Last Day in NYC

Today is our last day here in New York City... we're going on one last tour.

Last night Claryse & I went out and got last-minute gifts and souvenirs. I think you can't come here and not get a tacky "I Heart NY" souvenir of some sort. (Did you know that "I Heart NY" is a registered trademark? Too funny.)

We really haven't had enough time to do everything. There's still so much we haven't done, but we've had to condense what we wanted to do so that it would fit into our schedule. We've all had to make sacrifices, leaving places early and not staying as long as we would have liked, just because we don't have the time to do things at our leisure.

Our flight leaves tonight at 7.10pm. We have yet to take a "big yellow taxi", so we're taking one to the airport! We have to be all packed before we leave for our tour this morning because as soon as the tour's finished, we have to bust our butts to get to the airport 3 hours early like they recommend.

We have had such a great time here. The general consensus is that LA was really great, but New York is "A - mazing"! We all keep saying "I'm totally coming back here" or "I could live here". It's really an awesome city, and 4 days was not enough! I think we've all got the travel bug!

Broadway!

I have now seen two uh-mazing shows on Broadway. This first we saw was "Mary Poppins: The New Musical". It was "practically perfect" (the title of a song created specifically for the new musical). It was so uplifting and amazing. We bought discounted tickets at the TKTS stand on the day of the performance. The seats were in a really great spot; we had orchestra seating not too close to the front. This version of Mary Poppins featured a villain, who was quite scary. The highlight of the production was during the tapping performance to "Step in Time", when Bert tapped up the wall and then continued to tap and sing while upside down on the roof! Now that's talent, and he's from Australia.

The second musical we saw was tonight. It was my favourite musical of all time - "West Side Story". It was everything I expected. It was fabulous, it had quite a different feel to Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins didn't exactly feature dangerous weapons and gang violence. The dancing was absolutely brilliant.

I have now achieved my dream of seeing a musical on Broadway, not once but twice!

This will probably be my last blog from America, but I will be sure to give you a review of the holiday when I get back home.

Until next time,
KeEP dANcInG...
Claryse

A day of massive proportions.

Today we had brunch in Central Park... well I'm not sure if you could call a banana and a chocolate chip cookie from a vendor store brunch, but that's what we decided it would be.

Central Park was amazing. I loved it. Claryse said it reminded her of Hyde Park, just bigger and better. She was certainly right about the "bigger" part- it was huge! It houses TWENTY children's playgrounds. There were tonnes of people around but because the park is so big, it didn't feel crowded.

And, most noticeable, it was so GREEN! The trees and flowers and grass looked so alive compared to what ours looks like in Sydney.


After spending a few hours idling away the time enjoying the park, we went to the Musuem of Natural History. That too was massive! It seems America likes doing things on a larger scale here! :)

We looked through displays of American mammals (most of them looked foreign to me so I spent a lot of time reading the little panels beside the dioramas!) and then we went to the Ocean exhibit, where they had a life sized Blue Whale model hanging from the ceiling. Again- huge!

Also, did I mention it was really hot here? Apparently we arrived just in time for the NYC heatwave... like I said, it was a day of massive proportions.

A New York kind of day

Today NYC put on another fabulous day for us... perfect weather; warm but not too humid, sunny but not blinding.

Today we went to see the Statue of Liberty. Since Haylee has become our unofficial tour guide (seriously, she was pointing things out from her maps and guide book today like a champ!) she navigated the subway for us and we went to the Staten Island ferry subway station. Once we arrived, we started climbing the stairs to the dock entrance, only to be recognised as tourists by some man and reminded that we wanted the Liberty Island ferry dock, not the Staten Island one! Hahaha... such tourists we are. We ended up following a tour group of elderly citizens since their tour guide seemed to know the way!

It was a bit windy given that it was still the morning, so I bought one of those "I (Heart) NY" sweatshirts! We waited in the (long) line to go through the security check and then waited again in another, longer line to actually get on board the ferry.

