3,000 Miles Later

It has been several weeks since I got the chance to sit down and blog. Life is moving forward a bit too quickly at times and we are simultaneously settling into life in Cleveland and not settling in because each day holds a different schedule for us!! A good indicator of exactly how busy we have been is the odometer on our newly purchased Sorento – just crossed the 3,000 mile barrier in a little over one month! It seems we are always driving somewhere lately whether it is back to Iowa, Chicago, or to Niagara Falls!

Rob is liking his residency program and we have settled into some great friendships already here. We have really enjoyed getting to know our new “southern” friends Jenay and Chris. They are LSU fans who love grits, crawfish, red beans and rice! We have gotten the chance to hang out playing board games, mini-golf, and just chatting late into the night. They are also expecting a little girl in January. It has been so nice to have Jenay to chat with over coffee talking babies and OB care. I can’t wait until we both have our little girls and can have girls days out! Rob and I are incredibly sad they will be in Westlake at the St. John’s residency program just one year but glad for the new friendship!

I have also really enjoyed my time with another resident wife, Joslyn. She is so sweet, energetic, and crafty! Without my sister, mom, or friends here in Ohio Joslyn has jumped right in and made planning for Bella so exciting and fun. Joslyn is the queen of crafting and has helped me get the nursery ready. I will post some photos soon of the decorated nursery (when the crib comes in) and point out the adorable stuff she has helped me make. It has been such a blessing to have a friend here to hang out with while our husbands are hard at work. We have explored Cleveland together and found some interesting antique stores – some we love and some that creeped us out!

In mid-August I got to head back to Iowa and Chicago for two baby showers. My oldest brother, Seth, was home from Afghanistan for the Iowa shower and my sister, Jolie and her husband Mark were also able to make is up. It was nice to plan the shower around a family “reunion” of sorts although I will blog about the showers separately on Annabelle’s page! Both showers were absolutely adorable and it was so nice to see family and friends before the baby gets here.

When I got back from Iowa/Chicago Robbie decided (on a whim) that we should have a one year anniversary trip. He surprised me on Friday by asking if I would like to go to Niagara Falls the next morning. I am always in for an adventure so of course I was ready to go! The crazy part of the whole idea was Rob had to work the overnight shift that night so I packed our things up while he was working, he came home and crashed for 3 hours of so and we were off on our “international” anniversary trip. Granted, it’s not the type of international anniversary trip we had originally said we would take when we thought we would be child-free and it was 6 weeks early because of the baby but it was so much fun! We decided to spend the night on the Canada side and as soon as we crossed the border Rob switched to “kilometer” mode and drove ridiculously slow to avoid getting pulled over by the mounties. We got to our super-cheap hotel, checked in and took off for the falls as soon as we could. We walked next to the falls for a bit, grabbed dinner, and then came back after dark to check out the falls all lit up in different colors. It was gorgeous! The next morning we took the Rainbow Bridge over to the American side of the falls. After breakfast at a café we decided to go on the Maid of the Mist boat tour of the falls. Despite getting soaked in the rain on our way down to the boat and the fact that in the back of my mind I thought a boat ride could be a little bit lame, we hopped on the boat and headed out to the falls. It was absolutely incredible!! The boat ride took us right next to the bottom of the falls and we couldn’t stop laughing from our goofy blue ponchos, getting pounded in the face with water and my mascara running all over the place! When we got off the boat we spent some time walking around Goat Island and looking at Horseshoe Falls from the top. The amount of water going over the falls was mind-blowing and I rolled my eyes as Rob excitedly told me facts about the falls like the fact that 750,000 gallons of water go over the falls each second. He then spent time calculating out how many gallons that would be per day and how many gallons that would provide for each American, etc. etc. I had to laugh to myself to think that our kids are going to think at some points in their lives that he is the smartest person they have ever met and at other points in their lives that he is the cheesiest person on the planet. Regardless, I love him tons and am excited that at the end of our first year we are about to have our first little girl. I honestly can’t imagine a better first year. When it started to rain again Rob turned to me excitedly and said, “I’ll bet there are a million gallons of water going over the falls each second now!!”. Oh, I love my husband!!

The week after our trip to Niagra Falls I worked a short temporary office job which my landlord’s wife had referred me for. It was so nice to make a little bit of money and get out of the house for a bit but it definitely re-affirmed our decision for me to stay home. It was hard to keep up on everything with Rob working crazy hours and my working each day. Our time off didn’t line up so well and a lot of household chores fell to the wayside! I am so grateful that we will be able to have me stay home once Bella gets here – it will definitely help us maintain a more harmonious home. :)

We are getting excited for some friends to come visit with our good Chicago friends Jeff, Little, Hunter, Kara, Gil, Libby and Brian coming up next weekend. The week following, my brother and his girlfriend Ashley will be coming out from the D.C. area. Time is definitely going to fly between now and October 18th…I just hope we slow down the miles on the Sorento!!



