Friendly Visit

Our friends came to visit. Here are some of the fun things we did while they were here.

Joe and Henry playing with the shark Joe and Kevin caught on a fishing trip.

Joe and Kevin caught this shark on their fishing trip.

Muscle man!

On a small hike at the natural springs.

The boys at the natural springs.

Isn't she gorgeous?!!

Kevin and Tori have an amazing camera. This alligator picture was taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. A very cool place to visit if you want to see and learn about American alligators and other similar creatures.

Henry watching alligators at the farm, which is actually a zoo, not a farm.

Henry at the Alligator Farm.

Joe and the kids at the St. Augustine lighthouse, unfortunately the kids weren't allowed to go to the top which was a huge disappointment.

Outside River Grille, one of our favorite restaurants, located on the Tomoka River, down the street from our house.

Joe and Henry floating the spring river.

@ the spring.

@ the spring.

@ the spring.

The gang at Magic Kingdom.

Minnie lovin' Amelia. Henry and Pluto, his favorite non-planet.

My fabulous family.

Beach bums.

Beach bums.

Joe and Henry boogie boarding.

Drip castles.

I wonder if I can fit my foot and my fist in my mouth at the same time?

the girls. Not proud of how old I look, I'll be honest.

ROAD TRIP

There's a pretty good chance you will think that we are crazy when you read this post. But before you make any judgments you should know that we had a fabulous time exploring a part of the country that we have never really seen before. I am not a big fan of road trips, or at least I wasn't before our most recent road trip, but this was a seriously good time!!

Joe had an "away rotation" or as I like to call them, extended interview, scheduled in Gainesville, Florida for the month of September. Flying was almost never an option for Joe because he needs a car in order to get to and from work and to rent a car for a whole month is $700+ which might be bearable (gasp!) for one month but he has an away rotation scheduled in Omaha for the month of October and there's no chance that we could afford $1400+ just for a dumpy rental car. So, Joe decided to drive.

Henry and I were on the fence for a while about whether or not it would be smart for us to join Joe on his away rotations because we knew he would be expected to work far more than normal; all this in order to make a good impression. Ultimately, however, we decided that we would rather sleep in the same house than not for two months. When Henry and I decided to join Joe the long road trip became somewhat concerning. What should we do? The solution: take a whole week to drive to Florida and stop frequently. Then somehow this plan morphed into Joe and Heidi wanting to stop in lots of different cities we have never been to and suddenly our semi-straightforward route became something a little more convoluted.


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Our original plan included stopping in Denver but we scratched that because our planned activity was closed. It turned out to be a fabulous idea to scrap Denver because it gave us more time in the South East. Instead we drove straight through (mostly anyway) from Salt Lake to St Louis, MO. Henry did a really good job driving for that long without much stopping to play. It helped that he had a box full of new toys from his birthday celebration the day before.

Stop #1: Kansas City, MO
We were really just driving through but by the time we got to Kansas City we were sick of driving so we stopped at a community pool to play.

Stop #2: St Louis, MO
St. Louis was my favorite stop. We saw the Gateway Arch, took a helicopter ride over the city and went to City Museum. City Museum is the coolest museum I have EVER been to. It's technically a childrens museum but it puts the childrens museum in Salt Lake to serious shame! I used to think that the childrens museum in Salt Lake was cool, now I know that it's just GHETTO!! City Museum is a labyrinth of wire mazes connected to cool structures, slides and climbing structures. It has an indoor train, a ferris wheel on the roof, a giant ball pit, an aquarium and lots of other fabulous activity based areas. I have never been to a place that encourages so much creativity. There are at least three ways to get to every destination within the museum - a wire tube, a windy stair case or through the airplane in the sky. If you have a child and you visit St Louis, do not miss this museum. If you do not have a child and you visit St Louis, do not miss this museum. Joe and I played so hard that we were seriously sweating when the museum staff kicked us out because they were closed. I never play at the childrens museum in Salt Lake because it's not fun for me, this museum was fun for me and more fun for Henry because I was far more interactive.

Gateway Arch
Helicopter Tour

City Museum
City Museum Rooftop slide
Super fun!

Stop #3: Nashville, TN
We went on a riverboat cruise and to Parthenon park. The Riverboat cruise was a good time - it was food and entertainment on a paddle wheel boat. After the boat cruise were kind of at a loss for things to do in Nashville. Joe really resisted the country music hall of fame which we hear is really cool and by the time he agreed to go I didn't want to anymore because Henry was tired and not very pleasant.

