3 Weeks in Oz!!

Well I guess I start at the begining.......On Saturday the 5th of Feb we left at about midday and flew from Norfolk to LA, via Atlanta. Apart from the fact that Ted forgot to give JT the car park ticket to get the car out of the parking station at the airport, it all went without any dramas :) The girls did well on the flights and thankfully on the second sector (it was longer) they had inflight entertainment (this seems to be rare in the US), so Charlotte was happy to watch TV, while Victoria slept. When we arrived in LA, the flight to BNE had 6 seats available and after 3-4hrs waiting we got boarding passes, we were so glad we were going to get on!! Again the girls were very good, however we were split up when seated so I stayed with Victoria and Charlotte got to sit with Daddy.
The first week we stayed with Ted's parents in BNE. We got to spend some quality time with all the family, including Jer who was back on leave from a deployment. We found a nice little cafe just down the road called Our Haus and I think we went there almost every morning, the coffee was good, as was the food and Charlotte made friends with Raymond the waiter :) He even gave her a gift the last day before we left, it was very sweet!! Charlotte got to celebrate her birthday for the first time in BNE, I made her some tiny pink cupcakes and we all (Ted, Jim, Julieanne, Mike, Jer, Laura, Kirrily and I) sang Happy Birthday. We also took the girls out to meet Ivy, Ted's Nana, I think she was happy to see the girls :)
Next we were off to Albury, but on the way we stopped in Sydney for a quick Hi. We were very excited to have one of our favourite flight attendants meet us at the gate :) Thanks Ann!! We had a quick stop in at my work and said hi and then met another few of our favourite FA's at the gate (thx Rach and Bridget), then flew to Albury. Mum and John were there to meet us and we headed straight to their place. Tuesday we got to catch up with Shell and Harry, and Victoria went for her first swim. Can u believe that Harry's only about an inch shorter than Charlotte......he has a bigger foot and is heavier!! And did I mention half the age??
After a few quite days Ted and I managed to get out to the movies, the first time in a very long time!! Thursday and Friday evenings we spent at Mel and Ja's place, Thai for dinner on Thursday, YUM!! And cake making all day Friday!! Saturday we had a party for both Brayden and Charlotte's Birthday. Dad flew down to Mel's and Aunty Liz and Uncle Malcolm drove up from Melbourne. Mel and I had made some pretty cool cakes, and once again we sang Happy Birthday!! We had a great day and then topped it off embarrasing Dad at a belated dinner for his birthday :) We told the waiters it was Dad's birthday and they made the entire restaruant sing Happy Birthday to him!! Hehe!!
Next up we flew back to Sydney (another favourite FA was on the flight.....nice work Bree!!!) and after checking in to our apartment we headed out to see the Woods Family and Nanna McBride. Unfortunatley Nanna was not well so we didn't get much time with her, but it was so good to see her again and introduce her to miss Victoria. Charlotte as usual ran around Nanna's house like a crazy person. We had dinner with Dad and the Woods family, again Thai (Thai here in Virginia Beach is pretty average, so we thought we should eat plenty while in Australia). Once again there was a cake and more singing for Charlotte's Birthday!! I think I forgot to mention all the gifts people kept giving her (thank you!!), by this stage I was starting to get worried about how they were all going to fit in our suit cases :)
Tuesday we meet with Dad again and drove up the coast to see Nanna Holmes. Once again it was so good to see her, we also got to catch up with Aunty Pat, that was very nice also. Wednesday and Thursday we stayed at the apartment and had heaps of visitors, thank you to all who made the effort to see us, it was great to catch up and let Charlotte have a play with a few of her friends. Friday we flew out to LA, this time the flight was not so full, so we got 4 seats and the basnette, alot more room!!
We arrived in LA about 5 hours before we left, so when we got to the hotel we all wanted a sleep!!