While we were waiting I noticed there were lots of planes and helicopters in the air above us and they kept circling. I didn't think anything of it until the lady in front of us starting saying "I don't like that. I don't like that at all." Then I realised practically everyone was looking up at the sky, confused and worried expressions on their faces. Their was one big 747 flying VERY low, followed by 1 or 2 smaller fighter jets and about 3 helicopters all circling around the Statue. Immediately, it was like everyone thought "terrorist attack" simulataneously. I was starting to freak out, but said it was probably just tourists or something, taking helicopter tours to see the statue. The police and security guards nearby didn't seem worried, so I tried not to worry either but I couldn't shake the anxious feeling the whole time we were there.

Once we got to the island I relaxed a little bit but was still on alert, jumping at loud noises and that sort of thing. Being on the island makes you feel very vulnerable, because once you're on, there's only the ferry to get you off, and there were a lot of people and the ferries only came every half hour. I did enjoy seeing the Statue and took lots of photos and read all about its history. But I will admit I was glad when we left and got back to the relative safety of Manhattan. I kept thinking it would really be a "suitable" place to attack because it is vulnerable, being and island, it is frequently populated by tourists and it symbolises the values that America considers vitally important - liberty and freedom.

Tonight when we got home we were flicking through the channels when we realised along with Swine Flu, one of the top news stories was this mysterious low flying 747. It turns out the Defense Department had organised a photo op without telling the Mayor or the public. The news reports that everyone, the Mayor included, is furious. People in New Jersey were filmed fleeing from their apartment blocks and buildings; "running for their lives", scared another 9/11 was occurring. Apparently the police knew but because it came from the Defense Dept, they weren't allowed to tell anyone, especially the public.

We had a good rest of the day, spent shopping, sightseeing in Wall St and the financial district and going on our Hop on Hop off tour again, doing the full loop this time to see all of Manhattan. Tomorrow is our last full day here in NYC, we're spending it having brunch in Central Park and then seeing West Side Story on Broadway.

We only get 20 minutes complimentary free internet access here at the hotel each day, so I better get going...

Harlem

This morning we went to Harlem to see a gospel church choir.
Haylee has become our guide so she directed us through the subway,and we did well until we got to our second stop, when we realised we were running late and then the train didn't come as quick as we expected.

We got to Harlem at about 10.35am and we were supposed to meet our tour guide at 10.30. When we got to the address, there was no one there! I was starting to freak out because although we were right near the subway station, we didn't know where we were or where we we going. The doors to the tour guide place were locked, so we were standing there stumped when this random dude asked us if we were looking for the tour. We said yes, and he got out his cell phone and rang the tour guide and ended up walking us to where the rest of the tour was.

They were at the church already, so while he looked for his "man", we took in the huge line waiting to go inside. It was massive! He couldn't find the tour guide, but he took us to one of the members of the congregation, who got us seated up in the balcony where all the tourists sit. It was the longest church service I've ever experienced! We sat there for 2 hrs and 15 mins before deciding the combination of heat (no air con), not knowing where our tour group was, and having another Hop on- Hop off tour booked for today was enough to allow us to leave. I think the service was so long because it was the Pastor's 3rd anniversary so they were having a big celebration. It was very cool, just like in the movies, with lots of "Hallelujahs" and "Amens". The music was fantastic, the choir was rocking. We didn't know any of the songs, but there was a great vibe (except for when we got told off for reaching for our cameras- but I managed to sneak in a few shots before they busted us!)

We're back at our hotel now, just blogging before we go off to lunch and then go on the Hop on- Hop off tour. We'll blog again later tonight hopefully.

New York, New York

We have finally arrived in New York. We have only been to an Italian restaurant for dinner and Alicia bought a rather expensive slice of cheesecake. The flight over was pretty interesting as we flew over the grand canyon. This is a short post as we have limited internet access.
Until next time,
KeeP dANcIng...
Claryse

Disneyland, Round 4

Today is our fourth day at Disneyland. Because we have a 5 day park hopper pass, we can come and go between Disneyland & Disney California Adventure (which is in the same complex, but adjacent from Disneyland) as much as we please within 5 days.

