Aakre Adventures: June 2015

"Where are you living now?" We've been asked this question several times in the past couple weeks. Well, we're homeless. This is the 3rd time in our marriage we have been homeless. Actually, when I met Ben he was 'in between jobs, sleeping on his brother's couch'. Not quite the line most guys use to pick up a girl, but it worked for me and it still does!

Last day in our house. So many great memories made here!

I love our crazy life, but it being homeless has gotten much more difficult with a child. Especially our little monkey who climbs out of her pack 'n play in 0.83 seconds. Let's just say the first week of being homeless shaved a few years off my life. It was terrible. Scarlett has been a great sleeper from the day we brought her home, but that week she climbed out of her pack n' play 27 times, skipped naps and was sleeping an average of 3 hours less than normal a night. Not only was I getting a lot more Scarlett time but a lot more crabby Scarlett time. She went to back up daycare a couple days while the movers were in the house and both days she got yellow cards for playing rough with other kids. Maybe she was watching too much of the World Cup, but I think it was the extreme lack of sleep.

Having a professional moving company was a life saver. Both of us being farm kids, we typically are more do-it-myself then a 2 year old. That being said, I will never move ourselves again (hopefully we won't be moving for a very long time anyway!) I don't know how much it cost because the bill goes straight to Mayo, but whatever the price it would be worth it. Having a 53 foot Mayflower semi backed up to our house and a crew pack up everything we own straight out of the cupboards was amazing! Four men spent 11 hours between Monday and Tuesday packing and loading everything.

Best day of my parents' life!
After helping move me 13 times in 12 years (not making that # up) they got to spend
the week fishing in Canada while professional movers moved us

Last weekend call shift! Never again will the hospital hold Ben ransom for 24 hours!

We closed on our house Wednesday, June 17 but don't close on our new home until Friday, July 10. Ben's brother who lives in the Twin Cities (Blair) was in Europe so we house sat for him which kept us off the streets a few days.

Despite having an overly tired child, we managed to still do a few fun things while staying in the cities. We took Scarlett to the Mall of America where she enjoyed running wild and going on a couple rides. One day I took her to the zoo, which she loved! We had taken her to the zoo in Jacksonville 2 months ago and it was remarkable how much more engaged she was this time.

Train ride at the Mall of America

Scarlett's favorite animal at the zoo were the goats

We drove to Fargo for the weekend for Ben's cousin's wedding. He has 25 Aakre cousins, so there is always a wedding or new baby in the family. The Aakres are an amazing family and have an impressive record for attending family functions. It is always worth the drive! We also got to take Ben's dad out for brunch on Father's Day while we were in the area.

Aakre Baby Boom: 6 cousins in 10 months

While week one of being homeless was exhausting, mostly because of a tired toddler, week two could not have been more relaxing. Scarlett and I spent the week in Iowa with my parents while Ben stayed with his brother in Rochester (Jerry) and worked. Scarlett and I got to spend a lot of quality time with both sets of my grandparents and catching up on missed sleep.

Thursday I left Scarlett in Iowa while I went to Rochester. Ben had a department dinner which honors the residents completing the program. Crazy to think 3 years ago we were at that dinner not knowing anyone or anything about anesthesia. Now we are saying good bye to some of our best friends and Ben is a world class trained anesthesiologist.

Two of my favorite doctors receiving their certificates of completion from
Mayo's Anesthesia Residency Program #bigdeal

Friday I had an interview in Mankato for a nursing job in a multi specialty clinic. The clinic is in the Mayo Health System. The job sounds interesting and it would be a supplemental role; which means I get to pick my hours! My position in Rochester has been that way since September and I absolutely love it! Some weeks I work 4 shifts, some weeks none at all. It is the best of both worlds. I am so grateful to be in the position where I work for fun and don't need to be the breadwinner anymore!

