how we talk...

I was told tonight that I have a southern accent! Just thought I would share. I sort of got a kick out of that because I really don't think Kansans have any sort of accent.

Week number two in Milwaukee

Just finishing another night shift, we are starting to get used to things here. I am feeling much better in the homesickness arena which is a huge blessing since the first few days I felt sort of "doom and gloom" but things are going much better. And today is the beginning of Summerfest! The worlds largest music festival. Stevie Wonder is the big opener tonight, bummed that I am working. But there will be many others to see in concert. Also learned this week and Milwaukee has the largest Italian festival in the US! That will be in mid July.

The largest water park is also located here in Wisconsin, Noah's Ark at the Wisconsin Dell's. We plan to visit on a weekend off, the Dell's is a couple hours west of Milwaukee and is a top vacation spot with a lot of resorts and family activities, it sort of sounds like Branson, MO. I never would have guessed that Wisconsin has the biggest water park, like their record high is 105 degrees, shouldn't Arizona or Florida have the most massive water park?

Anyway Milwaukee is fun in the summer there are all sorts of fun neighborhoods downtown, a riverwalk, and of course lake Michigan is awesome. On Tuesday we went down and biked along the shoreline, then we flew kites again and musicians are out in the evenings as well down on the water. I think Milwaukee reminds me of a littler version of Chicago, very ethnic, unique downtown area and lake michigan.

Now Menomonee Falls, the suburb I work is considered a "village". What's great about it is it is a suburb about 15 min from Milwaukee proper, but feels like a small town with unique coffee shops and cafe's, people seem to know each other, has it's own farmers market etc. It is really pretty here.

We have slacked off in taking pictures, will post some this next week.

Learning to become a night owl..

So working nights is an adjustment, but going well so far. I have had two night shifts of orientation and have done well with the sleepy factor. It gets a little confusing though you get confused about when to eat, of course your days/nights are opposite. Poor Matt has been feeling pretty puny with his cold, so he is struggling while we are on opposite schedules. Just a little stressful right now.

I never realized how difficult it would be to learn a new system of nursing. I have always done things one way and I feel a little disoriented in my new work environment at this time. I think after the first week I will feel a little better. Sunday night is my first night off orientation so we'll see. It is a little nerve wracking to not be interacting with your pts as much. On days you are constantly aware of how your patient is doing because there is so much going on. On nights you peek on them, but want to let them sleep and I just keep getting nervous about missing something.

City of Festivals

Did you know that Milwaukee has the WORLDS largest music festival? And lucky for us it starts next week! It attracts around 900,000 people each year, it is called Summer Fest and lasts a little over a week. It's outdoor on lake Michigan. We are learning that Milwaukee has a ton of festivals in the summer, ethnic festivals, I found a cheese festival to go to, wine, strawberry festivals, kite festivals etc. We can't wait to explore!

Home? Not quite...

Well it is now Wednesday, and we have had a few more hiccups. First off we both got these wonderful head colds to deal with, and our computer charger died and we had to call dell to get a new one, so we are only using our computer for essential stuff only. Luckily Dell was on top of things (unlike the housing department of my nursing agency) and the charger came in 24 hours!


But hey it's moving day today and that is exciting. I have learned from people at the hospital that our apartment is actually not in the best area and was told to to be careful (very comforting). It's hard to tell, there seems to be a mixture of people around us, overall I think it will be okay. We pull up to our new apartment though to learn that the few things we asked for and were told we would have in our place are not true. First off I asked for a top level unit and verified that about 3-4 times so that I can sleep better during the daytime, our apartment is on the bottom floor. We asked for a king size bed and my recruiter said that will not be a problem, the bed is a queen. We didn't even bring sheets for a queen so we are using sleeping bags until they switch our beds out. The apartment also smells like smoke (a little febreeze helped with that). So we call my recruiter to verify things and to announce our disappointment and she says she will see if we can be moved to a top floor unit or have something arranged. So we decide to hang out until we hear back, rather that to start unpacking... in the meantime we are wondering if we should try to go find something else...







The downtown area of Menomonee Falls is so cute I just wished we could find something there, it's closer to the hospital and a little safer, but we need a place today so we wait to here back. About two hours later my recruiter calls to say that there isn't any other units available at our current complex or at any other properties they have access to, but they can move us on July 1st... (yea I can't wait to unpack then pack again, is it really worth it?) So we trek back and start to unload, beginning to get a little homesick and wondering why we left such a great home and area in KC. We look at the positive though. The complex is maintained well, with great landscaping and a nice clubhouse. It was just disappointing to be told one thing and walk in to something completely the opposite, especially after being in hotels and living out of our car for a week. It has been hard trying to find the stores we need because they aren't around our apartments and there really isn't a good safe place for me to go run in our neighborhood either.

