Back from Australia!

Well, I arrived back from Melbourne Monday morning and I was so happy to see my kids and Joe!  I got back early enough to see Joe before he went off to work.  That was an unexpected treat.  Then Ben dropped the kids off and we made cupcakes all day!  3 dozen of them! Yum!  I am so happy to be back with my family.  I missed them so much when I was away.  The sad thing is I have to leave again for two days to go to the Ladies Only WSOP Academy this weekend.  The good news is Joe is meeting me there on Friday night   And I am always so busy at the academies that I don’t have so much time to miss anyone. 

Big news!  Today is Leo’s 10th birthday!  He is so super excited to be turning double digits!  This morning when he woke up he discovered two huge presents on the kitchen table with a card to him.  He came down to my room and said, “Mom, someone left two big presents for me on the table.”  I said, “Oh, really?  Maybe it was the birthday fairy.”  He laughed and said, “No I think it was you.  Can I open them?”  He is so adorable!  Inside the wrapping was an Indiana Jones Lego set and a Mars Explorer Lego set.  He was pretty excited.  After he opened his gifts we all sang him happy birthday and I made everyone breakfast sandwiches which were his special request for the morning. February 2nd is his big blowout double digits party at the Laser Tag place.  He is pretty amped about that.  Tonight his dad is taking him out alone for some boys’ time to celebrate.

After everyone went off to school, Mike Syre came over for our run.  We were planning a 15 miler with extreme hillwork but ended up doing 20 when we got it in our heads to run from Sunset and Rexford all the way up Coldwater Canyon to Mulholland.  That is 5 miles straight up hill.  We rocked it though, after we had already done three extreme hills before that.  I am feeling really confident about the marathon for sure.  Had we kept going today for the last 6 miles we would have had a finishing time of 4:15.  Considering the hillwork we are doing that is damn fast for an old lady like me.  I am hoping when I am running a flat marathon I can do 4 hours now.  We will see!

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So summing up the end of Australia:  I actually ended doing some pretty cool things even after the Penguins and Werribee Open Range Zoo.  The night after the zoo Howard and I went to see Sufjan Stevens.  It was a very cool show and I would recommend anyone seeing him perform.  He is a really talented composer and musician.  The next night Howard, my Dad, David Grey and I went to the Australian Open.  We had great seats in the 4th row and saw amazing matches.  We got to see the Australian, Casey Delacqua, defeat Mauresma in 3 sets and then saw an amazing match between Roddick and Kohlschreiber.  During the last 3 sets of that match there was no break of service until the very last game of the 5th set.  It was an incredible match to get to see but, unfortunately, Roddick couldn’t pull out the victory.  I guess he didn’t have the Phil Hellmuth mojo that day!.

I got to go eat 3 more times at Vegie Bar, that yummy vegetarian restaurant on Brunswick street.  And I got to see Erik come in 2nd in the main event there.  That was a pretty impressive week for people I love.  Howard won the 100K buy in then Erik came in second for 1 million in the main event! That definitely made the trip better.

After Karen had to leave I continued running in the botanical gardens and logged another 40 miles by end the week (not all at once!).  It was tough though because toward the end of the week it got really humid and that really takes it out of you when you are running.  I would rather when in the cold than in hot and humid weather.

All and all, as homesick as I was, it was a pretty nice trip.  I got to do a lot of cool stuff and spend a bunch of time with my Dad and Howard.  Not bad really   But I am still ridiculously glad to be home.

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One last note:  American Idol has started up again!  Yay!