The Great Adventure: And the countdowns begin....

Well, I realized this week that 2011 will be full of countdowns...some have started and some we know are coming but haven't started yet! Here are some of the countdowns in progress.

????days....until spring. We can feel winter backing away but it hasn't given up yet. Yesterday, it rained and rained and rained. All day....lots of rain. It was nice because it washed all the dirt and salt and gunk off my car and started washing the snow away. Then today, snow...lots of snow...blowing snow. I came here in the high heat of summer, really enjoyed the beautiful colours of fall and have been braving the chill of winter. I am ready to see the regeneration of spring. Staying above 0 for a bit would be great also.

48 days....Well, it is official, Wil is posted to the HMSC Vancouver and will leave to drive across the country in 48 days. The Vancouver is based out of Esquimalt, British Columbia. He does not know exactly where he will be sailing to first. He had heard maybe Somalia for pirate duty but now it is looking like maybe Japan. This is his HOD (head of department) tour and will probably be his last tour at sea so he is very excited. Although I am sad to see him go, I thank God that he has been here for the last 9 months to get us settled in. I am in a much better place than I would have been last year. When will he come home? We don't know yet. His posting does not have an end date so we don't know when he will come home permanently. As far as coming home on holiday...it will depend on the ships sailing schedule but we are hoping to see him around Christmas time.

76 days.....Mom arrives. We look forward to my mom/Grandma Miller coming to visit us at the end of May. It will have been almost a year since we left and it will be nice to show her our new home, town and country. The decision will be what to do while she is here. Parliament buildings, cheese factory, quaint small towns and some poutine to start. Lots of talking and just hanging out too. Can't wait.

117 days...Family reunion. We are having a Miller family reunion in July in Ohio. So the girls and I will take a road trip. We are going to make a mini holiday out of it with stops at Niagara Falls and Cedar Point on the way down. Our family reunion is going to focus on family history. We are going to take a trip down memory lane in Cincinnati where my dad and his family grew up and of course we will take in a Reds game. I look forward to seeing all my extended family again. It is always a fun adventure when we get together.

120 days....Tiana goes to Colorado Springs. After the family reunion, Tiana will fly back to Colorado Springs with my mom. She is very excited to reunite with friends and family. I am currently working on contacting everyone to see if she can stay with them. We aren't sure how long she will be there, probably 3-4 weeks.

140-150 days....I fly to Colorado Springs. Once we figure out how long Tiana is going to be there, then I will book my tickets to fly home. I will fly home for a quick stay and then I will help Tiana fly back and get her one more trip with an adult before she tries it on her own next year. I am looking forward to seeing friends and family again, along with that beautiful mountain known as Pikes Peak.

Those are the main ones that we are focused on right now. The other highlights of this year include: Tabitha traveling to visit her mom, several concerts and a daughter who will be old enough to start driving in December and those are only the ones we know about right now.

Right now however, I am totally focused on work. Our office has decided to upgrade to a new electronic medical record/billing computer system. I was at training for it on Thursday and Friday and went home laughing hysterically each night. The system is actually a good system, very user friendly and efficient. However, the installation process is being done so backwards, it is amusing. This is an office where the average age of doctor and staff is probably 55 or 60. Now, don't get all upset, I am not saying that that is old, but what I am saying is that these are not young, computer savvy people. These are people that use computers because they have to, not because they like computers. Anyways, they are putting this new system in place as of tomorrow with prep work done at all. No templates are set up ahead of time, no customized info will be created ahead of time. Our appointment book won't even be transferred over. In fact the only thing that we will have to work with tomorrow is patient demographics, the patient medical record won't be available for about a month. That would never fly in most offices in the States, but here they are just gonna "go with it". It is very likely going to be a huge mess tomorrow since no one will have logged in until tomorrow morning and yes, we are seeing patients this week. I don't normally work Mondays but they have asked me to come in to help my coworker, Joan, who is so stressed about this switch. They even nicknamed me Ctrl-B at the training because it was coming so easy to me. I am very thankful for a father that got me into computers early and a husband that helps me continue learning in this field.

We did finally get to downtown Otawa for the winter festival called Winterlude. We didn't skate the canal this time, we walked next to it. We had maple taffy made on snow and of course a beavertail at the end. We looked at lots of ice carvings although we went after a heat wave so many of them were broken or melting but still beautiful so I will end with a couple pics of Winterlude.