NZ and USA baby: June 2009

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Meet me in St. Louie, Louie...

When we arrived in St. Louis, fresh from our mini vacation in San Fran, we had a massive 'to do' list each and everyday to accomplish. We wanted to get as many wedding tasks and appointments as we could out of the way before the international visitors arrived to town. Get social security card, get wedding license, hair trial, makeup trial, get dress altered, dry clean suits, practice dance, write vows, flowers, engagement photos....the lists never seemed to end.

Getting the wedding license was actually pretty cool. That made the whole thing sink in. And everywhere we went people were just so darn friendly. 'congrats on the marriage, wow your son is cute.' Hmmm...maybe it was because we had Luca in tow everywhere we went. People can't resist talking to you when you've got a little boy stealing the show. We had to raise our right hand and solemly swear on the marriage at the wedding license place. It was hard not to giggle during this....it just seemed so formal and unecessary to be swearing the truth to some random office worker in downtown Clayton.

James and I also visited the local YMCA gym that Mom and Bob are members at. Okay, this place is awesome. Puts City Fitness to shame (although the group fitness classes are way better back home) but the thing that was really cool about the YMCA. FREE CHILDCARE. Yes, that's right completly free. You could drop your kids off, go for a workout or swim, have a coffee (which was also free), read a magazine, and then go collect the kids. How cool is that!? If we move to the States, we'll definitly be looking at real estate close to the YMCA.

James had is SECOND stag night in Vegas, which gave me two more days or wedding errands. Want details on Vegas? Ask him, b/c I'm in the dark. To be honest, I don't really care. Yeah, you think most brides would be worried about a stag night in Vegas, but I totally trust James (and know he didn't have much money to blow on gambling - cause we have none, and also know that Vegas, although fun in small doses, probably wouldn't really be his cup of tea)....But then again....VEGAS, baby! I'm sure the guys had a great time.

Then the kiwis arrived. First Mars and Karl, which we entertained at my parents house for the night and we filled them up on wholesome American foods (steak n' potatoes, dr peppers, root beers, lots of veg/fruit, biscuits n' gravy, gooey butter cake....) Then next Jo, Bruce, Barry, and Judy.

We crammed a lot in those few days. We wanted to show them the best of St. Louis, and I can safely say that we had a great time.....a few pics from the week prior to the wedding....

Visiting winieries in rural towns outside of NZ. Sampling and drinking way too much wine, and enjoying the gorgeous warm spring weather.

Picnic at one of the winieries

Karl not handling his wine too well....what's with all the water Karl? Ha ha

Checking out downtown STL and the Botanical Gardens. Look, both Grandma and Oma with Luca at the same time. Double the babysitters!

Hanging out at Six Flags theme park, and going on so many rollercosters I thought my head was going to explode...

Karl sampling a Huge turkey leg at Six Flags.

Also on the St. Louis activity list were going to a Cardinals Baseball game, shopping....oh....the massive shoe stores and discount clothing stores!!!, wandering around Downtown St. Louis, the arch, eating at the golf clubhouse, factory tour of Anheuisure Busch (I have no idea how to spell that).

Midweek more visitors starting arriving. First James Dad, then his Aunt and also Phil and Alice from the UK. Thankfully Pete and Rolly also made it (I think they liked Vegas a bit too much...hee hee). After we had everyone in town....that's when the real fun started...

We truly do hope our visitors got a good glimpse of American way of life, and we loved hosting you.

Arriving in San Fran

We took the long way home...flying through Sydney and arriving in San Fran to visit my cousin Jenny who lives right in the heart of the city. Qantas really screwed us over several times during the booking process (but I won't get into that now)....however by some struck of faith, we were somehow upgraded to premium economy. We were spoiled and had HEAPS of leg room. So much that both James and I could sit on the floor and play with Luca. Luca did wonderfully on the plane. It's much easier making these long haul flights with the two of us to watch him. He just barely fit into the infant bassinet, and managed to sleep about 5 hours on the plane.

If you ever get the option to fly into San Fran instead of LAX....DO IT. The arrivals, customs, and staff at the airport was so much more freindly, and way less hectic and crazy than LAX. James and I hadn't spend much time in San Fran before so we were looking forward to our 3 night mini holiday with my cousin Jenny. We're so glad that we did this, b/c it actually felt like we were on vacation (and not just on a wedding trip).

Jenny lives right down town in a sweet apartment. Everything she could ever want (except maybe a Target) is right around her apartment. Amazing 24 hour donut shops, check. Gym, check. Walgreens, check. Hundreds of eateries, check. Plant wholesale shop, check. Cute boutique shops, check. Get the picture?

She was such a gracious host to us, doing the San Fran highlights sight seeing trip for us, and even pretending not to mind when Luca would scream for hours when he was supposed to be sleeping. Jet Lag with baby = no fun.

Jenny lives right on the Streetcar/cablecar line, and takes it to work every day. Ok, how cool is that? We had an amazing time in San Fran. Although we could never afford to live there, I do think it's one of my new favourite cities.

Our wonderful hostess and taxi driver at the Golden Gate bridge.

We loved playing amongst the Redwoods at Muir woods. HUGE trees.

Okay, really bad picture of myself, but good shot of Luca. If only my eyes were open this picture would be perfect.

San Fran reminded me a lot of Wellington. Compact city and very easy to walk around. Built around a harbour and very windy.

We also spent a bit of town in different neighborhoods. This is Chinatown, which had shop after shop of chinese food resturants, crazy cheap chinese knick knacks shops, chinese herbal medicine shops, and crazy unidentified dried chinese things (pigs ears? crickets? fruit?) I thought chinatown might be a few streets, but it was actually this huge area. I expierenced my first Dim Sum meal here too. Not actually sure what I was eating, but it tasted good. Very fun....why don't we have more of those in NZ?

A pic of china town with a huge American flag on the wall. In the states you see flags everywhere. One of things I like about America...the patriotism.

Luca with doing his chinaman impression.

Hanging out on the waterfront with the seals. We also found this Sourdough bread factory that made bread into all kinds of different animal shapes. How cute are these turtles?