Our Last Stint

A late night/early morning and many laughs with Jamie ended our holiday in America on a high. Today we hopped on a plane, prepared for twenty-four hours of flying. We got through the first flight of nine hours with no sleep and company of some good movies, like this one. The second flight, we managed to get 7 uncomfortable hours of sleep and the view of a gorgeous sunrise. It didn't take long to get through customs and security in Sydney but due minor delays we missed our flight to Adelaide, which then followed by us being informed that Jamie {apparently} didn't have a ticket home. A couple hours later, and after some communication with staff and our travel agent we sorted the problem out and were on our way to our home city {after picking up some of these of course!}. Joining some Australian olympic athletes and an ex-Getaway cameraman we made it home to see family greeting us at the gate. Excitement filled my body to see these friendly faces and to start sharing stories. I stayed up as late as I could to try and conquer jet-lag.

Some things I've learnt and realised while being away in America & Canada

• I love ice-cream {sometimes way too much!}.
• God's timing is perfect and He will get us through anything and everything.
• Everything involving a public toilet is automatic - the flush, the water, the soap, the dryer.
• Tipping is a must,  not an option.
• 1 cent coins are a pain and have no use {no wander we got rid of them!}. They are easy to collect but hard to give away.
• Public transport is easy and inexpensive.
• Wake-up calls were lifesavers.
• I love adrenaline rushes
• I love my family and friends an incredible amount. For their support, prayers, thoughts and guidance prior, during and after this trip.
• Chill out time is sometimes just as important as a jam-packed day.
• Money has a skill of disappearing faster than expected.

Play Ball

Mr J and I caught this and the subway to here for some baseball today. Mr J said he has never used his voice at a sporting match as much as he did today. For those who know Mr J, that's amazing. He loved it and so did I. The atmosphere was exciting and fun. The game was worth the money. Go Giants! We cheered and watched for over three hours but it felt like so much less. Excellent! We caught the same transport home but in reverse as earlier.

Tonight we have enjoyed the heated pool, organised our last shuttle to an airport in the states and packed our gear ready to leave. As we lay in our hotel, Mr J and I are amazed how fast the past 6 weeks have gone. Tomorrow we start our many hours of flying. We are sad our holiday is coming to an end but very excited to share the stories and photos with family and friends.

Mr J and I didn't have time to see the Golden Gate Bridge other than this day but we did find out some cool facts...

• The total length of the wire used in main cables is enough to wrap around the earth 3 times (129,000 kms)!
• They used 297,475 cubic metres of concrete to build the bridge
• The bridge weighs 811,500,000 kg
• It took 1,605 days to build the bridge
• See the photo of me with a cable for more facts!

I'll talk to you when I'm in another timezone, bye for now.

Travelling Around

Mr J and i got a semi-sleep in this morning before eating a yummy chicken, tomato, cheese, lettuce crepe for brunch. We got to try some of these popular candies as we walked to find the line for the cable car. Mr J and I caught a ride on our very first cable car to Union Square where the shopping was at. The conductors make sure there is no room to move on these cars and they are also quite slow but definitely worth the experience. I managed to find some outlet stores within Union Square and spent a couple hours browsing through shops. Mr J secretly enjoyed this too. We caught another cable car to a very popular street in San Fran. Lombard Street. Amazing! Who ever knew that you could drive down a street so windy and steep? & who was the one who designed this? After taking photos, walking down and up and witnessing many tourists filming themselves as they drove down the street we caught another cable car back to Fisherman's Wharf to dress in warmer clothes and grab some dinner. I then fell asleep to this.

Sights and Alcatraz Island

Mr J and I rugged up and put on our hats to join a group of people for an Urban Safari around the city of San Francisco. We drove through the hilly city, stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts for some photos, drove past the wonderfully architectural City Hall, drove past houses that are worth no less than $950,000, enjoyed the view of the city from Twin Peaks and stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge. We weren't able to see the bridge through the fog for most of the day but had a good time looking through the souvenir shop - we will be venturing back there some other day. Our group stopped for dissatisfying food at lunch but were thankful the safari organised our Alcatraz tickets and dropped us at the gate. Mr J and I boarded our boat to cruise over to Alcatraz Island at 1:45pm. After a 10 minute trip we arrived on the Island ready to explore.