Today Claryse & I got up early to go across to Disneyland so that we could avoid waiting in long line for the rides. We went on all the rides in Fantasyland, like the Alice in
wonderland ride, the Peter Pan ride & the Pinocchio ride. Then we went across to Tomorrowland and went on the Finding Nemo submarine ride & the Buzz Lightyear game ride. Next we went to Adventureland and went on the Indiana Jones ride. Our goal is to go on the majority of rides in all the lands so that tomorrow we can concentrate on Caliifornia Adventure.

Right now Claryse & I are in a cafe near our hotel having lunch. Haylee is off with Ashlea going on the more "adventurous" rides!

Quick Update

This is just a quick post from me to let you all know a few things. Firstly, even though I was sick when we performed at California Adventure Park, I had an awesome time. We actually had people watching us. There were even some people who stood for the full half hour show. I show the same blurs each time I came out. Secondly, after our performance the dancing girls and teachers went on a rollercoaster, called California Screaming. The name, being sick, looking at the massive drop and knowing it went upside down made me decline. But then the third time everybody went on it....I decided to give it ago. That's right, timid Claryse went on her first upside down rollercoaster! Thirdly, today we revisited Hollywood and went to a couple of beaches.
Until next time,
KeEP dAnCInG...
Claryse

Haylee in Disneyland and Anaheim

Hi everyone, it has been almost a week since i posted. this hotel doesn't have free internet and the coffee is no better. Anyway this is a catch up on the last week.
As you all know thur was freezing at the animal park but all the animals were really cool. The hotel room is tiny compared to the other one and there is like a third of the vanity space and there are clothes everywhere.
We danced at knott's berry farm on friday on the terrible stage and I didn't fall over (personal record). Afterwards I went on the Silver Bullet, a rollercoaster that goes upside down and in spirals. Be proud of me, mum.
Then on saturday we performed at disneyland right next to the castle. We got to go into the backlot and the changerooms were beautiful, full length mirrors and racks and benches. The performance went really well except for the ending cause felicia decided that she had finished dancing and didn't want to come back on stage so she was at the back instead of at the front and none of the other little girls would take my hand so it was a bit of a scramble. Afterwards we poked around all the stores because the weekend was the end of spring break and the park was packed. They actually had to stop people from going in the park for half an hour because it became overcrowded!!! We went on the pirates of the carribean ride....ohhh so good and had hot chocolate and watched the fireworks from frontierland.
On sunday I went to the park at 8am with ashlee and her mother. We went on indiana jones, haunted mansion and pirates again. We also went on spash mountain anmd got straight on (the lines on saturday were over an hour). When we got off there was no one in the line so we went again. We later went on "it's a small world" and rodger rabbit ride then lined up to get pictures with minnie and mickey. We then went back to the hotel for a sleep before the afternoon performance.
It was nearly 40 degree when we were performing and the stage was half in the sun. Very hot. We danced so well even with the heat. Aftterwards we went on California Screaming, a really cool rollercoaster. We had a whole carriage to ourselves and then we went on another 2 times, even claryse and alicia went on.
Ok mum, be prepared to be shocked....I went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, the elevator rode which takes you to the top of the buiding, opens the doors so you can see over both of the parks then drops you to the bottom, then does it again. I had a death grip on sarah's hand and the handle. Our photo shows me screaming and ash looking at me and laughing. Afterwards we went back to disneyland to see the last of the holiday fireworks. We held 15m of sidewalk for the sally K people for 2 hours until the fireworks right in front of the castle. It is amazing how many people you can fit on a small bit of space. I had zachary, felicia and little caitlin sitting on me. I tell you I felt like santa claus!!! The fireworks were beautiful I took a hundred photos so I can recreate it for you, mum. When we got back to the hotel I washed my hair for the first time in nearly 4 days and finally cut my fringe!!!!
Today, claryse, alicia and I went with the Tillers on a tour of LA and Hollywood cause we were so jetlagged the first day that I can't remember it!! It was really good, we saw Grauman's Chinese Theatre and I took photos of heaps of handprints and stars. Guess what, tomorrow (Tues) Hugh Jackman is doing his handprints at the theatre!!!! So cool. Anyway we did a driving tour of Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hill and Rodeo Drive then we went to Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
Tomorrow I'm going early again with Ash and her mother to go on all the rides and in the afternoon is the princess party, I'm going as Mia from the Princess Diaries.