Our final night in Rochester was spent together with many of Ben's anesthesia colleagues for a wine tasting party. We had a lot of fun...and a lot of wine. We are going to miss our great friends, but it's comforting to know if we stayed in Rochester it wouldn't be the same since most of our friends are moving all around the country for fellowships and jobs too.

Wine Tasting Farewell Party

Red wine ranking
1st Place: Bogel

We drove back to Iowa on Saturday and celebrated Ben's completion of residency with my entire family at The Open Flame in Gilbert. My family is unique in that I have just as many grandparents as cousins. Not only is my family small but they are extremely close so Ben is considered a grandchild too. It was great to have my family all together and see them all so proud of Ben :)

This week Ben and I are going to Cancun to relax before we dive into the next season of life. Poor Scarlett will be suffering with all the attention in Iowa while we are gone.

We recently had a glimpse of "normal". It was a brief and fleeting season, but now that we are living out of suitcases again I have time to reflect on it. Here's a little of what our six weeks back in Rochester looked like.

We drove home from our 9 week stay in Jacksonville on May 1 & 2. Some might consider survival as the only goal on a 1,400 mile road trip with a toddler, but not Ben. He strategically planned the timing so we would go through Chattanooga, TN in time to catch a Lookouts game. The Lookouts are a Double-A affiliate for the Minnesota Twins. We got to see Byron Buxton, who of course as we all know, was called up to the Major Leagues this week. I'm sure we all will be able to tell our grandchildren where we were when we heard that Byron Buxton was called up to the Majors. Maybe that, too, is just my husband. The game was a great break on the trip. We got to enjoy the gorgeous weather and Scarlett burned off all her pent up energy climbing up and down the stairs.

Engel Stadium: Home of the Chattanooga Lookouts

Scarlett playing with her cousin

The first week back to reality left me in shock of how much you can get done in a week! No more lazy beach days for us. I unpacked our car and the 8 boxes of our things FedEx delivered, worked a shift in radiology, had a couple overnights with my niece & nephew while their parents were out of town and shared my testimony of what God has taught me during the season of residency at my Bible study.

While in Rochester I have had the wonderful opportunity to be apart of Side By Side Ministry. The Bible study is attended by >100 doctors' wives in various seasons of life. It has been such a blessing to learn from and be encouraged by other women who completely understand the "luxury" of sharing your husband with medicine. Of course I had all the time in the world to write my talk, but my love for public speaking left me writing it the week of. What I shared centered around Isaiah 41:13. The verse has been an anchor for me during the difficulties of residency. It reminds me that we have a personal God, and although He may not take away our troubles, He will help us.

What better way of celebrating being home for 5 days then to go on another road trip!? Scarlett and I went to Iowa for Mother's Day weekend while Ben was working. It was great to see not only my mom, but both of my grandmas and aunts. Scarlett got her hands dirty helping grandpa put fish in my parents' pond. And, of course, all good trips to Iowa involve a tractor ride.

Great Plains pizza for Mother's Day with both sides of my fam :)

Grandpa's helper

May brought many celebrations involving cake... and family, of course family is more important than cake. Ben's cousin got married, his niece turned 2 and my grandpa turned 80. My cousins from Boston and Houston even made it home for my grandpa's birthday (or did they come home for the cupcakes from Scratch Bakery??).

Scarlett playing with her Great Grandpa Jim. She'll tell you he's 80 and acts like it's the biggest number ever :)

Big birthday girl!

We also persevered through four house hunting trips to Mankato. Buying a house is actually nothing like House Hunters on HGTV. In fact, the whole experience may leave HGTV off my television for quite a while. We looked at 30 homes and finally found what we both wanted! Once our offer was accepted we decided to celebrate by going to Minneapolis to have dinner with friends and see The Script. The concert was at the State Theater which was built in the 20's and only holds 2,000 people. We saw The Script last year at Target Center which holds 20,000 and it was not nearly as great as seeing them at the State Theater. Special thanks to my old coworker, Julia, for not only watching Scarlett so that we could go to the concert but to go to our housing inspection earlier in the day.