Wow, all kinds of things have changed since June... we are now living in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia due to Blake's hard work and a big promotion with FedEx Kinkos, who he's been with for 5 and a half years. We've been here for a little over 2 weeks and so far we love it here! It's a bit unusual for it to be 2 days prior to Christmas and it's 80+ degrees (29 C). Due to us having just moved and still occupying a temporary rental home we are without a tree... so it just doesn't feel like Christmas here!
We've had quite an adventure getting here... we flew from Birmingham to Dallas, and then changed planes in Dallas to Los Angeles... that flight was "fun" with both children making themselves known to the rest of the plane... fortunately our surrounding flyers in coach were understanding of our plight. After landing at LAX we spent about an hour and a half renting a car and finally made our way to our hotel, which was very nice. We drove through Beverly Hills briefly and had lunch (after we finally got on our way... we lost 2 hours in the transition) and then made our way back to LAX for our flight to Honolulu. Luckily this one was first class! The kids slept most of the way there, and again we lost another couple hours of time arriving in Hawaii at around 9 pm.
After renting a car (again... not easy when you're traveling with 9 checked bags, a double stroller, and an infant and a toddler)... we found our hotel and gratefully fell asleep! The next day, December 4th, was our first day without travel and we looked forward to exploring Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, the island of Oahu had different plans... it rained 3 inches in an hour! We were still able to see lots of great surf and enjoy a nice dinner on the beach. Brady was more interested in the "big trucks" of the landscape crew than the amazing island of Oahu!! He enjoyed a great time running on the beach, however.
Finally it was time to make our final journey to Sydney. We boarded our plane in Honolulu at about 10:30 am Wednesday, December 5th and landed in Sydney at 6 pm on Thursday, December 6th! The flight was 10 1/2 hours but we lost a day crossing the International Date Line... very strange, I must say! Anna enjoyed having a fold down bassinet in front of her brother in the first row... and I must say that Blake and I enjoyed not having to hold her for that long on our lap too!! We took turns taking our meals in the "adult" section which was separated by an aisle, while the other one tended to the kids. Brady was fortunate enough to get 2 bags of Wiggles goodies from the nice flight attendants on Qantas... which is a great airline, by the way!
Well, that pretty much wraps up our journey here... although there are several other funny things... one being that Brady learned what the word "DANGER" means by trapping his hand in an elevator in LA... funny because he didn't get hurt and still calls all the lifts around here "DANGER"... Anna has officially made friends on every leg of the trip with her crooked little smile and charming ways... but won't sleep through the night to save her life, even after 3 weeks of not being in our house in Alabama... ahh, I could go on but I won't!
We've had many friends ask how the trip over was, so there it is. I'll add more as we get more into our life here in Sydney. So far we've already traveled by pram, rail, bus, and ferry... also known as "BIG TRAIN! BIG BUS! and BIG BOAT!" He doesn't have a word for pram yet except that "Eaya" (Anna) goes in the back and he would never let us forget her... he's always asking where she is if she's not in the room!
Happy Holidays to all and I hope to update more frequently from now on.
Note: All the pictures from our journey are to the side of the blog
14 years ago
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