DAY 1 - Friday 9th December

Our week in New York was crazy! Lots of fun things to see and do. We walked, caught the subway, shopped, walked some more and had a heap of fun together. Felicia was going to write about it, but has been distracted by fun things to do in Canada! That just leave me.

I'll try and share it with you day by day!



We woke bright and early at 4.30am! That definately was an early start considering I went to bed at 1.30am after a LONG final day of school full of presentation assemblies and special awards.

The kids woke and dressed fast, and were lined up at the front door with their back packs ready to leave. We arrived at the airport too early to check in! That was crazy. Sitting around Sydney airport with a trolley full of cases waiting to check in at 6am. No last minute panic for us!

After checking in we headed to McDonald's for the traditional 'going overseas breakfast at the airport.' The kidlets were all still excited and taking the early morning in their stride. We cleared immigration and experienced our first security check. Miss Fliss had a pair of scissors confiscated from her pencil case and asked if she could pick them up on the way home. The security staff were also concerned about the small tubs of yoghurt we were carrying for the kids. They couldn't decide if it was a liquid or not but eventually decided we could keep it. We then headed off to our departure gate to wait for time to board the plane.

We were to repeat this security check and waiting game in 3 different airports, travel on 3 different planes and visit 3 different countries before finally arriving in New York. The 3 children all travelled so well. I was grateful for the TV screens with good kids movies (Smurfs, Mr Magoriom's Emporium, Horton Hears a Who, Playhouse Disney) as well as some decent adult selections. When these cesaed to be entertaining, there were new DS games to play, books to read, food to eat and sleep. I didn't hear too much complaining all the way.

Arriving at our apartment nearly 35 hours after we departed was such a relief.Our long journey was over, we had arrived safely and the adventure in New York was about to begin. The kids seemed wide awake as we drove through the city at night, and were really happy to reach our tiny apartment that would be 'home' for the next week. Less exciting was discovering that the roll away bed for Z man hadn't been placed in our room and because it was nearly midnight, housekeeping had gone home for the evening and it was too late to get a spare bed for our room. Dave and I spent the night with a wriggly 4 year old in our bed, and I was determined this situation would be fixed before the next night!

We have landed!

We are in Canada! We flew out of Sydney on Friday 9 December, for a super long journey to New York. After a crazy week in NY we flew to Toronto, and have been staying with Dave's parents ever since.

I have had plans to keep this blog updated each night, but forgot the Blog address! Miss Fliss is excited to update tomorrow, so I will leave her to tell the most recent updates, then go back and fill you in with a day by day account of our travels with some photos as well.

Let me know if you are reading and are interested in any further updates.

Meet Miss Fliss

I'd like to introduce you to our youngest contributor: Meet Miss Fliss.

I have listed a few questions for her to answer for you. I am not going to correct any of the spelling or grammar - that is a work in progress!

How old are you?
i am 7

Have you ever travelled overseas before?
yes

Do you like travelling overseas?
yes
Why?
because we get to have a big fun time to gether

Where is the best place you have ever travelled to?
the bestplace I have ever travelled to is disnyland
What are you looking forward to seeing during our big family vacation?
seeing a big chricmas in New york

What do you think will be some special things to do and see during our big family vacation?
going to the big toy shops in New york,playing with my cousens,haveing sleep overs at my cousens house

This is the first post for our family blog. Consider it a virtual postcard for all our friends and family! We are excited to be heading to North America in just 12 weeks! New York, Canada, California - all these are on the itinerary, and we want to share our adventure with you. Seven crazy weeks of travelling will be a lot of fun but also exhausting. You can expect to read regular updates about where we are and what we are up to as well as photos, photos, photos and more photos. I think I might be a little addicted to taking photos during family vacations - these are precious times that will help us create very special family memories.

This Blog will also be a travel journal for us. When we come home we will be able to read back about all the fun things we did. Making a scrapbook will be easy because all the memories will already be recorded.

The kids are excited to be adding their travel memories, and hopefully will practise some of their writing skills along the way.

You can expect to see posts from me (Mum), Miss Fliss, Animal Boy and maybe even Dad! Hopefully you will leave us some comments and let us know you are reading our updates and praying for us. 

I'm using alternate names for my kids in an effort to teach them about internet security. They both tell me they are not allowed to use their real names on the internet. Hopefully I won't slip up! I'm sure you will all know who I'm talking about!