The Blue Angels

We had a special treat while we were in Florida last month. Chris was doing a Family Practice residency which he really enjoyed. One day, they had arranged for the medical students to shadow a flight surgeon (flight surgery training is based out of Pensacola), and to watch a practice for the Blue Angels Air Show. Grant and I were invited to come along, as well. We headed over to the stadium where the practice usually takes place along with the throngs of other people. We had been instructed to go to Air Wing 6, and after searching for it, we finally asked a lady who was directing people where to go where we needed to be. She didn't know where Air Wing 6 was and finally said she thought it was over in Sherman's Field for VIP seating. Well...we drove over to Sherman's Field and found Air Wing 6. It was the private hangar for the Blue Angels. We were in VIP seating along with only about 15-20 other people. As we walked in the gate, the planes were all lined up, the pilots were preparing for take-off, and we felt very cool! The show was awesome! It was very loud, though, and even though it was 8:00 in the morning, it was already nearly 100 degrees, so Grant was anything but happy. He fussed around the whole time. At the end of the show, the pilots disembarked their planes and Chris was escorted up to meet them. I could have gone, too, but since Grant was so fussy, I just took him home instead (only to find a cockroach climbing up the wall!). The rest of the day, Chris followed around a flight surgeon and was very intrigued. Though he's thought about it before, he hasn't considered it seriously until now. So we're currently contemplating that path. We'll see...

Playing with the hose!

One of the highlights of our time in Pensacola was our time playing in the hose in the front yard! Grant had a ball, and consequently, we parents did, too! We enjoyed so very much watching him attack the water head first, drink out of the fountain, and even squeal and run away from the sheer coolness of the water in contrast to the extreme heat of the day while flapping his arms and giggling uncontrollably. It was certainly enough to make any onlooker laugh and be transported back to their own childhood to watch such a little man experience the simplistic joy of a water hose! Grant and I would go out during the days while daddy was at work until we found how much daddy enjoyed it too, so then we waited for him after work and made it a night time ritual: first the hose, then the bath! And I think all three of us were soaked in the process!

Home Sweet Home

Well, we are finally home. Although we started out with internet access in FL, the computer we had to use didn't work very well, so I wasn't able to update our blog as we would have wanted to. Grant and I flew home today. Chris drove to NC to begin his next rotation there at Camp Lejeune. He's doing Sports Medicine there, and just finished up Family Practice in Pensacola. He really liked Pensacola. Right now it is number 1 on his wish list. The town of Pensacola itself did not impress us in the least. I expected a beach paradise since so many people go to the beach there every year. While the beach was nice, the town was a typical military town, I suppose. It seemed old, dirty and a little run down. But definitely liveable. We found that cockroaches are a common problem in the area, as was evidenced by the cockroaches that I found in the house in which we were staying. I was so upset the first time I saw them that I made Chris skip working out and come home to get me out of the house. We only took one car down and since he had to work so early, he usually took it to work with him since I wasn't in the mood to get out of my bed! :-) We also had lizards down there, which was interesting. The first day we were there, we left the back porch light on. Chris called me into the kitchen that evening and there were 3 lizards on the kitchen window by the light - outside, thankfully! While we saw them every now and then, they kept to themselves most of the time. Only a few days before we left, I got in the shower and stepped on something a bit hard. I didn't have my glasses on, so it was difficult to see what it was - long and brown. At first I assumed it was hair, then after thinking about it, I realized that was a lot of hair and it was hard. So I leaned down to see what it was and as I got closer, I realized I had just stepped on a lizard! I screamed and jumped out of the shower and Chris came to save the day - he sprayed it with water and we think it went down the drain. It was the most miserable shower of my life! I shaved with one eye on the drain, resulting in knicked up legs. Ouch! So I've decided if we end up living in FL, I'm in for a rude awakening. And we're definitely having the exterminators come OFTEN! There is truly no place like home!

Update on life

Sorry it has been a while since I've updated anything on here. We have been quite busy here lately. Chris has been studying hard for his boards - day and night! He drove up to Philadelphia last Tuesday and was there until Thursday evening after his second test was over. The first test was on Wednesday and lasted from 8 am until nearly 4:30 pm. He was fried afterwards! He had a terrible headache from staring at a computer screen all day and his mind was just exhausted. But he said he knew he had passed it, so that was encouraging! The next day he had to take an oral exam where he had patients and had to diagnose and treat them. Though it wasn't as long, it still went until 3:30, and then he had to drive home, getting in around 11:00. It was a long couple of days, and we're both thrilled that he's done with his second set of boards! While he was gone, my parents and grandparents came to visit, which was a wonderful surprise! My parents hadn't seen Grant since early February, and he has changed so much since then, so I was so glad they could come. Grant is teething and was quite intense, so they didn't see him his typical laid back silly boy, but he was still fun. We just hung out at the house, playing games, watching the movie "Cars," which my grandparents had never seen, etc. They took us out for breakfast on Friday morning and then went down to NC to visit with my sister. After breakfast, we got busy packing up so that we could move down to Pensacola, FL for this month. After packing all day, we were exhausted and though we considered driving through the night for Grant's sake, we decided since we were both so tired, we'd get up the next morning. So Saturday was a busy day driving. 12 hours later, we got to Pensacola. Grant did great for the first 9 hours. The last 3, however, were not fun for any of us. He was done with the driving and ready to be out of the car. And he let us know this by screaming for 3 hours. Ugh. I was never so glad to get out of the car! We are staying at the home of a lady who moved in with a friend so that we could have a house to ourselves here in Pensacola. We've never met her. We emailed several churches down here to see if we could find housing and she told us we could stay here - for free! So we have been blessed. We do have internet access, but I won't be able to post any pictures for a while until I get home in September. Hope you all are doing well.