P.S. Mum what is your response to my handbag question in my last blog

New photos on Twitter

Just found wireless internet at IHOP so I have been adding all my photos on my iPhone from the past week on to Twitter. Just click on the individual links beginning with http:// that come up under the section on the right that says "what we're up to" to see the photos.

Or click down the bottom where it says Follow me on Twitter to see all our twitter updates since our blog only shows 10 at a time.

Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. When we first arrived in Anaheim, Alicia, Haylee and I checked out the World of Disney store in the shopping area of Disneyland and even just that shop was amazing. I have spent $120 US in that shop. I had to restrain myself and not purchase everything I liked, which is unusual for me. I got Minnnie and Mickey's autographs yesterday. Mickey's line was really long but I think it was worth it. Today is our last dancing day. Even though I've got a really sore throat I hope I can appreciate performing today. I'm not sure when I'll post next, because as you know there is limited internet access.
Until next time,
KeEP dANciNg...
Claryse

Anaheim

Sorry we've been a bit slack on the blogging front lately- there's no free wireless internet here at our hotel in Anaheim like there was in San Diego.
Right now we're using the laptop of one of the parents here because we figured we haven't updated in 5 days and our parents might be going a bit nuts not having heard from us.

Our last day in San Diego was spent at the San Diego Zoo wild animal park. It was absolutely freezing that day. We were all like "where's the warm, sunny California weather we were expecting?" It was so windy that our faces were red because we had to walk everywhere and there was hardly any covered areas.
We saw lots of different animals, mainly African animals like giraffes, rhinos and elephants.

After spending the whole day at the park, we got on a bus to Anaheim. Most of us slept the whole time there, since it took 2 hours to get there. Everyone woke up once we started to see signs for Disneyland!
Our hotel rooms in Anaheim are a lot smaller than those in San Diego, so our room looks a lot messier with four girls' luggage. We are starting to accumulate a lot of "stuff". We're all suckers for Disney memorabilia. Our first night here was spent in the Downtown Disney store stocking up on clothes, hats, etc all featuring Disney characters. The Downtown Disney store is on the Disneyland lot but you don't actually need your Disneyland ticket to get in, you just have to go through a security bag check so we can go in and out as many times as we like. There's also restaurants and shops in the complex to explore.

On our second night here, we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. We had spent the day doing whatever we liked. Haylee, Claryse, Elise & I went hunting for Disney outlet stores on the main street and bought some Disney character t-shirts. We then got our hair braided for our performance the next day and went to Build-a-Bear to celebrate two of the little girls' birthdays. By the time that was finished, it was time for our reservation at the Rainforest Cafe. The cafe was decorated like a real rainforest, with moving animals and thunderstorms where the lights turned off. I had paella for dinner, and then Claryse, Ashlea and I shared a volcano dessert, which was a big brownie shaped into a volcano with icecream exploding from the middle like lava. We ordered it because whenever they delivered one to a table, two or three waiters came from the kitchen yelling "Vol-can-oooooo!" at the top of their lungs and we thought that was cool!

The next day was our first performance in America. We danced at Knott's Berry Farm. As performers, we had a backstage area to get dressed and prepared in. However, it was not anything like we imagined. The "room" was really a small open area, with a dirty concrete floor and a a small green room with a disgustingly dusty airconditioner and a small toilet. It was so dusty that it was hard to breathe.
The stage wasn't much better. It was wooden, and by the first dance many of us had splinters. One of the parents told us later that while we were offstage changing costumes, they got one of the maintenance guys to hammer in some nails that were sticking out of the stage! It certainly wasn't professional like we expected and therefore our performance wasn't the best.

Since our performance was mid-morning, we got the whole day to explore Knotts Berry Farm. It proclaims to be "America's 1st theme park" and there were definitely a lot of rollercoasters and other thrill seeking rides but there was no rides that were really in between. It was either kids rides or ridiculously scary rollercoasters. Us older girls were supposed to stay until 9pm but we ended up leaving with some of the younger kids and their families ar 6pm since we there was nothing really left for us to do.

