Going back to SoCal

From SoCal

What a trip! We finally made it back to SoCal after two-and-a-half years. It’s been a while, but it didn’t take long for Phil and I to adjust back to American ways. However, some friends claimed that I had a slight accent and spoke Australian. Anyway, we found that nothing much has changed except for several friends becoming parents and friends’ children growing bigger. This time we were only there for 12 days. We mainly went for my best friend’s wedding and had to return to Australia as soon as we could for Nicholas to start school.

After a tough flight from Melbourne to LA, we were all exhausted by the time we arrived at my mom’s house. I didn’t get any sleep on the flight and was a mess. We had a couple of days to recover before family and friends came to see us. We had a really good turn out at the party and seeing all our family and friends again rejuvenated us. Everyone commented that Catherine was a lot bigger than they expected. I also noticed how Nicholas quickly warmed up to everyone and was saying goodbye with hugs and kisses by the end of it. It was after that day we had our first decent sleep since arriving.

The rest of the week we spent time with my mom and caught up with more friends, eating out every day. We couldn’t believe how cheap food is over there and how much of it you get. We didn’t go hungry that’s for sure!

We were also able to take the kids to Disneyland and the LA Zoo which both went fairly well. Nicholas was able to go on a few more rides at Disneyland and obviously enjoyed it more this time. His favourite ride was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Even though she was really tired, Catherine seemed to enjoy It’s A Small World. A couple of days later, we spent a beautiful day at the LA Zoo with friends before driving to Santa Barbara for the weekend.

The weather was perfect for the wedding we attended in Santa Barbara. But by that time I had gotten a bug and was sick with a cold. Despite some stressful moments (especially for poor Phil) looking after the kids and myself, it was an enjoyable weekend. My best friend had a lovely and sweet wedding and I’m so happy that we were able to be a part of it.

Then we endured another gruelling flight back. It wasn’t as bad as the one to LA, but still challenging nonetheless. At least we got more sleep this time, but there were four young families on the flight which made it a bit noisy at times. We also had a bit of bad luck with our luggage and were missing three of them at Canberra. They were eventually delivered to our house later that evening.

It was great to see our family and friends and experience LA with our children. It was hard work and took a lot of patience to look after our overtired, overexcited and overwhelmed kids but it was all worth it. They enjoyed meeting new people and loved everyone’s company. And Phil and I were so pleased to catch up with so many of you there.