House Closing

For those of you who have been following the progress of us buying a new home, you will know that we were set to close this past Friday, July 27th. Unfortunately there were some issues that came up with closing and things are sort of up in the air as I type this. We are hopeful that we will be able to close by tomorrow evening (Monday) but also realize this may not happen.

Obviously we are very disappointed and frustrated by this whole process but trust things will work out as they should. We had to cancel our movers and the rental truck and are feeling a mounting restlessness as we are still in the rental without any furniture or the comforts of "home".

Keep us in your prayers!

Too Cute!

I have no idea of what is being said but this is ADORABLE...what a vocabulary this little girl must have! :-)

How We Spent Our Weekend

So this weekend Paul had off and we decided to take the kids geocaching. If you don't know what that is exactly, you can click here. Below are some photos from our "ventures".


The kids posing in a tree along one of our hikes

Some very cool fossil rocks that Jessica and I (Monica) found on another of our hikes



Lots of butterflies around here!

For Those of You Who Have Never Seen a Porcupine

I was out on a drive the other night and happened upon this little cutey. I shot a short video of it. He didn't seem to pay any mind to me at all. I just sat in my truck and watched him (or her!) from about 10 feet away. Pretty cool, huh?

Our Town

We took a short drive up to Round Mountain this evening and hiked around the area with Boone and the kids. Below are a few pictures from our hike...

Me and Paul with the town of Athens behind us.








Athens, Pa.








According to Paul this is a bona fide bear track. You can barely make it out in this picture...










This was not from our hike, but rather it's a picture of the pond at the Sportman's Club that we belong to now. Apparently there's good fishing here. ;-)

Moon Over Mt. Garfield

Moon Over Mt. Garfield
Originally uploaded by mo_beck

This is an older photo that I cropped differently and thought I'd share. I miss this scene which was basically from my backyard in Grand Junction...

Kids Art/New Truck

Abbie and Greg did a couple of cool self-paintings in the summer rec program this week so I thought I'd post a picture of them.




Abbie's self painting











Greg's self painting










Oh, and here's a picture of our new truck... (Toyata Tundra)

Open Mic Night

Here's a clip of my brother Shaun playing the song "Silence" at an Open Mic Night in Grand Junction when he came to visit me back in May. The lyrics are mine, but everything else is Shaun. Hope you enjoy it!

P.S. There's a lot of background noise and since this was recorded on my camera, it's not the best quality.

A Couple Home Videos

From our first thunderstorm in Sayre...



Our front street flooded!

A Few Pictures

Our rental -- taken by Abbie








Boone looking anxiously out the window. He hates to be trapped inside. No yard at the rental. :-(
(taken by Abbie)








Falls from Watkins Glenn State Park - NY











Seneca Lake, NY
(The closest Finger Lake to us)











Paul and the kids skipping Rocks
Cayuga Lake -- another of the Finger Lakes

Well, I've finished my first week as a surgical intern. While it sucks that I've got to redo my first year, surgery is EVERYTHING that family medicine wasn't. Everything is so much faster paced...not time to think, just 'GET IT DONE!' This is how I like it. I'm working the first 14 days before I get a day off, but they do keep us under 80 hours (barely).

During my first two months, I'll be on the vascular service (veins, arteries, and LOTS of wounds). Not a lot of operating room time, but I did get to put in 9 central lines in the OR. Lots and lots of wound care; disgusting, rotting, smelly flesh, rotting off of patients legs and feet.

Despite the inconvenience of moving cross country again and leaving beautifly Colorado (hardest on Monica), making the change to surgery was the best (and hardest) decision I've ever made.

Will continue to try and post...

... Paul

Family Feature

Paul V. Beck -- "Dad"

Stats:
Age: 33
DOB: 11-4-73
Hobbies: Hunting, fishing, shooting
Occupation: surgeon in training

Paul is currently doing a rotation in vascular surgery and already has some great stories to share. Once he actually has a day off I might get him to post something...



Monica M. Beck -- "Mom"

Stats:
Age: 33
DOB: 3-7-74
Hobbies: photography, hiking/exploring, reading
Occupation: School Counselor

Monica is currently home for the summer, desperately trying to find things to keep herself and the children entertained.




Jessica Anne Beck -- Child #1

Stats:
Age: 12 (almost 13!!)
DOB: 8-3-94
Hobbies: sports, riding bike/rollerblading, reading, hanging out with the neighborhood kids
Occupation: Family drama queen, Most Reliable Child

Jessica is growing FAST and already has immersed herself in the community by taking walks to the local donut shop to read the paper and being her open and friendly self. She's also got herself on this regimen of getting up every other morning to run at 7am!



Abigail Kathleen Beck -- The "Middle" Child

Stats:
Age: 11
DOB: 5-14-96
Hobbies: tagging along with her older sister, writing/drawing, singing/dancing
Occupation: Official Family "Entertainer"

Abbie is missing Colorado, like her mom, and looking forward to us getting into our own home (which we all are!). She's the one with the greatest sense of humor who tends to make up jokes on her own that are pretty good actually.



Gregory V. Beck -- Child #3

Stats:
Age: 8 (almost 9)
DOB: 8-30-98
Hobbies: sports, swimming, dancing around the living room with mom
Occupation: Family "Clown", Official "annoyer" of his sisters

Greg is currently spending most of his summer moments asking his mom, "what can I do?" repeatedly...at least 20 times a day...

About the Sayre/Athens Area

So, Sayre/Athens Pa. is located in the middle of somewhere, which feels like the middle of nowhere, and most everyone who lives here feels like they live in the middle of everywhere! Everyone says, "we're only about 3 hours to anyplace you can think of...Philly, NY city, Niagara Falls, etc." One of the good things I can think about this place is that they ARE close to the Finger Lakes region which does offer a lot of recreational opportunities. The sad thing is, most of those recreational activities require a boat. Maybe an investment for next summer...

I came across a website that lists pretty much every fact you'd ever want to know about this little town we will now call home for the next 5 years. Median age: 39.4 (there's mostly old people here); estimated population 3,289 (small...very, very small); estimated median household income $33, 200 (we are rich here in perspective); and the list goes on and on. Here's the link in case you get curious...http://www.city-data.com/city/Athens-Pennsylvania.html.

I haven't found much in the way of summertime entertainment for the family yet but I continue searching. We did join the Sayre Sportman's Club so we can go shoot off our guns anytime we want to and fish in the pond. That's what they mostly do for entertainment around here...shoot off guns and fish.

Now, who wants to come visit?! ;-)

Intro

It's the summer months again, and that usually means I, Monica, having too much time on my hands, decide to sit down and create yet another blog/website to keep in touch with everyone. This time, I plan to stick with it. Promise. I'll also try to get Paul to post some interesting stuff on here.

Most of you already know we are now in Sayre, Pa. We're currently living in a rental in the middle of town about a mile from the hospital. I've enrolled the kids in a summer rec program so they have some activities to do during the day, one of which includes hours of free swimming which they love. Above, I posted a little tidbit on the area so you can read up on that if you're interested. I plan to post some recent pictures of the kids and Paul and the surrounding area once I get around to it.

Tomorrow is set to be a high of 94 with humidity probably in the 60-70%. Not fun when you don't have a cooling system in your 1800's rental. Yes, it can be miserable. I will probably be melted to my bed by mid-afternoon.

Oh, but I do have to say that the summertime thunderstorms are OFF THE HOOK! Wow. Very cool.

And unfortunately, gone are the days when I can photograph rich landscapes of desert and open terrain and alpine lakes, etc. There's mostly just bugs around here...