As Mr J and I didn't have a lot of knowledge about Alcatraz we sat through a documentary about it before we did anything else. 18 minutes later we trekked up to the cell house where we received our audio tours and moved through the entire cell house hearing stories and facts about this high security prison. We went though the cells, the library, the dining hall, the head quarters and the visitation area. Our experience was definitely worth it and if anyone has some time to spare in San Francisco you should definitely cruise over to Alcatraz! Some cool facts we learnt were:

• The last inmates left Alcatraz on March 21, 1963 and the prison officially closed it's doors a few months later.
• The prison closed because of deteriorating buildings and high operating costs. It is now a National Park Service and will remain so.
• Alcatraz Island was not only resident to the criminals but also to families, children, individuals and staff of the prison who had apartments and houses there. We were shocked to hear that these residents hardly ever locked their doors either!!
• The cell house was never filled to its capactiy. The maximum prisoners were 302 but there were 336 cells available.
• In 29 years, 36 prisoners tried to escape. All but 5 were recaptured or accounted for. 3 that were unaccounted for participated in the same breakout which is now in a movie, called 'Escape from Alcatraz.'

"You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Anything else you get is a privilege."
Number 5, Alcatraz Prison Rules and Regulations, 1934

Time for dinner. Mr J and I had a wonderful experience a Bubba Gump's. This restaurant is dedicated to the movie "Forrest Gump" therefore all the walls are covered in quotes, our waiter gave us a quiz on the movie, the names of the dishes resemble the movie in some way and all the decor is recognised from the movie. It was fun and we gained a glass to take home! Tonight we also tried a Strawberry and Nutella Crepe between the two of us. Talk about melting in your mouth, this is exactly what it did!

For those of you at home. We traveled through Woodside today! As proper tourists, we took a photo of the sign just for you which we will show you in less than a week!

San Fransisco

Bargain! This morning Mr J and I saved at least $40 by catching the local train to the airport rather than a taxi. It was easy, an experience and only $3.75 each! Our flight to San Francisco was our fastest yet as Mr J and I slept the entire way and woke up for 15 minutes of the descent - good way to do it. From the airport we caught a shuttle to our hotel, which we have done previously and witnessed the beautiful San Fran weather. After settling in, testing our sleep number and watching some Olympics Mr J grabbed a burger from the very retro Johnny Rockets {It reminded me of the cafe in Greece}. We explored the outdoor entertaining and swimming pool within our hotel before we strolled down Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Our hotel sits on Fisherman's Wharf which is extremely convenient. Mr J and I window shopped past many chocolate and candy stores, sports stores, souvenir stores, a lefty {left-handed} store, cheap sun glasses stores and investigated what bakeries, restaurants and cafes were close by. So far, San Francisco gives off a relaxing, calm and beautiful atmosphere with so much to see. We had a view of the Alcatraz {which we are touring tomorrow!!} and the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance. Near Pier 39, many sea lions gather to sun bake - it was amazing to watch.

After all this walking, talking and exploring Mr J and I had built up an appetite. We decided to try the famous Clam Chowder served in a sourdough roll for dinner. It was big therefore plenty to share one between two. Yummy. We continued walking for a while before going back to our hotel.

Chill time. We are looking forward to some time to relax and take our time in a place where the weather is beautiful during the day and allows us to have a comfortable sleep overnight. The last stint.

