Thursday, September 20, 2012

Illinois!

And so we have moved again!  After 4 nights of living in hotels, getting our bearings, exhausted skype calls, and moving a car and van full of stuff, we are finally all settled in our new home!  Let's start from the beginning....

On Monday, we left early in the morning to start the drive to Illinois!  We crossed the boarder and obtained our temporary visas, and then continued on our way in the U.S.  We arrived in Illinois at around 3pm, and headed straight to the Towers at Four Lakes, an apartment complex in Lisle, Illinois, to check out a few apartments!  After visiting another apartment and talking it over with each other and with God, we decided that the Towers at Four Lakes was the apartment for us!  We started a 7 month lease starting on Friday the 14th, and then went on our way to find a hotel to stay in for the night!  But of course, it couldn't just be that easy, could it?  There just so happened to be a convention going on for the next few days, and every hotel we attempted to check into was fully booked for the next 3 days!!  So, after 3 hours of driving aimlessly and stopping at hotels and debating sleeping in our car, we finally had a place to sleep!  Upon telling Andee that they were completely booked, at the very moment someone called to cancel their room, and she gave it to us!  God is Good!! 


The next few days consisted of shopping for apartment necessities, finding hotels, and getting all the paperwork and everything together for our apartment!  It was a tiring and expensive few days, but we did manage to make a somewhat smooth transition into America!  A plus to the few long and annoying days was looking forward to all the American fast food restaurants that we have been dying to try!  We hit up Chick-Fil-a, Panera Bread, Long John Silvers, and a few others that were very yummy, but we waited for my parents to arrive to check out the most delicious and exciting restaurants!!

On Wednesday though, we took the day off to celebrate my birthday at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago!  Zoo trip courtesy of some birthday money from my family!  The Zoo was amazing, with so many interesting animals that I had never heard of, and lots of popular animals such as Leopards - Amur, clouded, and snow, tigers, penguins, polar bears, giraffes, and tons of fish, reptiles, and birds!  It was so amazing!!  And to top it off, it was 29 degrees Celsius that day!  Perfect for walking around and enjoying the animals!  We also experienced our first Chicago Hotdog at the Zoo!  Loaded with relish, mustard, pickles, hot peppers, tomato, and onions, it wasn't exactly my favourite food in the world, but at least we can say that we tried it!  Andee loved it though, and was craving another one later that week!  Overall, an excellent day in Illinois!


On Friday, my parents drove all the way from Ajax with a van full of apartment goodies for us to furnished our new home!  We got the keys to our apartment, and started sorting out all the stuff from our car, and at 3pm, my parents arrived with big smiles, hugs, and lots of stuff!  We were SOO excited to see them!!  After loading all the stuff into our apartment, and setting it all up while my parents found their hotel for the night, we headed to the Golden Corral Buffet for a delicious dinner!  It was amazing!

On Saturday, we headed to a few stores to buy things such as a TV, and a few apartment furnishings that we needed!  For lunch, we headed to Whitecastle, which we have deemed the most delicious fast food restaurant so far in America, even rivaling Canadian McDonalds!!  Of course, we had to try all the little burgers, chicken rings, and fries, and all 4 of us were in agreement that Whitecastle is Amazing!!  We will have to head back there soon!  In the afternoon, we explored the grounds of our apartment on a beautiful warm and sunny day!  As the name suggests, there are 4 beautiful lakes around the property, surrounded by Muskoka chairs, nature trails, and much more!  A wonderful afternoon! 


After all the exploring, we were hungry for a good meal, so what else could we get but Chicago Deep Dish Pizza!!  We had all been anticipating this popular and famous meal, and we were certainly not disappointed!!  The pizza was absolutely amazing, as were the appetizers of fried deliciousness!  We even had leftovers and Andee and I to enjoy the next day!  We decided that this meal was to celebrate the move to Illinois, Andee starting Clinicals, and my Dad's retirement!!  It was an amazing experience, and I am so glad we were able to experience it with my parents!  We really hope they come back and visit us soon, now that they are both lazy bums like me!! 


It took us a couple more days to get completely settled into our new apartment, but now that we are set up and able to take advantage of all the fun things you can do here, we are really enjoying our stay here!  Some added benefits to our apartment - not only is it warm and beautiful inside, with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, and plush carpeting, but there is so much to do!  In the summer and early fall, there are 4 outdoor pools to enjoy, nature trails, boat rentals including paddle boats and canoes, with lakes stocked with lots of kinds of fish, tennis courts and volleyball courts!  Year round there is a gym, and a free breakfast in the morning on weekdays, and in the winter, there is a Ski Hill with a lodge a few steps away from the apartment!  And the best part - all of this is FREE for renters and their guests!!!!  (I am trying to entice you to come visit us....I hope it is working!!)  Amazing!  PTL!!  (I took some apartment pictures, and our beautiful lake view, but it actually looks much better in real life, the colour is weird in there....I guess you will just have to come visit and see for yourself!)


On Monday, Andee started his Internal Medicine Clinical Rotation at Adventist Hospital in Hinsdale, Illinois!  Upon further investigation, the Hospital is Seventh Day Adventist, and they promote the healing ministry of Jesus!  Amazing!  Andee is enjoying his rotation so far, which is outpatient internal medicine, and in 6 weeks he starts inpatient, which will actually be in the hospital as opposed to a clinic!  He also looks spiffy in his dress clothes and lab coat - like a real Doctor!  Only a couple more years to obtain that degree!! 

Just yesterday, Andee and I decided to take advantage of the limited amount of warm weather we have left, and went for a boat ride and some fishing!  Since Andee gets off early on Wednesdays, we were able to enjoy one of the last beautiful Summer's day (still summer just barely!), and we are enjoying our little apartment more and more!


