Memories...

Three years ago today I stood in the Colosseum under the hot Roman sun.

Three years ago today I walked through the Roman Forum and saw the very spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated.

Three years ago today I made a wish in Trevi Fountain, touched the 2,000 year old walls of the Pantheon, and sat on the Spanish steps eating Gelatto.

Three years ago tomorrow I wandered through St. Peters Basilica, feeling sort of small and insignificant, and stopping to marvel at this (the Pieta by Michelangelo).

Three years ago tomorrow I stood for a good hour in front of this (Disputation over the Sacrament by Raphael)

and this (School of Athens by Raphael).

Three years ago tomorrow I stared up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in complete awe and choking back tears. (While the Vatican Guards softly called "Silencio" in an effort to encourage the crowd to be reverent.)

It's funny how memories come back to you powerfully at times. It's funny how much can change in three years. It's funny how a month in Europe can change you forever.

Renaissance Fair

Last weekend a much anticipated event took place here in Moscow - One we've been hearing about since the day we moved here. The Renaissance Fair came to town!

I've never been to a Renaissance Fair. My exposure to them has been limited to second-hand descriptions and a handful of episodes of Gilmore Girls (which basically poked fun at them). I didn't really know what to expect. I hoped there would be minstrels playing, folks dressed in period clothes, and some Old English being spoken. Still, I somehow knew the good people of Moscow (who tend to be a little hippie-ish) would not disappoint!

Lainy and I walked to the park where the fair was being held. We could hear flutes playing from a few blocks away and got excited.

Our immediate exposure to Moscow's Renaissance Fair was a huge hand-painted banner reading: Moscow Renaissance Fair: Our Celebration of Spring. The first people we saw were a knight and a young maiden. I couldn't stop smiling and Lainy couldn't stop staring as we made our way through the crowd to find Brad.

Once we hooked up with Brad, we decided to walk around the park and see what we could see. Well, let me tell you, there were a lot of people that came out of the woodwork (if you know what I mean). But besides the weirdo's, there were some really awesome craft booths. Some of our favorites were: a booth selling homemade crystal balls and an apothecary selling his potions.

We ate "Nessie Ears" (as in the Loch Ness Monster) being sold from a huge cardboard castle. They turned out to be huge scones covered in cinnamon and sugar. Delicious!

After making our rounds, we decided Brad needed to get back to studying and Lainy needed to get to her nap. On our way out of the park we caught the last half of the May Pole dance. The dance featured a pirate, some fairies, William Shakespeare, and more maidens. Our favorite dancer was an old guy with shoulder-length silver hair. He spun and sidestepped like he would be content to dance around that May Pole forever. We got a good chuckle from watching him.

All in all, the fair was pretty sweet. Most people were dressed up, there was great live music, and I even heard some Old English. Not bad for our first Renaissance Fair. Actually, it was great!

Here are the pics:

What is a Chinese Dragon doing at a Renaissaince Fair, you ask?

We have no idea, but Lainy had fun running through it.

Lainy running through the dragon

Yes, that sign says "Around the World Yurt"

May Pole Dance

Our favorite dancer

Bears

Due to impending final exams, we the WWAMI wives (me and the other med student wives) have become practically widows. As a result, we have been searching high and low for fun things to do. Last week we had a couple of good finds.

Nicki and her three-year-old daughter Jacqueline found a bear research center at WSU, so last Tuesday we went to check it out.

There were probably 10 black bears in the center. We could get really close to them. I'm talking about five feet away separated only by a double fence. The kids loved it!

Lainy's favorite was a bear taking a bath in a big tub. He was so cute playing in there with his toy!

On Saturday we went to another animal place at WSU called the Conner Museum. It was full of taxidermy mounted animals. We saw more bears, a buffalo, a mountain lion, mountain goats, and a whole bunch of birds. It was pretty cool too!

It's fun to have two college campuses close to us here. They offer quite a few fun and interesting things for us to do when we're widowed!

Thanks for the fun times WWAMI wives! And good luck to Brad and the other boys on their exams!