Delays

It was strange to be catching a plane today and for it to not be at a ridiculous hour in the morning. I hadn't experienced that since I left Adelaide. We waved goodbye to New York City as we caught a shuttle bus to the airport. Jamie and I arrived 2 hours early to hear that our plane had been delayed by 1 hour, 15 minutes. We were now leaving at 5:15pm. Another announcement informed us it had been delayed again to 6:30pm. We were a little frustrated but at this rate we could still make our connecting flight in Portland so we stayed calm. Things changed fast... we were then delayed to 7:20pm. Majority of flights from New York were delayed or cancelled due to the weather and storms coming through. We understood that they are looking after our safety but also worried about our connecting flight and deadline to get to Vancouver. We got on the plane finally and were ready to take off. We still had hopes that we could make our Portland flight until the pilot announced that they had forgotten to cater the flight, they had to call the caterers to come and fill the plane with the appropriate refreshments. An hour later we found our selves moving on the runway. We were going to miss our flight. At this stage we had got all our frustration out and left it to God. We put this situation in His hands and trusted that everything would work out. Nothing we could do now, at least we were moving.

We arrived in Portland, Oregon airport 5 hours and 13 minutes later where staff had already re-booked our flight for the following day. This meant we would miss the departure of our Contiki tour from Vancouver tomorrow. I rang our tour guide and he was extremely helpful, he instructed us where to go, what transport to take and where to meet the group. We organised a hotel room close to the airport and caught a taxi there. A positive out of all of this was that we could do our washing, shower up and sleep in a very comfortable bed before a packed 11 days. Prayers that tomorrow goes smoothly.

Last Day in NY

Jamie and I started our day heading towards 5th Avenue in search of New York's Public Library. We found it. It looked impressive from the outside but was very hard to navigate around on the inside, it was as though they had made it hard for tourists on purpose. After some photos in front of the library we started our walk to Central Park. Along the way we stopped at a few stores including a Lindt store. Bad idea - Chocolate was bought. This store had so many flavours of lindt that I had never seen before, Jamie and I had to try some. We only could afford to look through the 6 floors of Tiffany & Co. and visited the apple store which is open 24/7!! Jamie and I located Central Park and started our stroll. It is massive. 843 acres is quite hard to navigate through therefore we bought a map. We sore baseball fields, green 'paddocks' to kick the ball or have a picnic, volleyball courts, cafes, restaurants and lakes. We paid US$12.50 to hire a row boat and paddle along one of the lakes in Central Park. We had the boat for an hour which was enough to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

It was around 4:00pm when Jamie and I decided to catch our first New York taxi. Definitely an experience as it had its own TV for the passengers and very comfortable seating. We got dropped off at one of the biggest department stores in the World, Macy's. Nine floors of every shoppers dream. After fighting temptation to buy something Jamie and I walked 8 blocks back to our hotel room to get ready for The Lion King in broadway. The show was everything we could have hoped for and MORE. We had goosebumps from start to finish and would do it again any second. Money well spent and definitely recommended. Incredible.

After a busy last day in New York, we managed to see the end of the Olympic 2012 opening ceremony. We will be cheering our home country on from the states and Canada, go Australia go!

Down time, check!

After an eventful day yesterday, today has been very slow for Mr J and I. We have enjoyed the yummy-ness of New York by eating Hershey chocolates and other sweets, made the most of a comfy room and the view of Times Square. We have planned our last full day of New York {which is tomorrow!!}. I have caught up on Pinterest, blogging, journalling, answered emails and had skyping time with family this morning. Mr J has enjoyed the many sport channels on our 42 inch television.  Dinner will be simple followed by some fresh air and walking time, then an early night before a busy day tomorrow. We needed some down time, being in a new place definitely wears you out more than you expect. We have enjoyed the little things today and are excited to enjoy more new things in a sleeps time.

As we finish our Thursday in the states, I say Happy Friday to the Aussies! I hope your days are enjoyable and fast so you can jump into your weekends with smiles.