Cpt. Henry

Stop #4: Atlanta, GA I have been wanting to go to Atlanta ever since I saw a special on the History Channel about their aquarium. Did you know that the Atlanta Aquarium is the only place in the US you can see a whale shark in captivity? (There are also whale sharks in captivity in Taiwan). The Atlanta aquarium was a serious good time. Again puts Salt Lake to serious shame - but I expected that! We love aquariums!!

Henry, Heidi and a beluga whale.
We lost our camera battery so this is the best we could do!

On a whim, and because I'm a dork, we took a tour of CNN's headquarters. This was more touristy than I had hoped but at least we got to see the studios. I should work for CNN someday I think. :)

CNN HQ

Stop #5: Savannah, GA
If you didn't notice while looking at the map, this is the place where our trip diverged from a logical course and into the - oh we should go there, it's not that far - trip. I'm glad we took this divergence. Joe has wanted to go to Savannah ever since he read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Apparently, he's not the only one, this book is a major part of the tourist industry in Savannah. Anyway, Savannah was established in 1733 and has many fabulous homes and businesses that date that far back that are still in great condition. Savannah is also thought to be one of the most haunted places in the US. We took a haunted Savannah tour the night we arrived and didn't see any ghosts but the tour guide did spend a lot of time pointing out "orbs" in photos people took with their digital cameras. Joe and I appreciated the stories behind the ghost stories and the architectural marvels where the ghosts were housed. The next day we mostly walked around the city checking out the cool, beautiful old places before heading to Tybee Island for a bit of ocean fun (which Henry had been begging for since we got in the car in Salt Lake). I bought Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and will be reading it while in Gainesville!

Cemetery. The large thing on the right is a crypt.

Tybee, Island

Stop #6: Orlando, FL
Disneyworld. Need I say more?

Stop #7: Clearwater, FL
Ocean fun!

Stop #7: Gainesville, FL
Home for one month!

I had so much fun on our journey that I'm doing it again. My sister and my Mom are flying to Atlanta to help me drive to Omaha (Joe will be flying because he only has a few hours to get there before starting his next rotation). We will be stopping in Birmingham, Memphis, St Louis, Little Rock, Nauvoo and Omaha (and maybe Chicago???). You know you're jealous!

Life after this.

After a long, hard deliberation process Joe has finally decided to apply to ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) residency programs for his post-medical school training. ENT, also called Otolaryngology or head and neck surgery is a surgery subspecialty that you guessed it -obviously focuses on the head and neck. Joe has worked very hard to get to this point and we are seriously proud of his accomplishments thus far in medical school and his finally making a decision for the next step of his medical career.

ENT is a very competitive residency track so Joe will be working very hard during the next few months to hopefully secure a position in a residency program. In August he will take a licensing exam and apply to residencies. In September and October Joe will be in Gainsville, Florida and Omaha, Nebraska for away rotations (extended interviews). Hopefully in November, December and January he will be doing lots of interviews (cross your fingers) and in March he will find out if he matched and where. Assuming all goes as planned we will move in June 2010.

I am seriously grateful to have such a wonderful husband. In choosing his career path Joe was very careful to consider the needs of both Henry and I. He wavered between a lot of fields that he assumed would give him plenty of opportunity to interact with his family in a meaningful way. Choosing ENT was a difficult decision for Joe because of the rigors and length (5 years) of the residency program. After considering many other fields (family practice and emergency medicine among the many) Joe made th decision to become an ENT not only because he feels like he will be fulfilled in his career and help a needy population but so that he can continue to be a fabulous husband and father. Henry and I couldn't be more lucky!!

Aruba

Here are some of our pictures from our trip to Aruba in no logical order whatsoever:

So sad for the boys that their wives carelessly applied spray on sunblock. Our friend Jeremy on the left has a small unburned streak while Joe, on the right, has experienced severe neglect. Sorry!

After a long day of ocean kayaking Joe and I swam to this and jumped off.

Aruba's landscape is this: sand and cactus except on the coast where it's perfect white sand beaches or rocky cliffs as below.

The rocky coast.

A frog at the national park.

Different frog, same national park.

Caves.

Our favorite day was snorkeling on the Mi Dushi boat. Mi Dushi means My Sweetheart. Here is the sail of the boat.

Joe on the Mi Dushi

At our resort.

Horseback riding.

One of many pools at our resort.

Deep sea fishing.

On our fishing boat.