"No More Car Trip"!

I am not sure if everyone knows who reads this blog but we are spending the next three months (July, August and September) in Baltimore, MD while Brandon does a trauma rotation at Shock Medical Center. We were sad to be leaving Rochester for the nice summer but this was just the best timing for Brandon since he needs to decide what field he does is fellowship in by the Fall. We left this past Saturday morning after getting all packed up. I don't think Halle knew exactly what was going on but she did know we were going on a "car trip". About 30 minutes into the trip, when I hadn't given her anything play with yet since she was being so good, she said "no more car trip!". Brandon and I looked at each other and thought that we might be in for it since we have about 18 hours left!! However, she ended up doing great once we found some thing to entertain her and by the end of the trip, she had figured out how to hold the ipad and DVD player on her leg while eating snacks, as you can see below. We hit some traffic in Chicago around dinner time so we just decided to eat there. We ate at the famous Giordano's pizza and it was so good!! We stopped on Saturday night in Toledo, OH and then made the rest of the way on Sunday and arrived at our apartment around 8:30pm after making a dinner stop at Cracker Barrel! The drive wasn't too bad but Brandon and I were both so surprised at how many toll booths we went through. We probably spent around $50 and were so glad that we just happened to have cash on us. We don't have those on the West coast so we had no idea. We also were surprised by how much faster people drive out here. It was nice though to be able to make some good timing!! 

The night we arrived, we unpacked our boxes while Halle was bouncing off the walls exploring her new home...she adjusted great! Then around 1am when Brandon and I went to sleep, our power went out because of some storms. Thankfully, it came back on in the morning around 10am so it didn't bother us too much. But, when we went to Target to get some things we found out that the city had been dealing with power outages since that Friday and Target was getting rid of EVERYTHING in the freezer and fridge aisles. We had a little trouble finding milk for Halle but that was the only issue we came across. We were thankful we hadn't done all of our grocery shopping yet since we would've had to toss it.

On Tuesday, we went to the Baltimore aquarium in the morning. We headed straight to see the dolphins which was perfect since we were able to catch a dolphin show. Halle loved seeing the dolphins and some came right up to her at the window after the show which she loved. She also got to see jelly fish, sharks, puffin and a ton of other fish (some of which scared her a little). Brandon worked that afternoon but we had a great morning.

Brandon officially started work on the 4th. He worked from 4am-10:30pm that night, 4am-7:30pm the next night, 4am-10pm last night and is on call tonight. I know that Halle is really missing him and it just breaks my heart when she asks for him or when the air in our apartment comes on since she thinks it sounds like our garage back at home and says "Daddy home?". I have so much more appreciation for those that have spouses in the military and such. We haven't even been here a week and we are getting fairly lonely... Thank goodness Halle and I are going on a boat trip in the Bahamas with my family in just a couple of weeks. Even though Brandon has been working a ton he does like that he gets to operate everyday. It is much different from Mayo though! If anyone wants to come and visit us in the next three months, we would love visitors!! ;)

One of the many toll booths, they were at the beginning and end of all the states we went through!

Chicago

Girodano's Pizza

Halle loved the rockers outside of Cracker Barrel

Checking out downtown Baltimore

We found these fountains and since it was hot, I let Halle just play in them with her diaper on since I didn't bring a suit...next time I will be more prepared!

Halle loves the shopping carts at Safeway!

Getting splashed a little at the entrance of the Baltimore Aqaurium

Watching the dolphin show...when you ask Halle to smile, this is what you get!

Checking out some jelly fish

Happy 4th of July!!