Grand Central {+hiccups)

Sleep-ins feel so good. Jamie and I took our time to get up this morning. We had lunch on our way to Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Terminal was amazing! Just like on the movies... it is big, classy and open. The artwork and architecture is very impressive. There are approximately 47 restaurants and cafes within the terminal, no shortage of food. We could have admired the space for hours but instead moved on for another look through some shops on 5th Avenue. Jamie and I then moved to Times Square for a squiz in other stores, this is where I bought my watch from Swatch. Without a phone, we need the time from another source. We rested our feet for a little and watched the traffic and people. Not long were we heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. As we were about to walk out the door again, we double checked we had everything. Where was my purse? I remember putting it down while we sat but hadn't seen it since. Jamie and I sped to our last destination, asked the stores surrounding and look everywhere but my brown small purse was no where to seen - it was lost. There is proof I have lost money and that I may not see it again but I haven't lost everything.

A very special lady in my life sent me this tonight:

When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something  better.  'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'I know it is a set back at the moment, but take time to stop, clear your head and enjoy what is left of your great adventure.  

The book (A Little Bit of God in Every Day) says: Sometimes life sends us changes we've never contemplated, problems we'd just as soon do without, and inconveniences we'd rather not have to deal with. It can feel as if we are wandering in a barren desert. It's during these 'desert' experiences of our lives that God, in all His faithfulness, opens up His heart...'

This is true! Times like this I have to remember God has a plan. He is teaching me something through this, it may just take time for me to see what that is. I still have at least 2 weeks left of this holiday and I can still enjoy it as much as I  was going to, with the things I have.

Jamie shouted me dinner AND dessert. Plus, we bought some Hersheys {American chocolate} to try. It's not all bad. I'm also thankful for my wonderful family at home, although they are hours away I know they support me. Family are everything. 

Sights to Amaze

This morning Jamie and I walked 45 minutes to The American Museum of Natural History - the museum that Night at The Museum was filmed at. We saw animals and other objects that starred in the film including the Easter Island Head "Dum Dum" who we got a photo with. We then experienced our first Subway ride home before eating subway for lunch.

Shopping time!! Money was spent and time flew. I gained some dresses, jeans with a difference, a jacket and top. Jamie gained some bargain shorts, shirts and jumper. Fun. A good 4 hours later we found some dinner and trekked to Rockefeller Plaza where we used our New York Pass to get us to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck. Sixty-seven floors later we felt as though we were on top of the world! We had a view over the entire New York City and eye balled the Empire State Building. Amazing was what it was. Some time later we walked back to our hotel just in time for midnight and sleep.

Moving Around NY

This morning Jamie and I caught our tour bus to the 9/11 memorial. This was an eye opening experience as we read the details and timelines of the event. We saw letters and dedications to the people that were lost and we stood where the twin towers stood. Jamie and I bought a jumper each, where all proceeds went to the 9/11 memorial. We walked though St Pauls Chapel. This was a place that served as a relief mission for recovery workers at Ground Zero. It was a beautiful chapel with amazing and touching displays inside {see photo above}. We caught a bus back to Times Square for lunch and spent a couple hours chilling out in our hotel room before hitting the sites again. We couldn't go too far tonight as it starting raining in New York City but we did manage to go to Madame Tussaunds and have encounters with many famous people. Jamie was especially excited to have a photo with Yao Ming, Charlie Chaplin and Samuel L Jackson plus other sporting stars. I enjoyed the presence of Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Whoopie Goldberg, Spice Girls, Carrie Underwood plus more. After time with the famous we went for some ten pin bowling just down the street. It was fun. These two things were free with the New York Pass we purchased a while ago. The rain doesn't stop anyone in NYC.

New York Sightings

Jamie and I took a different tour to yesterday. We saw the opposite side of New York (Downtown) as well as touring through Brooklyn. In the midst of the tour we hopped off the bus and lined up for our Statue of Liberty cruise.  Within 45 minutes we were aboard the boat and moving towards the statue. This was amazing, not only were we up close with the Statue of Liberty, we also had a beautiful view of New York from the sea.

