Okay folks, I mean, mates. I did lose a day in the sky right? We are safe and sound in Sydney, Australia in our 2 BR, 2BA apartment overlooking Hyde Park. Think "The Man" (husband)compared it to Central Park in NY. Will check that out tomorrow and let you know. It is green and lush but looks no where near the size of the CP. Oh yeah, and every time I peek out someone is lying in the grass necking...I've read PDA is no BDD here (yeah, i just made that up, Big Damn Deal!). I am thinking maybe it is just the green space in the city effect he must have been trying to convey. Anything he could say to help make the transition to "moving on up" to the 15th floor above mentioned apartment, with a balcony, that a small animal or crawling baby(not yet) might be able to slip out of. Have I ever mentioned to you, I am not a big fan of heights?
We've come along way from our "pink house" as "The Muffin" (dear daughter)likes to call our lived in less than a year, suburb house outside of RVA. There is also a pool and a gym here at our apartment building that I have seen in the photos before coming, but not yet in person. Maybe tomorrow.
We've come along way from our "pink house" as "The Muffin" (dear daughter)likes to call our lived in less than a year, suburb house outside of RVA. There is also a pool and a gym here at our apartment building that I have seen in the photos before coming, but not yet in person. Maybe tomorrow.
The crazy busyness of this move kind of put a band-aid (slick if I remember from reading up on Oz) on feeling a whole lot of sadness or excitement about this big move. I was just living each moment, and as anyone knows with small children and a home to care for, many of the moments were full of normal day to day living things. When the moving guys came to take down husbands BATV (big ass tv, not looking as big ass as it did in our "little house"- v.b.in the Fan as in the "pink house", Muffin exclaimed. "I neeeeeed my tveeeeeee" "Don't take my tveeeee". Poor angel. Has a serious addiction to Dora and The Wonder Pets. Perhaps I would be more worried about things if not moving to an English-speaking country.
Leaving the USA
So we caravan with our parents and my sister Cathy to Dulles with wayyyy to much stuff. I admit it! But the stuff was making me feel better, and the stuff we did not store will not arrive for sometime by ship. So yes, I had a bag of toys for each kid to stow and a backpack to tow on board! It was a bit much and cumbersome. We get there and go to check our baggage in. It was a disaster. Eight bags under, seven up! They direct The Man to a counter and the couple before him kept coming back to his agent to reweigh their stuff...they were "shifting stuff", I'll say though my sisters and I have another way to phrase that. That finally gets handled and we only have to pay $200 some for Huckleberry's (dear baby boy) second bag because as a ticketed, no seated passenger he was allowed one bag. Thank God diaper bags don't count and the nice agent did not weigh any other bags. The Adventure Gods were on our side from the start. Tearful goodbyes are shared. Muffin told her grandfather Bo, who she decided to call Bob for the day "I like your blue eyes. I will call you." On to security. Another wait and it just took us forever to get our stuff back on us and they ran the stroller twice! Muffin decides after walking through the detector that she wants to walk. The Man, dh, decides he is having a choosing a battle moment and allows this to prevent meltdown...so off we go slowly through elevators, etc to a tram (big thrill for Muffin) to the terminal...and they are boarding. The Man just butts us in. Hockey skills came in handy...it was like a skate, skate, glide (shout out to the Cougars!)to get to this point, once there, he got defensive...We board and I overhear the one check in person say to the other, "Were they first class?" Umm yeah, not.
Flight #1
Thank God we got in and did not lose our bulkhead seats. So, no bassinet as we expected. But the additional foot room was nice. Since I pretty much had to hold Huckleberry the entire time, it worked out. Later learned we may have gotten a bassinett to place on floor. Since some people like to cut thru that area, not such a good idea and after seeing it on the next flight...yeah, no. All goes well. The plane was so hot though and we were juggling stuff and babies just to get it and looked and felt like we had already made the whole trek to Oz. Kids were like Frequent Flyers on their maiden flight! Muffin almost falls asleep...Arrive at LA Airport. So grateful that the next flight is doors away from where we got off our first flight. Rest room, diaper changes. BTW, though the plan was to change both kids before flight one, one got done, then we had the mad race to our terminal and Muffin did not. So, first and only leaker: Muffin. Immediately changed, but brought full outfits to change...She was already a little Punky Brewster dressed and we added to that with a smaller pink striped legging to go with polka dot sweater, pink striped Koala shirt, frilly socks ala Fancy Nancy, and light up sparkle sneakers! Muffin enjoyed watching her little t.v with her new pink headphones. Huckleberry was as easygoing as ever. Did he nap? Hmmm...neither of us can remember...
Layover in LA
Muffin dances in waiting area, puts on a show. At least we were amused. She was tired but always ready to boogie! Also, looked pretty cute in her mix matched outfit. We get big Diet Cokes, probably less expensive than in Aus. even with airport prices! Yum.
