gardens in Kyoto and then found a Japanese garden and temple. Most of the autumn colours are gone but there were still a few trees with beautitful red foilage. We then walked down past a few shops to the riverside where we found a restaurant and had more delectable Japanese food. I will have to add pictures to this post when I can because once again, I couldn't tell you what we ate was called!

After our lunch, we drove to one of the large temples in Kyoto and walked around there. This temple is one of the choices for the New 7 Wonders project (which is worth googling if you haven't voted!) It was truly inspiring. As we walked around, the sun set and we soon were walking in half-darkness which made for an amazing atmosphere and we took some incredible photos. Which I will post later too ;)

The way to the temple was a small cobbled street with lots of shops selling traditional Japanese items and gifts. Everything is so beautiful - we could spend hundreds of dollars! On the walk up, we tried the green tea soft serve icecream. Very `interesting` but it grows on you!! Ryan also managed to find a Japanese donut stall...

After the sightseeing, we went into Kyoto city to the arcades. I know now why the international students I teach are so disappointed with Adelaide shopping! Wow, the choices!! Very bustling and also plenty of amusing Engrish examples. We did a little gift buying and then it was time to drive back towards Osaka.

We had dinner at a sushi restaurant in Osaka which is similar in concept to the Sushi train restaurants in Australia. The sushi options come around on little plates on a conveyer belt and you take the options you like and let the others pass you by. Because Andrea has tried most of the options and has similar taste to mine (ie she doesn't like `fishy fish` either), I tried a whole set of new favourites including raw tuna!

We're now back at the Miyao home and since Ryan is probably anxious to check his email, I will sign off now. I really wish I could add some pictures to show you how gorgeous everything is here but that will have to wait until next time! We're off to Tokyo tomorrow - on our own this time - and will probably next check in from New York.

Love to all who bother to read this,
Lynn
xx

Made it to the flight - :)

2006-12-17T11:45:00.000+10:30

Sydney airport is very exciting. My father is going to be very impressed at my stock of duty-free.

Finished packing at 2am, up at 4.30am. Yay. I think I will sleep pretty soundly on this flight.

Not much else to say - very excited about seeing Andrea tonight and meeting her husband!!

Should I get offline???

2006-12-16T22:05:00.000+10:30

It's 10pm. We get on a plane tomorrow. At 7.20am. Which means we leave here around 5am.

Should I think about packing??

It's the enormous bag of chocolate that have to be squeezed into the suitcases is scaring me at the moment.

Otherwise, all is set for the trip. The fridge is emptied (almost), the dog is at my parents' place, a few Christmas presents have been exchanged, the house is clean...

So next time I post here, I'll probably be in Japan! Yay!

Hello!

2006-12-10T20:07:00.000+10:30

Ryan and I are off to Japan on Sunday. We're going to visit an online friend of mine and also meet her Japanese husband. We're going to stay with his family too, which we are really looking forward to! We've been told it's going to be really really cold though, which will be a huge shock as it's been STINKING hot in Adelaide this week.

After Japan, we're off to Christmas with Ryan's family in the US. We're also going to trip around the east coast a little, NYC, Boston and Baltimore are currently on the agenda and I am hoping to also stop in at Richmond and DC if there's time.

Yay! Now we just need to pack. As usual, we haven't even thought about this yet. My first task is to find my passport as I have this awful feeling that this job will be a bit of a challenge. Then we need to manage to fit clothes as well as Christmas presents into our suitcases. Sigh.

Ah well, there's worse troubles we could have, right!