Ticket to Ride, er, fly

Well, it's official. The Gray family departs January 8th, and arrives in Melbourne January 10th. We bought our (one-way) tickets just a few hours ago. We really wanted to travel a day earlier, so we'd arrive on a Sunday instead of Monday. But we also needed a direct flight. Not only because of the long travel time and not wanting to wear out the kids anymore than we need to, but because anticipate taking a good bit of luggage with us, and definitely don't want to have to worry about dealing with it and clearing customs in Sydney or Brisbane, and then flying to Melbourne. Unfortunately, the only direct flight available on the day we wanted was Qantas. They're using other planes, but from their website we couldn't confirm that the seats had individual entertainment systems at each (my United flight didn't). For a 15 hour flight, it makes the time go sooo much faster, especially when kids are involved, so we decided not to take the risk with Qantas.

Today we enjoyed our last Thanksgiving in the States for a while. Andy's Mom and Dad both came up from San Diego, and we had a lovely dinner (courtesy of Marjo and Sprouts market. Seriously, that was quite a deal, and so yummy. How pathetic is it that at my age I've never cooked a turkey? Don't answer that. But it was worth it to me to be able to play games with the family all day instead of spending it in the kitchen.)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, as we prepare for this incredible journey, I am especially thankful for the huge outpouring of love and support we've received from our friends and family. We couldn't do it without you, and it means more to me than you'll ever know.

The rest of the weekend will be spent at Alanna's softball tournament. Andy's dad is staying overnight so he'll finally get to see her play, which is great. We're also hoping to get some work done on the house. Two of the three bathrooms are done, one to go. Also looking forward to Saturday night, as my PSU friend Leslie is coming to visit along with her family. And of course, we need to get the Christmas decorations up. I wonder if I should bring them along? Ben and Annie, do people string lights up on their houses at Christmas time. Nevermind, I just remembered the electrical issues...Guess they'll go into storage.

Nothing else too much to report on the Australia front. I have been corresponding with another mom who's also moving to Melbourne in January with her two daughters (ages 2 and 5 though). She just came back from her scouting trip, so we were comparing notes. She actually visited two open houses, and her report terrifies me a bit. There were 65 rental applications turned in! The reason I worry is that it's going to be very important to get a rental in a good neighborhood, as the best public schools are impacted, and will only accept you if live in the designated zone. The zones are rather small, so even though we've identified a number of schools we'd be happy with, it's going to be difficult to get into those neighborhoods. Sensing my concern (okay, I flat out told him), Andy's allocating a day of his weeklong visit in December to visiting houses and applying if possible. It would be the best Christmas present for me if we could secure a house before we move. We'd be able to apply to the school, and wouldn't have to move twice or deal with temporary accommodations. Trying not to get my hopes up though.

Speaking of Andy, it's been really nice having him back home. He arrived last Friday, and the LA morning traffic gods smiled on us: we were able to get home by 9 am, in time to get to Alanna's school and see her accept an academic achievement award. Afterwards, we talked to another mom who was from Australia. In fact, they were just back there so that her husband could be inducted into the Australian music hall of fame! It was so interesting to talk to her. Finally, we surprised Aliya out on the playground at recess time. I didn't think she was ever going to let go of Andy. Needless to say, we're very happy he's home. And not just because he brought us four packages of Tim Tams!