August Here and gone

Just a little update for all you...I don't know where the month of August has gone, let alone the past three months that we've been in San Diego. This month I have had the chance to work and orient with a great CNS who worked at Mary Birch 3 years ago and has been working per diem since then. We got a lot of work done together; there is something very refreshing about working with someone who appreciates the literature, research and evidence on the same level. We were able to bounce things off of each other and ended up revising two huge policies for the NICU in the matter of two weekends. She is going to continue to come and work with me 4 more times over the next year. It has really helped me get a jump start in my new role; there is so much to learn from her. I am adjusting into my role and slowly learning the names of the 215 staff in the NICU here. Not sure I will ever get used to working 5 days a week.

I was able to make a trip up to Whittier once this month and see all my friends from Presbyterian and my extended family. So it was a great trip. As I walked down the new main hallway in the hospital, I didn't even recognize it. Even though it had only been 2 months since I had worked there, it was a little surreal to go back an not even recognize the main lobby. They had added a new coffee shop and cafe and gift shop. There was also a new chapel and much more. I am looking forward to working a shift this weekend with all my friends from night shift!

It has been so much fun being close to my brother, sister-in-law and niece. We go to dinner regularly and see each other every Sunday at church. My niece, Olivia, is really getting to know Ryan and I...she calls us "yan" and "shell"...not quite able to say her "r's" yet. She is a lot of fun.

Adventures at the Wild Animal Park

I had Friday off, so Ryan and I went to the Wild Animal Park with Julie and Olivia. We got a late start and ended up there at 10am. There really weren't very many people there when we got there. I covered my bare arms and shoulders in sun block since I had just gotten burned the Sunday before at Disney land despite wearing 45 SPF sun block (That's a whole different story; what is it with with all this new aerosol sun block. Don't think it works well). The Wild Animal Park has changed quite a bit since I was last there which was probably about 6 years ago. They have cut the tram down to only go through Africa so it wasn't quite as good; if you aren't a member, you have to pay extra for it. There is a lot of walking at the Animal Park and in the heat of the day, it reached about 90 degrees. There were a lot of baby animals there that we saw, baby antelopes, gibbons, okapi, and lion cubs. The lion exhibit was really good. Earlier in the day we saw the male lion out; then we decided to stop by again to see if we could spot any of the other lions and cubs. We got there just as they were eating rabbits. All of the 8-10 lions were out fighting over each others rabbits. It was quite exciting to watch. We also were able to see some of the giraffes up close as they were eating. All in all, it was a good day.