FAMILY CAMPING

Camping: Kellen and I haven't seen a lot of each other lately, especially with me working most Fridays or Saturdays. And needless to say, that means not a lot of family time. So Kellen decided to take some days off work and take us camping. We found a place still open this time of year :) Waterloo. Wow. It was gorgeous. There was a lake, a playground, showers, gorgeous colors, and given the time of year/day of week (Tuesday night), we practically had the whole campground to ourselves. And the weather was PERFECT. It was warm enough the afternoon we got there that Kellen & Shade got to play in the water. And the next day warmed up enough that we were able to enjoy a nice bike ride. And of course the boys had to bring Shade's new birthday present (the remote control car-which Kellen spent most of the time chasing Shade with). We also bought a grill type thing to put over the fire so we could cook food on it - it worked rather nice. For dinner we had hot dogs & clam chowder & of course marshmellows. For breakfast, thick sliced bacon & eggs & oatmeal w/hot chocolate. Even though I had to go to work that night, I am so glad we were able to do that together. Then the next day, when Kellen asked Shade what his favorite part of camping was, Shade replied very thoughtfully "Mommy" :)

The drive there


Camp site (Shade spent most of the time in the dirt), Boys




Park, Acorns - we slept under an acorn tree, they kept dropping on our tent all night. Shade was excited to see real acorns so he wanted to take some home to feed the squirrels so they could be our friends :) (He probably got the idea from Ice Age)


Lake - we hadn't prepared to swim, only Kellen had shorts.


Bike Ride




Night Lake


Figuring out the car


Work: So I officially go "weekend cadre" this weekend, which will be nice. My "hectic" schedule was not so much working a ton of hours as just having my days spaced out during the week so I would only have a day or two in between shifts - which isn't enough time for me to recover from midnights AND spend time with Shade/keep up on housework, etc. When I go cadre I will have FOUR days off in a row each week. That will be very nice. So I shouldn't give too many details about what I do at work, but a few memorable moments: I have successfully started 2 out of 2 IVs now :) I have been lucky enough to not have to deal with bad IVs much. I have also assisted with one expired patient, and had my first patient expire on my shift just the other night (both were Hospice - ready to go any minute). It wasn't as weird as I thought it would be, but still sad. I have also had a few patients with behavior disorders get somewhat unruly. Other than that, work has been good. I learn something new each night, and so far haven't done anything too stupid :) And we just paid off our first two student loans this weekend. That sure felt awesome! Life is pretty good.