Hurricane Irene

Well, the hurricane came and went. We were bummed that it ruined the last 2 days of Dan's week-long vacation (no extra days at the beach for us), but were happy that we were all safe inside. We lost power for about 24 hours. The worst part of that was worrying that it would be much longer. After Hurricane Isabel in 2003, my parent's had some neighbors without power for 11 days. Thinking about that stressed me out way more than a day without AC. Our neighbors let us plug into their generator, so that was wonderful. The only thing we plugged in was the fridge, so all the food was safe. :)

Here are our pictures of the clean-up: On Saturday morning, Dan and my dad moved a big branch that fell during the night (before it got really windy).
A really unflattering picture of me along with my dad as we made our piles of fallen branches and leaves for the city to come pick up.
The kids were such big helpers. I love how enthusiastic kids in general are about certain chores. Kevin was telling us all, "Good job, guys."
Wheeling from the back yard to the front over and over. :)
The finished piles. We probably could have made them taller, but my dad didn't want to inconvenience the collectors. Only 4 of these piles are from branches that fell, the other 2 are from some extra trimming we did.

The Perks of Our Move

The pictures in this post are not in order and do not directly correspond with the 6 points below. That was the original plan, but since I first began this entry a month ago, I think I'll just click to post it without making it all fancy or adding more photos.
1. Dan loves his job, the people he works with, and the extras (free lunch EVERYday, free gym membership, plus the resident group is invited to the occasional free movie/dinner/activity).
2. We get to live by family. We wish there was a way to live by everyone in BOTH of our families, but since Dan and I are from different coasts, that's just not possible. We feel very lucky to spend the next three years living so close to my sister and my parents. Although hopefully we won't live WITH my parents for much longer (love you guys!).
3. There's a lot to do here: First and foremost - the beach!!!
4. There's also a newly renovated children's museum that is great,
5. An aquarium, a zoo, a great public library system, parks all over the place,
6. And we joined the city rec center for super cheap, so we'll be able to swim year round and I can work out there (when my mom's willing to watch the kids).

Here are some pictures of us on a big sailboat one of out first nights in town. All the residents (who weren't working) and the new interns went on a 3 hour cruise. We really like everyone associated with the peds program here. Most of the pictures that I have of that night are with Elena because I put Dan in complete charge of Kevin. He's such an impulsive kid, and I was so worried that he would jump right off the side. I just ended up playing with Elena and trusting Dan to take care of Kevin.
At a park with an anonymous little girl:
We went to dinner with all the new interns (and the residency program director) just a couple nights before July 1st when work began. This is a shot of our table, but the program here is so big that the interns and their dates ended up filling the entire backroom of the restaurant. It was delicious by the way. I was happy to get to finally eat at a place that I had heard was great since high school but had never been to before: Steinhilber's.
Our fourth of July fun at home with glow sticks. The local fireworks were rained out and are rescheduled for sometime in September.
This is how my dad dressed to go blackberry picking. Isn't he the coolest? :)
At the aquarium with Granny and Aunt BB
That's right, ladies and gentleman, she touched the horseshoe crab! I was so proud that I had to get a picture. Whenever we go somewhere with a touch tank, I always beg her to try and she has always chickened out in the past.