Medical school journey

I thought I'd participate on a blog tour. It has been awhile since I've thought about medical school. I'm trying to block it out. ;o)

I think the thing I hated the most was the applying for medical school part. Sooooo much time and money spent on taking the MCAT, applying to schools, flying out for interviews, etc. I just wanted him to get in, and I didn't care where. It was such a huge relief when the acceptance letters started coming in.

We had 3 kids by the time Brad finished med school. And somehow it took me until MSIV to realize that I was going to have to start planning and doing things without Brad. We'd plan dates, or get invited to activities, and somehow I kept thinking he'd always be able to attend. It was a very freeing day when I finally realized that I could go places and do things without him. And it probably helped prepare me for the 7 months we lived apart after a residency change.

And I really remember how great if felt to be done with medical school. If only I'd realized we were only half-way there! LOL!

Here is where to find the tour:
http://queseraaasera.blogspot.com/2010/08/life-as-medical-school-wife.html

Pictures up!

I finally got pictures put up over on Cookie. Took me long enough! LOL!

Brad got a week of vacation this month. We used part of it to go to South Dakota for some job interviews. Oh my lands, it was fun! They paid for plane tickets for us and our 3 kids. They even got us adjoining hotel rooms so our kids wouldn't keep us up all night. There was a beautiful fruit and snack basket waiting for us in our room. They arranged for childcare during fancy meals with the other doctors. Took us on tours of the town. Had realtors to show us around neighborhoods. Arranged a meeting with the school superintendent.
Then we got to talk about salary, signing bonus, loan forgiveness, moving expenses, housing payments, stipends, etc. It just feels so wonderful to be getting spoiled like this. There is a light shining at the end of the tunnel and it is beautiful!

We really liked the towns we visited. I could definitely see myself ending up there!

Then we used the rest of the vacation to go to Niagra Falls. Wow. I am at a loss for words to describe how truly incredible it was there. I tried to convince Brad we needed to move there. haha! It was absolutely stunning! We wanted to do everything we could while we were there.

The first thing we did was go on the Maid of the Mist. Aaaaaaaaaamazing. I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. It was complete bliss for me. I love waterfalls, and being right under there was unbelievable. The Observation Tower was great too!

The next thing we did was go to the Aquarium. There was also a seal show and a magic show there. We went to the Discovery Center for some hands-on fun, rode around on the Trolley. Walked over to Luna Island. That was a little freaky actually. You are right over the rushing river and it didn't seem like there was much of a guardrail. It was a little intimidating to realize how close you are to water that is about to plunge 180 ft. And I loved every second of it! I couldn't help but think about white water rafting seeing all of those rapids. :o)

Not content to be merely above the water, we next went down for the Cave of the Winds tour. Absolutely INCREDIBLE. You stand under the Bridal Falls, only a few feet away. The water is extremely powerful and you feel like you are going to blow away! The water just pounds down on you with amazing force. We couldn't get enough of it! Jamo and I kept going back up for more. We even did it without our plastic covers! Well, I only went up to the Hurricane Deck. Jamo actually went under the falls. That's my boy! He was soaked!

Then we ate dinner at the Top of the Falls restaurant. We ate on the outside deck with a gorgeous view and tried to dry off. We went over to Terrapin point for another stunning view. We went to watch the movie playing in the Visitor's Center. The boys bought super cool rocks and Sugar bought a fishing pole.

We waited for night to fall and enjoyed the beauty of the color lights on the falls. I still get speechless thinking about it. Then there were fireworks! I can't think of a more spectacular way to end the day. I'm already plotting a trip back so we can do the Canadian side!

Excitement galore!

Oh, there is soooo much to blog about! But, I'll start with the news that has made it hard to blog in the first place!

I just got a new job as the Associate Director for the Central Atlantic Region of Signing Time Academy! YAY! I am super excited for all of the wonderful experiences I will have doing this.

To celebrate, I'm having 2 separate giveaways. One is on my Facebook page and the other one is at Allison's giveaway blog. If you've been waiting to get a Series 2 DVD, you might want to enter!

And keep an eye out for these upcoming posts:
Niagra Falls
Sioux Falls
And cute stuff with the kiddos

My turn!

Sorry to post so much, I just want to remember the funny stuff. :o)

Today I had my kids go outside and clean up the dog poop to earn Handipoints. We have them earn Handipoints to do pretty much everything fun (Wii, Nintendo DS, TV, eat out, computer). It is great because it keeps them from having unlimited access to goofing off. LOL! They were bored and needed some Handipoints so I had them clean poop from the dogs we were watching.

Sugar even wanted to get in on the action. I suspected it was just because she wanted to wear the gloves, but when we were out there, she started to yell, "It's my turn to pick up poop!" I started to laugh and she said, "It's not funny! I want to pick up poop too!"

Three-year-olds are awesome! What other age group complains about not cleaning up poop!?

Ruby slippers

SugarPea is growing fast. I bought her some new shoes yesterday since her old ones were too small. She picked out some red, sparkly ones. When she wore them to church today, her teacher said, "Those are beautiful ruby shoes you have!" Sugar said, "They aren't booby shoes! They are red!" The whole way home Brad was trying to explain that a ruby is a red stone.

"Ruby, Sugar. Ru-ru-ru-ruby."
"Wooby. Wu-wu-wu-booby."

Oh so funny!

Sugar has been asking me to help her form signs lately. In ASL, the number 3 is done with your thumb, index, and middle fingers and the number 6 is done with your thumb and pinky touching. We've been working on her 3 lately, since she is 3 and is frequently asked how old she is. Today at church, she was signing water. Water is signed with the same handshape as the number 6 (forming a W) bouncing on your chin. But she was signing it with a number 3 on her chin. Such a cute little girl!!!