Robbie and me at the top of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls



Robbie with the American Falls in the background

Me with the Horseshoe Falls in the background

Horseshoe Falls view from Canadian side

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls at night - White

Horseshoe Falls at night - Red

American Falls at night - Blue

American Falls at night - Purple

American Falls at night - Yellow

Robbie on the Maid of the Mist boat tour

View of American Falls from boat

View of Horseshoe Falls from boat

Falls from boat tour

Climbing right up next to the falls after the tour - look at the amount of mist they give off!

View of both falls from the top - American side

View of both falls - the path in the lower right corner is where we walked next to the falls (photo 2 above)

Robbie and me at the top of the American Falls

View of Canada from the American side

Brandywine Falls and the Beaver Marsh

I am a bit behind on posting updates so here is the second one today! 

Some of our new resident friends, Jenay and Chris, had recommended we check out the Cuyahoga Valley National Park sometime before the baby gets here. Specifically, they said we should head to the Beaver Marsh and Brandywine Falls. We looked it up on the map and found out it was just a few minutes from Sagamore Hills (south CLE suburb) where Robbie goes each Thursday for a half day of lecture. Last Thursday Robbie had the day off after going to morning lecture so we decided to check ou the park after he was done. I was more than happy to kill some time at Panera using the internet and drinking a hazelnut coffee (yum!). He got done a bit early so we grabbed lunch and headed out to explore. It was a gorgeous day and we got some beautiful photos to share!

First we drove south to go see the Beaver Marsh area.

Beaver Marsh area

Scenic Railroad train with bird in the tree

After a walk there we drove back up to the Brandywine Falls area to check it out!

Gorgeous views on the walk down to the falls

Brandywine Falls

Robbie and Jill at the Falls

We finished off the day with a hike through the forest. I loved all the mushrooms even though Robbie thought I was crazy. I stopped to grab a few photos of them as well!

Mushrooms and moss in the forest

Thanks Mom!

When we moved to our new house our landlord had beautifully remodeled the kitchen putting in very functional custom cabinets. One of my absolute favorite features is a large built in spice rack next to the new dishwasher (I plan to put up photos of the inside of our house soon and this will definitely be something I show off!). With both of us being adventurous cooks we have a huge variety of spices and filled the rack up entirely.

A few weeks after moving in we had used up all our curry powder and I wanted to try a recipe that called for marjoram. I headed out to the grocery store and into the spice aisle. I found the curry powder and did a double take…$5.59?!? That just couldn’t be right!! At first I thought maybe it was just an expensive grocery store so I stopped at 2 or 3 others and found the prices to be more of the same. When I got home and asked Robbie how much he thought spices cost he said, “umm…maybe 75 cents?” When I told him the Cleveland prices he was just as shocked as I was! He decided he’d better stop using spices so liberally when he cooks! The next time I was on the phone with my mom I asked her the same question. She said, “I don’t know, less than $1?”. Maybe we were just a bit spoiled in Iowa but here is a comparison to show the price difference between Iowa and Cleveland. Note the price difference between whole cloves in Iowa (88 cents) and Cleveland ($6.69).

Cleveland prices



Iowa prices



Cleveland prices for whole cloves: $6.69 (top left)

Iowa prices for whole cloves: 88 cents

A few days after the phone call with my mom there was a FedEx box by our front door. When I opened it up, right on top was a huge assortment of spices sent by my mom. That should tide us over for awhile I hope! As a side note, I’m thinking if we get short on cash over the next few years I might start a black market trading spices to Ohioans out of our house!!

All the spices my mom sent :)

The In-Law Suite

Despite an initial mix-up with directions, Robbie’s family arrived in Cleveland late Friday night for a much anticipated visit. We had prepped the “in-law suite” earlier in the week with a new can of Chock Full-O-Nuts (1/2 caff) coffee for Robbie’s dad. We tried to make it sound luxurious but in reality it is a pretty small room in our pretty small (aka cozy) house. Either way, it was nice to finally have his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew out to see our new home!

We woke up bright and early the next morning despite staying up late talking after they rolled in. One of the first places we wanted to take them was the Westside Market. We all loaded in the van and took off for the day.

Grandpa T. and Max at the Westside Market

Shelly with Champagne Grapes - look how cute they are...and yummy!

Robbie and I at the market

Westside Market produce side

Gorgeous old ceilings inside the 2nd building

Cannolis = delicious!

