Summertime

Matthew, or should we say Lieutenant Scott, graduated from his Air Force Commissioned Officer's Training last week. He has been away for 5 long weeks. The training was challenging, but he learned everything he needed to and became good friends with the other men and women in his flight group. It seems to have gone as well as it could have, although I've been sitting on a beach for most of it so what do I know? He joins me in Hawaii tomorrow night and we couldn't be more thrilled. I'm so proud of him.

As most of you probably know, I have spent the last 3.5 weeks in Hawaii with my family. The first 10 days of Matt's training overlapped with the end of my school year, so I was on my own in Houston while I finished up teaching. That was kind of a bummer, but I couldn't feel too sorry for myself knowing that I had two months of freedom ahead. It feels good to have my first year of teaching at Taylor behind me, and I'm looking forward to my second! After a few more weeks at the beach of course . . .

Here is a quick overview in pictures of my time with my family so far. It's hard to live so far away while my siblings are still growing up; it's such a treat to be here for the day-to-day! And can you believe this is their day-to-day?? Those lucky ducks.

1, 2, 3, close your eyes!

Searching for shells at Pipeline Beach

Talking to Matthew :) 

Floating the current at Bathtub Beach

Crab hunting on Temple Beach

Surfing with sea turtles at Castles Beach

Shave ice with Hannah

Hiking to Wailele Falls (we've done this hike twice already)

Love my Becca Jane!

Swimming with Mom at Sunset Beach. 

Sushi sushi sushi

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Looking Back on Med School Year 1

Dear 2012 Sarah,
As soon as Matt was accepted into medical school, you scoured the internet for blogs that would give you a hint as to what life would be like as a "med school wife." Blogs are great. You still love them. But everyone's experience is different (and you work full time and don't have a baby so all of those blogs you found are irrelevant anyway). Here are a few things you should know about your experience:

• Moving is expensive. You can cut all the corners you want, but moving across the country = $$$. Deal with it, budget for it as much as possible, then just let it be. Obsessing over finances only makes you cranky.
• Medical school is a full time job plus nights and weekends; however, so is teaching. Staying busy and working hard is the second-best way for you to support Matt. Waiting around for him to be "done" will only frustrate you both. He's never done, but he will always have time for you. He really is the best.
• First and foremost, the BEST way for you to support Matt is to make sure the time you are able to spend together is quality time. If he can turn the med student off, you can turn the teacher off. Those essays can wait until Wednesday (I know you told the kids you would have them graded by Monday, but odds are no one was even listening when you said that).
• Friends are everywhere. Reach out to others, be confident, and friendships will develop naturally. Don't stress about it!
• It's OK to splurge on expensive restaurants from time to time. Houston has some seriously good food. Take advantage of it!
• Food trucks. Forget everything Dad ever said about "roach coaches." You love them.
• Make an effort to keep in touch with old friends. You may be 1,000 miles away, but you need them! Get a hands free device for your phone and go crazy. Your daily commute is 1.5 hrs. Use it.
• Have fun! Your life is so stinkin' good right now. You married the perfect guy for you, the good days of teaching will make up for the bad ones, and you picked an awesome place to live. ENJOY IT.

Love,

2013 Sarah

Spring Break Finale

The governor Dad? Really? You should have said something :)

Ah, Florida. You pleasantly surprised me. Driving through Pensacola was a nightmare; our Texas license plates seemed to generate some aggressive road vibes. But that beach! White sand dunes and clear water, I was in heaven. As soon as we set up camp we walked across the street to the beach to watch the sunset. Within minutes we saw 5-6 rays feeding right up by the shore, and a whole bunch of dolphins. It felt like the gulf was just teeming with life.

The next morning we saw more dolphins, only this time they were jumping and flipping around in the water. I couldn’t believe it! We also had fun exploring Fort Pickens (Civil War site #3). This was a great place because there was no formal tour and there were only a few other people there. It really felt like exploring. And you could touch everything! That was fun.

So the only downside to our 1.5 days in Florida was the weather. It was in the low 40’s in the morning (camping), and didn’t get up to 60 until later in the afternoon. There definitely wasn't any swimming, but we still had an amazing time.

So that was our trip. It was a lot of driving, there were a couple of traffic jams, and we got a little cranky here and there, but we were together for every second of it! For that entire week we were able to share everything—every meal, every stress, every little excitement. It was very therapeutic. Don’t get me wrong, I believe it’s important for spouses to have individual goals and experiences. We’re ready to get back to our independent student/teacher lives, coming together at the end of the day to share our trials and successes, and looking forward to the weekend. But an entire week of togetherness was just what we needed. Now it's back to real life!

Spring Break Part III

Birmingham:
Ribs.

Atlanta:
Aquarium! The Georgia Aquarium has the largest tank in the world; home to four whale sharks, a bunch of giant manta rays, black tip sharks, and more. The rest of the aquarium was great (aside from a painfully cheesy dolphin show complete with a wannabe broadway singer and a sparkly cape), but we were mesmerized by that main tank.  

After the aquarium we had chicken and waffles at Gladys Knight’s restaurant. Delicious. Fattening. Probably good that we don’t live in Atlanta or I would want it every day. We also went to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention…you know, from Contagion?) and saw the museum there. Matt is really interested in studying infectious disease, so he was looking forward to this. I decided that if he ever gets a job there I would be fine living in Atlanta. It was a pretty cool city!

Montgomery:

Rosa Parks museum. Dreamland BBQ. Best pork sandwich I’ve ever had.

And then it was on to Florida!

Spring Break Part II

Chattanooga, Tennessee

I let Matt plan this trip. We ended up going to 3 different Civil War battlefields/historical sites. I love that guy! They were pretty interesting, and when I maybe started to get bored there was beautiful scenery to keep me occupied. The first site was Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We camped out there the night before, enjoyed fine local cuisine for breakfast (Waffle House), then drove up the mountain. It was gorgeous! Cloudy and rainy, but I didn’t realize Tennessee was so scenic. The battle field was cool too. After Lookout Mountain we went to the site of the actual battle of Chattanooga, home of the best visitor center film (which is saying something because we ended up watching 4 on this trip).

 

Sneaky-sneak.

Spring Break Part I

Matt and I just returned from a week long road trip. We drove 2,000 + miles, hit 6 states in 7 days, and had a marvelous time. I've decided to break this post up because, lets be honest, most of you will just skip to the pictures if I post a week's worth of adventures all at once. Am I right? :)
New Orleans
Matt’s number one stop in New Orleans was the WWII Museum. Mine was a sandwich. I saw a Man vs. Food episode awhile ago where he had to eat an entire muffuletta by himself. These sandwiches are the size of a large plate. They consist of “a muffuletta loaf split horizontally and covered with layers of marinated olive salad, capicola, mortadella, salami, pepperoni, ham, Swiss cheese, and provolone.” So naturally I’ve wanted to try one ever since. I was not disappointed; luckily Matt was a good sport and drove in circles while I bought it since the French Quarter has no parking.
 The museum was almost as good as my sandwich. Just kidding. It was a pretty amazing museum. They had a lot of personal accounts and artifacts, which I liked, and they really focused on the war in the Pacific. That’s a part of the war I didn’t know as much about. But the coolest part, by far, was the hangar with all of the planes. Real planes! That actually flew and fought during the war. Consider us impressed, New Orleans.