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Parts of this was taken from an e-mail message written by Tim that was sent to those we have email addresses for. If you didn't receive it then that is because we didn't have your address or because AOL doesn't like you. If you want to go straight to Vol 2, you may do so now!
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We finally got ourselves reasonably sorted out in America by the end of July and were no longer racing around every moment of the day trying to get something done. That meant that it was time to let people know what we'd been up to ... first we had to try to remember!
We enjoyed the trip over, Kalle and Taltarni were very well behaved on the flight (positive comments were made by the flight attendants, Tim would have preferred it if Kalle had slept a little more but that was only a vague hope because there was a video screen in the seat which kept him awake and excited for most of the trip over - at least he was quiet!) San Francisco was nice. It was quite cold for the time of the year but on the other hand it wasn't oppressively hot or humid like other parts of the US in summer. We spent a lot of time walking around looking at things and riding the trams and also hired a car one day to go and look at the giant redwoods. They were amazing and we didn't even go as far as Yosemite where the really big ones are! We have been quite lucky with the wildlife so far and have seen some deer and even a raccoon in and around San Fran.
When we first arrived in Washington we stayed in a huge apartment block not very far from DC (actually in Arlington, Virginia but if we were on the other side of the building we could have seen the Washington Memorial and the Capitol Building). For most of the first week or two we were looking for a nice area to live in, then a nice house in one of the areas that we liked. We found a place that we have since moved into (Friday 1Aug). We also found ourselves a car, a 1993 Buick Century Custom estate that had the most important appointment - a CD player! It is also about the right size to have Tasha in the back, once we get a net up. We have christened him Rusty.
Talking of CDs we have joined a club which gives you 11 (count them eleven) CDs for the price of 1 (one, that is not a typo). Well, there are a few other small details but you never have to buy anything else ever again. They will hound us until the end of the earth with offers every month and there is the small issue of the packaging and handling but there is a feeling of sweet victory when holding in your hand a package of six (almost) free CDs with the promise of four more (almost) free ones as soon as you purchase one CD at the normal price which is still less than you'd pay for a normal CD in Australia, plus knowing that for every new valued customer that we direct to the club we will get four more (almost) free CDs. Gawd lurve America! (And now we return to our scheduled program ... )
The house we found is in an area called Great Falls in Virginia, about 12 miles from DC which shouldn't be too bad a trip. It is not quite rural but there are apparently deer seen there quite often. Squirrels are everywhere in the area and we have been lucky to see a few ground squirrels (which are more commonly called chipmunks) and also a few woodchucks, also known as groundhogs.
While we haven't done the DC tourist thing because it is right in the middle of the high tourist season and we'd have to contend with the rest of America, we have had a look around at other areas, there is a really good nature road up in the mountains called Skyline Drive in the Appalachians (sp?) which we looked at. We also went out to historic Leesburg which has a great old town area. We went out to Mannassas which is the site of a famous battle from the Civil War but we didn't go out for that. We went to have a look at a car sale that had some cars for sale at $88. Obviously by the time we got there the very few at that price had been sold but we did see a really nice little sports car called an Eagle Talon that, well, if we ever need a second car ....
The social life seems to be huge here, there are so many different clubs and organisations to join if we so desire (mostly for the wives it would seem). There is always something on at the Embassy on a Friday night, strangely though Andrew Peacock has not popped down for any yet (we suppose he doesn't socialise with the lower classes - after all his girlfriend has been in the movies! [If you've just dropped in Andrew ... so glad you could visit.])
Early in the month we were visited by Cheryl, in the last stages of her world wide tour (she was starring in Ireland as "Pippa" from Home and Away). She was a great help, looking after Kalle and Taltarni a few times which made it easier to do stuff. She was here when we celebrated Kalle's birthday and contributed to Kalle's quality of life substantially by giving him a Batman video - the version from 1949 no less!
She was most impressed when the first thing we did after picking her up from her flight from Paris was go shopping - with coupons. You see there aren't just normal sale items in supermarkets. You also get reams of coupons in the letterbox (and with the Sunday paper) with which you can save up to a couple of bucks per item. All you need to do is be organised and you can buy lots of stuff almost for free (for example you can get toothbrushes for $1 off, so with a starting price of $1.19 so you pick them up at 19c). But there is a real art to keeping it all together so you know which is the right brand that matches the coupon, especially with two not quite ruly children. What an unmitigated thrill for Cheryl!
Anyway, Cheryl was here when a few important things happened: when we bought Rusty the Buick, when we argued about what house we should rent, when we finally chose our house and when Kajsa chose all the furniture for the house. She was also here for Independence Day, which we celebrated with the Washington International Association of Junior Officers (LCDRs and below) at Bolling Airforce Base. The fireworks were good but naturally not as good as Australian ones. They were just bigger!