Nomad Life #Philly

First rotation is in Philly.  Luckily, we received a list with some housing options, so we were able to rent a room for pretty cheap.  There are actually three rooms and a shared living space, complete with mini-fridge, microwave, and coffee maker (phew!).  =)  Stove was left off of the list....oh wait, no, it's just nonexistent.  The landlord did buy a nuwave induction cooktop though, and it has been a life-saver!  Only one other room is rented out, and Sertaj (our roommate, who is rarely here) is very nice.  His wife and 3 children are in Texas and he's taking a biostats course here for the summer. As we were driving to Philly I realized we just rented a room, sight unseen, in Philadelphia.  It turned out pretty well though.  It turns out it is a finished basement of a very nice home, in a very nice neighborhood.  Tender mercies.  

 Poor Sterling...Father's Day comes around and all we have is a microwave. I Pinterested several microwavable meals, and found that you can microwave cinnamon rolls. In 40 seconds!  Seriously?!  How did I not know that before?  

My stove-top.  It heats up pretty stinkin' quick too.  Not sure how it works, but the water boils faster on this than on my gas stove in Baltimore!

Sunday evening we took a walk through the neighborhood and found a park and giant splash area.  The water wasn't on, but Sterling couldn't resist "waking up the dragon".  Yeah, that's right, I said Sterling.  So, Cohen had to check it out.

Monday I decided we'd go play at the park...just the park area.  Well, since Cohen already knew about the water area, he didn't want to swing....or slide...or climb on the stairs.  He just wanted to go in the water (even though he doesn't like it falling on his head).  We can see who won that battle.  =)  Crazy boy. 

I met some young mothers at church on Sunday (their husbands are all in dental school).  They invited me to the pool yesterday, which was very kind of them and very nice for me.  (I didn't get any pic's though). My only predicament was how to bathe my sun-screened child.  Yep.  I didn't even think about the fact that there might not be a bathtub when we got here.  We tried a shower Saturday evening and it was not the best experience for any of us.  So, I got creative...and I don't want to brag, but I was pretty proud of my creativity.  =)

He was hesitant to get in, but it went much better than the shower. Thank goodness.

Cohen has been waking up around 6 since we got here (which make my days REALLY long).  So this morning we went and explored the Awbury Arboretum.  Ironically, it's right in the city, and we could see cars and hear sirens.  But, since we came from Baltimore, we felt right at home.  =)

 Cookie break!

Someone found a perfect walking stick, though it was more like a "take a few steps and beat the ground" stick.  

Living as Nomads

This is Sterling's 4th year of rotation, and as it has worked out we will be moving every 2-4 weeks for, well, the whole school year. So, we left Baltimore and went to Tennessee.  Sterling's parents have been nice enough to let us store some of our belongings at their house (we sold the rest of it).  While there, Sterling and his Dad got to do a little fly fishing- and were successful too!

On the way to Tennessee.  What a trooper!

Scoping out their fishing spot.

Then we headed down to Florida.  Sterling had a review at school, so we crashed with my family for a couple of weeks.  It was great! I got to hang out with my sister a ton; we went to the beach, the pool, the water park, we ate too much ice cream.  We had dinner in the evenings with my parents (my mom even worked out with me one morning!).  Cohen was on the same side of the house as my parents' bedroom, so my mom would get him up in the morning and bring him to me...sometimes with a fresh diaper too!  Man, I could get used to that!

Melica and Aaron, and Sterling and I swapped babysitting so we could go out.  I realized I forgot Cohen's PJ's, so we borrowed some of Kinsley's...and they were a little too big.  Poor guy was exhausted and this is how we found him when we got home.  

Leaving Baltimore

I worked up until the week before Sterling's graduation, so I didn't have a whole lot of packing time, but Cohen definitely wanted to help! He unpacked what was packed, and packed what didn't need to be packed.  =)  Quite the little helper.

Here he's helping with the silverware.

A flower festival we went to.

Cohen and Maya headed to nursery.  So sweet!

We finally tried out Cafe Hon (a staple in Baltimore) before we left.  It was pretty tasty!  And how could you not try it when it has a GIANT pink flamingo out front?

We went to Port Discovery with some friends and the kiddos had a blast!

An attempt as surfing.  I think Maya caught on a little better than Cohen. 

He just couldn't give up the giraffe. 

We had breakfast with some friends at the park as a last farewell.  This is a picture of Cohen's best buddy, Lily.  Sorry, I wasn't on top of it with the camera, and this is as good as it gets (and it's courtesy of Sterling).  =)

Some entertainment for Cohen while we try to pack.  It finally warmed up enough to open the house up....and by house I mean front door.  haha

A last walk on campus. 

Getting close! 

Last few minutes before we head out.  Cohen is out cold on the rug...he's in teal and khaki.  =) 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Graduation!

I can't believe how fast this last year has gone!  Baltimore was definitely a big change for me, and to my surprise, I actually really loved it!  (I'd change the living in a basement part if we ever moved back), but we both really enjoyed our time there and I know Sterling loved the Public Health program.  As he typically does, he had several projects going on at once, but was able to accomplish a lot.  He even helped pass a law in Florida regarding age requirements and car seats (that was his capstone project).  

Needless to say, we were not ready to leave.  

We did get more pictures with Cohen and with Sterling's family, but I still have to get them from his parents.  Way to go Sterling!  I'm so proud of you and all of your accomplishments!

Surprise Birthday Party

It was my Father-n-law's 70th birthday, and they recently moved to Tennessee, so the whole family drove from our various places to surprise him for his birthday.  I think it was a surprise, especially since we all arrived around midnight, haha!

Even the little ones were still up!

We went to a festival in town.  There was quite a bit to look at!

Mapa and Cohen.  I love this picture.  =)

The boys.

It got a little quiet, and this is what we found:

Needed to blow his nose, I guess.

Mapa getting his hair done. It turned out quite lovely!

At a rest stop on the way home, they had horses!  To be honest, horses make me a little nervous, so I didn't get very close, but Sterling and Cohen didn't seem to have any problem.

Easter

So for Easter we headed down to Jonathan and Val's.  What was supposed to be a 5 hour drive turned into a 9 hour drive.  I think holiday traffic combined with DC traffic is just a bad mix.  On the way home it only took around 7 hours, but we did have a lot of fun visiting!

(I just thought this picture was fitting since it's Eastery).

We went to a museum (I know I have more pic's than this, but this is the only one I could find, of course). 

We dyed Easter eggs.

Checked out what the Easter bunny brought and found some eggs.

Tried to take some pictures... =)

We took Raffe (pronounced raf-ee.....the giraffe) out of the picture.  Hence Cohen's unwillingness to cooperate.

We headed back home Sunday morning.  When we stopped at 5 Guys I realized that was our fancy Easter dinner.  At first I was kind-of sad, and then I thought maybe we're on to something...perhaps it'll be our new tradition?

This is when Cohen discovered Ketchup.  French fries stopped serving their purpose as food, and simply became the vehicle for rapidly moving ketchup to his mouth.