What an awesome experience!

So relaxing at the Waldorf Astoria

The bright lights of Time Square. The hustle and bustle of Grand Central Station. The mad drivers in hundreds of yellow cabs. The talented buskers at Central Park. The majestic Statue of Liberty. The historical buildings. The entertaining tour guides on the double decker buses. The biggest toy store in New York.

FAO Shwarz Toy Store

Kids at Times Square

Yellow cabs everywhere!

The huge plates of Amercian cuisine. The pink lemonade! The historically elegant Waldorf Astoria (where we stayed). The Brooklyn Bridge. The American tipping system (so foreign to Australians). The friendy New Yorkers. The friendly “out of New Yorkers”. The Homeless. The wealthy. The trendy. The not so trendy (we fell into this category!) Broadway. New York…… New York!

But rest assured we are having the time of our lives and can’t wait for the big adventure ahead of us. By the way, the Stretch Hummer was our transport from New York to Dillsburg in Pennsylvania (courtesy of Trev’s sister). Unfortunately we won’t be driving around the USA in it……………but it’s nice to dream.

Inside the Hummer

What a start to our trip of a lifetime! Three Qantas jets and 3 days later, we arrive in the USA! No mean feat with 7 kids in tow (and one only 4 and a half months!). Worth the jet lag? Absolutely!

Group shot at Natalie and Drew's house in Sydney

Our trip started on August 3rd where we left Perth for Sydney. We stayed overnight at Natalie and Drew’s house. As things have turned out, this was definitely an indicator of what was to come in our new travels. Amazing hospitality and great company. Thanks Nat, Drew, Lachlan and Hunter for making our first leg of the journey a smooth one. The next part of our journey to Los Angeles was much longer, but we still had the LA to New York leg the following morning.

Nat nursing baby Akaisha

Took a week for our baby Akaisha to change her sleeping habits to a more acceptable level (didn’t really enjoy waking at 3:30am, then having to play with her for three hours while her body clock adjusted to the new time zones!) Took “us” a while too, but we are right in the swing of things now.

All sorted for a truly wonderful adventure.

Leaving Sydney for New York