A few of my favorite things

 

Halloween

Here's to our last year of trick-or-treating.  And here's to our neighbor who saved the night.  Thankfully she gave me the heads up that our neighborhood doesn't get trick-or-treaters, which makes sense because we are at the end of a cul-de-sac at the top of a steep hill.  And while I remember Camarillo being super low key with Halloween, we were thrown off by coming from New York where everyone trick-or-treats and they start at 3pm and it's a huge thing everywhere.

Alison ended up going to Carlsbad with a work friend.

We told the boys they could walk around the neighborhood, but then we realized that they didn't know the neighborhood yet and would be walking for miles up huge hills.

We ended up driving around searching for houses and while it was Halloween, it was creepy how quiet the streets were.  We found one block that had action and that was it.  Thankfully the boys got just enough candy and then we hung out at our neighbors house the rest of the evening.

Oceanside Beach

Not that many posts ago, I said it would be interesting to compare Long Island beach to Oceanside:

A week in Florida does not really compare to a day in Oceanside, but we still had a really fun time.  Alison was even able to come down for a little bit before work.

The boys boogie boarding.  I have zero idea how they are in the water.  I couldn't even put my feet in.

Digging and finding rocks and then pretending those rocks are in a war.

Playing football:

 

USS Midway

The White's have had a vacation to their favorite spot in Florida planned for a year and Laurel has been counting down the days.  This has been the hottest summer in Yuma in forever; hasn't been below 100 since May!  Sadly, Hurricane Milton cancelled all their plans at the last minute.  I was so sad for them, but selfishly happy for us...they changed plans to come to San Diego for a few days.  

Colin and I met up with them at the Midway.  Colin and Tolson talk almost every day and it's usually about aircrafts and the military, so to say they were in heaven would be an understatement.

We had to pry them away from this spot.  They were pretending to be in charge of an attack and I am confident would have stayed there all day if we had let them.

Colin didn't remember going to the Midway a couple of years ago, so he gained a whole new perspective of what it was like for his dad to live on a ship during his deployment.

 

Pumpkin Carving

Wanna hear something cool?  My friend Laurel connected me with a friend who also just moved her from Yuma!  Turns out, we have a LOT in common.  They only live 10 minutes away, have kids about my kids age, have also lived in Michigan, Virginia and Arizona and homeschool the same way we do, which is a unicorn to find.  We've hung out twice already and this week they came over to carve pumpkins.  Coming from Yuma, it's been a hot minute since they've done this and they were happy to do anything that was outside.  I remember those days well.

Alison's pumpkin

 

Catching up

Stopping by the beach is a theme in our life now and I couldn't love it more.

After a busy day, we went out to dinner and stopped by to watch the sunset.  I just have to say how much I love this picture of my kids but hate how giant my hoodie makes me look...but that's not what's in important.

I also love that eating outside is a regular occurrence.  Especially Colin will take his breakfast out to the patio to eat.

We found the library!  We pulled up and the boys said, "THIS is our library?!?!"

They have an entire manga section and have regular teen anime events, which made Eli very happy.

The library is right in the downtown area so we walked around afterwards and found the 'Top Gun' house.  

We have some really nice neighbors!  Neighbors on both sides of us have come over to say hello, have brought us food and have said they are here if we need anything (they put 2 and 2 together that I am here by myself for the time being).  It's been so long since we've had friendliness like this, I just had to document it:

One Friday night, we went to get tacos and stopped by the beach.  There was a skateboarding competition that we watched for awhile and then tried to snap some pictures.

Colin refused to have his picture taken, but we still love him!

We are still missing a lamp (but have the shade) and coffee grinder.  The packers put things in such weird places that I had to go through ALL of our garage stuff.  Not a job I really wanted to tackle.  However, it made me go through a giant tub we had of old bedding that clearly needed to be cleared out.  You know you've moved too many times when this is in your garage: Alison's bedding from Virginia, Arizona, Camarillo and New York.

 

Fishing in Canada

Eli got to go fishing with Ben and Grandpa in Canada!  This was his first time out of the country and I believe they had a really fun time.  I know it will be a trip that Eli will always remember.

 

Venture to Yuma

Believe it our not, we trekked over to Yuma for the day.  The boys have Facetimed each other almost daily in the years that we've been in New York and they have been begging to see each other in real life.  What better time to do that than when you're just sitting in an empty house.  They picked up right where they left off and it was like no time apart ever happened.  It was amazing to see them play together all day and I was not complaining about a day with Laurel.

We went to Get Air for a few hours.

Colin has definitely had a growth spurt!

Then they jumped on the trampoline with a hose.  Laurel said this has been the hottest summer since the 70's and this is literally the first time they've been outside since May.  It was a cool 106...

We had Chili Peppers for dinner and the boys kept on playing.

It's exciting that day trips to see each other can be in our life!

 

Our first week in Cali

We've been to the store a million times.  Moving is expensive! But also fun to refresh things.  We've had delicious food and tried to get all our favorites...although I was bummed to find that some of them are only up in Camarillo.  Guess we'll have to make a trip soon.  I've gone on several runs and am quickly humbled by all the hills here, but also excited be able to run in this beautiful place.  Alison had her job transferred here and started at the new location the day after she got here!  That called for a celebration, so picked up crumble afterwards.

Work is no longer across the street, which means I get to drive her for a short season while we work on her getting a license and car.  I treated myself to a little beach time one day after dropping her off.  I can get my toes in the sand just 15 minutes from our house!

Coffee and the ocean might be a theme in our life.  Alison asked if I wanted to try Dutch Bros with her and bummer, the location was right by the water and we just had to stop by for a little bit.  We sat on these rocks and watched the crabs scamper around and agreed that we would be okay with making this part of our routine.

 

We made it!!!

Our last day of driving, we stopped in Utah for Swig to see what all the hype is about.  I was not impressed, but thankful I can say I tried it.

Our whole trip went smoothly and I really enjoyed the time with Eli.  I was a little done with Maya by the end, but the memories we made this week will stay forever.  

A heat wave hit, well probably everywhere, right at the time we were arriving in California.  Our landlord texted me to let me know of the heat (the house doesn't have central air) and let me know that he was bringing over a super fan.  He also put some water and oranges in the fridge and left toilet paper and paper towels for us...and brought in all the mattresses from the front porch for me.  I felt bad about that one, but also really appreciated it.  We set up camp in the living room and opened all the windows. 

I went to Walmart and Target and bought the last 3 little fans in the store.  It was like toilet paper during Covid all over again.  I channeled my previous Yuma living life and we made it through a couple of days of 100 degree weather.  To our advantage, it actually cools down in the evenings here and made sleeping very comfortable.

For a few days, our family was spread out across the country.

I tested my moving theory this move and I think I proved it correct.  I have suggested to people, if possible, to have one person go before everyone and set up "camp" at the new house.  Get things functional so that the family can do all the basic things right away.  If you have things set so that everyone can eat, sleep and shower right away, it takes away a layer of initial stress.  I was able to do that in the few days before everyone else arrived and I think it really helped.  It also helped that I'm somewhat familiar with Oceanside and getting to the store was not a huge stressful thing.

Ben, Alison and Colin all flew in to San Diego at the same time.  I picked them up, we got tacos for dinner at the world's best taco place in downtown and then headed up to the house.  It felt amazing to all be together again!

Ben was here for a couple of days for work and then had to go back to New York.  We're both camping out in empty houses at the moment.  I actually haven't minded it too much, but Maya would argue with me...she would like her bed...she just doesn't know what to do with herself.

trying to nap on the new bathmats

This is our dinner table situation right now :)