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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“Everyone still looks fat and unsociable, but we are starting to get used to it now” |
Amazing what a bit of retail therapy does for the soul and mind! I know, I am extremely shallow and a bad example to my kids....
The day after we get to America we hit the shops. We are all too tired to go round Disneyland, so shopping is in order. We have to get a car seat for Lloyd to go in the motorhome. Its quite interesting on the car seat front really, if we have had an american car seat in New Zealand we could have kept our original nice 6 berth Apollo motorhome, rather than the dumpy 4 berth Pacific Horizon that we had to take at extra cost. But we didnt, and also US car seats are not legal in New Zealand, so the thought of importing one to UK before journey could have caused problems....Im sure you arent interested in this, but I am now an expert in baby car seats and thought it was important to relate.
We head to South Coast Plaza shopping mall. The gps is working today, and with Steve's help we manage to get there with only 1 u-turn! The gps is very good at telling me to turn right off the freeway when I am in the car pool lane and there are 5 lanes of traffic to cross. Doesnt make for relaxing driving. Also, in California, you cant put the gps on the windscreen, so means Steve has to hold it and look at it. This makes it hard for me as having to listen to directions and also listen to Steve read the screen and tell me when junctions are coming up. I think when we get the motorhome I will stick on the windscreen and plead ignorance if we get pulled over.
Anyhow back to retail therapy - we hit the mall. At first it is all a bit daunting, and to be honest we could have left quite quickly. Just seems too many shops, dont know where to look, or what we want to buy. We did have a shopping list of sorts - mainly stuff for me of course! We meet a woman from San Diego at the mall directions area. She was very chatty, and a bit too in love with the mall I thought. Apparantly she comes every week! Nutter. Anyhow nice to meet someone friendly for once.
Everyone still looks fat and unsociable, but we are starting to get used to it now. We head for lunch to make ourselves fatter and fit in better, and end up in a carvery. Now at this point Matthew decides to have a major tantrum, which is great whilst eating your lunch, and also Lloyd requests food from me, provoking stares from other eaters (cant be great for them I agree). People here seem less into breastfeeding than Fiji and New Zealand. Never mind, I am not going to hide in a corner every time he needs food, havent time for that!
We then reluctantly start looking for some jeans for me. The shops just seem too big, we dont know where to look. Eventually head for Gap as have bought stuff from there in past in US. Its then I start to enjoy myself. Clothes are so much cheaper in US than UK, its like being in a big sale where the whole mall is on sale! I buy a pair of jeans for 60 dollars - 30 quid. These would have cost 60 quid in UK I reckon. And gap t-shirts for under 8 quid, cant be bad.
The shopping continues on into Baby Gap where I buy some stuff for Lloyd and Matthew. Had to be done Im afraid, its been too long!
Im now thoroughly enjoying myself, and so pleased to be away from New Zealand. I know, its very very sad, but I just like to go to the malls. I am one of those people who has quite specific tastes, and hate shopping for clothes. So I need a place where there are lots of shops so I can just walk in, select what I want and leave. I am not a browser who can search through hoards of clothes looking for that special item.
We leave the mall after the purchase of some "must have" sandals and head for Toysrus!
We buy Lloyd a car seat - costs 43 dollars (around 22 quid). What a bargain! Is okay too, will do the job. Is a rear-facing one but fits on lap belt, which means it can be used in the rear of a motorhome. Otherwise we would have had to hotel it in America, not a good thought with 2 kids.
Matthew is still too young to really understand what ToysRus is all about, so manage to leave without any additional toys in tow!
Then we goto the supermarket next door. Supermarkets in the US have always been puzzling to us - we are unable to really spot them. In the UK a supermarket is obvious, you have all the branding, they are set apart from other buildings. And there are well known brands. But in the US they seem to gel round other buildings, and dont say supermarket on them. They might say Pharmacy or Food. Also they dont look very big from outside - probably because everything else is big. So we stumbled across this supermarket as it said Pharmacy and I sent Steve in there for water.
The supermarket is great, also a much needed relief from New Zealand. Quite similiar to home, though I still think the UK ones are the best in the world. The selection is adequate for us though. We buy a load of "Matthew" foods as he hasnt been eating too well just lately. In Fiji was hard to get simple food for him like apples and bananas, so we get some. Matthew's face lights up at the sight of strawberries, is nice to see. Out here they polish their fruits like apples, and sometimes wax them. All looks a bit artificial, though this shop isnt too bad.
I fill in a application form for a Preferred card with a false address so we can get the discounts (well they wont know will they!), and trundle out with our load. Back at the hotel we all dig into a lovely veggy selection dip containing carrots, mange tout, tomatoes, brocolli and celery - its great and a nice break from both the junk of airlines and restaurants, and the formality of dining in Fiji. Matthew also enjoys the food.
Then at 6pm we head back out and onto our favourite store - Costcos. We have this store in england, its a bit like Makros, but you can get a card easier, and it tends to have more luxurious goods in it. We have a field day in there, once we are inside its just like being back in england, and it feels nice. Nice to have something familiar around us, and the first time since we left home I would say.
We leave 250 dollars poorer, but with a digital photo frame (oh so cool), and an iPod clock radio. These are obviously also must-haves!!! Hehe, only kidding, its quite funny to see how quickly I have changed from my charitable ways of Fiji. I cant really explain it, but I suppose that is just how I am, and will always be. I like my gadgets, there is no doubt about that. And stuff here is about half the price of the UK I reckon, so bargains definitely to be had.
Our final purchase of the day is a Baby Einstein activity centre for Lloyd from Target. He is now 4 months old and I think a little bored of lying on his back and front on the bed. We had an activity centre for Matthew but sold it on ebay as planned to get a new one for Lloyd. This was a good move as we ended up selling for 60 quid, only paid 70 for it, and now they are 50 quid! Lloyd's one cost us 50 quid, in england would have been quite a bit more. Hope we can get all this stuff home - will have to do some re-arranging.
The day is completed with a LA chinese take-away. We had our best chinese in LA a few years ago, and this one does not dissapoint. There is enough to feed an army again, but it all tastes good. The sight of a man handcuffed lying on the floor with 2 cop cars outside the chinese doenst make us feel too safe, but we try to ignore it.
Actually cant say I feel over safe here in US. I lock the doors when Steve is away from us, and am looking around if I see cars moving slowly near us in the car parks. Im sure it is alright, just a bit more paranoid because of the kids I think. It will wear off hopefully. We did take one wrong turn on the way to Costcos (Steve's fault of course) and ended up in a bit of a run-down area. Is okay unless you get out and walk around I reckon.
On wednesday we hit disneyland. Steve is very excited, Matthew has no idea what is going on, and Lloyd is just well a baby. I'm not so excited, not really a theme park type of person, but will be interesting I suppose. Never been to one with the kids, in fact never really been to this type of theme park before, so will have to see. I reckon will be more fun with Matthew, he was staring out of the window yesterday saying "again, again" when looking at the rides.
Matthew keeps saying "Bula" btw, and "Hello", and constantly gets ignored. I find it quite frustrating, and am very grateful when people reply to him. So if you are out today and a little toddler talks to you please reply nicely - it means so much to them.
Will post photos here soon - everyone is asleep so dont want to wake them up by getting out camera.
Oh, and nearly forgot to say - Lloyd has his longest sleep yet - he sleeps from 10pm ish to about 5am! Is wonderful. Slept with his Dad, so think that might have something to do with it. Unfortunately for me I didnt go to bed until 1am and was up with him at 5, so I didnt see too many benefits!
previous travel blog entry
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