So what's been going on? Well, foremost in my mind - we've been sweating for the last month. First there was the really long couple of days of packing up our truck in New York in some pretty hot weather. We're pretty sure Ryan got heat exhaustion from it. Then we stayed in Manhattan at my friend Rachel's apartment while they were out of town. It was a pretty hot and humid week in the city with lots of walking and being outside = sweating. Even days when we would walk outside and comment on how it seemed more pleasant, within 5 mintues we'd say, "Oh, nevermind, I'm already sweating." Then we went to Philadelphia. The day we were sightseeing - 95 degrees and humid. Then driving to Cleveland - forgot to mention our AC went out before we left New York. Cleveland was actually mild and pleasant. Drive to Milwaukee - still no AC = sweating. And now Milwaukee - we've had some really hot and humid days lately, and what????? I have to PAY for air conditioning in my house now? Ugh. I finally had a melt down (literally, I guess) and decided I would rather pay money and keep the air conditioning on than turn into the damply-clad, clog-pored, sweaty-sleeping grump that I was becoming. I really think we just sweat more than average people. Maybe it was the constantly 65 degree house I grew up in, or the ever-running AC we had on during med school because we didn't pay for it. Either way, why are we moving to Miami???
Regardless, I have now cooled off and can share some of the highlights of our last few weeks.
- Graduation - YEA!!!!! Ryan was the elected class speaker at the graduation ceremony in Carnegie Hall. He did a fantastic job! He had numerous siblings in town, along with my mom, and we all watched proudly from our great box seats. We stayed in the Marriott Marquis in Times Square and did lots of fun stuff while we were there. Ate at Carmine's, Max Brenner's chocolate restaurant and some other places, went to the Guggenheim and the Met, wandered through the Grammercy Park area, the flatiron district, the block beautiful, and the farmer's market at Union Square. Went to a taping of the Martha Stewart show and saw Mary Poppins. Also went to a Yankees vs. Red Sox game (and I saw Bill Murray there). It was a great graduation celebration.
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Cash enjoying an exhibit at the Guggenheim
Highlights of moving -- oh wait. Absolutely nothing. I get sick to my stomach when I realize I have to do it again in a year. And then three years after that. Then maybe two years after that...
But I did cry when the Smith's left. And then again when we left.
Manhattan - what an awesome time we had there. It was so nice to be down in the city and not have to spend time commuting in. We wandered around tons of neighborhoods we'd never really been in or spent much time in before. Greenwich was super fun and the cupcakes at Magnolia bakery really were as good as we'd heard. We looked for a chess set for Ryan on a street there where there are a few chess shops and lots of people out playing chess. We wandered around the lower east side, which was very interesting. It was a big immigrant area and we tried to go to the tenement museum while we were there but it was closed. But we did wander by Katz's deli and Yonah Shimmel (sp?) and some other classic NYC establishments. I did some shopping in soho and attempted Century 21 in the financial district with way too little time to get through everything I wanted to see. We watched the remote control boats in central park (and passed Chloe Sv... something from "Big Love" on our way there). We went to the top of the Rockefeller building which had great views of Manhattan and the Empire State Building. We spent time on the upper east side and found some great bakeries, fun parks, and good window shopping. We ate at a diner there and kept hearing the staff buzzing about Cameron Diaz and where they were going to seat her (never saw her though). We went to the Frick museum there - easily our new favorite museum in New York (no children allowed though). We ate out about every meal and found some great places and loved all the great architecture and the hidden treasures we seemed to find everywhere.
Playing at the parks was about the only part of the trip Cash liked.
Otherwise he pretty much looked like this the whole trip. He hated being in the stroller all the time and all the poor quality stroller naps. This is from the Top of the Rock observation deck.
Eating lunch at Cafe Lalo. Totally charming, huge open windows and great desserts.
It was so nice of the Blanchard's to let us stay at their place. It totally completed our NYC experience and was a great finale to 4 awesome years in New York.
Then it was on to Philadelphia. We've always kind of wanted to try out one of those double decker bus tours, so we figured we'd try it there since we were only going to be there one day. So apparently in places with lots of trees and you're the two tallest people on the bus you have a pretty good chance of getting scalped by all the low-hanging branches. Truthfully, we didn't get much out of the tour because we were so pre-occupied with ducking for cover and trying not to get our eyes poked out. But Philadelphia was really neat, had gorgeous buildings, and we ate a lot there too because our hotel was right by this big market, but I can't remember the name right now. And the Philly cheesesteak sandwich was awesome.