Today we learnt that more people live in Brooklyn than in Manhattan. The Empire State Building was built in 14 months and still holds the record for being the largest building for the longest amount of time. Rockefeller Centre holds 21 buildings including the Rockefeller plaza. We saw where David Beckham lives, one of the biggest department stores in the world - Macy's {I've already booked time to go there!}, Union Square, Maddisson Square Garden and Park and alot more.

We grabbed sandwiches for dinner tonight which we ate in our hotel room. We then headed for our night bus tour which took us over the Manhattan Bridge giving us a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York lights. We found our new favourite icecream store - Coldstone {Similar to Cold rock in Australia but better!}, shopped through 3 stories of M&M world {my brother would be in heaven!} and then headed for sleep.

Today we met two groups of Australians. After hearing American accents for two weeks, when we hear an Australian accent it stands out from a mile. It's still hard to believe that's what we sound like. The first group we met were from Townsville and the other group joined us for the night tour and were from Mitcham, SA! This family were lovely and gave us some tips for our trip as they had been in New York for longer than us and had already been to San Francisco. We giggled together about how different New York is to any where in Australia.

Hit By New York

It was a struggle to wake up at 5:00am for our airport shuttle. You would think we would be used to the early morning flights, but we're not. Our flight arrived in New York half an hour early but the airport wasn't expecting this so we had to wait on the run way for about half an hour anyway. Jamie and I sat next to the flight attendant on the plane so we had the opportunity to talk to her about her job, she was also interested in our holiday. A shuttle bus took us from the airport to our hotel. Crazy! The traffic was crazy. We haven't seen anything like it, horns beeping, traffic merging into non-existent spaces. At this point we were thankful we didn't have to drive in this. As we were too early to check in, we dropped our luggage off and went for a walk to Times Square, only meters away from our hotel. It was overwhelming. Not only were there cars everywhere, but thousands of people. We didn't know what to do or where to go so we decided to activate our Hop on Hop off tours. This allowed us to hop on a bus and they showed us what to do, where to go and what surrounded us. After an hour and half bus ride we felt much better, we saw the outskirts of Central Park, the tallest bell tower in the world, Trump Tower, Lincoln Centre and the surrounds of Times Square. After our tour we went back to our hotel to find out we were on floor 24 (out of 52)! We have a lovely room with views of Times Square. We settled in and then enjoyed the yummiest meal I have ever eaten at 'Brazil Grill'. It was a stuffed pork with sundried tomatoes, spinach, cheese and prosciutto. Yum! Jamie enjoyed his steak too. We walked through the city that never sleeps back to our room. The tallest building in Adelaide would be half the size of New Yorks building. They are so high here. We are ready to do some more exploring and tours tomorrow.

Disney Life

17^th July 2012This morning Jamie and I woke up at 5:15am to catch a taxi to the bus station,where we would catch a bus to Orlando, Florida. We had a very friendly driver who talked to us the entire time. I think we persuaded him to move to Australia. Our bus ride was like any bus ride, nothing special. We arrived in Orlando and caught another taxi to our luxurious Hilton experience in the Disney World Resort. We arrived there around 10:00am with our fingers crossed that we could check in (check in was only meant to be from 4:00pm that day). God answered our prayers as the front desk found an empty room for us to move in straight away. We were on floor eight. We settled in, checked out the pools and hot tubs and ventured to Downtown Disney which was only a five minute walk from our hotel – this was a place full on shops and dining experiences. We had an afternoon nap and then ate tea with chopsticks at a Japanese restaurant below our hotel room, it was a great experience and wonderful atmosphere.