Star Patient

Apparently it is fairly normal for an 18-month-old to be sick a lot. By "a lot" I mean every few weeks or so. Lainy has been sick so much this winter. I feel like I've been wiping her runny nose for months! So today when she woke up with a cough and yet another runny nose, I really wasn't that surprised.

Good thing we've got Dr. Dad and his bag of medical supplies! After a thorough examination Dr. Dad came to a few conclusions. The good news is that Lainy does not have an ear infection. The bad news is she's sick...again... which means general crankiness for her and less sleep for Mom. Yuck!

But, instead of dwelling on the yuckiness of a sick baby, I thought I'd brag about my star patient.

I am convinced that Alaina is the best patient ever seen by the doctors at Moscow Family Medicine. (I have it on good authority from a few of those doctors too.) Our last visit, which took place about three weeks ago, went something like this:

Dr. to Alaina: "Okay, I am going to listen to your heart now."

As he approched Alaina with the stethescope, she grabbed it from him, put the ear plugs in her ears and stuck the scope on her belly saying "awt" (aka "heart").

The Dr. raised his eyebrows in shock. Then he smiled and played right along with her. She listened to the Dr.'s heart, then let him have his turn listening to hers.

When he listened to her lungs, Alaina breathed slowly and deeply and didn't even flinch at the cold stethescope on her back.

As the Dr. brought out his otoscope, Alaina turned her head to the side and pointed at her ears. She calmly let him check her ears, then said "peese" (please) asking for the otoscope to check the Dr.'s ears.

When he was done examining Alaina (and when she was done examining him) the Dr. turned to me and said: "She's amazing! Usually kids this age are horrible patients!"

I smiled proudly and told him it was probably due to the fact that her Dad is in Medical School and uses her as his guinea pig.

So I have yet another perk of having a doctor as my husband - my kids will be great patients! I'm going to love showing them off!

Let's hope Lainy's cough and runny nose run their course quickly!

White Coat Ceremony

How does he look?

Brad received his first white doctor coat at a ceremony last Friday. It was such a neat evening! The families of all 40 WWAMI students came to support their doctors-in-training. Brad's parents, his sister Becca, and our new almost-brother-in-law Craig came to support Brad. We were all so proud of Brad, we were practically busting at the seams!

Each medical student received his/her white coat from their Preceptor (the doctor they've been working with this semester) or a professor. The preceptor put the coat on the student, then said a few words about him or her. I was so impressed with the things each preceptor said. Brad is going to school with some pretty amazing people. And he's right up there with them (if not outshining them all).

Brad's preceptor, Dr. Ting, was on call at the hospital that night, so he wasn't able to make it. We were a little sad about it, but it turned out just great anyway. We talked to a few of Brad's professors, and they all had rave reviews. One said that he wished all of his students were like Brad, relaxed and brilliant.

Lainy watched intently while Brad received his coat. She even listened while his professor talked about him. Then, on his way back to our table, she yelled out "Daddy!" in the cutest voice you've ever heard. She was just so proud of him, she couldn't contain it anymore! ha ha We got a good "oooh, aaahh" from the crowd, anyway.

It was a fun night. I'm so stinkin' proud of Brad! It was fun to have an excuse to do a little extra bragging and spoiling for him.

We're so glad Mom and Dad Hansen, Becca and Craig made the long drive up for the weekend. It meant so much to Brad to have them here. We had kind of tight quarters with six people in our little apartment, but we loved it! (I hope they can say the same!) It was fun to get to know Craig better and see him and Becca together. Thanks so much for coming!

My pictures aren't great. Sorry about the quality, but at least we got some to document the night! Here they are anyway...

Brad receiving his white coat from Dr. Howe

Dr. Howe talking about Brad

Brad and Lainy

WWAMI class 2009

Brad and his parents

All of us after the ceremony

Craig, Becca, and Lainy at dinner

P.S. Brad's family left while we were at church. When we came home from church, Lainy ran around our apartment looking for "Bompah" aka Grandpa. It was really cute!