This time last year .........

 ...... Jordan and I had just embarked on our amazing trip over to America to meet up with Paul.  We had such an amazing time and Jordan learn't so much in that month we were away.  I can't believe it was a year ago today - we left Australia on the 18th and arrived in America on the 18th !!

I was talking to Jordan's teacher about the amazing Redwoods we saw in America and she gave us this beautiful book all about a tree to read because she thought we would appreciate it after hearing about the Redwoods.  All this brought back the memories of our awesome trip last year.

Wednesday 18th March - Melbourne - L.A. - Santa Margarita, California

After checking in and saying our goodbyes to mum and dad, we proceeded through Customs smoothly and went to the lounge to wait for boarding. Because I was traveling with a young child we were among the first to board the plane which made it a lot easier for me. The plane was delayed due to a minor miss-function (the landing gear indicator was saying the tyre wasn't inflated to the correct amount although it had just been checked by Maintenance) so we had to come off the runway and then go back to the terminal to get it checked out again. Eventually all was cleared and we were back on the runway for takeoff again.

We had the 3 seats to ourselves which was fantastic so ABC Teddy got his own seat and was also buckled in for the flight. Jordan eventually settled down to watch Tinkerbell after I explained there would be enough time to watch that movie and quite a few others if he wanted to. He did really well on the flight and managed to get 3-4 hours sleep while I dozed for about an hour. Our arrival was about 45mins late but we had a quick & easy entrance into America, the hardest part being trying to keep Jordan calm after 15 hours on a plane and knowing that Daddy was waiting for us. When he did see his Daddy he was off and running into his arms. He was so excited and didn't want to let go and when he finally did he wasn't far from Paul's side. It was so nice to see Paul again after so long and have "our" family unit back together again.

 
Jordan colouring in after lunch

 
Jordan settled into his seat to watch Tinkerbell

Getting the RV took quite a bit longer than we anticipated but eventually after changing RV's because the 1st one didn't have the booster seat buckle we were on the road. I was actually happy we had to change because the 1st RV looked quite tired and I must admit to being a little disappointed but I am really happy with the 2nd RV which is quite a bit newer and nicer. We decided to get out of the main part of L.A. and then stop and get some supplies and something to eat. We stopped at a Starbucks for a cup of tea/coffee and a play for Jordan in the playground as I wasn't that hungry. With 4 or 5 hours of driving ahead of us, I had no idea how I was going to stay awake, especially with the sun coming through the window and try as I might I did fall asleep. I was awake however to see ""Sunset Blvd" and "Malibu Beach" and the countryside I did see was amazing and the hills/mountains so big - everything just seems that little big bigger than Australia!!

 

We arrived at Santa Margarita around 7.00pm (I think) and Paul did a really good job of backing the RV into the site (he got it in first go). We had planned to go out for dinner tonight because I didn't want to cook and Paul had just driven for 5 hours but Santa Margarita is a really small place without Restaurants and we didn't really want to take the RV out again so Paul cooked Nacho's which was nice and quick then it was an early night for all of us. I think Jordan lasted about an hour in his bunk before I heard a very faint "mummy" and he was in our bed for the rest of the night.