Derby

Wow, what a long weekend! I know we were only gone for 3 days but if feels like I've been gone for 3 months! We had such a great time at the Kentucky Derby, I could write a 20 page paper about it but first, I have to brag on how wonderful my baby behaved while we were gone.

The whole time we were away, Syd and I were keeping tabs on Sofia. Friday, I talked to Alexandra twice, I spoke to Liz once while she was with Sof and then I talked to Ivy after she had put her to bed for the night. Each of them said the same thing, she was perfect. She ate well, behaved and entertained them all. We talked to her twice on Friday and she had alot to say to us, from the sound of it she was having the time fo her life. We missed her so much after just 24 hours, but we knew she was in good hands.

Saturday, Liz went to Ivy's and picked her up and she spent the whole day with my family. Cheo even took her swimming! My dad kept telling me how beautiful she was, he was so proud because he taught her how to say "I love you." When I called him, she took the phone and said "I love you." It was so sweet! Sofia and Abuelo had a busy day together and they both loved every minute of it.

Today, Sofia played all day at the primos house. They told us she was an absolute doll, they even suggested we take another vacation, this time for a whole week! I don't know if I would last that long without my girl. When we picked her up today, she immediately started crying (tears of joy) and was ecstatic to see us-the feelings were mutual. We were glad to be home again. We are so proud of our big girl, she was an angel. The whole car ride home, she was giggling and talking to us. It was precious. As for the Derby, it amazing.We left early Friday morning, no one knew what to expect but when we arrived to Louisville, understood the immensity of the event. Every single hotel in the city was booked, you needed reservations months prior for any of the upscale restaurants and everyone was talking about Big Brown. Little did we know, once we hit Churchill Downs, we would all get sucked into the excitement and hype of the Kentucky Derby. By the end of the race, we knew the names of the horses, knew the difference between place, show, win and what a trivecta was. I know, we caught derby fever.As soon as we got to the hotel, we changed and went straight to the race track for the Kentucky Oaks, the race prior to the Derby. The weather was terrible but luckily, our seats were on the covered balcony and we enjoyed real southern food at a luncheon before the races. At the luncheon, we were seated with a group of first Derby-goers who convinced us we HAD to place bets on the races as it was part of the tradition so, we did. With money involved, the races got to be alot more interesting, Syd and I even picked a winning horse! The Oaks was fun, but we knew the Derby would be 100 times more exciting so after we left the race track, we headed to a querky little cafe, Lynn's Paradise, and had a relaxing evening back at the hotel.
Saturday we woke up bright and early to blue skies and 70 degree weather. We arrived at Churchill Downs at 11:30am and had a long day ahead of us. The actual Kentucky Derby wasn't till 6:05 so we had alot of time to kill. We had a great time hanging out at the track, people watching, 'researching' our bets-by researching I mean picking random horses, watching the horses warm up in the Paddock and enjoying the atmosphere. There were 157,000 people at the race, all the the women were in dresses and fab. hats, the men in suits and bow ties and everyone was sipping on Mint Julips. Michael Jordan, Dwayne Wade, Molly Simms, Hugh Hefner and 'The Girls Next Door', were among some of the stars who were in attendance. It was absurd how big of a deal this race was! We spent the majority of the day placing bets and watching the horses. We even waited on the Paddock for an hour just to see the Derby horses come out before the race. It was incredible how huge the horses were, especially Big Brown. Compared the rest of the horses, he was a beast. We watched the Derby from our seats and needless to say none of us bet on the favorite. Syd picked a 50-1 horse thinking he could win big but we didn't. Big Brown won by a huge margin and people went bananas afterwards, turn out people bet ALOT of money on these horses.

After the Derby was over, we all noticed that Eight Bells (the 2nd place horse) had fallen after she crossed the finish line. Apparently, she broke both of her ankles and had to be euthanised on the track. It was devastating; she was the only filly in the race and had almost beat Big Brown but just seconds after that, she was gone. The vet spoke afterwards and said she was in excruciating pain and this was the best thing for her, as her injuries were detrimental. It was a bittersweet ending to our day but all in all, we had a fabulous day at the Kentucky Derby.
Everyone at the Harris household is officially exhausted after a long weekend. We all enjoyed the adventure, we will definitely remember this trip for a very long time but we are glad to have our baby back in our arms and sleep in our own bed.