Sorry for no post the last few days, it's been another busy few :) Hopefully we get the house sorted soon and then I will have a few minutes before the baby arrives!!!
We had our first 4th of July on Sunday, WOW Americans do get excited. We were planning on having a pretty quite morning as we had big plans for the evening. We had looked at a house in an area of Virginia Beach called Great Neck so thought we would check out the local park. It had a play area, so it was a good excuse to let Charlotte play outside for a while. When we were there a fire truck came by with lights flashing and about 30 kids on bikes behind it!! All the kids had decorated their bikes with red, white and blue!!! The fire truck stopped at the park and the entire neighbourhood turned up shortly after :) Everybody just assumed we were part of the neighbourhood and asked us to join in playing volleyball. We spoke with a few of the people to get an idea about the area and then left as we felt a little rude crashing the party!!!
After that we went home (I had a sleep, Charlotte decided not too!!) to get ready to go to the oceanfront (that’s what they call the actual beach here). We got there about 4:30pm, and met up with a few other Aussie families. The beach here is extremely long and there was no room to move on any of it (for those in Sydney think Bondi Beach on NYE but about 20 times longer and for the Brisbane people Ted says think Kings Beach in the middle of summer, again about 20 times longer). We found a spot and spent a few hours swimming and covering ourself in loads of sunscreen, once again it was about 35-40 degrees. Its daylight savings time here too so the sun finally went down about 8pm. Just before it did we moved up to a grassy patch just in front of a stage they had set up for the free band that night. The band was a Bruce Springsteen tribute, Mum you would be proud, Charlotte danced the entire time!!! At 9:30pm they had some fireworks over the water which was cool, Charlotte thought they were very pretty!!! After a long walk back to the car, we finally got home about midnight (the traffic was horrible). But we had a great time so it was worth it!! Charlotte fell asleep on the walk back to the car, in typical Charlotte form :) Sorry no photo, we didn’t take our iPhones, Beck one of the other girls got some photos of Charlotte dancing, I'll attach one!!
Yesterday we had a pretty quite day, Ted had the day off due the 4th of July holiday. We ventured out for a quick look at the NEX at Norfolk to buy Charlotte something to play with, we still don't have our removal so she is pretty bored. The NEX is like a massive MYER but all tax free and discounted. (Dad don’t buy a suitcase, they have good ones at the NEX, you can buy one when you get here, just bring ours over )
This afternoon we went to have another look at house we saw on the weekend (the one near the park with the fire truck in Great Neck). It's not a perfect place but it's big, the kitchen and 2 of the bathrooms are new. It has a fenced yard for Charlotte, plus a FROG (Finished Room Over Garage) for those that decide to visit :) The wall paper in one room is interesting but I can be creative with my interior decorating if I need :) The area is the best part about it, only 15mins to work for Ted and its well known for being a great area for schools (preschool for Charlotte when she turns 3) and community, as we saw on the 4th. We have made an offer and the owners seem more than happy to have us live there for the next 2yrs, just have to send the lease to the Australian Embassy to check over. I'm sure there will be no problems, the owners are US retired military, and have been renting this house to other military members for years :) Hopefully we can get to Washington DC soon to pick furniture and then can move in shortly after that, and get the Aussie flag flying (so many houses over here have the USA flag up in the front yard or at the front door, so it is expected that we will fly an Australian flag in our yard). I’ll attach a few photos of the inside of the house, I don’t have any of the outside yet.
Hope all is well back in Australia, make sure you email us every now and again to keep us updated on what’s going on :)
We had our first 4th of July on Sunday, WOW Americans do get excited. We were planning on having a pretty quite morning as we had big plans for the evening. We had looked at a house in an area of Virginia Beach called Great Neck so thought we would check out the local park. It had a play area, so it was a good excuse to let Charlotte play outside for a while. When we were there a fire truck came by with lights flashing and about 30 kids on bikes behind it!! All the kids had decorated their bikes with red, white and blue!!! The fire truck stopped at the park and the entire neighbourhood turned up shortly after :) Everybody just assumed we were part of the neighbourhood and asked us to join in playing volleyball. We spoke with a few of the people to get an idea about the area and then left as we felt a little rude crashing the party!!!
After that we went home (I had a sleep, Charlotte decided not too!!) to get ready to go to the oceanfront (that’s what they call the actual beach here). We got there about 4:30pm, and met up with a few other Aussie families. The beach here is extremely long and there was no room to move on any of it (for those in Sydney think Bondi Beach on NYE but about 20 times longer and for the Brisbane people Ted says think Kings Beach in the middle of summer, again about 20 times longer). We found a spot and spent a few hours swimming and covering ourself in loads of sunscreen, once again it was about 35-40 degrees. Its daylight savings time here too so the sun finally went down about 8pm. Just before it did we moved up to a grassy patch just in front of a stage they had set up for the free band that night. The band was a Bruce Springsteen tribute, Mum you would be proud, Charlotte danced the entire time!!! At 9:30pm they had some fireworks over the water which was cool, Charlotte thought they were very pretty!!! After a long walk back to the car, we finally got home about midnight (the traffic was horrible). But we had a great time so it was worth it!! Charlotte fell asleep on the walk back to the car, in typical Charlotte form :) Sorry no photo, we didn’t take our iPhones, Beck one of the other girls got some photos of Charlotte dancing, I'll attach one!!
Yesterday we had a pretty quite day, Ted had the day off due the 4th of July holiday. We ventured out for a quick look at the NEX at Norfolk to buy Charlotte something to play with, we still don't have our removal so she is pretty bored. The NEX is like a massive MYER but all tax free and discounted. (Dad don’t buy a suitcase, they have good ones at the NEX, you can buy one when you get here, just bring ours over )
This afternoon we went to have another look at house we saw on the weekend (the one near the park with the fire truck in Great Neck). It's not a perfect place but it's big, the kitchen and 2 of the bathrooms are new. It has a fenced yard for Charlotte, plus a FROG (Finished Room Over Garage) for those that decide to visit :) The wall paper in one room is interesting but I can be creative with my interior decorating if I need :) The area is the best part about it, only 15mins to work for Ted and its well known for being a great area for schools (preschool for Charlotte when she turns 3) and community, as we saw on the 4th. We have made an offer and the owners seem more than happy to have us live there for the next 2yrs, just have to send the lease to the Australian Embassy to check over. I'm sure there will be no problems, the owners are US retired military, and have been renting this house to other military members for years :) Hopefully we can get to Washington DC soon to pick furniture and then can move in shortly after that, and get the Aussie flag flying (so many houses over here have the USA flag up in the front yard or at the front door, so it is expected that we will fly an Australian flag in our yard). I’ll attach a few photos of the inside of the house, I don’t have any of the outside yet.
Hope all is well back in Australia, make sure you email us every now and again to keep us updated on what’s going on :)
Wow, you sound busy. thanks for finding the time to blog us so we can get excited too.
ReplyDeleteWhen does the maid start....the house looks really big or are the photos deceiving!!!
ReplyDeleteHow gorgeous is that photo of Charli....Aunty Mel would like a copy emailed to her please....
Love to you allxxx