USA! USA!

I’m so excited! And I just can’t hide it!
I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!

We have 8 sleeps until we get on a plane to go to the USA. 8 sleeps until we go to the airport with S and stay together as a family… Right up until we board the plane where he will turn left and we will turn right. 8 sleeps until I get to spend 16 hours on a plane with 2 Things and no iPads.(For the sake of those reading this in years to come… The USA recently banned travelling inbound with electronics from 8 Arabic countries. I’m dubious about the intelligence. Are there really higher risks only for travel from the designated cities? Is it able to be specific enough to only include the national airlines of those countries and not the US domiciled ones? That’s another post I think.)

8 sleeps until we see my sister in law and best friend (J), her lovely husband (T) and 8 sleeps until 3 gorgeous cousins are reunited. 17 sleeps until we get to Houston, a city we left 4 years ago with a puppy and a 10 month old baby. 24 sleeps until we go to Miami to see in-laws and grandparents.

This trip is about so much more than sightseeing. It’s about seeing friends and family (and family who are friends). It’s about eating good food, drinking good wine and generally having fun wherever we are and whatever we are doing. That being said of course we do have some plans for each place that we are going:

Los Angeles

• How could we be in Los Angeles with our Things and their cousin and not go to Disney? They don’t even know yet and I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when we tell them where we are going!
• Shopping (with kids and without)! J used to work in fashion and literally everything in my wardrobe that is vaguely fashionable was bought either by her or with her. The Things are also now so fussy about what they wear (especially Diva Thing 2!) that I’m going to need to take them with me to choose the next bulk purchase of clothes. I have a cunning plan to buy very little while in LA so I can ship it to Miami. This way I avoid having to cart it across America. Baggage allowance to and from the US will be massively different to the domestic flights we will be taking!
• Nails and facials – it just wouldn’t be quality time with my bestie without a bit of pampering!
• Beach and pool – all three kids are water babies and love playing in the pool and at the beach. I’m so excited for some relaxing times by the water! Of course, knowing my little monsters, its unlikely to be relaxing at all while I try to keep them from drowning / fighting / whining / running off…

Houston

• The plan for Houston is mostly food related…Tex-Mex and BBQ up to my neck, margaritas up to my ears! The food scene in Houston is so much more than just Tex-Mex and BBQ but those are the things I have missed the most since leaving and I will be INDULGING.
• But the real draw is seeing all our old friends and colleagues from our time there. There are several new children to meet and most haven’t met our Thing 2 so there is lots to catch up on. One of the hardest things about expat life is the saying goodbye and missing people all over the world. We never imagined we would make such good, close friends in our time there but we did and we were desperately sorry to say goodbye to them. I feel so lucky that we can go back for a visit.
• Children’s Museum, Natural History Museum, parks, playgrounds, pools and playdates will all feature in our week.

Miami

• Some R&R after what I am hoping will be a busy week in Houston seeing people. S’s parents live in Miami and my grandfather lives in Boca Raton which is about an hour away.
• We are only in Miami for 2.5 days before we head back so I’m thinking super chilled days with more pool and beach action.

Its hard to believe that it will be the end of April when we get back and that a month later it will be Ramadan and a month after that we will be heading for our big summer holiday. It feels like we have been planning these trips forever and soon they will be here – HURRAH!

In the meantime loss of control starts in 8 sleeps. I’ll let you know how exciting that reality is when it happens….