18^th July 2012Our Disney adventure begins today. We caught a free Disney world shuttle bus followed by the monorail to Magic Kingdom. Entering the park was an experience in itself. To enter each park you have to swipe your card and give a fingerprint – that was cool. The Magic Kingdoms main street was beautiful with old style buildings, street lights and Cinderella's castle in front of you. It wasn’t long until there were people everyone and the lines to rides began to grow. Jamie and I were thankful that each ride stated a waiting time, this helped us decide to stay or not. On my first day in Disney World I went on more rides than I ever have been on in my entire life, some of these included: Pirates of the Carribean Water Boat, Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mad Tea Party (spinning tea cups), Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin and The Brainstormer (Goofy's roller coaster). We ate delicious ice cream and left just before dinner to rest our legs and have time with our pillows before another big day tomorrow. Already exhausted.

19^th July 2012Hollywood Studios here we come!! As soon as we entered the park we met many photo opportunities. We had photos with Tigger and Eeyore, Mike from monsters inc and Mator and Lightning McQueen from Cars. This park was already awesome and we just walked through the gates. We had many experiences to see behind the scenes of movies, see stunt shows from vehicles and Indianna Jones, sat through an American Idol Experience, went on Toy Story Midway Mania and ate at a café called Studio Catering Co. Around 7pm, Jamie and I had seen all of the park and had fun on most rides. We decided to venture back to Magic Kingdom to watch the spectacular night time fireworks and light parade. We stayed until 11pm and had the opportunity to get to the front of the lines on our favourite rides (due to everyone starting to go home). Then home time.

20^th July 2012This was our last day and we had two parks to fit in. Exhaustion was now an understatement but we had to make the most of this. We headed to Animal Kingdom where we went on our favourite ride from all parks – Kali River Rapids. River rapids was exactly what it was, we got soaked! We thoroughly enjoyed the Safari Tour and saw many wild animals such as giraffes, rhinos, ostriches, crocs and the paw of a sleeping Lion. We zoomed through the entire park before heading to Epcot at 1pm. We grabbed lunch and Epcot followed by ice cream to help cool us down. While eating our ice cream sandwich, it took us a while to recognise some Australian accents across the room, Jamie and I giggled as we couldn’t believe that’s what we sound like. This family were from Perth and heading back home tomorrow. Epcot was very touristy as we walked through many different countries. We went on a few more rides including Spaceship Earth which took us to the future and Seas with Nemo and Friends. We also walked this entire park and then decided to go back to our hotel. Downtown Disney was where we went through the shops for the last time. We swam in the pool and packed for our next destination, leaving tomorrow. Wow, the last three days flew by! We loved it.

Summary: God stood with us. Thoughout the last 3 days, God gave us energy, strength and patience. Beginning our time in Orlando we thought we had 4 days to use our 4 day pass through Disney World. Instead we had to fit 4 parks into 3 days. We were exhausted, therefore long lines, hundreds and hundreds of people and lack of manners tested our patience, but with God’s help we were able to enjoy our time and keep our frustration to a low. We were blessed to occasionally get bumped up lines and be at the right place at the right time. Thankyou to everyone for you prayers and thoughts as we are holidaying in the states.

Rest, Cycle and Food

We woke up tired today. Jamie and I forced ourselves up this morning to eat breakfast before it was close time. Once we finished eating out cereal, bacon, eggs and pancakes we snuck a doughnut and some yoghurt back to our room to save for lunch. We tend to fill up on breakfast which will generally last our stomachs until dinner, therefore less money spent. We touched base with home on skype and relaxed in our hotel watching a movie {I may have fallen asleep, or as my Dad says "I watched the TV with my eyes shut"}.

After a couple hours in an air conditioned room we hired two bicycles and went for a ride along the Pinellas Trail. It was a chance to drive in American traffic, on the wrong side of the road {for Australians} and experienced more 'all way' STOP signs. Fun. It was warm but the breeze was cooling. After riding for one and a half hours we stopped for ice-cream and went back to our hotel to jump straight into the pool. After not seeing a squirrel at all this week, today we saw at least three.

Showered and fresh now. Jamie's relatives visited us at our hotel to say goodbye. A taxi picks us up after a morning wake up call, early in the morning. Due to such an early start we cleaned and packed up our room before heading out for dinner at a American style pub tonight. Jamie filled up on a porker combo {pork sausages, pork ribs and 1/4 chicken) with sweet potato fries and garlic mash, while I enjoyed my rainbow trout salad baguette with greens. It was nice.

