Well, turns out that I'm not very good at keeping my blog up to date! That is in part due to the fact that we have mysteriously lost our camera and I refuse to put up new material without appropriate pictures to go with and also the fact that I have been lazy and just haven't made it a priority. I repent.
Cooper and I returned home from Vancouver at the end of January - without my thesis handed in. Ugh. What a trial for me. My advisors are very nice and encouraging but they want even more material than what my 160 page thesis includes. Long story short, I have a little more work to do before I hand it in this summer. We have all agreed that this is the final revision and I will be submitting it in time for November graduation. So there is a faint light at the end of an extremely long tunnel. February was an exciting month for all of us Roberts'. We took a week trip out to Ontario at the beginning of the month as Greg had his interviews for Urology on Feb 7 in Toronto. He was fortunate enough to have 8 interviews that day. The bonus in choosing Urology is that they have what's called a "urology fair" where all of the schools meet in one central location so the poor starving students don't have to pay tens of thousands of dollars flying all over the country to interview at 8 different schools. It also meant that we got two weeks vacation with Greg! We spent a few days visiting Amy and Brian in Toronto. It was so nice to see the Miller family. It had been years since I had seen them. The kids are adorable and Brian and Amy are as fun as ever. Coop enjoyed spending time with his cousins and swimming in their pool. We took a day trip out to Niagara Falls the day before Greg's interviews. The entire way I posed as a mock interviewer so Greg could practice his answers. Although the day was cold it was very sunny and the roads were clear. Niagara falls was breath-taking. I had never been to Ontario so all of this was new for me. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer. We got a few quick pictures out by the falls before our faces froze off then we ate lunch in Niagara. After lunch we took a walk through Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum and the Wax figure Museum which was a lot of fun. Coop slept through the entire afternoon missing out on the replicas of 3 legged cows and real shrunken heads. A good day it was. As for the interviews, Greg felt really good about them. They were of course impressed with his articulate, intelligent answers as well as his quick wit and maturity....well, that's what I'm assuming, I wasn't actually there! But he did inform me on every detail after I begged for an exact play by play and it sounds like he made an excellent impression. After his interview day the three of us hopped into our rental car and made our way to our nation's capital. Coop was an excellent traveller. Ottawa was beautiful but freezing cold! We stayed on the Quebec side of Ottawa across the river from the Parliament buildings. We ate great food as at was Winterlude (an annual festival celebrating ice sculpture, great food for cheap and music), toured the Parliament, went to the National Museum, and enjoyed some well deserved time off. Greg spent a half day at the hospital to see if he still felt as happy there as he did on his elective as we are now trying to decide which city we want to rank as our first choice for residency. We then went on to Kingston Ontario which we absolutely LOVED! It is the cutest city right on Lake Ontario. A quaint little University town with much character and cheap housing prices! The program is also fantastic for Greg. Very family oriented and a great fit for all of us. We shall see what happens here. It is extremely hard to get into Queen's University as they only take one resident in all of Canada. Our fingers are crossed...
We returned to Calgary contemplating all our options and we submitted our choices to CARMS this past week. Our first choice was Kingston, and Vancouver and Winnipeg (believe it or not) are tied for a close second. We think our choices are good for our family and considered all the pros and cons before submitting. We feel good. Since our trip we have been staying out of the cold and having fun with family. My sister Cathy and brother in law Ray came to visit this past weekend which was a lot of fun. Good food, conversation and card games. Greg and I spoke in church this past Sunday - my topic was "Come to Zion" which I really enjoyed giving and Greg spoke on Christianity as being an Action Word. A very good talk indeed.
Soon we will be off to Lake Louise. More info to come on that adventure!
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