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!