After the market we headed back home to grill out for lunch and Robbie got to show off his new grill (another one of his favorite acquisitions since arriving in Cleveland). We napped and waited for the heat to die down so we could head out to Lakewood park in the late afternoon. Lakewood park has a great view of the Cleveland skyline so we took a family photo!

I think Max is pointing at his cousin :)

Robbie was also excited to take our nephew, Max, to the park although I’m not sure if he spent more time playing by himself or entertaining Max. Pretty sure he will use our daughter as an excuse to act like a 2 year old himself!

Robbie and Grandpa T. swinging Max

Lake Eerie in the background

Sometimes I find it hard to believe this man is a doctor...

We had fun taking Max for walks up and down our street and watching him “garden” in our backyard weed patch :) He has added a few words to his vocabulary (which previously consisted of the word “ball”). Pretty much everything now, good or bad, elicits an “uh-oh” from Max which is hilarious. On our walks Max would give an enthusiastic “Ohhhh” whenever he saw a dog or something interesting. He loves going for walks and made us laugh several times when he would go get his shoes, bring them to grandma or grandpa and plop down on the floor in front of them waiting for someone to put his shoes on and take him outside. Conveniently this happened near bedtime on Saturday night…Max left our house with only a few bumps and bruises from taking a nose dive into our sidewalk and is getting much faster each time we see him!

Max working hard in the garden

We ordered our first good Cleveland pizza Saturday night and watched a terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger movie on local T.V. It was seriously really, really bad but like a car accident, hard to look away… In the morning we went to The Root café – a little organic/vegetarian coffee shop in Lakewood and then it was time for the family to head back to Chicago. It’s amazing how fast their visit went – we had so much more we wanted to show them and are already making a “to do” list for the next visit!

Potatoes & Pierogies

Two weekends ago we met up with some of the residents at Irish fest. There are a surprising number of cultural activities in the Cleveland area which is a fun change from Des Moines, although this one seemed to focus mainly around beer and the selling of Irish trinkets. Thought I would share a few photos anyway!

 

This one is for you Winston and Heidi - we miss you guys!!

A tribute to Rob's heritage and a few of his favorite food items - too cute! No, I didn't buy it...

Irish Fest

Rob's favorite part of the day - the seeing the Irish dog breeds.

Hello (and Goodbye) to Old Friends

These last few weekends have brought a few of our old friends to the Cleveland area. Robbie’s friend Mikie and his girlfriend Michelle called to let us know they would be in Cleveland visiting Michelle’s dad who is an architect and just moved to Cleveland for a new job opportunity. We got to spend a few hours with all three of them one afternoon showing them the “west side” highlights. I guess our enthusiasm for our new city really shows through. We sounded like salesmen! Not only did we sell them on Cleveland but apparently also convinced Michelle’s dad to buy a Kuerig coffee machine – maybe we should think about a career change?

Mikie, Robbie, and Michelle outside our house

In reality, working in sales would be a disaster career move for Robbie as we discovered while negotiating with car salesmen in pursuit of the first ever new car for both of us. Robbie couldn’t stand the haggling but in the end did a great job getting us to a number we could live with. Finally, at the end of many hours of car shopping and negotiating we said goodbye to a very tired, old friend – our Ford Taurus. After 147,000 miles it was time to part ways. We said hello to a 2012 Kia Sorento! We were busy finalizing the paperwork when the salesman said he would go get the Taurus to drive it over and make sure we got everything we needed out of it. When he came back to us he said, “That thing sounds like it’s about to die!” I held my breath for a minute hoping we had all the paperwork complete. Rob laughed and said, “Well, there is a reason we are buying a new car!”. I have to say as sad as it is to see an old friend go, all I feel right now is the relief of getting it off our hands! The night we brought the car home Robbie wanted to go for a celebratory ice cream. We tried a place he had heard about called Mitchell’s. It was an adorable little shop with really unique flavors of homemade ice cream. After we left the shop Rob turned right out onto the street instead of left to head home. When I asked what was going on he said, “I just want to drive it around a little while longer!” I guess he really likes the car!!

Robbie LOVES our Sorento!

Pregnant me in my new mom SUV

It fits (barely)!!!

We also got the chance to meet up with our med school friends Jayme and Sarah who are spending an intern year in Sandusky, OH. Sarah let me know Jayme needed to come to Cleveland area for some residency training and wanted to meet up while he was at work. As it turns out, Robbie had to attend the same training that day! We were able to meet up for the day and take Jayme, Sarah, and their 6-month old baby boy, Titus, to a few of our new favorite places in Cleveland. It was great seeing them and catching up!

We have been really fortunate to have so many visitors right after moving to Cleveland. It definitely helps make us feel closer to home. This weekend we are looking forward to a visit from Robbie’s family. We are refining our sales pitch to hopefully sell a few more people on Cleveland!