Day 8 in Fort Wayne

Today, my last day here, while everyone was at school or work, I repacked my bags (which took forever) and watched movies. I was so tired from last night so it was good not to do anything. Tomorrow morning Luke will drive me down to Indianapolis airport for my flight to LA. My trip has come to an end. I will try and post about my mid-air adventures when I arrive in New Zealand.

xox

Day 7 in Fort Wayne

On Sunday, Luke, Erin, Leah and I went to Debrands (the chocolate place) to use our free desserts. Did I mention the free stuff the other day? When we were there with Mum, the staff forgot our order and so because we had been waiting so long, they gave us all free dessert cards (worth more than what we had spent). So anyway we all got free gourmet chocolate desserts.

For Sunday night, Luke managed to get us tickets to see the Colts, which is Indiana's football team, play the San Diego Chargers. Seeing a live football game was the last thing on my list of things I wanted to do in the US so I was very excited to go. The game was two hours away in Indianapolis so Luke and I drove down in one car and Jeanne and Dick in another. This is because Dick was going to stay in Indianapolis for the night as he had a meeting there the next morning. Anyway, after scoring a free parking place near the stadium (almost impossible) we all met up and went to the game. The sports fever was insane. It was even more involved than when we have our footy finals (and this was just a normal game).

Disappointingly, the Colts did not play up to their usual high standards and alot of the crowd left during the fourth quarter. I'm quite proud of myself as I think I have pretty much got the hang of the rules. After the game, with Jeanne asleep in the back of the car, Luke drove the three of us back to Fort Wayne (arriving back at 2am), and thus my final US sports experience was complete.

Day 6 in Fort Wayne

Yesterday Jeanne and I drove Mum to the airport in Indianapolis which was a four and a half hour round trip. They were both a bit teary. Getting back to Fort Wayne, Jeanne and I met up with the rest of the family at her brothers' house who was hosting the family Thanksgiving this year. Jeanne has eight brothers and sisters so her family is massive. With all the cousins and aunts and uncles there are over forty of them. Most of this number is made up of little kids. It was a zoo! But the food was really good. After coming home, Luke and I went over to his friends' place for a little while to hang out but then left when they all went to a nightclub (that neither of us had any interest in going to). Also, just to remind you, it so so freaking freezing here!

The view I woke up to :)

Day 5 in Fort Wayne

Friday we went bowling with Jeanne's family as there are heaps and heaps of little cousins. I totally sucked at it.

Bowling with Leah and Erin

After bowling we went to Debrands which is a chocolatier here in Fort Wayne but after ordering our hot chocolates they forgot about our order so after we reminded them they gave us free sundae vouchers for next time we go. So that is something to do on Sunday. Friday night Mum cooked dinner for everyone and then we all played games.

Playing Jenga

Luke losing at Jenga

Day 4 in Fort Wayne

Thursday was Thanksgiving so around 1pm we headed over to Jeanne's sister's place where some of her family was meeting up for Thanksgiving lunch/dinner. We had the traditional thanksgiving food: turkey, stuffing,cranberries, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, peach cobbler, pecan pie... At six we switched from the football to the 6pm news to watch Mum and Jeanne make their Fort Wayne TV debut. Us 'kids' even got on. You can view the segment here.

Me, Erin, Leah and their cousin Tammy at Thanksgiving lunch

Mum on TV

We also made an appearance!

Trying pumpkin pie and peach cobbler. The pumpkin pie was ok but the peach cobbler was so good.

After leaving Jeanne's sister's house, they drove us around downtown Fort Wayne to see the stores and all the Christmas lights and decorations. It was raining through so sorry no pictures.

Luke and I looking through Black Friday catalogues.

The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, is the day when all the stores have massive sales. They get a collection of catalogues bigger than our morning paper with all the major sales, some up to 80% off. It is a massive thing here and people camp out overnight. So you understand just how big it is, it is literally below freezing here and yet people sit out in tents waiting for the stores to open. Insanity!

First Day in Fort Wayne

On Monday we were rather slow moving but when we did eventually leave the house around one, Jeanne and Luke gave us a tour of some of Fort Wayne. There aren't 'sights' exactly here but we saw where the kids went to school and Jeanne's childhood home, things that Mum and Jeanne would have talked about over the last 40 years. The oddities of Jeanne's life as she put it. The four of us then went to lunch at their favourite Italian restaurant, Casa's, before dropping Luke to work.

Jeanne then took us to visit her sister Cheryl at her florist shop, who Mum originally got the pen pal reply from. Our next stop was her mother-in-law who Mum had heard a lot about although Jeanne got lost finding the house as she only goes there when she as to! After this we went grocery shopping and then quickly stopped in at Jeanne's work before heading home and making dinner. Erin also arrived home from college tonight.

The view I woke up to :)

Day 3 in Fort Wayne

On Wednesday we found out that the local TV station wanted to do a Thanksgiving special story on the 40-year pen-pal relationship between Mum and Jeanne. So that morning two people from the station arrived to film them (and us). While they were here we went through some of the old letters and found some VHS home movies we sent over, so ,after the crew left we watched the videos. So funny! I was such a strange child and our accents sound hilarious!

The interview for 21 LIVE

For lunch we all went and had lunch with Jeanne's work colleagues at Casa's and then went to the mall for a little while. After the mall we went to a bar called Duty's for $5 martini's and then back home as Erin was having friends over for the night.

Erin and I with our $5 martini's

Day 2 in Fort Wayne

Tuesday saw us having a tour of their yard which is seven acres. It's really pretty and must look amazing in the summer. Our next adventure was to finally check out a Wal*mart. All the Americans we have met have been shocked to hear we don't have them in Australia.

In some of the 7 acres

Em, here is the Wal*mart photo as requested!

After leaving Wal*mart we went to the drive through bank (can you get any lazier?!) and then got yummy Greek food for a late lunch.

The drive through bank

That night Jeanne had a bunch of her friends over to meet us and we had Mexican, watched basketball and just generally hung out and talked.

Farewell to the Southwest, Hello Fort Wayne

On Sunday we woke early and set off for the hour drive to Albuquerque as we were flying to Chicago. While on the flight, a guy who had met his girlfriend a year earlier on the same flight proposed to her, she said yes, and then a Beatles tribute band, called American English, who just happened to be on the flight played them a song. Also, the people who Mum sat next to and she had been talking to for the duration of the flight, gave her a handmade Christmas decoration made by the Atacama Indians. It was an interesting and eventful flight.

The drive to Albuquerque

'George Harrison' from American-English

After arriving in Chicago, we drove three and a half hours to Fort Wayne, Indiana which is where Jeanne and her family live. I can't remember if I have already told the story of how Mum and Jeanne met so if I have, you can just glaze over the next bit. Mum and Jeanne have been pen pals since they were 11-years-old (Mum wrote a letter to the Fort Wayne newspaper looking for a pen-pal) and have met up twice but I've never met her or her family (Em and I used to write to her kids who are our age) until now. Arriving in Fort Wayne in the dark, we finally met Jeanne's husband Dick, her son Luke and daughter Leah (daughter number two, Erin, was away at college). We had dinner, chatted a bit and then went to bed.