This weekend we are going to visit a church or two in an attempt to connect with some people from the area, and to hopefully get involved with some volunteer work for me!  Please pray that everything goes well this weekend!

So there you have it, Illinois!  Like what you see?  Come visit anytime!!  In the meantime, Skype and Facebook us to let us know what you are up to!  See you soon!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

August in Canada! P.S. We Move in a Week!!

Guess what??

We are on our way to HINSDALE, ILLINOIS!!!!  Just 30 minutes from CHICAGO!!!!!!  For a WHOLE YEAR!!!  YAY!!!!  Finally, a (small amount) of consistency for a little while!  And get this - we are going UNFURNISHED!!!  Why?  Because we can, because we can drive there with my parents and their van, and because it is cheaper!  Do we have an apartment yet?  No.  Have we looked up any churches?  No.  Do we have any real idea what we are doing?  No.  But what else is new!  Also, the only thing I know about Illinois is that it is a red property in Monopoly....so it looks like I need to do some research!!

So, Andee starts his first rotation, Internal Medicine, on September 17th!  We have 3 months in Illinois, then a month off, so back to Canada we go!  Hopefully we can squeeze in a rotation while we are home!  Then back to Illinois for another 4 months, a few weeks off, and more Illinois!  With Andee's last rotation in the State ending September 14th, 2013!  Yay!  So we are home for the holidays, and get to check out a new state!  Apparently, Chicago and Toronto are very similar, and so I am hoping that Hinsdale and Ajax are as well! 

With only a couple more weeks in Canada, we are scurrying around trying to get all the last minute everything completed, while also apartment hunting, hanging out with friends and family, and enjoying Canada in the summer!  Rush rush rush, move move move, good times.  Medical Student and his Wife.  Exciting/random.  Good thing we have Jesus on our side!!

Since I haven't blogged in a while, there are a lot of fun Canada things to talk about and provide photo evidence of these events!  Here it goes!!

Earlier in August, Cassie, Trevor, Andee and I decided on a day trip to Niagara Falls!  First stop - the Great Canadian Midway - our favourite; which was made even better by Cassie treating us to 90 tokens each, and an ongoing couples competition to see who would win the most tickets!  Trevor was on fire the entire day, especially at Ball Drop and Basketball, and they ended up almost doubling our ticket total!  We ended up with a few flinger toys, some sticky hands, 2 mugs, and a couple other fun treats for our tickets!  We also visited our favourite pizzeria in Niagara Falls for dinner, and some Wendy's for lunch!  And of course, no trip to Niagara Falls is complete without a photo op at the Falls!  It was a beautiful warm August day, and we had a wonderful time!!


We have also spent a ton of time at the Cottage this year, since we were home for almost the entire summer!!  We fed some ducks out of our hands, swam in the lake, jumped off the floating dock, paddle boated around, played games, lied in the sun, and had bonfires at night!  We also recently celebrated Andra's birthday with the extended family, and enjoyed the fantastic weather and photo opportunities!  The Cottage is the highlight of the summer for me, and the fact that we have gone up almost every weekend was a pleasant surprise to all of the moving around and schooling Andee and I have done in the last couple of years!  And the weather this year has been absolutely amazing, and I am so glad we got to spend it in Canada!!!


Another Cottage pastime that we have enjoyed this year is Fishing!  Andee and Trevor made a habit out of Night Fishing in the wee hours of the morning, calling this the "Magic Hour."  Just this past weekend, they happened on a prime fishing location around the bend of Fells Bay that they have names "Bass City."  The name speaks for itself.  Lots of fishies posed for pictures for us this year, and then they all ended up back in the water, safe and sound!  And the hero of these fishing pictures is, of course, the Crayfish lure, or Cray for short.  That shiz Cray.


Yet another highlight of Cottaging is the annual Fenelon Fair!  It was a horrible, rainy weekend, but we managed to make it out to the demolition derby with the family and the cousins!  It was lots of fun watching the cars smash in to each other, and we ordered delicious fair food and tiny donuts after the derby was over! 


The Aldridge Family was also able to experience one my my all-time favourite events both in August, in the Summer, and all year - The Canadian National Exhibition!!!  It is tradition for the Aldridge Family to spend the day at the Ex once a year, and I was a little worried that this year we wouldn't be able to make it.  But Hallelujah, tradition continues!!  We saw a Mexican circus act where Dad was called up on stage, a hip-hop dance crew where Cassie showed her dancing skills, and a Name That Tune contest where I competed and participated in a dance off!  Wow - the whole Aldridge Family was on Sta---......well, I think maybe Mom's sleeve was there!  We also watched an Illusionist and Hypnotist, which are always a crowd favourite, as well as the Acrobatics and Ice show with Canadian Olympians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moyer!  They were absolutely amazing!  We also played our usual claw machines and bowling games, and had a contest to see who would win the most with a roll of quarters, and guess who won??  ME!!  Yay, the least competitive Aldridge!  We also ate lots of fun things at the Food Building, including Dad eating the Krispy Kreme burger with all the toppings!  Disgusting, and delicious!!  And to top it all off, the weather was hot and sunny for the whole day!  We ended up spending over 14 hours at the Ex, and a wonderful day was had by all!  Hopefully next year we can do it all again!!  


Well, there you have it!  August in Canada, and where we are headed next!  In one week tomorrow, we will be driving a jam packed car full of stuff to Illinois to find an apartment, followed by my parents with a jam packed van on Friday!  I am very excited for all of this moving around to be finished, so we can be settled at least for a little while!  Pray for us, it's about to get crazy again!!  Until next time!!