Is it fall yet?

Well, it's been awhile! In the month since we last updated we have been busy as always. Last weekend we went camping at a local campsite in Deltona called Blue Springs. My friend Nikki from work and her husband joined Rusty, Grant and myself for a weekend in the woods. We are thinking about taking another trip sooner than later, especially since we can feel fall coming in the evenings. (That means lows in the 70s instead of 80s!)

Besides all that it is Monday night football at our place again! Every Monday we have a group of about 5-6 over to our place to watch football. It'll be really nice when we have a bigger place to entertain in! As you can see from our seating predicament below!

Here are the boys snuggled up cute together on the couch!

Of course, saving for a house continues! In the meantime we've been spicing up our place and getting some new things including matching coffee table and end tables for our living room and a new china cabinet (well, new to US!) so I can actually display our beautiful dishes that we got for our wedding. We even rewarded ourselves with a new laptop which has been fun playing with. Our desktop will replace a very ancient laptop Rusty was using at work. It's all about justifying the buy!

Work continues to be a blur of activity for me. Nothing about nursing school prepared me for the workload of a nurse in the ICU. I am finding myself to be very slow at completing tasks but I learn so much at work everyday I come home with my head spinning. I have gained so much respect for the men and women who call nursing as their profession because it is certainly not a job for the faint of heart! Right now I am caring for two stable patients on my own, including one mechanically ventilated patient under the watchful eye of a preceptor. This is a full workload for an ICU nurse and it is more work than you could imagine! My training will continue though approximately March.

As for Rusty, things are about the same at work. He is entering the slow season so we are thankful we don't have a costly mortgage to pay each month! Next weekend he is planning on tearing the motor and drive train out of his Chevy pickup. His plan is to get the drive train in order along with some much needed suspension work. Of course this will all come a little at a time!

More later!

Amelia Island!

Rusty and I just returned from a very relaxing stay on Amelia Island, near Jacksonville. It was the perfect get away for us because even though it was Labor Day weekend, it was still a very quiet vacation spot. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in their small downtown area. We were even able to walk to dinner each night! The first day we just explored the area, especially the shops downtown. The second day we spent exploring Fort Clinch (a fort used by the Union soilders during the Civil War) and relaxing on the beach hunting for shark's teeth! As always our pictures are posted in with the rest of our photo albums : )

Our newest addition!

This weekend we added a new addition to our family! Rusty is a gear head in every sense of the word. He has always had mustangs torn up in the front yard, at work, at the apartment, you name it! He was getting tired of his mustang and decided to sell it and start on a new project. We totally changed gears with this one. As you can see he has purchased a 1971 Chevy pick-up truck to restore. This is one car project I'm actually pretty excited about. Check in now and then for updates!

More summer fun...

Well, we just continue to keep busy this summer. Two weeks ago Rusty and I took Paige and Megan to Wet n' Wild for their $20 after 5pm special. Little did we know they were only open until 9 not 11 and the price was actually $30! Hmm... So we decided to go anyways and ended up with passes for the rest of 2007 for only an extra $7 per person! We will be enjoying those until it gets cold here until, uh, probably into November as some years go in Florida!

Rusty and I also made another trip to Rainbow River. This time we brought more friends and my siblings as well! We also got smart and used one of our rafts as a flotation for our very large cooler filled with snacks and drinks for the 5 hr trip down the river! Perfect relaxation!

Next weekend we are planning a trip to Amelia Island, near Jacksonville, FL. We reserved a cute little room at a bed and breakfast...a first for us! (We are used to the cheapest motel we can find!) This is a much needed couple-time get away! Of course we scheduled this for the most popular beach holiday of the year, Labor Day weekend but it will still be a lot of fun!

My green thumb

I just wanted to show that I in fact, do not kill everything I plant! This is a picture of our tiny, apartment sized front porch with my new plants. My friend Michelle gave me the top of one of her pineapple plants which has taken root quite nicely. She says to expect the first fruit within about four years...haha. The two little pots are my papaya trees.

I am especially excited about those because I planted them from seeds I obtained from an actual papaya. I know this is a pretty basic concept but I'm pretty excited about that. Maybe I should have been a farmer...

Keeping busy!

We have really been enjoying summer time in the past few weeks. Two weeks ago we made a trip over to Daytona Beach and spent the weekend enjoying sun, relaxation and nothing else! On our way home we made a stop at Ponce Inlet where they have a lighthouse and several buildings set up to describe the life of the lighthouse watchmen and other historical information.Here is the lighthouse we climbed up! All 203 steps were terrifying!



The following weekend we went tubing down the Rainbow River in Ocala National Forest with a group of close friends. It was quite a hike (a 2 hour drive) but totally worth the beautiful trip down the river in our tubes! It took 4 hours to complete the run and by the time the afternoon thunderstorms came and blocked out the sun the spring water at about 70 degrees really started getting to us! Of course, we plan on doing this again soon!



We also visited the Orlando Science Center's "Our Body" exhibit. This was probably the most exciting thing I've ever seen in my life. Rusty was just grossed out I think! This is where they have dissected and preserved real human bodies in many ways to show the different systems of the body, like cardiac, respiratory, etc. A very fascinating way to learn anatomy! The rest of the day was spent enjoying the Science Center. It reminded me of many fond memories I had there with my dad and siblings when we were kids!Just one small example of the exhibit! So cool!


This past weekend Paige and I practiced parking for her driving test which is coming up later this month! I think we parked in about 1000 different parking spots but she is going to be a really great driver!! The next day we packed up the car and went to Clearwater Beach. We spent a couple of hours there and then joined up later with my friend Savanah to celebrate her graduation from UCF! Now it's back to the grindstone for a long week at work!

Summer Time!

Well, we have been busy since the last time I posted. Can't believe it's been almost a month. It seems like the older I get, the faster time goes. Anyways, the 4th of July was fun. Rusty had the day off but of course, being a nurse now, I had to work. Luckily I got off early that day and made it home about 4 pm. Rusty was home with our friend Grant and had the famous Keg Grill set up in the parking lot of our apartment complex with the camping chairs out and all. That night we had a few friends over and didn't do much but eat and play with fire crackers!

Here are the guys out in front of our apartment! Ours is on the right with the flag on the door : )

I am due to start my CCNIP program next week. It is the critical care training program I need to go through before I can start my official training in intensive care. The last 3 weeks I've been taking an EKG class to learn the different heart rhythms, and really it's been more of a review than learning session!

As for Rusty, he is in class this week as well. He is taking a class about drivability (diagnosing why your car runs like crap!). This is a challenge for him since he does mostly air conditioning and electrical problems at work. Besides that, he is the youngest person in the class by 20 years and has far less experience than anyone else. It is just one more step in the direction of becoming a Senior Master. In other words, maybe Rusty will have to study for once : )

I am also going to post a blurb about Paige. She has been away all month on many adventures! First, she went up to Minnesota with my grandma to see Alison's graduation. Then she went to Michigan with her and visited more relatives up there before heading up to Higgins Lake. My dad drove from Vermont to pick her up and spent some time with him in Vermont and then traveled to New York City for the first time! What a fun summer!

Here is a picture of her at Nanny and Papa's grave. Wish I could have been there to help with the flowers!