Three weeks in America

My eyes feel like sandpaper, I’m on the third load of laundry and all my boys fell asleep at 5:30pm on the couch. There’s Strawberry frosted Pop-Tarts in the pantry and I just might have one for dinner, which is fitting since my body thinks it is breakfast time.

We just came back from a whirlwind three weeks in America, a last-minute tag-along trip with Craig who was going for work, and my head is still spinning. So many emotions, thoughts, questions and observations swirl around in my mind. We travelled to 5 States, slept at four houses, did umpteen loads of laundry and ate countless slices of pizza. I played tourist in New York City and Philadelphia. We wandered around the Camden Waterfront Aquarium, explored the Cattus Island Park, saw two movies, played at the beach, shopped til we dropped and kept the kids entertained as much as possible.

I ate so many, but never enough slices of pizza, savoured fresh bagels with cream cheese, enjoyed my favourite dish at Chili’s (can you say Fajita’s?) and some other favourites from the grocery store.

Being observant, I noticed some things that struck me as funny, things that my kids didn’t know about since they haven’t lived in America for almost 4 years, and just things in general. Here they are:

Ice cream truck, that was cool to see my kids ordering from the window for the first time. We also had to explain what “Water Ice” was at Rita’s, the guy serving thought we were crazy. While watching TV, the Emergency Broadcast System ran a test, the long BEEEEEP was quite a scare to my boys as they looked at me with worry asking, “What is happening mommy?” Jake’s first trip to the bathroom at Grammy’s house, he asked me how to flush it, I had to show him. My kids loved counting the American Flags. I ordered a lemonade for Cameron at a restaurant after his first sip he said, “Ew this isn’t lemonade!” We call Sprite lemonade here in Australia, sorry kid. The boys were fascinated with American coins, I was thoroughly annoyed by all the damn pennies. Walking on the right: this was definitely harder than driving, I kept walking into people! Driving around in a Crown Victoria with Texas plates from Avis: how apropos!

Now that I am back, I feel a bit disconnected. I am sure it is mostly due to the jet lag, but I feel neither here nor there. It is a very strange place to be, I am hoping that the feeling subsides as we get settled back into our routine.

Bottom line: it was great to spend time with our beloved family and to visit with friends that I haven’t seen in too long. Yes it is a long flight, it is hard living out of suitcases for three weeks, and not always ideal having to stay at people’s houses, but it is just worth it and I am so glad we were able to make the trip.