We came home and babysat the Poirier kids (one of our dance teachers' kids) and then went out to dinner. We usually just stroll up and down the street until we find a restaurant all three of us agree looks good. The one thing we have found here is that the food is so much more unhealthy. Even when we try to eat healthy, like I ordered nachos thinking it would be corn chips and mince; the Americans manage to make it unhealthy. I had the most disgusting "yellow cheese" all over my nachos. It was more like cheese sauce than real cheese. It just makes you feel all bloated and disgusting. We are definitely missing Aussie food.

The next day we danced at Disneyland! We had to be there by 8am so it was a mad dash across the road to Disneylabd (yes we literally are across the street from Disneyland!) since the park opened at 8am and we were supposed to meet our stage manager across the other side of the park at 8.10am! Of course, we got there and the lines to get in were huge. We ended up speed walking right across Disneyland to Toon Town where we met our Stage Manager (who was very chirpy and Disney-like) and got escorted through the back lot to our dressing room (which was A LOT better than the one at Knotts Berry Farm). We got changed into our costume and took some photos before we had to go backstage. Then it was go time! Our performance was heaps better than the one at Knotts Berry Farm. We even had some non- Sally K people watch us!
After our performance we went back to our hotel and got changed before going back to the park and exploring Disneyland for real. We have a 5 day park hopper pass, which means we can go from Disneyland to California Adventure park back and forth as many times as we like in 5 days. We spent the day getting our bearings at Disneyland and going on some rides. Haylee, Claryse & I went on the Teacups and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we watched the street parade in the afternoon with everyone and had hot cocoa and cupcakes and watched the fireworks at 9.30pm.

Today we are dancing in the late afternoon at Disney's California Adventure park. It's our last performance, and hopefully because it's later in the day, we will have more of an audience! Then we are spending the next few days going back and forth between the parks as we please. We are having theme days to make it fun, like "Wear Red Day" and "Wear Disney wear Day".

We will try to blog more often, but it's hard because we have to ask to borrow laptops off other families. Hopefully once we get to New York we will find more wireless places. Normally we would find a Starbucks since they usually have reliable wireless internet, but we can't find any here in Anaheim. It's not like San Diego where we could easily catch public transport and find the nearest Starbucks to do a quick twitter update, but we will try to be in contact more regularly!

Cold Shopping Day

OMG it was so cold today. The day started at 5am when Alicia was sick and Claryse had to do an emergency fizzy drink run. Anyway we went back to sleep and I got up early and had a nice long breakfast (the coffee is terrible, I'm hanging on every morning until we get to wherever we are going so I can get a decent coffee)
Mum, you will be proud of me, I did washing and I even seperated my lights and darks (actually we had two machines going otherwise I would not have bothered). Anyway, did washing, packed ready for tomorrow and went shopping.
I love american stores especially the Gap and H&M. Yesterday we went to the Gap outlet store and I got 2 woollen vests, 2 long sleeve jumpers, 3 long sleeve shirts and a tank top for $120. Everything was like 30, 40, 50% off!!!! Today I got this really nice dark blue trench coat from H&M half price for $30 and it is great quality. I put it on later cause it got so cold. I definately need some gloves for New York. That was pretty much it for my shopping today.
For dinner we had this really nice shrimp pasta and we got cheesecake for dessert. Anyway there is a massive queue for the computer so this is it for me. I'm not sure if there is good internet access at the next motel so there might be a slight decrease in the number of posts. Ta for now, haylee

P.S. I can't believe you put the wine barrels in my car. Don't you have a landcruiser to transport heavy things????!!! Everyone who gets in my car is going to think I am an alcoholic.

P.P.S Mum, I found a fossil outlet store but Alicia dragged me out. There is another one at disney land. If I see another one of my bags, do you want me to get you one or any other bag?

Shopping

Today we chilled, literally. The wind was intensely cold. Elise, one of our room mates neglected to wear pants or a top with sleeves, so she froze all day. She then purchased a pair of flared tights... stylish.

I bought a purple jacket, a water bottle from Victoria's Secret and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, which we are about to consume in our hotel room.

We had dinner at a bar and grill and the waitress sat us in the over age section, yet we acted quite under age. Elise had a gigantic salad with pasta in it and Alicia noted, "I have never seen pasta and salad together, except in pasta salad".

