Home at last!!

After months of planning we finally arrived in Tasmania on Monday, Nov 30. We started our journey on Friday, Nov 27 at about 4:30pm and drove 2.5 hours from our home in Evans, Georgia to the airport in Atlanta. 20 minutes from our home, Owen asked for "Stuffy" his toy elephant and his dummy (pacifier). We couldn't find either - oh no!! So we turned around and went back home only to discover that Stuffy had been with us all along under all our suitcases! Anyway, by 5:20pm, we were leaving home for the second time. Thankfully we had allowed plenty of time and were still able to park the car and get through the airport without racing. Altanta is one of the busiest airports in the world. Just to get to our plane, we had to ride a bus ride from our car to the departure terminal and then a train ride to get to our gate!

Our flight arrived in LA at about midnight (or 3am body time for us). We found our hotel and squeezed everyone into one room. Thankfully everyone slept well and slept in late. We were the last ones for breakfast the next morning at 10am. It was a beautiful sunny day in LA and so we went for a walk and found a playground for the kids.

At 8pm we headed back to the airport again. The kids and I to catch our 11pm flight to Melbourne and Chris to catch his 11:55pm flight back to Atlanta. Chris had to say goodbye to us at security and then a very helpful Qantas employee helped the kids and I to our gate (I LOVE Qantas!). Just before we were to board the plane Ella and Owen fell asleep and so I ended up carrying them onto the plane asleep. My kids are AWESOME travellers! Ella and Owen stayed asleep for a good 6-8 hours each. Sam quickly followed once we were on the plane. There was a crib for Elliott to sleep in too. While they were sleeping I managed to watch a couple of movies and rest up a bit myself. I was ready for major melt downs, but we didn't have any. Even the passengers around me commented on how good they were. I think they were probably releived too!! One mother with four kids - I'm sure they were expecting a bad trip too when they saw who they were sitting near!

The highlight of the flight was going to check on Sam and Owen who had gone to the toilet together. When I got down to the toilets, Owen had taken off his diaper and jeans and was just about to go running down the aisle butt naked!!

We arrived in Melbourne at 9:40am on Monday, Nov 30. Owen was asleep again and so I had to carry him and Elliott off the plane. It was so good to get off that plane! A customs officer helped me collect our bags ans strollers and just as we walked out, my sister Tammy walked up and found us. It was so good to see her!! We had a 5 hour wait in Melbourne and then a 1 hour drive back to my parents.(see Tammy and Simone's blogs). On the drive back to my parents all of the kids fell asleep and slept until the next morning! What a great start!

One of the things I love about coming home is driving up over the Don hill and seeing the ocean before me and then looking back at Mt. Roland behind me. That's when I know I'm home! I love the smell, the gum trees, the air, the beautiful scenery. I know I'm biased, but Tasmania is really one of the most beautiful places on earth!

Thanksgiving

We were not quite sure if we were going to cook a Thanksgiving meal this year. We leave tomorrow for Australia and it just seemed like too much work to do the day before we leave. Chris suggested a couple of days ago that we should do it on Thanksgiving eve. That way we could finish packing on Thanksgiving and have more time to eat the leftovers.

Chris did everything! I LOVE my husband. He stayed up until 1am on Tuesday night doing all the prep work. The prep work included making home-made bread cubes for the stuffing, salting the turkey and making turkey stock from scratch to baste the turkey in and make gravy from. Chris worked so hard that he got a blister on his finger - mostly from cutting up all those bread cubes! This year we had a "Herb roasted turkey with shallot-dijjon gravey" from the November 2008 Bon Appetit (it's the one on the cover). The turkey was AMAZING! I have never eaten such a moist, flavorful, succulent turkey. Chris also made fresh cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn on the cob, asparagus and broccoli. It was all so DELICIOUS! I wish we had invited some friends to share it with us so I could brag about how great Chris's cooking is!

Sam and Ella have been talking about Thanksgiving at school all month and even had a Thanksgiving meal one day at school. They were very excited about having Thanksgiving this year and tucked into their feast too. I love Thanksgiving! It's such a great holiday. You just can't go wrong with a holiday that's just all about food!

Camping with Dad

Chris has started doing something special with one child each month. This month is was Sam's turn and he got to go camping with Dad. The plan was to have them go camping at a real camp site down near the lake (about 20 mins away). But when we found out that it was $23 a night with a minimum 2 night stay we quickly decided that the back yard was a far better option! Cheaper and nicer! They cooked mac and cheese on the camping stove, read stories in the tent and had a really good time. Owen and Ella were a bit jealous and asked to go camping with Dad when it was their turn to do something special with him.