Normal Life, Evansville Style

Life in Evansville, IN is fantastic.  We've settled in, met all kinds of friends and jumped into this new routine with school!  The girls enjoyed the final days of summer eating popsicles outside, swimming away and exploring the cMoe - Children's Museum of Evansville.  

We've been fortunate to have all kinds of visitors already!  Dad came into town for a super-fast weekend.  We got him to the pool, enjoyed a marvelous dinner with Sally at CKB and, of course, loaded up at the Donut Bank - an Evansville establishment.  Our Erie friends, the Garriotts, stopped by our home on their way home from visiting family in Washington DC.  They are master road-trippers!  We were just so thrilled to have an evening with them, and the kids loved a good slumber party.

Caroline is doing well in school.  She adores her teacher and is slowly talking about some friends in her class.  It makes us happy to hear about these new kiddos in her life, she still sincerely misses her Erie connections.  Audrey goes to Mother's Day Out one morning a week.  She wasn't thrilled being dropped off the first couple of times, but now seems excited to see her friend Luka when I drop her off on Tuesday mornings.

All in all, we can't complain.  Ryan's job is working out so well.  We have much more time together as a family, but have definitely realized how quickly the days/weeks fly by when the school year kicks into high gear.

Hard Goodbyes Heading to Hoosier-land!

We spent the last few weeks in Erie, PA saying good bye to all kinds of good friends and co-workers.  Ryan was celebrated on multiple occasions and couldn't have felt more love.  He was well trained during his time in Erie, and it shows that he was respected by so many.  It was incredible to experience the outpouring of love for our family as we left town.

Henry and Audrey have been good buddies for the past year.  They knew each other from the neighborhood and the YMCA.  She still asks about him when I take her to the YMCA here in Evansville, makes me sad we won't see them again.  Debbie took care of the girls while I worked at the ENT office.  I'm glad we were able to check on her one last time before we left town.

 At least HAVOC was able to pull off a solid victory for our final night of softball.  We managed to celebrate Ryan's birthday as well.  The next day we said our goodbyes at the ENT office which were much harder on all of us than we ever imagined.  Ryan connected it to the final episode of "Cheers".  The office was quiet, everyone was at lunch, and he just gave Bonnie one last hug.  They were definitely more than co-workers by the end; they had become family. We dearly miss them!

The neighborhood is a little quieter now that we have left.  Miss Denise was an incredible support from across the street, and now she'll get to know a new neighbor once our house closes August 30... a definite relief to not have two mortgages forever!

Dad requested a self-portrait before we walked into our home for the first time.  We saw it on Face Time, but didn't get to see it in person until we arrived on July 1.  It needs a little love, but it is a fantastic place to call home!

This is Ryan heading out his first day at his "real job" at Midwest ENT.  He is making the transition well, and seems to be enjoying it.  His patient load/surgery schedule is picking up which is a great sign; he wasn't used to so much free time!  Welcome home Palmer family to Indiana, I think we are "gonna like it here!"

We've Seen the "Magic"

 It was princesses, princesses, princesses for 5 days in Orlando, FL.  Ryan was at the national ENT conference taking his written boards, so we decided to tag along.  He did a great job on his exam - we will get the results at the end of June.  Best of all, we have time once again at night without him reading up on the latest in the ENT world!

 We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom.  As you can see, the girls were in heaven.  We met the Fairy Godmother, many of the princesses and the usual Mickey Mouse gang at dinner at the Contemporary Resort.  Some of our fellow residents joined us at Chef Mickey's for a kiddo feast - pizza, mac and cheese, hot dogs - they loaded up and had a few adult offerings to enjoy as well.

 Friday morning, we had breakfast at Cinderella's castle.  We walked in and got to meet/photo op with the fabulous princess herself.  Caroline did a great job and didn't let the characters scare her, which was a nice change from her usual behavior with dressed up characters!  Then we headed upstairs for breakfast, great menu - but the attendees were even better.  Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine and Ariel also stopped by our tables for more chatting and photos.  Caroline was in heaven!

Caroline and I managed to check out the Electric Light parade on Thursday night and she was completely transfixed.  I don't think we missed any important events, and can't wait for the ENT conference to take us back in two years for more magical moments.

The Birthday Zone

March always starts out with our focus on Caroline's birthday.  This year she had some friends join her for a swimming party at the Gertrude Barber Center.  It is a fantastic facility in which the pool floor can be raised/lowered to any height.  The kids were loving all of the pool toys and being able to reach anywhere in the pool.  Their favorite part seemed to be running around the gym after eating cake, you could tell cabin fever had set in!

April brings us Audrey's birthday month.  She invited her friends over to share a cupcake with her.  The kids loved batting around the pinata - but in the end it took a sledge hammer to really get it open!  She's now every bit of 2... flying off the handle for no reason, while her language is jut exploding!  She's a little parrot most days, trying to imitate anything we say... Caroline thinks it is the greatest game around.  Audrey can say just about everything, but still refuses to say "please".  So strange!  Oh well, she'll get there.

And in the midst of the birthday madness, we made a family trip to Evansville!  It was great for our family to check out Caroline's new school.  She's ready to be a kindergartener next fall!  Ryan's family joined us as well, they were great babysitters and they got to see our new city.  Below is a photo of our new home, 3001 E. Blackford Ave.  We are so pleased, and bought it only after seeing it via Face Time.  Gotta love technology! : ) It will be home as of the end of June!  Now to sell our Erie house... always something.