Well......Here it is....our new home, at least this will be the picture for a year or two. We are renting this home until we decide over the next several years what high school the kids want to attend. Right now we are in an ideal location. Three miles from my job, .9 miles from the elementary school and 4 miles from the middle school. We are in a very quite culdesac with only 10 houses, all of which are either current or retired school teachers. We are 2 miles from Starbucks, Lowes, Walmart SuperCenter, Great Harvest Bread Co., SPa, Gym, Natural Food Store, you name it we have it. One huge advantage of being on the outskirts of a town of 150,000....Salem OR. For those who have been asking our mailing address is 5056 Riley CT SE, Salem OR 97306-8811.
How did the move go........Well, for those who followed on Facebook, you know what a 4500 mile adventure we had going about 3/4 the way around the US. We set the world record in longest tow for mom and 4 kids. We were towed 450 miles out of the Western Texas Dessert until we finally got to El Paso, TX. Small house to turbo system blew a hole...took 30 minutes to fix. Otherwise, kids saw some amazing things as shown on facebook pictures or for those even more savvy, they followed us on twitter. Winter took first in St Anthony's Triathlon in Florida and Second in Ironkids San Diego-which qualified her for the National Ironkids event this fall in Arizona. Winter is not a fan of salt water as she learned after swallowing a few gallons in San Diego-Mission Bay during the swim portion of the race. The kids favorite place was the Redwoods of Northern California. We spent May 3, Michael's Birthday- would of been 41, camping in the massive trees and celebrated Michaels birthday. It is a very magical place feeling like little ants in a grove of Redwoods. The kids definitely want to go back and spend more time there exploring. We arrived safe and sound in Salem right on schedule.
How are the kids.......They love it here and have melted right into the school systems. They are actually ahead in most areas compared to Oregon kids which made things very easy. Winter and her two younger brothers go to Lee elementary school. They have to ride their bikes to school every day. Winter has been a great leader in showing Mag the routine so he and Ruger can do it next year on their own as Winter will be joining Yukon at Judson Middle School. I think the first week the kids were in school it rained everyday! The kids would get to school with soaked butts and were beginning to think "we have to do this everyday". But then the rainy season ended and we literally haven't seen rain in weeks. Ruger and Mag are in a shared 1st/2nd grade class which is awesome. They have a wonderful, great teacher and are excelling. Winter passed all of the standardized 5th grade testing on the first try and is way ahead, especially in math. She is looking forward to all the great things that come this fall in 6th grade, especially being on the schools cross country team. Winter loves being able to see the snow peaked mountains from the elementary school, letting her know that skiing is always just a few hours away year round!
Yukon has tackled a major adjustment.... new kid, moving into middle school with 900 kids at the end of the school year. Many new things to adjust to and he has done an amazing job! He is making friends, enjoying woodshop and making mom neat things for the house. He rides a bus everyday for only about 10 minutes. He loves the vast choices for classes including 6 computer classes to choose from next year. Yukon turned 12 this week and is enjoying his birthday present. He got an i-touch and the sdk software and is now writing apps for i-phone. He is my genius in the family. They have adapted so well, it is truly amazing. It goes to show how flexible kids really are and how they just take things in stride and don't sweat the small stuff.
My new Job.....For the first time in 8 years I am going on my third month of not carrying a cell phone or pager. FREEDOM!! I will finally start call in July but will only be taking 4-5 days of call a month (one weekend every two months). I am loving life and being a mom again. Kaiser is an amazing organization to work for. No wonder the Obama administration is looking at modeling the National Health Care System after Kaiser Permanente. We are 100% Electronic Medical Records which is great for documentation and accessing patient information. My colleges, 4 other male physicians, are great people. My staff takes amazing care of me and are helping me fit right in. I have every Friday off, so I only work 4 days a week. It is great to be a part of such a large organization, there is a lot of networking and support in all directions. I am blessed to have found this opportunity to do what a love but yet still maintain quality of life.
Team Winter........marches on. Great success in all directions. Winter was just in the Wall Street Journal last week. I will be posting the article soon if you didn't get a chance to see it. Winter won the Grand Prize in the Eddie Essay contest that was held At Boyne Falls Schools just as she was leaving. The essay had to describe your favorite charity and why they should receive money from the Kiawanis. She won the overall Grand Prize out of 3 schools. The award was originally $100, but they doubled it to $200 because they were so impressed with TEam Winter and what it is doing to change the face of prostate cancer awareness. I will post the award winning essay soon also. Team Winter will be attending the National Auctioneers Associate-Annual Convention in Kansas City this summer in honor of Michael. The Auctioneer community has really went above and beyond in helping Michael's children and Team Winter. There are many more good things on the horizon as Team Winter continues to grow. We are currently supporting several families right now who are dealing with prostate cancer in their 40's.
Team Winter Race in Honor of Michael....Many of you know we were trying to work out a race in Grand Rapids to honor Michael. After many snags in trying to put together such a large event in a short period of time, we have had to make some changes for this year. The race will not be an exclusive Team Winter Race, instead we will be coming out and showing our support for Team Winter and honor Michael at a race that is already in existence. We will be attending a race in Charlevoix, MI on Saturday, July 25th. The race has a 1 mile, 5k and 10k. We don't care if you can't run 3.1 miles, you can at least walk it in honor of Michael. He walked way more than that distance with his body riddled with Cancer. There is special significance wtih this race. Ryan Shay, a former top American Marathoner, was born in northern michigan and went on to be one of the top runners in American. He died suddenly last year during the Olympic Marathon trials in NYC. They know hold a race to honor him called the Shay Mile. The same day we race in Charlevoix, they will bring in elite milers to race for prize money in honor of Ryan Shay. Please check out the website and put this day on your calender. If you don't have your Team Winter T-shirt or Team Winter Oakleys, email me at dawnlestelle@gmail.com and I will let you know how to get them for the race. It was amazing to see almost 200 people at the St. Anthony's Triathlon in Florida wearing Team Winter Oakley sunglasses to show support of Team Winter. Half of the proceeds from the sun glasses go directly to prostate cancer research. You can raise money for Team Winter through www.teamwinter.org website. Form your teams or just run with you and your family. We will see you in Charlevoix!
