Vacation pictures worth a thousand words (albeit stolen pics)

I am no longer in Minnesota. Since then, I have bounced two states-- to Wisconsin to visit my cousins in New London, and now in Cleveland, OH!

It has been a very productive vacation in that I have gotten the chance to catch up with so many relatives and friends! It has not been a productive vacation, photo-documentation wise. I have written many words but not posted many pictures; here are those which are long overdue and the majority of which I stole from either Rachel or Lesley!



From Rochester:

Friday night potluck

Here is Kristen, practicing being a mom to a baby girl with Rachel and Hans' baby Kaia (she is due in July!)





Brandon, getting Kaia to smile in his own way-- we laughed at watching him try to replace her very cute headband with bow

Saturday's baby shower for Lesley (and baby boy Jones due in a little over a month!)

Rachel, Les, Kristen

me with Rachel and Kristen, the hosts

Very yummy cupcakes and chocolate-covered strawberries

Kristen threatened Les and me with leftovers, saying, "please take them. Otherwise I'm going to just throw them out." Gasp! Okay, okay...

Opening gifts

Glowing mama-to-be


Kaia, trying to get at the cookies-and-cream Hersey kisses on the table

Les and me (and choco-flavored goods)- can you see the chocolate theme?

(I wish I wasn't wearing this fleece in every picture :( )

Afternoon at the park: with Hans and Kaia on the swing, which she loved!

I think the MN weather was better than that in CA (I heard it poured while I've been gone!)

Kaia, the swinging cutie

From MN, I drove the 4 hours to New London, WI, where my dad's first cousin Allison, her husband Peter and their kids, Natalie, Ryan, and Brayden live. Although it was a state away, they were geographically my closest family when I lived in Rochester, and I enjoyed many a long weekend relaxing at their beautiful home.

It was relaxing-- for me; my days were filled with reading, Glee-watching, recipe-finding (Allison has tons of magazines and cookbooks to browse through), and sturgeon-sighting (see subsequent post!). The kids' schedules, however, are another story. I barely saw Natalie, now a freshman in HS (soo hard to believe!), between school (she had an early bird class starting at, I kid you not, 6:30 AM or something!), softball practice/games, a confirmation interview, and homework (boy, I really don't miss high school!). The boys are also very involved in sports, and I was able to catch their baseball practice! I can't believe how grown-up they are. I'm hoping they take a westward vacation out to California to visit me sometime in the future!

Allison and me

Brayden (10), Ryan (12), me (still in the black fleece...), and Natalie (15)

I had to leave Wisconsin (sniff) on Thursday to drive the 4 and a 1/2 hours to return the rental car in Minneapolis, because for some reason it is cost-prohibitive to do one-way rentals in this country (why is that??!). Luckily, I had some idea of the way, because my GPS (which, Dad, I very much appreciate as a gift but which is not always reliable [I always still write down directions via Mapquest, and will always trust paper directions and a map over GPS]) was not "finding a satellite" through most of (rural) Wisconsin. I had two very smooth flights that landed me in Cleveland a half-hour ahead of schedule! In my Glee- addicted state, trying to squeeze in one episode in my 1-hour layover, I was actually overhead-paged to my gate in Chicago to board and, 25 minutes before take-off, was embarrasingly the last passenger to get on the plane! While I appreciated the efficiency of the day, I still think air travel, with its stupid checked-bag fees (I noted I did save $2 by checking in online the night before my flight), stupid food fees, and stupid TSA liquid restrictions, is obnoxious. But enough about that. I know I must tolerate air travel in order to be able to visit my very wonderful friends!

I landed and was greeted by Natasha (med school friend) and Nikola, who I haven't seen since med school graduation! We hung out with some Serbian friends of theirs, and then got to play with little Cristiano, just about 1 year old, who I obviously hadn't yet met!

Natasha is one of those incredibly hip people (doing her Derm residency at Cleveland Clinic) who I never thought would be having kids so soon (she would never send me any pregnant pics of her, so I joked that I wouldn't believe she was a "mama" until I saw the proof of the kid!), but she is a fantastic Mom! Her parents are here watching Cristiano during the day while she finishes residency, which is a wonderful blessing. It is so good to see them!

Proud parents

Hot Mama

I got him this train from the Philippines which he thinks tastes great! :)

Macedonian cutie!

Although she is doing *derm*, Natasha did have to work today :( Nikola took me around some of Cleveland, driving through downtown and passing various sports stadiums and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum (I guess Cleveland is supposed to be the birthplace of Rock and Roll?); we didn't walk due to vicious thunderstorms. The weather here is crazy-- it was 87 degrees yesterday, and today, the weather consisted of alternating pelting rain- and sun-showers, followed by a cold front which puts tomorrow with a high of 40-something. Brr! In any case, Nikola and I had yummy soup and burgers for lunch at an Irish pub, then waited in the alumni library until Natasha got off. Natasha and I had evening sushi and spent some lazy time wandering around Borders bookstore, which I could just do all day long. It's been so great to see them again!

On Monday, I have to go back to the *real* world of working-- clinic and urology, but I am going to savor my last (2) days here and as a free woman! I love vacation...