Friday, May 2, 2014

I guess I won't need to change my blog name

This is an old post that I wrote last month. I thought it had published but I guess not. So here it is! Better late than never I guess!!

This has been a big week for us, and for Lewis specifically. He found out that he passed his oral board exam (he will just have one more big test, oral boards, which will happen in about one year), and he signed a contract for work starting July 7! 
This is us at a Doctor's Day dinner last night for the Kanawha medical association. We attended as guests of dr. Horswell and his wife Barb. Drs. Horswell and Jaskolka have been amazing mentors to Lewis, unlike the experience he had with residency. 
Anyway, we are headed back to Alabama!! Not to Birmingham where we were for residency, but to Huntsville which is about an hour and a half north of the ham. We are excited now, but it's taken me a while to get there. About 7 months a while. But, my kids love Alabama and I do too. There is just something really great about the south. The food is amazing, the people are wonderful, and the spring time is unbeatable. 
 It's crazy sometimes how things work out in life. For so long I just thought we could go wherever we want with Lewis being an oral surgeon. But, he wants to operate and he wants to do pediatric cases. So we had to find a place with a children's hospital. And it had to have a pediatric anesthesiologist and they had to have a cleft team with an opening or at least a willingness to let OMFS work as part of the cleft team. So, our options shrunk. But, we presumed many options. We mostly wanted to be out west, but we considered jobs in North Carolina, Massachusetts (east and west), Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, etc. and nothing was working out. It was crazy. Either they wouldn't call back or Lewis just didn't get a good vibe. It was frustrating and exhausting. Then Lewis talked to a former co-resident of his who is practicing in Madison and looking for a partner and it has just come together so easily. Even though it wasn't my ideal dream place of residence, I know that it is a great opportunity for Lewis and that Huntsville is a terrific place to raise kids. Another plus is that there are a lot of lds people there which is great for our kids. We are excited to move into a new phase of life! Actually making money for all the hard work, ha! I'm sure it will be an adventure and that we will love our new home.

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Marathon recap

Monday morning Lewis and I got up early and I dropped him off at Boston common where he would board the bus out to the start line.
The kids and I packed up the car and drove to the nearest T station. After one near miss we got on the correct train. One connection later we were headed out of town along the race route. I met a really nice woman on the train who is from Burlington, CT. It turns out that she works and works out at the tennis club where I taught swim lessons and preschool! Small world! She knows peoe who I worked with and promised to tell them hi from me. It was so great. I love it when those things happen. She was so kind and gave me great advice about marathon watching. So we followed her out to Newton. It was actually the closest stop to the race route so it saved me miles of walking with the kids. What a blessing it was to run into her! After a couple of hours of waiting we finally got to see Lewis!
After giving everyone a quick kiss he was off again
The first half of his race was super fast and even though he went a little hard he was able to hang on for a great finish. As soon as he passed we hopped back on the T and hurried to try and see him finish. We got off at the convention center and ran right into Kip's friend Carol Anne who was hoping to meet us. It was another huge blessing because she knows the city well and we ended up needing her expertise to find Lewis. In years past you have been able to walk right along the race route up to the finish line. After last years bombings, they majorly tightened security. We were able to watch as Lewis run out of the tunnel at Massachussets Ave. They wouldn't let us walk any further along the race route though, they only let a certain number of people in and then that was it. We probably had to walk a mile or two to get to where we finally met up with Lewis.
Stonyfied farms was giving out yogurt to sample and Abby wanted a picture with the cow.
As soon as he was ready, we took the T to Kip's house for Lewis to take a shower. When we was done we loaded up and headed down to Westerly, RI to spend the night with our friends the Capalbos. They are the greatest friends and had pizza and oysters ready for dinner. Lewis loved learning how to shuck oysters and the kids loved playing with Luca and Leo.
Tuesday morning we packed up and headed home with a quick stop at the Book Barn in Niantic, CT. It's such a great little stop.
It was a quick and fast paced trip, but we had such a great time. We are a road tripping family! We love to be on the road exploring this great country. I'm so grateful that my kids our happy travelers. Even though it was a fun trip we were all happy to be home and in our own beds after 5 nights in 5 different places. 








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Shipping up to Boston


Lewis ran the Boston marathon again! He did an amazing job. As late as a week before the marathon he wasn't sure he would be able to run. He was having some significant pain in his foot and was nervous it was possibly a stress fracture in his fifth metatarsal. After a trip to the foot doc and an X-ray to make sure it was ok, he was cleared to go and we were on our way!
We drove to New Jersey on Thursday and got there just in time to meet Lindsi and Rich for dinner
We spent the night there in New Brunswick and swam Friday morning while Lewis had a surgical virtual planning meeting. 
When he was done we drove into NYC and spent the day (quickly) seeing some sights and exporing the city.
The craziest part was right as we arrived in the city, we pulled into our awesome, cheap parking lot and saw that a friend of ours from our Connecticut days had pulled in right in front of us! It was the weirdest coincidence! 
After a few hours of walking in the dreary, cold weather we were ready to head up to West Hartford. We got there in time to climb into bed.

Saturday we got up and saw some of our favorite places. We drove by our apartments and got a good laugh remembering our awful first place. The best part of the day was eating delicious Harry's pizza and hanging out with our friends the Miettinens.
They had three cats and my kids were loving them so much:
As we drove out of town we stopped by Hartford hospital so Brooks could see where he was oven and snapped a few pics of the Capitol building.
We have so many great memories of our four  years in Connecticut, it was great to think back on them. It's always a little strange going back to visit places I've lived in the past, but it always feels like going home.
Soon we were on our way to Boston, with a quick stop at Costco along the way. We dropped Lewis off at the marathon expo and drove over to Cambridge to meet kip at his house.
After the expo, we met up with Lewis and set out to find a record store (it was record day) and some dinner. We found several record stores bu none were participating in record day! Bummer! But we did find some yummy pho for dinner. Then mochi and bubble tea for dessert.
Sunday we had a little bit of trouble finding church, but we did eventually. We actually ended up at Kip's ward and it was stake conference which we enjoyed from the foyer. It was a lovely Easter service. After church we went back to Kip's for an egg hunt and feast.
After eating we headed over to check out the Boston Tea Party Museum and ships. The kids really enjoyed learning more about early US history and Boston's role in the revolutionary war.
After the museum (and kips meeting) we met up worth kip again for dinner at our hotel.

























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Change is coming again soon

I am terrible about change. I don't like change or transitions. I don't like being out of my comfort zone. In fact, I think I would rather be stuck somewhere I don't even like than have to move. But, here we are with under two months left in Charleston and it's time to start thinking about picking up and moving again. Ugh. 
Springtime is West Virginia has been lovely. We have a Japanese Kwanzan cherry tree in our front yard as well as azaleas, daffodils, and an assortment of other perennials. Our neighbors have dogwoods, even one pink dogwood which happens to be my very favorite type of flowering tree. My favorite flowering bush is hydrangea and my favorite perennial is a tulip, in case you were wondering. Here are a few photos I have snapped this spring:

Sometimes when the weather is nice we go spend the afternoon in our awesome friends' backyard:
There is trampolining, bike riding, sandbox ing, and general running around like kids should.

Also, we have enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows (and starburst) over our little fire pit in the backyard or up in the mountains with our friends.
Clothes are optional, especially after you've jumped into the river and soaked them:











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