Brad turns 29

Brad's birthday happened to fall after his first all-night shift at the hospital. The one where he was one of three doctors running the hospital at night. The one where he had three people code on him and some other scary stuff happen. Baptism by fire for the new intern.

So, we began again our string of rudimentary birthday celebrations. Poor Brad. At least we went all out for him last year.

This year he came home in the morning to a few presents and cards, then fell into bed for a few hours, then went to church, then had to wait three hours for dinner because I'd forgotten to put the ribs in the oven to cook while we were at church. (We came home and they were sitting on top of the preheated oven, nice and raw.)

We did manage to make him a quite delicious ice cream cake, delivered with sparklers and a very enthusiastic rendition of the birthday song. And dinner was good, even three hours late.

For Brad's cards from the girls I asked each of them questions about Daddy. They gave us a good laugh. Here are their responses (in italics):
Alaina:
My Daddy's name is: Brad
My Dad is 20 years old.
His hair is black and his eyes are blue
My Dad's favorite food is pizza
Daddy's favorite color is blue
My Dad likes to wear: green shirts
My Dad's job is to: clean up some things
He loves to eat: popsicles
He's smart because he knows: a whole bunch of things like playing games right.
My Dad works hard at: Sacred Heart
Daddy always tells me: funny things like jokes and funny words about funny things
I'm happy when Daddy: tickles me
I love my Daddy because: he's nice 

Leah
My Daddy's name is: cool
My Dad is: two years old
His hair is green and his eyes are green.
My Dad's favorite food is: grapes
Daddy's favorite color is: pink and blue
My Dad likes to wear: Sleeping Beauty dress
My Dad's job is: surgery
He loves to eat: strawberries
He's smart because he knows: um, I don't know... strawberry
My Dad works hard at: work
Daddy always tells me: I love you
I'm happy when Daddy: gives me big hugs
I love my Daddy because: I love him too much

We love you, Bradley Hansen! Happy 29th!

Disneyland

June 10-14, 2012

After your husband does something incredible like graduate from medical school, you have to celebrate by doing something awesome, right? Right! So when the conversation about impending graduation and the subsequent celebrations came up last fall, we decided pretty quickly that Disneyland was where we wanted to go. When you have two fun girls at two great ages and a daddy who grew up going to Disneyland a lot, the decision was pretty obvious.

We recruited Brad's parents to come with us and tried to recruit the rest of his family to make it work too. However, with different things going on in the family, the trip ended up just including Brad's parents, his sister Richelle and her family, and us. It was really quite nice.

We rented a cute little house a mile from Disneyland. The girls went into hysterics when they discovered that the room they were sleeping in was decorated in a Disney Princess theme - complete with a closet full of dress-ups just their size. Can it get any better than that?!

We woke up super early Monday morning and walked the mile to Disneyland in hyper-speed (we were excited). Brad might have been more excited than the girls.

On the way we saw this:

made of legos!

And this:

also made of legos

And finally, this!

Day one was spent in Disneyland park. We felt pretty lucky to have Richelle and Bryce with us. They have Disneyland down to a science so we barely had to wait in line for anything. It was awesome. (Thanks Bryce!) Our day was packed full of fun rides, good food, and the magic you only find in Disneyland. We ended day one watching Fantasmic. Leah was fascinated by the show and Lainy loved that Jessie (from Toy Story) was in the finale. So fun!

Lainy's one and only time on Splash Mountain

Leah was pretty enthralled by Tinkerbell

It's a small world afterall... times 4

The walk back to the house seemed much, much longer than it had in the morning... All the kids fell asleep. The next morning we decided to drive and park :)

Day two we were in California Adventure. The new Ariel ride was a favorite with the girls (and me), and so were the classic Soaring over California and the Tower of Terror. Leah got pretty sick in the afternoon. Let's just say that we learned the Disneyland crew have a very efficient way of cleaning up puke. Poor girl. We ended day two by watching the World of Color show. It was amazing. Seriously - so good it brought tears to my eyes. Awesome!

Meeting Buzz cheered Leah up slightly

Waiting for World of Color

Day three was our last day in Disneyland. We hopped around to both parks to make sure we saw everything we wanted before leaving. The parade in Disneyland was a definite favorite! After we had exhausted ourselves on rides, we let the girls each choose a souvenir, snapped a picture in front of the castle, and watched the fireworks as our farewell to Disneyland. It was hard to leave.

Lainy and James transportation (Thanks for being a good sport, Mom!)

Our best photo on Splash Mountain

Waiting for the parade

Leah's face when she saw the princess float

Exhausted after three days of fun!

This is Lainy on the flight home:

We had a fabulous trip! The weather was near perfect, the parks weren't too busy, the kids were all really well-behaved, and Disneyland was still magical.

