I'm Here - Really I Am!

Good grief, where has July gone???? The last time I blogged, we had just gotten home from a special trip with my son and were waiting for my daughter to come home from her trip to Italy and Greece.

Wednesday, July 2nd I tracked her flight almost all day and toward evening noticed it was scheduled to come in almost an hour early. That NEVER happens, but we were very happy as we weren't excited about getting in bed in the wee hours of the morning. So a little after 9pm we headed for the airport. My husband made fun of me because we were the first parents to arrive. I was ready to see my daughter.

Their plane did indeed land almost an hour early, but the leaders did one final meeting outside the gate when they got off the plane so it took them a while to come down the stairs to the baggage claim area where all the parents were anxiously waiting with banners, balloons and flowers. It was great to finally get a hug from her. We had already grabbed her suitcase and made a quick exit to head home.

Once we got home she had to give us our souveniers. I was actually really proud of her. She only bought one cheesy gift and that was for her brother and she actually came home with 15 euros, which is 15 more than I expected her to come home with. She bought her brother some kind of play rat that flattens when you throw it on the ground and then it gets its shape back. She also bought him a t-shirt from the turtle farm and a necklace from Greece. I got a calendar of Greece (showing many of the places she went - and it IS a 2009 calendar), a heart shaped necklace, a ceramic cat from the pottery place in Sicily, and a ring made from volcanic ash from Mt. Etna. My husband got a good luck charm. She also bought both grandmothers a necklace and bought each of the female cousins some jewelry. She also managed to send post cards to everyone on her list, including her orthodontist, ear doctor and eye doctor. I thought she did well. After receiving our gifts, we headed to bed around 12:30am.

I had to work on Thursday and then had a meeting after work Thursday evening. While I was at my meeting, my husband downloade all her pictures. All 600+ pictures. When I got home, I ran through the slide show quickly because my parents had come over to see her. We got some t-shirts from them because they had been to Alaska. Then I washed and packed because Friday, July 4th, we headed to my mother-in-law's house. The kids left Saturday morning with their cousins for church camp. They got done with camp on Tuesday and stayed with my mother-in-law until Friday when my husband picked them up.

In the meantime, I was spending every free moment planning for the Chrysalis that I was in charge of. Chrysalis is a 3 day spiritual weekend for youth in high school. I've worked teams the past few years, but this year I was in charge. There was a lot to do and it was the first time in a long time that I went almost a week without running. But the Chrysalis went well and was a lot of fun.

I got home Sunday and went to bed early. Last night I got on the treadmill and ran 4 miles and it felt good. Tonight is yoga night and I'm ready. Then it's time to get back on track with training and figure out a schedule that works. I'd like to do the Longhorn Half Ironman again this October and am considering the San Antonio marathon in November. But I've got to get back to training if I'm going to do those.