Jamie and I are looking forward to starting our days as big kids tomorrow. Preparing ourselves with sunscreen and watching the disney channel on our widescreen tv.

The Day After

Family day. Today Jamie and I enjoyed a day with family that Jamie has staying within Florida. After breakfast we spent the morning with Jamie's cousin, wife and their son at a park enjoying the sunshine and their wonderful company while we watched Jamie's second cousin on the play equipment. After a good hour of talking and playing we turned up the air conditioner in the car as we drove to have lunch with Jamie's Aunty, Uncle and cousin. We enjoyed the leftovers from this night. We then headed to Countryside Mall (a Westfield) and did some shopping which followed by a lovely dinner out with Jamie's cousin and family before they headed on their 4 hour drive home. We ate at a Mexican restaurant for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. The company assisted that also. Jamie and I were very thankful that his cousin and family were staying in the same hotel as us, not only were they very helpful and thoughtful by giving us lifts over the weekend but we also we able to get to know them better and enjoy their company, it was wonderful.

One more day in Tampa and then we bus it to our next destination on Tuesday.

Did you know that 4 way stop signs exist? They do in America. Who ever gets their first, gets to go first - that's how I understand it.

The Wedding

Yesterday Jamie and I bought a card for the wedded couple. After looking at a few. We agreed on this one, which said:

When the Lord joins man and women, the two as one should be, yet in the home they share with Him - in faith, the two are three... He multiplies their blessings, their sadness He divides and for their different dreams and needs, He equallly provides... He adds to their fullfillment and takes away their care, and one in Him, their total life abounds with love to spare!

So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate. ~Matthew 19:6

Today we shared a beautiful day with an amazing couple. The ceremony was gorgeous. American weddings tend to be bigger than Australian weddings. Today there were 7 groomsman and 7 bridesmaids + 1 junior bridesmaid. The ceremony was a true celebration, with incredible and lovely decorations and joyful environment  God provided an incredible day for the newly married couple today and we thank him for allowing us to be apart of it. The reception also allowed me to learn some American line dancing and Jamie and I met some more lovely people. We left the night with a bag of homemade cookies made by loved ones of the newly weds.

A Busy Friday

Mr J and I can't complain we didn't get our exercise today. We left our hotel after breakfast on a mission to get to the closest mall by foot. It didn't look too far on the map but after a good hour of walking we had done a lot of talking and laughing but had no sight of a mall. We estimated that we had walked a good 3 miles (almost 5km) and decided to stop. We went into a walmart to see what they had instead. This wasn't the common walmart, instead it was a 'neighbourhood store' which is closer to a supermarket. All I can say is... cheap!! Mr J bought one litre of Gatorade for US$1. You can buy a large bag of M&M's for just over US$1 also {my brother would love this at home!}. We bought some necessities and found a bus stop nearby. We caught the bus back to our hotel after realising we had not put sunscreen on and were quite pink {there may be an ozone layer here compared to none at home but the sun still burns, it just takes a little longer}.  The bus trip was US$2, again very cheap! Mr J and I got off a stop early and picked up homemade ice-cream from a store nearby. It was a struggle to eat it faster than it was melting but after a messy face and a few giggles we got there. Back at the hotel, it was pool time. We then got ready for the wedding rehearsal and dinner.

At the rehearsal dinner we experienced our first American barbeque. YUM! I can't tell you what I was eating but it was tasty. Mr J went back for seconds, a big seconds! We ate cream pies, cake pops and we had Australian chocolates and lollies {candies} for the Americans to try. By this time there are a few Australian friends and family of the groom in Florida.