Flight #2
The Man checked us in as soon as he could. We were told we had the bulkhead seats and to request the bassinet as soon as we boarded. We were really hopeful so that we could all sleep! Huck does not like to sleep on yah. The boy likes his space. We don't know what happened. We are one row behind bulkhead seats. We try to change this. No luck on this one, but nice lady sharing our row moves to an empty seat to give us more room. Flight attendant (a.k.a. pilot girl, thanks to Muffin) brings us this floor bassinet. Basically, this sucker is not much different than a duffle bag with slight padding at the bottom. It's just yuck! But Huck is no wee lad. So we try it, you can't even really bend down to get him in and out because the space is just too tight. I hate it, he hates it. His only fussing on the plane was about sleepiness. He eventually adjusted to sleeping on me, I adjusted to barely sleeping and then figured out a way to let him lay across the extra seat whilst I held onto him. He slept well like that. Muffin played on the "magical" Ipad for a bit after boarding then slept well for a long time. Then, she pretty much played with it for the duration of the flight. So, aside from a bit of coloring and reading...her backpack toys were not so needed. Could have combined the kids stuff. The little Macks did really well and received compliments from other passengers and a couple of the "pilot girls". Muffin's fit at the end was bad, didn't want to wear her seatbelt, etc. and kicking the back of the seat of the dude who was in our seats. Oh well, justice for all!
Still to come: Arrival at Sydney Airport, The Crib, Potties, Baby Food, Outing
Leaving the USA
So we caravan with our parents and my sister Cathy to Dulles with wayyyy to much stuff. I admit it! But the stuff was making me feel better, and the stuff we did not store will not arrive for sometime by ship. So yes, I had a bag of toys for each kid to stow and a backpack to tow on board! It was a bit much and cumbersome. We get there and go to check our baggage in. It was a disaster. Eight bags under, seven up! They direct The Man to a counter and the couple before him kept coming back to his agent to reweigh their stuff...they were "shifting stuff", I'll say though my sisters and I have another way to phrase that. That finally gets handled and we only have to pay $200 some for Huckleberry's (dear baby boy) second bag because as a ticketed, no seated passenger he was allowed one bag. Thank God diaper bags don't count and the nice agent did not weigh any other bags. The Adventure Gods were on our side from the start. Tearful goodbyes are shared. Muffin told her grandfather Bo, who she decided to call Bob for the day "I like your blue eyes. I will call you." On to security. Another wait and it just took us forever to get our stuff back on us and they ran the stroller twice! Muffin decides after walking through the detector that she wants to walk. The Man, dh, decides he is having a choosing a battle moment and allows this to prevent meltdown...so off we go slowly through elevators, etc to a tram (big thrill for Muffin) to the terminal...and they are boarding. The Man just butts us in. Hockey skills came in handy...it was like a skate, skate, glide (shout out to the Cougars!)to get to this point, once there, he got defensive...We board and I overhear the one check in person say to the other, "Were they first class?" Umm yeah, not.
Flight #1
Thank God we got in and did not lose our bulkhead seats. So, no bassinet as we expected. But the additional foot room was nice. Since I pretty much had to hold Huckleberry the entire time, it worked out. Later learned we may have gotten a bassinett to place on floor. Since some people like to cut thru that area, not such a good idea and after seeing it on the next flight...yeah, no. All goes well. The plane was so hot though and we were juggling stuff and babies just to get it and looked and felt like we had already made the whole trek to Oz. Kids were like Frequent Flyers on their maiden flight! Muffin almost falls asleep...Arrive at LA Airport. So grateful that the next flight is doors away from where we got off our first flight. Rest room, diaper changes. BTW, though the plan was to change both kids before flight one, one got done, then we had the mad race to our terminal and Muffin did not. So, first and only leaker: Muffin. Immediately changed, but brought full outfits to change...She was already a little Punky Brewster dressed and we added to that with a smaller pink striped legging to go with polka dot sweater, pink striped Koala shirt, frilly socks ala Fancy Nancy, and light up sparkle sneakers! Muffin enjoyed watching her little t.v with her new pink headphones. Huckleberry was as easygoing as ever. Did he nap? Hmmm...neither of us can remember...
Layover in LA
Muffin dances in waiting area, puts on a show. At least we were amused. She was tired but always ready to boogie! Also, looked pretty cute in her mix matched outfit. We get big Diet Cokes, probably less expensive than in Aus. even with airport prices! Yum.
Flight #2
The Man checked us in as soon as he could. We were told we had the bulkhead seats and to request the bassinet as soon as we boarded. We were really hopeful so that we could all sleep! Huck does not like to sleep on yah. The boy likes his space. We don't know what happened. We are one row behind bulkhead seats. We try to change this. No luck on this one, but nice lady sharing our row moves to an empty seat to give us more room. Flight attendant (a.k.a. pilot girl, thanks to Muffin) brings us this floor bassinet. Basically, this sucker is not much different than a duffle bag with slight padding at the bottom. It's just yuck! But Huck is no wee lad. So we try it, you can't even really bend down to get him in and out because the space is just too tight. I hate it, he hates it. His only fussing on the plane was about sleepiness. He eventually adjusted to sleeping on me, I adjusted to barely sleeping and then figured out a way to let him lay across the extra seat whilst I held onto him. He slept well like that. Muffin played on the "magical" Ipad for a bit after boarding then slept well for a long time. Then, she pretty much played with it for the duration of the flight. So, aside from a bit of coloring and reading...her backpack toys were not so needed. Could have combined the kids stuff. The little Macks did really well and received compliments from other passengers and a couple of the "pilot girls". Muffin's fit at the end was bad, didn't want to wear her seatbelt, etc. and kicking the back of the seat of the dude who was in our seats. Oh well, justice for all!
Still to come: Arrival at Sydney Airport, The Crib, Potties, Baby Food, Outing
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