Yosemite in spring!!! (Laura and Tony visit CA!!)

So I hope there are enough pics in this post to make up from the lack-o-words on the blog lately. It's mainly because I was so busy spending time with my awesome friends who came to visit from NC for 5 1/2 WHOLE DAYS!!! :) Thanks to Laura for sharing these pics from her camera, as she was the designated photographer on the trip.



Laura and Tony arrived Thursday night and, as I still had to work an OB night shift, Shomir shuttled them back from the airport. Friday, they had fun exploring midtown and Capitol Park while I slept for a couple of hours and then we enjoyed some catch-up time at Tower Cafe, Old Town Sac, and back at my place, where Alvin, his friend Tony, and Amy joined us four for Time's Up!

Look who's armless!Old Sac

Saturday, it was onwards to the great park Yosemite, which is breathless in the springtime, too (last time I was there was back in July hiking Half-Dome). It was Tony's very first time there!

Hiking to Upper Yosemite Falls

(that's Half-Dome in the distance)

We didn't plan the red, really!

Being pensive

Crazy Tony being goofy



real snow on the ground!

Near Bridalveil

hard-core rock climbers It was chilly!!!
Comfy tree for sitting

We stayed overnight at a cheap inn in Oakhurst, outside the park's south entrance, and had some good bbq (even better ice cream pictured below-- can you believe that this whole dish cost only $2?!?!) :)

Sunday, we headed back in for some more hiking and snow-frolicking, as you can see!

Check out the snowy forests!
Vista point

Hiking in Tuolumne Grove

(had to show them the giant sequoias!)

Tony, making not a snow-angel but a snow-chicken

On our way out of the park, we stopped to visit in Groveland with Laura's great Aunt and uncle, Wanda and Jean, who treated us to yummy Cobb salad and said we could stay there anytime we wanted to come to Yosemite! Tony will probably kill me if he reads this blog, but this is how he was entertained in the backseat during our drive back on Sun.!!
Sunday night: Kite Runner at the Arness theater made from a sheet and Shomir's projector. I managed to stay awake! Have to say that I wasn't that impressed with the movie.

I was impressed, however, with Laura's famous rum cake and the yummy pasta dish she made for us for dinner (wish she lived here to cook for me!!!)

While I had to start back at the Cardiac/ICU at the VA on Monday (blech), Laura and Tony visited with some relatives in Monterey and then, on Tues., hit San Fran. We hung out for some Idol at Phi's last night and then, this morning before going to the VA spa, I dropped L and T at the airport b/c they had to return to NC :( It was so great to have them here. Who will be the next visitor??! :)

When labor comes too fast

Check this story out-- it is about Jodi, a labor and delivery nurse here at UCD who had a "BOA" (generally, a "birth on arrival" or before!) in her car before making it to the hospital on Friday! Too funny! Less paperwork when this happens :) Congrats, Jodi!

There's a cute video you can watch at the right after clicking on the link.

Labor Nurse Helps with Emergency Delivery: Her Own!
The text, from News10 online (George Warren):

"SACRAMENTO, CA - A UC Davis Medical Center labor and delivery nurse is resting with her new baby daughter after giving birth by the side of a freeway.Jodi Fankhanel, 38, went into labor early Friday morning at her home in Rancho Cordova and got a ride to the hospital where she works and planned to deliver her baby.But things didn't quite work out as expected."I knew we weren't going to make it," Fankhanel told News10 from her bed in the maternity ward at the hospital.Fankhanel's husband Paul, who is also a UCD nurse, was at work. So she awakened her sister-in-law who is visiting from Minnesota.Jennifer Sweet said the baby was already crowning before they got halfway to the hospital. Sweet, who doesn't know her way around Sacramento, pulled over when she saw a California Highway Patrol unit helping a stranded motorist by the side of Highway 50 just east of Watt Avenue.CHP officer Charmaine Fajardo called for an ambulance, but there was no time.Fankhanel talked Fajardo through the delivery process and the baby girl was born in the back of the Honda Odyssey just after 3 a.m.In an interview in her hospital room, Fankhanel was laughing about the event. She has three other children and eight years of delivery nurse experience. But she said all her earlier deliveries were induced and she expected to have plenty of warning for baby number 4 who, by the way, arrived two weeks early.She and her husband named their daughter Lainey Grace Fankhanel."

