Family Trip to Texas 12/15/12 - 12/17/2012

This weekend was our first family vacation to Texas.  Adam has been on a plane before with my mom and I to Chicago for my Step 2 exam, but we have otherwise only done some car rides up to Grand Rapids and South Dakota.  This was our first trip with all three of us together on a plane.  Adam and I have never been to Texas, so we were very excited!  Unfortunately, we had to be in town for Derek's company Christmas party with EMC on Friday 12/14 so we did not fly out until Saturday morning.

We flew to Houston, TX to see Derek's Uncle Mike, Aunt Margaret, and cousins Jeff and Michael before heading to Dallas for a residency interview.  Our first flight from MSP to Houston went well!  Adam only fussed a couple of times, but otherwise was a very happy baby.  We had to laugh, because he was flirting with the flight attendant.  She would smile at him and he just kept smiling and cooing at her!  He is now in a new mode of being very very talkative, so he will go on for 15-20 minutes just babbling.  She apparently caught his attention so he was pretty funny to watch!  We landed in Houston on Saturday afternoon and uncle Mike picked us up at the airport.  We went back to Mike and Margaret's house and chatted for the afternoon.  Derek wanted to learn how to smoke meat on Uncle Mike's smoker so we spent some time out by the hot tub while Derek and Mike smoked up some pork. Adam got to splash his feet in the hot tub, which was luke warm and fabulous!  This was the first time Adam was outside in something other than a full outfit and hat, since of course Minnesota is very cold now!  He loved kicking around and splashing!  Then we went to Pappacitas for Margaritas and chips while we waited for the meat to smoke!  We had fun chatting and getting to check out a little Houston culture!  After we got back, we enjoyed fabulous pulled pork and the boys all played ping pong!  Luck for us, Mike and Margaret had set up a crib for Adam, so we got a great night of sleep and Adam even slept in until 8!  We woke up to a day of rain, but enjoyed watching the football games and snacking around the Christmas tree.  We had a blast!  We were sad to have to leave already on Sunday night.

We flew to Dallas Sunday night and got into our hotel and ready for my interview the next morning at UT Southwestern and Children's hospital.  Adam and Derek spent Monday together while I did my interviewing.  Everything went well, though Adam got a little fussy for Derek and also had a pretty good blowout! (I laughed a good deal at that one :-) )  After my interview, we had an hour to spend before we had to fly back home, so we went to go see where JFK was killed.  We walked around the street where he was shot and got to stand on the X that they have continually marked on the road where each shot took place.  They also have left the window on the depository half-open that Lee Oswald shot from (supposedly?).  We got to hear about the different theories of his death and walked around with Adam.  Derek loves the history, so we had a great time!  Then it was time to head back to the airport and get on our plane back to Minnesota.

While we had a wonderful whirlwind visit to Houston and Dallas Texas, we were sure glad to be home again in our own beds.  Vicky picked us up from the airport and came to visit for a bit with Tracy.  Turns out, Tracy missed Adam already!  haha!  We are sure lucky to have her watching him!

      

     
                    

 

Road Trip to Sioux Falls, SD 11/6 - 11/7/2012

Even though we just got back from Adam's first trip to Chicago, it was on to his next journey.... a road trip to Sioux Falls, SD.  I was scheduled for an interview with the Sanford pediatric residency program, so my mom agreed to drive with us down to SD for the night.  We left 11/6/2012 around noon.  The car ride went very well.  Adam got up to eat about half-way there, but otherwise slept the entire trip!  Mom and I enjoyed sight-seeing our way to Sioux Falls, as I had never been there before and there were many small shops along the way.  We arrived at the hotel around 5PM and got settled in.  I had a dinner reservation with some of the other applicants and two of the residents from Minnesota, so I did not get to stay for long.  Once Adam and mom were settled in, I headed down for dinner.  It was nice to meet some of the ladies and hear a little more about their brand new residency program.  When I got back to the hotel room, it was time to hear more about the election, as this happened to be the night President Obama was re-elected.  Adam and I cuddled a little before heading to bed.  Since Adam had his bassinet along for the trip, he slept much better than he did in the port-a-crib in Chicago.  This was helpful, since I had to be up early to go to my interview!  Interview day went well and then it was back in the car to head home!  It was nice that the drive is only 4 hours.  This time Adam slept the entire ride!!

 

Adam's First Plane Trip 11/1/12-11/2/12

As part of my step 2 medical exam, I had to fly to Chicago to take the Clinical Skills part of the exam.  Since Adam is still so little, I had a really hard time thinking about leaving him home without me.  Luckily, my mom offered to fly with us and watch Adam while I took the 8 hour exam.  So off the 3 of us went to Chicago.  We left on November 1st.  Adam did great on the plane ride, he ate on the way up and was sleeping on the way down, so we didnt have much to worry about in terms of screaming little guy on the airplane.  Once we got to Chicago, we took the shuttle to the hotel.  Apparently the hotel had just undergone some major renovations, so they were having a big party for all of their customers to check out their new look.  This meant free food and drinks for us! We tested many yummy dishes and desserts and then decided to head upstairs for bed.  The hotel was nice enough to give us a crib for Adam to sleep in and a refrigerator for his milk, which made life a lot easier.  This was going to be my first full day away from Adam, which I was really not looking forward to, so it was nice to have everything organized the night before.

Adam slept okay, he did wake up a few times.  It appeared he did not like this new crib with open sides, since he is very used to his bassinet which is smaller and enclosed on the sides.  I got enough sleep to function the next day and take the Exam.  Mom did awesome with Adam and getting the hotel all packed up since they wouldn't let us get a later checkout so that I could help pack up... BOO.  When I got back to the hotel, Mom had Adam all set and ready to go, so we headed on the shuttle back to the airport.  Our plane was a little delayed, but Adam was very patient and enjoyed flirting with the young girls across the seats from us in the waiting area.  He would laugh and smile at them, which they thought was just the greatest thing.  Then he crashed out, and slept the whole way up in the airplane.  Yet another ride without any crying! I was so impressed and glad that he was so wonderful.  It was also a nice test of how easy it could be to travel with him.  We will be doing it again in December when we head down to Texas for a residency interview, so it will be interesting to see if he still behaves as well!