Here it is the middle of January and we're finally getting our post up of the trip we took home. It was a huge trip and so writing about it was going to be daunting. Since we've been back, it has been hectic, so that has also been a fun adjustment.
In case some of you didn't know, we weren't supposed to go on such a long Christmas vacation. Whitney didn't find out till long after we'd bought tickets that although her classes were done, she still had finals on the 19th. Luckily she managed to get them done early or score high enough that she was excused from them, and we began our trip with an early flight to Chicago on the 14th of December to see our good friends the Stoutenburgs! Upon our arrival in Chicago, we made our way to the middle of town and then caught the Megabus from Chicago to Iowa City. We only had one stop, in Utica, Illinois, where tragically we first heard about the Sandy Hook shooting, which shook us both up, since we realized it happened close to our good friends in Connecticut.
Seeing the Stoutenburgs was one of the many highlights of this trip. You know it was good, because Whitney agreed to stay three full days in a house with two cats! Their son, Ulysses, is a great 6 month old boy and it was great to spend time holding him, playing with him, and basically giving Greg and Heather back a bit of time. Whitney and Heather went and saw Breaking Dawn Part 2 (I know right? THAT'S what you choose to do while you have a spare moment?) and Greg and I played Portal 2 and brewed beer while having cigars. We got out and saw a bit of Iowa City and the surroundings, including a great distillery at Cedar Ridge where we tried some delicious spirits and learned all about how to distill. It's really much more fascinating than beer making! They also took us to Red Lobster, and though I might be wary of seafood in Iowa, it exceeded my expectations, and we all ordered the $2.99 snow crab legs side and then had so much left over we had crab omelettes and bagels the next day!
Finally it was time to say goodbye and end our three-day mini vacation to the midwest. We bussed back to Chicago, i left my jacket on the bus, and we flew out to Seattle to see the families!
We had two full weeks back in Seattle, and we spent a week at my parents and a week at the Yeadons. I think my parents got the busier week since three couples we wanted to see were only in town the week leading up to Christmas, so we were out of the house during the day alot visiting in Seattle. However, it was really good to see my mom and dad for a few days alone, and then have Soliz show up. The dog had quieted down from last year and and we had low key mornings and evenings through Christmas eve. Our days were busy though, constantly going down to Seattle to have dinner with the Vegas, or meet with the Lentzs, or say goodbye to the Piehlers. It was so good to see everyone, but of course, even though we had twice as much time as last year, we felt like we still needed more time! Hopefully though, next year we'll only have a week because Whitney will be working as a nurse!
Christmas was a great couple of days with a service at New Life and a family party at the Chouse. Our week with the Yeadons was much quieter since everyone had left town by then except the Lentzs. We did however manage to make it up to Vacouver on the 26th to take my mom shopping for Asian knickknacks and to see our good Boston friends the Ungs! I have never been to Canada, and so I was excited to see it and its funny money, which is all plastic. It was a wet day, and being the day after Christmas not much was open, but we saw several eagles, the UBC campus, and the best part, had some delicious dim sum for lunch and a wonderful dinner with Kim's parents before heading home. Mom found some stuff she wanted, though it seemed like everything she most desired was either over $1000 or not for sale. She had a funny talent for wanting to buy exactly what the store only had for display and wouldn't sell. Towards the end of our trip we went down to Renton on the 30 and spend New Year's Eve with the Lentzs so that they could drop us off at the airport on New Year's Day. We must have played about 15 games at their house, and with our other times at Blue Highway and Card Kingdom, I got to try out maybe 10 new games during the trip. We ended up purchasing two new games for our home library and have enjoyed playing them back in Boston!
Too soon though, it was time to come back home and face the 7 degree weather and our normal lives. Whitney is coming to her last week of an intensive 3 week stint in Ob/Gyn at Brigham and Women's Hospital , and I have resolved to make 2013 my productive year of positive data, so have gotten quickly up and running to fill my days with experiments. I have also been writing abstracts to attend some conferences this year, and will shortly submit an abstract and hopefully secure a spot at the Shock conference in San Diego this June 1-4th. I don't think Whitney will be able to join me as she'll already be in summer classes, but I can't wait to finally experience San Diego, and then maybe Denver in July for the annual MD/PhD student conference and my cousin's wedding! We are looking forward to getting our small group up and running again with the end of the break, and we've started reserving campsites for the summer. Always looking forward! Whitney is also starting to look for nursing assistant jobs so she can get some experience and earn a little on the side. Whitney wants me to include a little bit about how in the past week she has seen 5 babies be born. And yet she still wants one. To find out whether we do, stay tuned!
-Chad
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment