Nat & Ka-Loon's Wedding in USA - Preliminaries

It is a week ago today that I returned from a fabulous trip to America to see my oldest granddaughter marry Ka-Loon Tung, a New York City lad who knew he saw someone special when he feasted his eyes on Natasha Ruth Holt.

There was no way I was going miss this occasion and with the blessing of my heart surgeon, accompanied Brenda, Graeme & Gemma to Washington DC via Tokyo, over the Artic Circle & Alaska to New York and then DC. It was a good journey with plenty of room on board our Japan Airlines flights on both sectors.

This blog chapter is just the introduction to two more chapters, covering the Australian/American Wedding in Virginia and the Chinese Banquet/Wedding in New York City. They were so different but special in their own extraordinary ways.

So, here we go: Hobart - Sydney (overnight) - Tokyo (also overnight and where we wandered around a shopping & restaurant area near the airport) - JFK - Washington DC - 'Tung Home' in Centreville (VA).

Tokyo Airport

We arrived in plenty of time and relaxed prior to boarding. Gemma's much travelled "Trevor" had to be part of the poto take and looked quite the part.A happy moment for the Father of the Bride. After all the hectic preparations, we all looked forward to sharing Nat & Ka-Loon's special day.
Four across!! But the seating was comfortable, especially after take-off when we spread out over six seats between us. Way to go!

Arrival in Centreville VA where Nat & Ka'Loon have their lovely new home. Their unit (see below) is amazingly roomy with three levels that must cover some 24 squares (old measure) of living space that includes three bathrooms, lots of living space, huge rumpus room, three bedrooms. So, plenty of room for expansion in the future!☺I enjoyed my morning walks on most days and the area has some lovely tracks to explore. The temperature was between 32-35 fahr, or 0-2 Celcius. Nippy, but invigorating! There was a lovely creek/river that added to the surrounding. I was lucky enough to encounter deer on at least a couple of occasion and of course plenty of squirrels.Natasha was ever the hostess and was ably assisted - true to form, by her father Graeme. We were never wanting for a decent meal and conversation.Speaking about meals. While the girls had their 'hen' party, the guys went to a steak restaurant and shared Ka-Loon's last meal before his moment of truth. The steak was absolutely out of this world. I ordered the small one (8 ounce) and when it arrived thought I could never eat all that. Wrong!! It was one of the best steaks I have ever eaten - probably the best ever. It was juicy, tender and very tasty. A great choice. I am sorry I did not take a photo of it. Just take my word for it.

For all of us it was fun to catch up with one another, especially with Karina Sally who arrived from London the day before. The family very much enjoyed catching up with Trijntje (on the left in the next photo) who flew especially to America from Holland to share the day. I very much enjoyed meeting her and found her conversation stimulating and fun.Trijntje, Gemma, Nat & Ka-Loon.But, we were there for a special event. The above photo sees Gemma (or is it Amy - these two girls are so much alike ☺) & Richard (Amy's husband) assisting in preparing special gift bags for the helpers. Nat was just so organised!!! She put a lot of effort into the wedding without having the benefit of her mum's presence. I know she was wonderfully supported and helped by the many wonderful friends she has. It was a pleasure to meet and chat with them.

Well, so much for the preliminaries. The next chapter will be the wedding.