Nearly home...

Hi there!

Many apologies for the lack of entries in my blog of late. We have had a bit of trouble getting time on the internet, well thats not technically true. We have had time on the net, but I haven't really been prepared to spend a huge amount of time on the net to get this blog done, as it meant less time doing other things like sightseeing and spending time with family in England. So really all I have been able to get out was one or two emails. So I apologise.

Below are a few photos from London, Norwich and the last one from Singapore.

(The London Eye)

(Big Ben and Parmilent House London)

(Left: Nigel and Amy at Trafalga Square)

(Right: Amy and Nigel with our nephews Ben and Jonah in the carriage of a small steam train we rode on)

(Castle Rising)

(This is a picture of a house in Norwich which over the years has become very crooked. Its so crooked that the owners have to buy specially made and shaped glass for the windows - see window far left at the top - as the original glass would have broken many times with the movement... crazy)

(Amy on one of the streets in Singapore - everything is very bright and colourful here)

Well this is probably my last blog from overseas... I shall probably do one last one about our trip when we get home on Monday. Thanks for reading and sharing these lovely memories with us!

Love Amy and Nigel

xoxo

Hi There Everyone

Once again Nigel and I have had another great few days on our trip so far. In Orlando so far we have gone to seaworld twice, Universal studios, swam with the manatees and gone to the outside of Wet n Wild (hehe we saw the line up and felt the heat and went..' ahh no' and went back to our hotel). We've spent a lovely day relaxing in our hotel pool and our room. Its so nice to have someone come in and tidy up your room and do your dishes etc. Will be hard coming home hehe. We've been very blessed with the weather here too. It should be more stormy than it is, and so far while we've been here its only been blue skies. God knows that I am frightened of storms, so I know he's had his hand on us.. and I'm very thankful to him for that!

Well I thought I'd add a few more photos of the Grand Canyon in cos that was incredible..

(A photo of the canyon while in the helicopter about to head down into it)

(A photo of the Hoover dam taken while in the plane)

(This is one of the beautiful manatees in Seaworld. I don't know what his real name is but I've nicknamed him Kenny. After my Manatee toy I bought that day! hehe)

(We saw quite an entertaining, if a little corny, show at seaworld with the killer whales which cornyness aside was quite impressive with all the tricks and stunts they do with the whales)

Well we've only been in the USA 1 week now, and anytime we receive any kind of excitement from americans at the fact we are australian we are constantly being told how much they love the Crocodile dundee movies.. hehe. Oh dear. Our hotel staff member this morning couldn't stop quoting the movie to us. He had both movies on dvd and watched them again yesterday. oh dear. He wanted to know if Aboriginal people really were like they were depicted int he movie and if we had seen any.

The other funny thing that happening in Las Vegas was when we went to a resturant and our waiter was very excited to hear we were from Adelaide because thats where Alby Mangels was from and this guy had seen all of Alby's movies and really wanted to come to Adelaide. He was very funny, I think he was lucky that people our age even knew who Alby Mangels was.. lucky for me I watched many Alby Mangels stuff as a kid so knew what he was talking about.. hehe thanks mum n dad! hehe.

Anyway.. thats about it for now. Will make another post at some point when we have internet access again.. we're off to New York tomorrow and are not sure how accessible the internet will be where we are staying. We'll soon find out I guess.

Take Care and thanks to everyone for their prayers. It has been noticed and much appreciated!

Amy and Nigel

(Us at M&M world in Las Vegas.. hehe!)

Tired...

Hi Everyone,

This will be short today as I am soo tired. Below are some photos of our last couple of days, not much I know, but we've had 3 hours sleep in 2 days, so we're tired and need our rest. We will put up more photos later in the week. Enjoy the photos!

Love Amy

xoxo

Photo of the Las Vegas strip from
the top of the Stratesphere hotel tower


Photo of the Grand Canyon


Photo of my dear Manatees
(They're soo cute!)

Hot Hot Hot

Hi There

Well here we are in Las Vegas.. finally. After months of planning we've finally made it. The last couple of weeks leading up to our trip was a little stressful (ie Nigel got pneumonia and the day before we left I badly bruised one of my toes - got an xray cos I thought I might have broken it - by sleep walking in the middle of the night) so its really nice to have made it here safe and have a good time. Though the walking can be a little painful for my toe, we're still really enjoying ourselves so far.

We're staying at the Luxor hotel which is a themed hotel (like most hotels here are) about Eygpt! So basically our hotel is a pyramid and has the sphynx out the front. It is very cool.

A photo of our hotel - the pyramid part

A photo of our hotel again - the Sphynx part

We arrived here on Saturday 5th August, after leaving Australia on Saturday 5th August. Crazy time difference. Anyway, it was a long day but we still somehow found some energy to walk a little around the strip. We got to see the water show at the Bellagio which is pretty cool


America is a very interesting country. I tried to order a 'small' meal at McDonalds and got told I can only do Medium or Large. Their medium was as big as our large. Crazy. Nig and I are also finding that crossing the street is rather dangerous, not just cos of the american drivers, but also cos we tend to look in the wrong direction first.. cos we're used to Australian road rules.. hmm.

