I ventured into the kitchen this xmas and I can't believe the family trusted me! This was our make shift xmas tree meringue! Not bad for a first effort, although extremely messy, but fun, to eat! It was made from scratch! 3 hours in the oven for the meringue. Yes, I know, lots of room for improvement but the family was good at lying and telling me how great it looked and yummy it taste!
Bailey, our dog, enjoyed his xmas as much as everyone else as he had a sun bake on the back lawn of our house in Margaret River. It was a glorious day topped with a few trips to the beach and some local red wine!
It is not xmas day unless you make a mess and that is exactly how the day started! I picked up my grandma nice and early for a "Bevilaqua" breakfast, then it was into the lounge room for gift time. This was just the beginning! The room was a disgrace by the time we had finished. I think the most mess was made by Bailey, he had more presents than anyone to open although I am sure half of them are buried around the backyard now!
Xmas eve Michael and Ang put on a delicious meal for myself, my other brother Blake and his wife Robbie. We were totally spoilt and with both Ang and Michael being such great cooks it was hard not to enjoy it all! And don't we all just love our little niece and nephews! It can only be a week or two and they grow up so fast! Ella is now a little girl who totally loves the camera (can you tell!) and Nate (with his groovy hair style) will be having the girls running sooner rather than later! Michael is going to have his hands full!
On the training front, it is obviously quite a disruptive time of the year but it only happens once and the year is long! I have enjoyed running with friends but avoided open water swimming lately. (a little scared of those stingers!) Hopefully they won't be around this weekend as I plan to compete in the Leighton Open Water swim event on Sunday.
It is the last day of 2009 and in just over 11 hours 2010 will be upon us. As much as I refer to this year as "the year from hell" for me, I probably wouldn't change too much (besides not getting injured which would be at the top of my list!)
I had the fantastic opportunity to spend 6 months in Boise, Idaho, meet some awesome people and get in some solid training. I can't wait to return next year and get in some great racing as well.
The end of the year was the start of things to come as it was so exciting to be racing Ironman again in Western Australia and I look forward to slowly and steadily training and racing my way back!
Bring on 2010!!
