First Patient and First Major Family Ride

Mick met with his very first patient yesterday, an eighty-year-old woman of great patience and kindness, he says. I don't think I risk violating privacy rights when I tell you he performed steps 1-5 and took x-rays. (Yeah, I don't have a clue what steps 1-5 are either.)

He's got another new patient scheduled this week, and another couple for the next. He was assigned about ten patients and he's responsible for scheduling them himself. When his class meets for clinic--a few hours four times a week, I think--if he doesn't have his own patient scheduled, he spends time assisting another second year student.

In other news: last Saturday the whole family drove to Tiburon (about 10 minutes away) and took the Angel Island Ferry to Angel Island State Park. There, we rode our bikes--Dane SOLO and Aubrey on the trail-a-bike--around the hilly, roasty toasty five mile perimeter loop. The kids did great: Dane learned to really control his speed on the downhills so his handlebars wouldn't go wobbly, and Aubrey pumped like such a champ up some of the steep hills that we got to pass other riders walking their bikes up. The temp was in the 90s, with better breezes on one half of the island, but we had fun as we guzzled Gatorade, ate granola bars and explored old barracks. There's also an old immigration station there (on the National Historic Register) but it was down a really steep hill, so we'll have to save that stop for next time when the skill and energy levels are better-suited for it. As it was, we were gritty and salty when we returned home four hours later, but it was great fun and it sure beat sitting around in our hot apartment.

Chock one up for the Reynolds' most recent step toward a new independence.

[Will post pictures soon.]