Andy graduated from Southwest Missouri State University. Danielle graduated from the University of Kansas.
Long distance relationships suck, but sometimes work out.
We celebrated 8 years of marriage this past September.
Danielle is done with medical school, and is finishing up her last months of residency at Orlando Regional Medical Center. She's not around much, leaving Andy to care for the menagerie. And do the laundry. She figures that if the president can have an education czar and a drug czar, she might as well have a laundry czar. And Andy was the perfect man for the job. He also keeps an amazing lawn, keeps things relatively tidy, and makes a mean Hamburger Helper. They're both very excited about her new job - she's joining the University of Florida Emergency Physicians, and will be working out of Winter Haven Hospital. Best of both worlds, she'll be both a community doctor and an Assistant Professor at UF! So, um, Go Gators!
In our spare time (what spare time?!) we maintain a saltwater reef ecosystem, and enjoy spending time with our substitute children. Andy also plays a lot of computer games, but I'm not supposed to mention that. Danielle has done the Ozark Branch MS 150 many times in the past, and raised over $1,200 for MS research in 2003. She also completed her first century ride that year. She did it again in May with a team of surgeons here in Central Florida. (The "Cutting Edge" har!) As the lone ER doc on the team, she had a great time razzing the guys! (You can imagine that surgeon + male + athletic event made for some serious testosterone.) The MS went very close to the new house, so she got to learn a few of the roads, and the cycling is suburb out here! Danielle has also been running a lot lately, and has two chip-timed half marathons under her belt so far. She's trying to decide what to do next - the half is a PERFECT distance, but there aren't that many of them around. Her crazy sister suggests triathlons, but swimming is not a strength. We shall see. Andy and Danielle have also become quite involved with animal rescue, and have come to sort of speclialize in Border Collies. We have had 30+ fosters under our roof in the last year or so, and it's quickly becoming a passion. (Although we did foster a Bloodhound for awhile. She was a hoot, but a lot different from our lighting fast herding gals).
Danielle and her sister Linda traveled to Colorado in the summer of 2004 with the goal of coming as close as possible to killing themselves, but not quite. They rafted the Class IV and V rapids at the Royal Gorge, and climbed Pike's Peak via the Barr Trail out of Manitou Springs in an action-packed 2.5 days. Danielle finally got around to putting up a page about it, and you can read the abridged version here.
Here's Andy at Oronogo (Blue Water Lake) ... and it was COLD!!
...but he's lovin' it.
We haven't had a chance to dive lately, but we made a point to dive the Living Seas aquarium at Epcot Center in June. It's considered a Disney tour (DiveQuest), and although it's a bit pricy for a short dive. you get to swim with the sharks, and play with the tourists!