That's it from me for now because there is a massive queue for the computer.

Until next time,
KeEp DAncInG...
Claryse

Shop til we drop

Today we went shopping. This morning I was up sick very early and managed to wake Claryse & Haylee up too. Luckily by the time breakfast was served I was feeling a bit better so I managed to keep some food down and then I came back to the room and had a nap.

By 11am I was feeling better and decided to venture out shopping at Fashion Valley, which is 2 stops away from the transit station near our hotel. We hit up the big stores like Macys & Bloomingdales, as well as H&M, Old Navy & Victorias Secret. Oh and of course the old favourite The Gap, although it wasn't an outlet store like the one we went to last night so it wasn't as good. We also discovered The Cheesecake Factory which I was very excited about. Currently there are 4 different slices of cheesecake sitting on a table in our room waiting to be eaten. We're trying to wait for the right moment. Cheesecake of such high quality needs to be savoured.

Legoland

Today we went to Legoland. It was really cool! Unfortunately I was really sick all day with some gastro bug that's kind of going around. 5 of us have been sick with it, which I didn't think was a lot until Claryse pointed out that was 10% of the group!

Luckily Haylee, having worked in a pharmacy, knew what drugs I should take and we were able to find some at Legoland that worked for me for a while. I took whatever I could get! By the afternoon I was feeling a bit better although still not 100% but I was able to go on some small rides. H,C & E went on a rollercoaster while I stayed on the ground and took photos. I'll try to twitted some of them later.

My favourite part of Legoland was Miniland, where mini cities have been built out of Lego! They even had a replica Sydney Opera House! It was so awesome. There weren't too many rides for grownups so I didn't feel too sorry for myself for missing out.

A day of mishaps

I know Haylee's been keeping you updated with short blog posts but I wanted to tell you a bit more about what we've been up to lately.

Yesterday we left for Sea World at about 8.30am. We spent the whole day there? But apart from a few rides and animal shows, there wasn't much to do. We had booked dinner with Shamu at 6pm, so we had to keep ourselves occupied until then. We watched Jordan interact with dolphins, while Emi actually got to get in the water with them! We watched the dolphin show, the whale show, the sea lion show. All of then were pretty awesome. The dolphin show was the one were we all sat front row and got absolutely DRENCHED! The whale show started Shamu and talked about conservation and protecting the planet.
After each show, we'd split up into groups with a walkie talkie between us and go on rides. Most of the girls loved the Atlantis ride, which was a rollercoaster with a big drop and waterfall to boot. You sat in a boat and got absolutely saturated. Of course, yesterday was freezing and spitting rain so Sea World made a motzah out of us buying ponchos. I personally was not willing to risk going on a water ride in the cold, and combined with the huge drop, it's safe to say the Atlantis was well avoided by yours truly.

After dinner with Shamu (who turned out to be a lookalike whale called Quirky) we went to watch the Shamu Rocks show. By this time it was dark, so everything was lit up and neon. It was more of a stage show than the whale show we saw earlier in the day. Of course given our experience in the front row at the dolphin show, we sat a bit further back so we didn't get wet. Zachary sat on my lap and fell asleep by the end of the show. By the time we all got out of the park, we were pretty tired and wanting to get back to our hotel but all the buses were gone. Fiona ended up basically bribing a hotel bus driver to take us back in 2 lots!

So Haylee's already told you about the whole drama with the car today. After leaving the hotel at 8.30am (we were supposed to pick the car up at 9am) we walked 5 minutes down the road to the transit station (we went there as a group to get to Sea World last night, so we knew the way). From there we caught a bus to the airport and then we waited for the car rental company's shuttle bus to pick us up and take us to the rental counter. Once we got there, everything seemed to be going well until he asked us if anyone over 21 was accompanying us to sign for the car with us. Of course it was just the 3 of us so we left feeling a bit bereft but decided it wasn't going to ruin our day. We toured around San Diego (even though the majority of shops were shut) and saw a side of San Diego no one else in our group probably saw.

