Christmas!

The immediate Lane and Curtis family congregated in Greenbelt this Christmas. Cory, Christina and Willow came up from NC, Rachel came down from Indiana and Cara came back from Greece. The house was full as it should be on Christmas, but we had a bug. A rather nasty gastro bug that took down most of the family! So Christmas was a blur of coughing, crying, laughing, happiness, food (going up and down) and wrapping paper.

Jennifer did an amazing job with the stockings. I now have my own one! Thanks too to my mom who sent over goodies for everyone!

We did venture out on Christmas Eve to have supper at the Weiss's long time family friends, the Morans. Christmas Eve is raviolli night hand made by the Morans. They have this tradition down to a fine art include the pre dessert walk around the block to look at the Christmas lights.
Scroll down to see a message from them!















The Lane gang - as the kids on the street called them when they were growing up just before the Lane gang took their lunch money. Hannah, Rachel and Cory - left to right















Christina, Willow and Cory















Willow reading Hannah a story!

New York, New York

Home sweet home, only for one night!

The next morning we were on the bus heading to New York! Hannah's dad, Chester was treating us to the Nutcracker! We relaxed on the four hour bus ride - what a treat to be driven! We arrived in the afternoon and after dropping our bags at Karen's house, we met up with Chester and Marianne. The ballet was simply fantastic. The dancers were great and the stage set was truly amazing! Personally, the music is what makes the Nutcracker so special for me!

We left the ballet and walked out in pouring rain. Running through the rain trying to catch a cab in New York has a definite movie feel to it! We had a impromtu pasta and (South African) red wine supper at their apartment which was a magical finish to the evening!



Chester took Hannah and me ice skating in Central Park at the Trump ice rink. Donald is a modest guy! Dianna and her friend, Lizzy joined us. Dianna is a good friend of ours from Cape Town who studied with Hannah and moved back to the US the week before. It was quite a change from the Grand West ice rink (the only ice rink in Cape Town which is located in a casino complex).

That night we had the NYC posse round for dinner. Dianna and Hannah baked sugar biscuits and made frosting (icing) so that everyone could put it on themselves. They were a hit! It was so great to see everyone again and to meet a few new people as well.

We awoke the next morning to sight of the 1 inch snowflakes! So we ran down like tourists (okay, I ran) to have a look. So there we were on the sidewalk, new yorkers walking past us oblivious and us trying to catch snowflakes (okay, me trying) in our mouth. That didn't last long...1 inch snowflakes come down pretty hard!

The other highlight of NYC was seeing Hayden who is a good school friend of mine. His girlfriend is working in NYC and he came over to spend 6 months visiting her. We met up at a thai restuarant in East village and had a great time catching up. After another five amazing days, it was time to leave for Greenbelt!

The Drive Back

We drove down Route 1 for 150 miles before turning inland. The weather was warm and still, the sunroof was open and the views were magnificent! I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Yes, these really are zebra and yes, we really saw them on Route 1...

We spent the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. The next day we saw a shocking case of soil erosion. Being of British decent, I thought it was my duty to speak to the locals about the error of their ways. They didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I'll have to speak slower and louder next time!

We stayed in Arkansas the next night with Alison, who is the older sister of a good school friend of mine, Robbie. We stayed in a beautiful cabin next to a river. The spa bath was such a treat after a long day driving. It was great to catch up with Alison who I haven't seen for quite a few years! It was a pity that we couldn't spend more time with Alison and her family.

We drove through very heavy rain that day and it was a relief to arrive at Cory's place in Asheville, North Carolina late in the evening. Willow was a bit taken a back when we walked out of her toy room in the morning. She must have wondered what other toys were going to come to life! The final day was a short eight hours home to Greenbelt!















The open road through Texas...

Home sweet home!