Thanks for a wonderful time Mom and Dad H., and Richelle, Bryce, James and Matthew! Let's do it again!

Medical School Graduation

Saturday, June 2 was a good day. It was the day Brad graduated from medical school.

My parents arrived Friday afternoon, and Brad's parents followed that evening. We were in the middle of packing for our move but they all kindly ignored our bare house full of boxes. It was so awesome of them all to come and celebrate with us!

Saturday morning we got all dressed up and made our way to the Alaska Airlines Arena - venue of graduation. After we had received programs and sat down in our seats, I opened the program to find Brad's name. There it was, listing his honors and accomplishments. The culmination of all Brad's hard work over the past four years hit me and I just cried. They were tears of relief and pride, but mostly of happiness. "Good tears" as Lainy calls them.

The speakers did well (particularly the student speakers). Brad sure looked handsome as he walked on stage and received his doctoral hood. He only did a small double-take when he was announced as Dr. Hansen for the first time. He even had a small speaking part in which he presented the class gift to Dean Ramsey. (The class gift is a scholarship paid for by the students in Brad's class to help future medical students. Brad was the recipient of similar scholarships and he was happy to help present.)

Listening to the speaker

Very blurry picture of Brad with his diploma

Presenting the class gift (Apparently he said something very funny)

Then it was time for the Physician's Oath. All the graduates stood and solemnly recited the Oath together. I could tell they were taking it very seriously. I think it's really admirable that they take an oath to respect life and to consecrate their own lives to the "service of humanity". Pretty awesome.

We waved and clapped as Brad walked by during the recessional. Then we stayed for a few minutes to take pictures and say goodbye to friends. I lost it again as we said goodbye to the Miller's, our dear friends. I met Juliann our very first day in Moscow 4 years ago. Hard to believe it's over!

Juliann, Spencer, Brad, and Me

Leah was very proud of her Daddy

We spent the rest of graduation day eating good food and celebrating. It was so fun to have our parents. They have been a big part of getting us through medical school. We love them!

It was a day to be remembered!

Congratulations, Bradley Hansen, MD! It's been quite a ride.

Mariners

I'm still playing catch-up on here. This happened May 26.

 We finally figured out how to do a Mariners game. We knew where to find the free parking and when to arrive in order to get the free poster given to the first 20,000 fans. We knew where to get the best hot dog, and where to stop for Krispy Kreme donuts on the way home. This time, our last time, we did it just right.

Looking at these pictures makes me a little sad. We miss you Seattle!

Alaina's Preschool Graduation

May 24th our little Lainy graduated from the ECEAP preschool program at the University of Washington. Her teachers told her that she could tell everyone that she graduated from UW a week before her Daddy. She thought that was pretty cool!

We were sad to see this year of preschool come to and end. Lainy's teachers have been fabulous. Simply amazing, involved, compassionate teachers. And they have loved her. She has learned so much - not only reading and math skills, but important social skills too. We have felt incredibly blessed to be part of ECEAP.

Last day of school at the park

 

Graduation day dawned sunny and beautiful. While Lainy was practicing for the program, Leah and I went and got her balloons, flowers, and some cupcakes. We wanted her to feel extra special. Brad picked her up from school, then Leah and I met them with our surprises. I wish I had a picture of Leah running to Lainy with balloons and flowers flying in the wind. And Lainy's face when she saw them. So sweet. I think our plan worked - she felt pretty great.

The graduation program was cute. The graduates walked out in full graduation regalia: gowns and caps. It was awesome! The only glitch in the program was that someone forgot to turn the lights on in the auditorium until half way through the program. Hence our crappy pictures and videos. Grrr. Oh well. Here's our best shot:

To kick of the program, one of Lainy's teachers played the guitar and the kids sang "We are Gonna Be Friends" by the White Stripes (covered by Jack Johnson). I thought it was darling.

Fall is here, hear the yell
Back to school, ring the bell
Brand new shoes, walking blues
Climb the fence, books and pens
I can tell that we are gonna be friends.
I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

Don't you think that is the cutest song to sing at graduation? Here is Lainy singing her heart out on the last verse:

Love her.

Next they sang and danced to an alphabet song (where a staff member got WAY too into the dancing...) then it was time to present the graduates. Lainy told us her job was to walk up the steps, shake Principal Chris's hand, get her diploma, and wave to Mom and Dad. She did great!

(The video that was supposed to go here will not load, so imagine Lainy doing what was described above with a charming smile and darling wave.)

Wiggly little Leah paused on my lap long enough to shout "Good job Lainy!" and clap enthusiastically as Lainy took the stand. We are super proud parents.

With Teacher Fanny

With Teacher Gabby (her favorite)

With Teacher Jaclyn

Alaina and Anya - our friend and neighbor

We love you Lainy! Congratulations!