Jetlagged

I can't believe i am the only one still suffering from jetlag. Alicia and Claryse are fine but come 2pm i'm ready for bed. At the moment I am trying to muscle through it (i had a 1 hour nap earlier) but i think i'm going to go to bed at like 9. I'm such a grandma. I am dreading having to work the sunday we get back.
Anyway, had a nice but weird day. Saw a lot of San Diego and met some nice locals.
You will be happy mum, we didn't have to drive.

Anyway, can you please make sure everyone has the address for this blog and I'll post again soon.

P.S. You will be very proud of me, I have only bought a sea world pin not clothes (mostly because I don't want to buy things when I am jetlagged and not with it). BTW I am collecting pins for this trip, I have always meant to whenever we go away but only remember halfway through the trip. Anyway I nearly bought this green silk dress from banana republic that was $75 on sale but resisted temptation.

Things We Have Learnt and People We Have Met

We have learnt that everything is backwards and bigger in America. They drive on the "right" side of the road and the steering wheel is on the "right" side of the car. Speaking of driving, the cars are giantic and would crush my tiny Holden Barina. The roads are overrun by Escalades and Jeeps. The meals are also quite sizeable, their small is equivalent to our large.

We have met quite a few people in the three days we have been here. I will tell you about the more memorable people... First there was the "Gum Girl". She was from Alabama and had a real Southern drawl. She asked Haylee and I for some "guuuuuuuuuuum", but we didn't have any, so a dancing friend of ours Shannon gave her some Extra. She was so excited to see some Australian gum and when Shannon told her she could keep the packet she was over the moon.
Then there was the "Violin Guy" and "Mr Bus Driver". We met them on the first shuttle we travelled on today. They were really friendly and talking to us about our holiday. At the end of the ride Mr Bus Driver gave us a map and wished us luck, as you all know by now that luck did not help.
While we were waiting to get on the trolley one of the many times today, we meet the "Florida Lady". She initially asked us for help, but then realised we lived a lot further away than she did. We were talking to her about the weather and how "Sunny California" seemed to be a bit of a myth.
And finally, we ate pizza at one of the few places that was open today. And met one of the waiters that we'll call "Mr Carter", because he reminded Alicia of Nick or Aaron Carter. He was a bit of a flirt. We were dispelling myths about Australian drop bears, explain the sibling rivallry betweeen Australia and New Zealand and crushed his idea about riding kangaroos to school.

Alicia and Haylee are currently in our hotel room. I believe is having a nap.

Until next time,
KeEp dANciNg...
Claryse

our cheap bus tour

Well we were suppose to hire a car and go shopping in San diego but even though we emAilled the rental company and said we were under 21 they would not give us a car. So we got up early took a trolley caught a bus to the airport caught a shuttle to the rental company then took the shuttle back to the airport and the bus back to the trolley depot where we will catch a trolley to walmart and some oulet shopping centres. We feel a bit silly but we saw a lot of San diego and met some nice people. Haylee's trip count is up to 5. To be continued...

Drenched at sea world

Mum calm down. I'm blogging now.
We went to sea world today. It was so cold today I had 2 jackets on. I don't know how I am going to survive ny. Any way went to sea world went on the Atlantis ride and wore really stylish rain ponchos. We sat in the front row of the dolphin show n got soaked. Saw the shamu show nthe fireworks. Then we found out that we were 10min late for the last bus. so we begged a ride off some random hotel bus. So basically it was a long day, I'm still a little jet lagged n tomorrow we are hiring a car n going shopping. We were going to go to malibu but then we found out it was 3hours away. That pretty is it. Blog again soon

Our first day in LA!

