Good News and Chinaman's Hat

First, I must share our good news! On Tuesday, I received my loan repayment deposit. I applied for the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program earlier this year and got a contract and after 3 months of patiently waiting (or not so patiently at times) I finally got my money! Since I work at a community health center and it's considered an underserved area I qualifed for the loan repayment. I have a 2-year contract to work at the Health Center in order to get the money. Not a bad deal! :)

Very excited to write the check!

On Wednesday afternoon Chris and I headed to the North Shore. Our friend, Dave, has a house right on the beach. He has graciously invited us over several times. We kayaked with him to Chinaman's Hat. It was about a mile to get there. Along the way we saw a couple huge sea turtles in the water. It was amazing! Once we got to Chinaman's Hat we hiked to the top on the regular, clearly paved trail. It was a great view from the top. We even saw more sea turtles come to the surface. We enjoyed a little time in the ocean at the sandy beach. There was a small cave we sat in and took a quick picture. We couldn't stay in there long because the waves were so intense it was knocking us around. We were getting ready to head back to our kayaks when Chris decided we should climb up the other side of Chinaman's Hat, the "less paved" and straight up way. Dave decided he would try it too and what was I supposed to do? I didn't want to be left by myself so I agreed to give it a try too. We all made it up safely (minus a few cuts and panics!). It was a good challenge! Chris was proud I gave it a try and made it! :) We then hiked down and kayaked back to Dave's house. We had a great time and look forward to going back!

A picture of the mountains behind Chinaman's Hat

Chris and I in our kayak...at the end of our trip!
Here's a picture of me climbing!

Here's a picture of Chris in front of Chinaman's Hat. The traditional way to climb is on the right side, around the back. The not-so traditional way was climbing on the left side, a good challenge!

A picture of us at the top!

An Overdue Update

We haven't been doing a very good job of keeping this blog up to date, but in my defense, there is not much to update. We continue to be busy with work. Chris is on his 2nd week of his ICU rotation. He is enjoying the ICU and is half done with his long 30-hour shifts. He has done enough arterial blood gases to be "checked off" so he can officially do them on his own now. Exciting! :) His next rotation is Nephrology, which will be exciting for me to hear about! I miss working in nephrology.

We also head back to the COLD Midwest in December. A week from today! We are very much looking forward to seeing our family and friends, but we are not looking forward to the cold. I must admit I had to wear a sweatshirt a couple nights ago because a "cold front" came through and it was 80 degrees! (Mom and Dad turn up the heat now! Bruce & Doris I'll sleep in the living room by the wood stove!)

I continue to see interesting patients everyday. I have done many things at this job that I've either never done before or never seen before. A brief rundown...a patient with multiple personalities, telling ladies they are pregnant, telling patients I think they have cancer, being called horrible names because I wouldn't give a patient pain medications, etc.. Every day is a challenge and a new experience! I feel more settled in my job now and feel like I am more productive with my time.

Chris and I continue to run when we have time. Actually, Chris runs every day he can when he either doesn't have to go in to work or he gets done early and I run Monday-Friday. It's nice to be able to run outside everyday. There has only been 1 day when it was raining and we couldn't run outside. Speaking of rain, it's been raining here a lot (which means it has rained here several days in a row for more than 5 minutes at a time). We still got 2 hours of beach time in today! :) Back to running....we ran in the Race for the Cure, the breast cancer 5K a few weekends ago. I organized a team from work. It was a great run and Chris said it was the fastest I have ever run with him! :) Pictures below...

I will try to be better about updating!

After the race...

Waikiki Health Center Team...before the race...

And I'll end with a picture of us....just another day at the beach!