Finally Home

I am pleased to say we are now back “home” in Perth, which will always be home, but since we’re staying with my parents, its kind of like holidays. I don’t think our definition of “home” will be clear until the day we are living in Perth again.

The sun came out on our last day in San Francisco which allowed to us to see a few more things around the city.

San Francisco has a huge Chinese community so preparations for Chinese New Year were well under way. We visited the Chinese Flower Market, stretching over several streets and teeming with people.

More trips on the Cable Car

took us to Zeum, a great kids Science Museum, where Guerita was in her element- dressing up, making music videos, doing craft and playing on the Metafield Maze - a virtual reality game in which you use your whole body to direct a rolling marble through a room-sized maze.

We also indulged in more American breakfast goodness at the iconic IHOP (International House of Pancakes) where Guerita got to decorate her own pancake. Thanks Trish for reminding me it was nearly Pancake Tuesday - gave us an excuse to have them!

And we had a little wander through the Apple store where the MacBook Air was on display (it really is impossibly thin) and I had a play on an iPhone. OMG, I have never drooled over a piece of electronic equipment so much before - they are so cool! I even checked out my blog on it and it looked alright - very small, but everything was in the right place.

The last leg of the trip from San Francisco to Perth was fine. Long, boring and tiring but fine. The kids and Rocky slept about 7 hours on the plane; my sleep was a bit broken by having a tossing and turning toddler on my lap but all in all it was not too bad. We flew Qantas all the way home which I really enjoyed and not just because we got vegemite with our toast for breakfast. I used to think the service on Qantas was a bit average but they have really improved in the last few years. We are really spoilt flying business class too. The seats fold almost flat so you can actually sleep quite well. They even gave us Peter Morrissey pyjamas! The food is excellent - freshly made to order on the plane - we had a fantastic beef fillet, and then full breakfast. The thing I like most about business class with the kids though is how well they look after you and accommodate everyone’s varied schedules. They were more than happy to serve the kids meals when they were ready to eat and to help us keep them occupied. It certainly made the long trip much more bearable, although of course when we eventually finish this contract and have to pay for our own flights, it’ll be a crash back to reality when we’re flying economy again. Already, Guerita complains if we go on a flight where the seats don’t fold down to a bed!!

Thankfully we got on our waitlisted flight from Sydney to Perth, avoiding a 10 hour stopover. We arrived in Perth Tuesday afternoon feeling a bit spaced out from the jetlag, narrowly avoiding the paparazzi at the airport waiting for the return of the Ledger Family on an earlier flight.

Since we got back the kids have been charming their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all over again. We’ve been easing back into Perth life and still getting over the time change. Wide awake kids at 3am is always fun! All I’ve managed to achieve so far is see most of the family, call some friends and get my haircut! Its so nice to be back in my comfort zone after the all day haircut I had in Mexico.

Now, I’m looking out at a very rainy day in Perth, not the hot summer we were expecting. The rain seems to have followed us wherever we go, but I expect it won’t last. Our social calendar is quickly filling up so the weekend ahead looks action packed - lots of BBQs with friends, breakfast on the beach and a late family birthday party for Chiq.

Thanks for all your comments on my last few posts and sorry I haven’t had much chance to reply or comment on your blogs. I’m only getting a little time to blog at the moment, so its the bare minimum for now.

I’ll update again when I can…