Happy Birthday Stan!

Stan turned 30 this year! He had pretty mixed emotions about the whole thing but had a ball. The weekend before I flew down to Melbourne (where Stan has been working) to stay the weekend with him. We couldn't stay in the crown towers b/c Tiger Woods was there playing in a golf tournament and the place was booked out; so we had to stay across the street and at the Crown Promenade (a sister hotel, just not as posh!) It was so much fun. I had just finished my pneumonia meds and was still tired and getting away from my kids and sleeping in and getting waited on for meals etc... was amazing!

I got into Melbourne around 3:00 on Friday and met Stan after work. Dinner was treated by his boss and we went out to eat at Bistro Vue (French cuisine). This place was ranked as a one hat restaurant (there are only about 20 hatted restaurants in Melbourne). I am interested to see a 2 or 3 hat restaurant b/c I was really impressed with this place. We were walking through the cobblestone alleys of Melbourne up a hill and came to this cafe. We were led though this garden terrace and then into the restaurant where the architecture, furniture, dishes, smell and waiters were all 110% French. Stan and I had so much fun we looked at each other and said "lets move to France next!" The food was amazing and the bread was all fresh baked, the cheese platter was right behind me so we were engulfed with wonderful smells and charming accents! While waiting for our entrees, I gave Stan a book of memories from his closest friends and family members. He LOVED it and got a kick out of how many people contributed from high school, the mission, college, graduate school, church, etc.... I figured since most of his friends are in another country this was the best way to wrap up this section of his life. After dinner it started to drizzle so walked back down the cobblestone in the rain to our hotel and then slept in.

In the morning we got up and went for a run together (which we haven't been able to do since having kids) we ran along the Yarra river and watched all the rowers in training and then went into the royal botanical gardens. Once in here it started to rain a lot. we stopped in a gazebo and then it only got worse so we ran back. We had the breakfast buffet (which if you read my last post about the crown) is amazing! Our plane back was in the afternoon and we got to ride back business class, thanks to a free ticket I had and Stan being gold class with Quantas and getting upgraded.

The next weekend was Stan's actual birthday. I organized a surprise lunch with all his team members at work. He was quite surprised to see me sitting there with everyone and we got a ceramic plate that everyone could sign so he can remember his co-workers from PwC! Afterwards he played hookie and cashed in our gold class cinema tickets for Harry Potter which came out the day before. Gold class means you get to sit in these comfy couch chairs and have people wait on you and bring you food throughout the movie. Again, we got this perk from work and have been saving the tickets for a movie we actually wanted to see.

After the movie we came home and did cake and ice cream with the kids, opened gifts and went to bed! Happy birthday Stan--to the next 30 years