I love this about OB! I had an exciting near "birth on bed" and only had time to get gloves on to deliver the baby's shoulders yesterday-- which I was regretting a bit after getting totally splattered with amniotic fluid and blood! Eeww! :)

Gilroy Gardens/Easter weekend!

Shomir, holding Emma, next to Lily, and with me and Anne on the other side of "Garlic Gil"

I had the most wonderful two days off I've had in a while! Maybe part of it was not having to work for two days in a row! I'm now going into my fourth week of this L and D rotation (2nd week of nights) and am really beat; however, one of the perks of being on nights (besides more deliveries, which I got last week [yay!], and no rounding w/ the attending [only prerounding]) is having all day Saturday and most of Sunday (until coming back at 6:15 p.m. for night shift) off!

I had post-nights Friday clinic, which was quite draining (and where I realized I have to refer one of my pts, pregnant with twins, to the OB dept. b/c they are too "high risk" for us to follow :(), but then went home, slept a couple hours, and then got up to head to Millbrae, CA (just south of San Fran) to where Shomir's sister Marie lives with her husband Adam and three kids, Anne, Lily, and Emma. On the way, we made a stop at a wonderful and renowned Chinese place, Hong Kong Flower Garden, where we ate some yummy braised frog and so didn't make it to the house until the kids were in bed, but we ourselves were beat so hit the hay early after a bit of socializing.

It was a good thing, because we needed our energy for Saturday, which was filled with an expedition to Gilroy Gardens (/Bonfonte Gardens), this Family amusement park with rides tailored for young kids in a botanical garden setting (where Circus trees abound), in Gilroy, which is the garlic capital (of CA/the world? I'm not sure. I remember driving through the town with Amy when we returned from Monterey and it really does smell of garlic!).

It was a great time! Weather was gorgeous, scenery beautiful, and we had fun on the kiddie rides (well, with the exception of the Mushroom Swing, which Anne loves but which, every time, makes the adults nauseated. I was the lucky nominee to ride with Anne this time and I was definitely green for a good half-hour afterwards). I took a bunch of pictures! Enjoy!

Shomir on the Merry-Go-Round Anne near the frog fountain

Anne with (my favorite!) the Banana Split Swing. This (like those Viking boats) was scary, even for me!The Swan boats
Family boat ride

Marie and Adam with Emma (all you can see is her bow!)

Dolphin hedge

The smaller girls (Lily on the left, Emma to right) with Gil

Lily the monkey
Shomir with Emma

Saturday night, a babysitter watched the girls while the "adults" went out for AMAZING Indian food at Roti. Mmm. Made me think of JB's cooking :) Then, this morning, we awoke to find the girls already at it at their Easter Basket search. I even got one! After abstaining for sweets for so long, I think I should have taken it a bit slower with the a.m. chocolate, but Cadbury Cream Eggs are just sooooooooooo good.

We headed off to church, where there was beautiful brass music, and then back home for ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and lunch outside in the backyard. And, of course, there was an Easter egg hunt.

Here's Lily with her goodsAnne with her full basket

It was such a great time. We tried very hard to get a "group" picture before Shomir and I headed back to Sac, but with three kids under 7, that is a tall order. This (sadly) was the best result. It's me on the chaise, Adam's cousin Nicole and husband Reuben, Marie holding Emma, and Anne in the sundress.

Ah. Weekends are so glorious. I can't wait until NEXT weekend, too, when Laura and Tony will be here (they come Thursday! So excited! Gotta think of fun things to do!) :)