The 1st 24hrs in Norfolk

Well our 1st 24hrs in Norfolk has been very busy. We arrived a little late last night, (only about an hour) as we were delayed out of Dallas. Charlotte was really horrible on the flight from LA to Dallas as she didn't want to sit in her own first class seat, or be held by one of us, so she screamed for take off and landing as we had to hold her!!! The rest of the flight she was ok, but wanted to move about a lot. From Dallas she was so tired she fell asleep on my lap for about the 1st hour, but after that again wanted to run around. We were very glad to get off the plane and know we didn't have to get on another for a while :) One of the other Aussie's here in Norfolk, Paul, picked us up and thankfully he has a big American truck, so all our bags fit!! From there we came to our appartment at Marina Shores where we will be for about the next month. It's not bad, the aircon works which is the most important thing in this heat (it has been about 38 - 40 degrees C).

Today we spent most of the day with Paul again, he took us to pick up the hire car and also gave us a bit of a tour around Norfolk and Virginia Beach. We met his wife (Beck) and their boy (Finn) and had lunch with them, Charlotte and Finn got on like a house on fire, and we even saw a squirel in their backyard, Charlotte was very excited!! After lunch we took our first shopping trip to the Commissary (supermarket on base) Beck calls it the Comisery as she doesn't like it! Charlotte fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up when we got there (see photos). It was hard to know what to buy, so many types of one thing, so much crap, and no Lamb, Ted's not happy!!! The bonus is someone packs your bags and even pushes the cart (trolley) out to the car for you, that will come in very handy in a few months when I have my hands full with children :) You do have to give them a tip for the help though, like with most things here.

When we got back home Charlotte and Ted went to see the ducks at the little pond just near the stairs up to our appartment (see the smile in the photos, I think Charlotte liked it!!). And now after cooking dinner (so nice not to eat takeaway) and finally getting Charlotte to bed at 10pm(think the body clock is still a little out) we are going to head off to bed as well. I think the next month or so is going to be full of very busy days, so many things to sort out. We have found a few cars to look at tomorrow and then have a BBQ with all the Aussie's in the afternoon, it will be nice to meet a few more people who have been there and done this!!!

We added a few extra photos above, of the view from our hotel room at LAX. Also Charlotte and I on the open top tram at The Grove/farmers market in West Hollywood on Wednesday (thanks for the tip Angus, it was good!!!)