The start of va-cay!

So, as I write, I'm taking my last call for at least a couple of months. I will have completed 3 straight months of inpatient call. It was tiring and the family is looking forward to vacation. Lisa and I have our first overlapping vacation in over a year, so we took this opportunity to do some short distance traveling with Zoë. Before hitting the road we took a couple of days to decompress - visiting the local playground, doing the much needed laundry, etc.



The road trip began with a drive to our previous "hometown", Champaign, IL, where I gave a decade of my life for two of my degrees. We passed through our old church, the Champaign Vineyard, to say hello to some friends. We then met up for lunch with the Garrisons - Neal, Amber and their son Grant - some of our closest friends. Neal and Amber are teachers as well as dedicated long distance runners. They were the ones who got Lisa and me into ultra-marathons, marathons and half-marathons.

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After a wonderful lunch with the Garrisons, the family drove to our old house in Champaign. We showed Zoë where she was conceived (TMI?) which could bring her years of wonderful counseling discussions if she understood what we were saying. It was strange to see the house with new windows and a different car on the driveway. I have to say, I don't miss Champaign one bit. It's nice to be living in the city again.



Afterwards, we went briefly to the University of Illinois to see my old medical school but more to use the bathroom because Lisa and I really had to pee. We didn't get a chance to take photos of the campus because Zoë was getting fussy so we decided it was time to get on the road to head off to Normal, IL to Lisa's parent's house to see some family. We saw Grandpa and Grandma Preston, Uncle Tony and Aunt Cathy, and Zoë's cousins Avery and Rowan. Zoë especially enjoyed playing with Avery and Rowan as well as all their toys. We also had the opportunity to see the progress that was made on Tony/Cathy's new home.



As we headed back to Chicago the next day we appreciated that Zoë made it through the trip like a champ though we did have to stop for a brief baby break on the way into the city. When we got home we walked to one of our favorite diners for dinner before heading home for a baby bath and then bed.

From back from Normal/Champaign va-cay 2008

Cherkas

My college buddy Neil recently moved back to Chicago so we all got together for brunch at Orange. Neil was one of my housemates at the University of Pennsylvania during our senior year, so he's the fourth among my former housemates to have met Zoë. Though it was a rainy day (and the Sox game got rained out, again), it was nice to catch up. Now that Neil lives only a mile from us we hope to see more of him.

From Cherkas and Orange

From Cherkas and Orange

I also recorded Zoë babbling and crawling in our office shortly after we got back from brunch.

Labor Day weekend with grandparents

Lisa's parents came into town last weekend after a summer in Maine. The visit had 2 purposes: 1) catch up with the family and see how much Zoë has grown, and 2) babysitting. Regarding the latter, Lisa and I had another one of our hectic weekends where both of us were working the entire Labor Day weekend. She had responsibilities at the hospital with charting patient admissions all weekend, and I was on-call overnight at the hospital. Unfortunately, Zoë's daycare was closed for the long-weekend so someone had to come in to watch her. Lisa's mom was happy to oblige (grandpa went back to Normal, IL the same day), and we were very grateful. Besides, Zoë loved hanging out with Grandma over the weekend.

Crawling!!!

She just really started doing it for longer distances 2 weeks ago, and now she's doing it like a champ! She'll be running fast marathons in no time. Just check out our first published video of Zoë keeping mom and dad busy.