Another thing we've noticed is the heat. It is hot here. However, if anyone from this part of America tries to tell you that their summers are hotter than ours, you can safely tell them NO! It is hot here yes, however, the sun does not burn your skin like it does here. When you are standing in the sun here, you just feel warm, you don't feel like your skin is about to burn off in harsh heat like you do in Australia. So we are actually enjoying some nice warm weather without getting too hot. But our real test will be tomorrow when we head to the grand canyon!

Well had better sign off now. We're about to leave to go see a show. So will make another post later with more stories..!
Love Amy and Nigel

Nigel in front of New York New York hotel. When we get to the real New York we will send you a picture of the real statue of liberty ! hehe

Amy in front of the Bellagio hotel

The Eiffel Tower in front of the Paris hotel!

Be Still

Well its almost four weeks until we leave for our trip overseas and I’m already starting to get a little nervous. I’m not a big traveler and I have never been away from ‘home’ longer than a fortnight, so this should be interesting (Yes ok I am a wimp). My husband Nigel and I will be jet setting off to the USA on the 5th August. We’re heading to Las Vegas for a few days to see the lights and action of the city and also to experience God’s great creation of the Grand Canyon. I think I will be spending a lot of time talking to God for that trip, cos I think I may be a little nervous hopping on the small plane out there, not to mention the helicopter ride into the canyon.. ahh holidays.. such fun and adventure..

We then set off to Florida for some fun in the sun.. or more likely, some fun in the thunderstorm or hurricane. Yes we are going to Florida during hurricane season. Oh what fun! This is coming from me who is terrified when any thunderstorm arrives. I hate thunder.. and am frightened of lighting.. I think God and I will be pretty darn close during our time in Florida too. Hmmm. The best thing I’m looking forward to in Florida is swimming with the Manatees. For those of you who haven’t heard of Manatees.. you are missing out! They are the most sweetest mammals you will find. (see pics)
They are sea mammals who mostly live in the waters near Florida and Africa. We do have a cousin of the Manatee here in Australia called the Dugong, but they are not nearly as cute (well I don’t think so anyway). Their nickname is a sea cow or mermaid. They are often referred to as mermaids because early explorers on the sea thought they were mermaids when sailing along on their ships as they are very graceful swimmers! Anyway.. Manatees are endangered and mostly die because of speedboat propellers cutting into them in the water. So yeah, swimming with these beautiful creatures will be a beautiful experience for me. And yes we will be doing the normal touristy thing in Florida and going to the general theme parks, Seaworld (more Manatees yay!), Universal Studios etc. So we will have a great time despite any bad weather than may arrive.

Next is New York… we shall once again be tourists and enjoy the hustle and bustle of this big city and hopefully see a Broadway show or two! Should be fun. Then we’re heading over to England to London for a couple of days of sightseeing!! But the highlight of England will be traveling to Norwich to see my little nephews, Ben and Jonah (see pic below), but not forgetting my brother Matthew and his lovely wife Sal. Will be wonderful to see them all again, has been too long!!! We are hoping to do a family trip and catch up with our cousin Alison as well and also Nigel’s brother Jason and his wife. But we only have just under two weeks.. so our time will be limited but it shall be beautiful!

How cute are they??

After some much sad goodbyes, we leave England and are off to Singapore for a couple of days. We are looking forward to this a lot and I know Nigel is keen to see what kind of fancy computer equipment he can get for a bargain!! He is also keen to return as he spent many months there as a child while his father worked over there.

Then we finally go home in time for Fathers day. So yes.. our trip will be varied and busy and hopefully full of wonderful experiences. So I am looking forward to sharing all those experiences with you. I do hope you enjoy reading them.

Be still and know that HE is God, be still and know that HE is our Father, come rest your head upon His breast, listen to the rhythm of, His unfailing heart of love, beating for His little ones, asking each of us to come.. BE STILL.
(Steven Curtis Chapman – Be Still And Know)

Here we go...

Hi Everyone

Here is my first entry on my blog. Please feel free to drop in anytime and read my thoughts and my latest activities!! Soon my husband Nigel and I will be off around the world encountering experiences together and creating memories!! We cannot wait, and although I must admit I am a little nervous about our trip, I am also looking forward to experiencing it all and then coming back to home sweet home. If anything, I hope it makes me appreciate even more of how wonderful my little Adelaide in South Australia is, but also how colourful and creative our God is with creating his world with such diverse cultures and people!! We are blessed with such technology that seeing other cultures is an easy thing to do!!

Well, as I'm a beginner at this, I shall leave things as is for now and will post another message later. Remember to thank God when you see a sunset.. it is him reminding you day in, day out, that he loves you and wants to make you smile!