Today we survived a 14 hour plane trip, that to be honest wasn't the best service I've ever experienced. Combined with next to no sleep, (having had Emi sleep all over me and the flight attendants putting the lights on at inappropriate times) we arrived into LAX a little groggy, still on Sydney time and had to wait half an hour for our coach to pick us up outside. And did I mention it was really cold? Anyway finally we were on our way. First stop was Hollywood were we walked the Wall of Fame and Manns Chinese Theatre. I have to say i wasnt very impressed, it was smoggy and dirty and pretty run down considering this is the home of the Oscars. My group got so caught up in shopping that we missed seeing the hollywood sign! Awesome shopping centres distracted us. We only had half an hour at Hollywood & Highland shopping centre so we were rushed and in a hurry and only got to see the sign as our coach drove past. Then it was off to The Grove shopping centre & farmers market (where local celebrities often get photographed by the paparazzi) for a few hours. This is where i discovered and fell on love with The Gap. Oh my gosh, i could spend hours in there! Abercrombie & Fitch had a topless male model at the entrance to their store! Only in America. Anyway next was the 3 hr drive to San Diego. By this time everyone was exhausted and pretty much all of us fell asleep on the way. It took forever so when we got here we went to IHOP for pancakes for dinner. The whole taxes and tipping thing is a whole 'nother world! And the American currency! Horrible. Anyway now we are back at our hotel. There's Claryse, Haylee, Elise & me in our room. Tomorrow is Sea World. We are going to try to get a good nights sleep tonight.

Start Spreading the News...

Start spreading the news I'm leaving today... I'm sitting at the airport waiting to board my flight to Los Angeles. I travelled to the airport with Haylee, driven by her father. Haylee over budgeted the travel time. We were supposed to arrive at 7am, but were seated in the airport at 6:30am and were the first of the purple shirts to arrive. I suppose it was better to be early than late. I've been keeping the children of one of my dance teachers company for the past half an hour. One of them is already bored; the fourteen hour flight should be interesting... maybe they will sleep. **fingers crossed** I'm only feeling moderately excited at the moment, I think the real excitement will be felt when we arrive in LA. There just been an announcement that our plane is delayed, which initially had us worried, but it is estimated to arrive only 45mins later, which isn't too bad.

Until next time,

KeEp DaNCinG...

Claryse

At the airport

We are at the airport! (Using the free internet at the boarding gate)

It's a beautiful day in Sydney... too bad we're leaving in like an hour.

People have already noticed us "purple people eaters" and asked us where we're going and why. When we tell people we're going to Disneyland they get very excited for us.

Our plane isn't here yet... the 3 of us are the first to get to the gate... everyone else is either stuck in the line for immigration or in the line getting the tax back from their duty free purchases.

That's pretty much it for now... we better get back to Claryse who is minding Alex, Felicia and our bags.


The next time we blog, we'll be in America!

PS I hope you've been getting all my twitters!

This is it!

This is the earliest I can remember getting up in.... a long time. We have to be at the airport by 7am this morning (even though our flight doesn't leave until 10.20am)...

So it's currently 5.14am, I'm eating a banana cos I need to eat something but it's too early to eat a real breakfast, and I'm racking my brain to see if I forgot anything.

It's dark outside, and cold, and this makes me wonder how cold it's going to be in LA... better yet, how cold is it going to be in New York?

I'll answer the first part of that question in, oh about 20 hours. Of course, there's always technical difficulties and apparently my iPhone isn't working properly and international roaming isn't set up like I thought it was, so my updates may not be as frequent as I had hoped.

New York New York

Ok, I have been extremely lax about getting our itineracy up for New York. Here it is although it doesn't have any pretty pictures.

Our journey in pictures

On Friday 10th April, we behind leave this (it will be very early in the morning when we have to be at the airport, so it may well look like this!)



get on board this



14 hours later, we arrive at



and head straight for




The next day, we are heading to




The following day, we are either going to



or




Then, the next day will be spent at



The day after that, we're heading to

Then, a free day before we take over




and the next day, dancing at



Before... the big one... dancing at...



And the next day...



Before... shopping! A bit of respite...

And the next day... back to



And the next day... back to



and again...



and then, again...



Before saying goodbye to LA, getting on board this...

and...



Our first day in the Big Apple will be pretty low key,

but then we'll



and




before doing some tours like this...




seeing these guys...




and of course...

"The New York Bound"

Haylee calls us the "New York Bound"

Photos from our first performance!

We're all going to dance at Disneyland!


These were taken from our first performance last weekend at Edinglassie Retirement Village.

(click photos to make them bigger)









Our opening item - Jazz costume for "Let Me Entertain You"



Our finale - Modern costume for "I Still Call Australia Home"





And... just for fun... Claryse, during our contemporary dance "Fusion" (with Alicia in the background!):