When we settle in that evening we learn that our new laptop connect that we bought from att does not have a very strong or fast connection at our apartment. grrr since I am feeling homesick and that is the best way to stay connected with people... Currently I can type these posts but cannot add pictures so we'll have to go to a hot spot tomorrow to finish.


So we are adjusting!

Our first few days in Milwaukee

So all these posts are coming at the same time because we have been living in hotels for a week, with some stressful hiccups along the way!

So we arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon, at our hotel, because the nursing agency could not get the housing we wanted until Wednesday, bummer but if it means we will get what we really want, maybe it's worth it right? (we'll see about that). Pull into our hotel and oops they forgot to mention that this hotel really was not in a very safe area and all of our belongings are packed in our car... grr upsetedness did occur. After a few phone calls and a little arguing with the housing department we ended up in a hotel in a better area of town, but still not what I would have preferred. But we drove around our apartment complex to be and thought maybe they will make up for this in the housing we get... to be continued

Monday was first day of orientation at the hospital, I worked all day doing paperwork and computer training and such. The people and hospital seem nice, and I am sort of glad to be working nights. There seems to be less to learn because there aren't all the meals, procedures, discharges and such on the night shift! I get paid more for nights and there seems to be less work to do, I might like this. I don't work a night shift until Thurs and Fri night so we'll see how that goes. Good first impression though. Working hard to keep the phrase "this is how we did it back home.." and similar phrases out of my vocabulary as that creates a bad first impression.

Tuesday we went to the zoo and had a great time! Milwaukee reminds me of a city in a forest. There is thick forest areas all throughout the city. I thought Kansas City had a lot of trees, but here you can be driving down a major street and not really know what is coming up because of all the thick trees! The zoo was no exception the variety of trees and green stuff was beautiful. Our favorite exhibits were the primates and the Big CATs. I have never seen a lion this close and interactive before. We got there just before feeding time so they were worked up pacing and at one point the male lion stood on up and started roaring right at us! It was great. Matt has grown up with a love and awe for lions so he loved it.

That evening we decided to go see lake michigan downtown. Veteran's park is right on the water and is a beautiful area. As we pulled in my face lit up as I saw a fancy kite store. I have been wanting to fly a kite for a couple of months now and had a terribly dissappointing attempt on my birthday. We bought a kite and learned that Veteran's park is one of the top ten places to fly a kite in the country because of the winds coming off lake michigan. While we were there I got a picture of the coolest old sailboat. I kind of like sailboats and want to meet someone here that could take us out on lake michigan in a sailboat. we'll see.

Fun with Bollingers!

Last Thursday we left all packed and ready to go. Our poor little CR-V was packed to the max, but it made it to it's destination. We headed to the small town of Staunton, IL just north of St. Louis and had some great relaxing time with family. Our time was filled with games, swimming, lots of laughs, and lots and lots of wine as Uncle Don likes to entertain and Uncle Kenny's homemade wines! There were a few drinks that will clear your sinuses (i got a cold during the reunion) like a 100% proof peppermint schnapps and a unique drink called the rusty nail. We also had a roasted pig on a spicket it was very yummy! It was a great time to unwind after weeks of packing and getting ready to leave.

On Sunday was said our goodbyes and drove to Milwaukee, finally on our way!!

Saying Goodbye

Well we just want to say that our last week in KC was about the best it could have been. Our time was spent with many friends and family. We thank God for the blessing it was to have that time to spend with others. Even our neighbors came by on our last day to say goodbye. The timing of each visit was perfect. We will miss all of you.

One of the hardest things was leaving our pets... we are happy to have Jess and Kevin staying at our place and taking good care of our pets. Jess called the other day and said that Dakota was becominig their little princess and that Trigger IS the coolest cat ever! She will never know how happy that made me feel to know that our pets are being loved. So in honor of our pets I am posting pictures of our pets so you all can see what wonderful animals we have and how they make our life more fun!

Getting ready to go... intro

So here is our blog page, a way to stay connected to our friends and family and new friends we meet on the way! We leave for a travel nursing adventure next week. Amy is a nurse and will be working with travel nursing agencies for three month contracts all over the United States. Matt is currently without a steady job, but is so excited about our new business Reliv. Where he will be helping people we meet along the way, with their health and finances!

Next Thursday we leave for Wisconsin where we will be for the summer. Friday I found out that my nursing license has been issued for WI, which was sort of an ordeal and all the paperwork is complete, so we are ready to go and work! The amount of paper work needed to be ready feels enormous for the first travel assignment, so it is a relief to have it all complete. I will be working in Menomonee Falls, WI, which is a suburb of Milwaukee. I will be at Community Memorial Hospital in the step down unit, working nights for the first time ever! Which should be interesting. I guess I can at least give it a try, right?

Well this last week is full of hanging out with people one last time, packing everything we need into our CRV, getting rid of all the !junk! life piles up and hitting the road. Will keep in touch!