It’s Tuesday morning and I’m beyond relaxed. Peter has trotted off to one of his work things and here I sit in my pajamas fully soaking up the silence and the Sydney sun peeking through my window. Our room is lovely, sleek and modern with tiny switches on the wall for everything. The black out blinds on the long windows are run by a switch and I delight in opening and closing them.

In short, I am having a fanfreakingtastic time. No timelines. Nothing to do. No one squawking. Not to mention, we’re here in Sydney, which is beautiful. The weather is comparable to L.A. The feel is perfectly Euro with a splash of the States and perhaps Asia. I really love it and have said more than once that I would move here.

We have already been to the grocery store so I could peruse the aisles. I love packaging and ran my fingers over things that looked new and interesting. We bought some stuff to have in the room too.

Our hotel is across the street from the Queen Victoria Building, or as we affectionately call it now, QVB. There are a MILLION stores in the place and yesterday we just wandered through the mall, hand in hand, doing nothing. Being with Peter has been stellar. We’ve just been relaxing, eating, chatting, smiling, eating, relaxing, smiling. We went down to Darling Harbour for dinner and drinks last night. Drinks at home bar and dinner at Nick’s. Perfection. I love love love the fact that every other country EXCEPT America gets the portion thing. I could go on and on and on about this but I won’t. Suffice to say, I am delighted every time a plate is set down in front of me.

They have a fantastic gym here and I’ve already figured out all of the yoga classes that I am going to take. Peter and I took one yesterday and it was divine. Although I don't know that Peter would use that word. I believe his phrasing was "I'm getting the shit beat out of me by yoga."

I am prevented from fully walking on the clouds here because Jean and Gerry are having such a hard time of it at home. I feel tremendous guilt and yet, I am so glad I am not there. Horrible? Perhaps. Truth? Definitely. Although my heart stings a little when I think back to my conversation with dear HJ this morning: “Are you having fun in Owstralia, Mama? Are you seeing lots of kangaroos and koalas?” Yes, sweet baby. I am seeing lots of over priced stuffed animals and I will most certainly bring home tons of crap for you.

We chatted a bit more before she handed over the phone to Bompie and then threw up. Before we left, Finn got the stomach bug and was power puking everywhere. Then the day before we left the washer and dryer broke. We bought new ones that won’t be delivered until Tuesday so I took all of our shit to a laundromat the morning we were leaving. We knew we were leaving things a little shaky but thought things might turn around. We were wrong. Hadley now has the stomach bug and is power puking everywhere. She woke up at 4:15am puking all over her bed. Finn is now getting over it but apparently has buckets of snot coming out of his nose. Sweet Jesus. AND…our rodent problem has increased. I was curious why my plants were disappearing. My tiny African violet died a violent death and only the little pot was left one morning on the kitchen floor. I couldn’t figure it out. Apparently, field mice (or voles) only eat plants. Stan brought a dead one in the other day and then yesterday he brought in a live one but apparently tired of it and left Gerry to kill it with a shoe. (I am wincing and grimacing as I type because while I do not want critters in my home I don’t know that anyone deserves to be killed by a shoe. However…it is easy for me to talk in the comfort of my terry robe in a land far far away….)
More soon. There are chocolate covered macadamia nuts to be eaten and stuffed kangaroos and koalas to be found.