I have an American gentleman trying to teach me how to come across as a local. He is ATTEMPTING to teach me their accent and slang, I need a lot more practice. I was introduced to a lot of people tonight and none of them had heard of my name before. They like it {at least that's what they are telling me}. It's amazing to see how intrigued the Americans are about us, our culture and our accent. We often are getting people come up to us to hear us speak - quite frankly, I don't mind as I like hearing them talk too. Mr J has met the other men in the bridal party and gets along with them very well, one in particular has made time to get to know us and is picking Mr J up for the wedding tomorrow. All Americans are lovely, their service is incredible as they have to work for it {tips} and they have manners.

Mr J's cousin, who we havent seen for a couple of years lives with his wife and son, 4 hours away from here. They came across for the wedding and are staying in the same hotel as us. Its great! We grabbed a ride home with them from the dinner and as Mr J will be doing his groomsman duties tomorrow, I will be driving with them to the wedding also. Mr J and I also have organised to catch up with them over breakfast in the morning.

Jamie loved the bucks show yesterday!! They played dodgeball and other games at the venue. He ate pizza, talked guy stuff and went for a swim.

Wedding day tomorrow. Bliss!

Florida Day Two

Day two in Florida was very relaxing for Jamie and I. We thanked God for a wonderful, well needed sleep last night before heading to the first floor for a complimentary breakfast. The breakfast included bacon, eggs, pancakes, cereal, bagels, doughnuts, hot cinnamon rolls, scones (aka biscuits to Americans), yoghurt and more. We filled up on breakfast therefore didn't need lunch! After a large bite to eat we went for a tourist walk through the Main Street, visited the Pier and took lots of photos {See the photos below}. It was a beautiful day! Jamie had a swim in the hotel pool while I sat in the sun enjoying the scenery. We spent the afternoon relaxing at our hotel.

Tonight I helped Jamie's aunty set up for the wedding rehersal dinner, which is tomorrow night. Although we are in America, the rehersal dinner is Australian themed. I then joined Jamie's relatives for dinner. While I was doing this Jamie was out with the boys for the groomsman's bucks night. 

Today the receptionist at our hotel informed me of a bike hire shop straight behind our hotel. There is also a popular bike track running past our hotel. How convenient! Jamie and I are definitely keen to spend a couple hours on a bike. We will also be researching the bus route tomorrow to see if we can fit in some shopping or other sight seeing.

The weather has not changed and we got our daily storm. Still not used to looking left, right, left when crossing the road.

Tampa, Florida

After speaking to my family on Skype, we caught out shuttle to the airport at 5:15am. We checked in (again - we are getting pro's at this!) and went through the security check - in America everyone has to take their shoes off for this aswell. We ate breakfast at the airport before boarding our 2.5 hour flight to Tampa, Florida.

We arrived at a hot, humid city where we had to catch a train to pick up our luggage. Jamie's Aunty, Uncle and cousin picked us up and showed us some of the sights on our way to our destination. Florida is beautiful! apparently they think they are in drought, but to our eyes it is green everywhere with hundreds of palm trees. We went back to where Jamie's relatives were staying to have lunch and relax before checking into our hotel. Meanwhile, I went shopping with Jamie's aunty. As you enter shops in America you realise they all smell different and nice, this is because they put fragrances through their air conditioners. Lovely!

We got to our hotel around 4.00pm. At this time we were experiencing one of Tampa's storms. Tampa received at least one storm at day. The temperature only drops slighting so it is still very warm but has lightning, DARK clouds and rain {when it rains here, it really rains!}.We watched the storm from our hotel window. We are very impressed with our room! The next 5 hours were a struggle to stay awake but we knew that's what we had to do to beat jet lag. We went out for tea at Cafe Alfresco - approx 10 minute walk where we were served by a lovely waiter. As this was our first meal out in America we didn't know how to go about tipping. We asked our waiter and he was very helpful!! After dinner we went back to our hotel and straight to sleep.

A helpful tip we were given:
73 degrees Fahrenheit = 23 degrees Celsius, 95 degrees Fahrenheit = 35 degrees Celsius