This was the view from our hotel. I think it was City Hall.
Then we drove to Cleveland and stayed with Dave, Sarah and Malcom Smith, our friends from med school who had just moved to a cute new house there. Cash and his first little buddy were happy to see each other and chase each other around the house. We also visited Laurie and Brandon Jones, my friend from Bountiful and had a great time with them.
Then on to Milwaukee!!! Home sweet.... oh wait, not yet. House wasn't ready yet so we had to be in temporary housing for another week and a half. So no stuff yet, couldn't unpack or anything. And then had to clean another place when we moved out of there. Poor Cash had his first birthday right after we got there, so no party, no friends yet, and couldn't even bake him a cake or anything. But we found an Applebee's and let him dive into a molten chocolate cake there. Boy was he wired after that.
And he got to open some presents from Grandma.
So finally last week we got moved in to our house. It was a long trip and Cash did really well being dragged around everywhere. Ryan started work two days later on Saturday. Monday he was on call which meant he went in at 6:30am and came home at 2pm on Tuesday. Ugh. Cash + stairs - gate - husband = a huge joke trying to unpack. Nutella was really the only thing that got me through. And I mean lots of nutella. Unfortunately, the craziness also translated into lots of Baby Einstein dvds for Cash. I didn't realize just how much he had been watching them until he crawled down the stairs first thing in the morning and went right over and turned on the tv. Oh brother, what have I done? We're at least starting to get more functional around here.
So here's our house. For being 2 houses away from the hospital where Ryan works, we'll take it! We're also a block from Walmart. A bit dangerous to be that close since I've been about 17 times already. Ryan finally asked if I keep going that often because I get hit on every time I go there. Heck yea! So what if they're all old Hispanic men? Makes me feel like I've still got it, right? :)
In fact, in this picture you can see Cash looking out the window with the hospital in the background. Nice commute.
And here's the crazy baby on his stairs. We haven't found a gate to fit right yet. It's hours of fun though (just not for me).
Milwaukee is pretty cool so far. Tons of parks, great family place, little splash parks for little kids to swim around in, and tons of festivals. Tonight Ryan and I are going to try to go to Summerfest, a huge music festival they have here that goes on for a few weeks. I think we'll try to see Sum 41 since they're playing tonight, along with tons of other bands. We also went on a little river cruise that the hospital sponsored for the new interns.
We had to get a family in the ward to babysit when we were first here so we could go on the cruise and it was the cutest thing to see when we got back to pick up Cash - he had made his first little friend!
But when it hasn't been hot and humid, it's actually been quite pleasant here. Cash and I have been to a little lake with a beach a couple of times, to some parks, and to some little splash pools. People say it's deceiving - you move here in the summer and wonder why everyone doesn't live here. Then the winter hits.
It's just so funny what things surprise you when you move into a house after living in apartments for the last 11 years. Like light fixtures?? You mean I don't have to turn on 10 different lamps when I come in the house? Plus being in a neighborhood - especially when the houses are so close together here. The first few days we were here I had been looking out the window and I told Ryan this could be really interesting because I thought our neighbor was having an affair. It was going to be just like Desperate Housewives or something! Turns out her husband just got a haircut. How anti-climactic.Besides that, all the extra space was a little freaky for a while, and I was getting worn out from all the stairs. It was weird that I almost missed having security guards around. Not that I really thought they would save me if anything ever happened, but hey, at least they'd let you in when you locked yourself out. But it is weird being home alone when Ryan is gone for such long hours. And it was funny that I totally startled when I saw a man agressively approaching our front door - until I realized it was a mailman - and he probably had no ulterior motives.
We definitely miss New York though. All our good friends, the ward there. I guess I never realized what a dynamic group of people that was there. People with such interesting personalities, careers, hobbies. Not to mention great heads of hair. :) We miss the city too, and we miss the parkways. We hate driving through sprawling city and tons of stoplights. It seems to take a long time to get around here. But other than that, we're doing great!
