Trip up to Camarillo

Ben was asked to preach at our old church, so we took a little weekend trip up to Camarillo.  Unfortunately, Alison wasn't able to get off work, so she stayed home and took care of Maya.  I was excited to go back and see some of our favorite places and people.

First stop, was lunch at Namaste Spice land!  We stocked up on some essentials while we were there and laughed at the fact that we drove 2.5 hours to go grocery shopping.

We drove by our old house and then we went up to Ventura and walked around downtown.  Rocket Fizz was one of our favorites and we did a little thrifting.

Then we went over to the Grant's for dinner.  Timmy has joined their family since we moved and it was so great to meet him.

Hanging out with Erin felt like we could just pick up where we left off, but then we looked at our kids and realized a lot has actually changed.  The kids and I spent many hours in this living room, playing with little Lindsey and baby Kailey and now there are 2 more kids and my kids aren't kids anymore.  I was very proud of my boys for hanging out with the littles, playing and watching cartoons.

When it was time for their littles to go to bed, we took our boys to the hotel and then Ben and I went over to the Shuben's, our old neighbors/friends from church/Ben's hiking buddy.  We shared charcuterie, a glass of wine and wonderful conversation.  

Sunday, Ben preached at Faith Community and then we went out to lunch with a bunch of people.  My brain hurt a little by the time it was time to head back home.  It was great to catch up with old friends, but my brain was trying to recall too much information.  While talking to people in our Camarillo life, they were asking us about our New York life and then where we are now and I was left thinking, "I'm pretty sure we live in San Diego now...but we've lived too many places, that much I know."

 

Boogie Boarding at Del Mar

That little black dot in the picture is Colin boogie boarding.  He had the beach to himself on this beautiful day.  Del Mar beach is just a block from Ben's office on base and is perfect!  Free parking, a nice bathroom, a little restaurant and a playground.  What makes it more perfect for me is that it's always quiet and usually only a few people will be there.

 

A perfect school day

We got our work done and then headed downtown.  Alison was meeting up with a friend, so we dropped her off and then went to In & Out for lunch.  Then we took Eli to see the sea lions.

We got some books at the library and then went to the Oceanside Museum of Art.

PE was playing volleyball on the beach.

I love that our school days can look like this!

 

Back to a life of amenities!

It's been a breath of fresh air to be back in place that has easy amenities!  

The YMCA is a mile from our house and the kids and I are there at least once a week to workout.  They also have a pool that we're looking forward to using this summer.  But they also have tennis courts!  

Camp Pendleton base is about 20 minutes from our house and is full of things for us.  I almost forgot what it was like to have access to some of these things, but Camp Pendleton might trump all bases we've been to so far.

We've connected with a group of military homeschooled teens!  We're a rare bread of people and it's been amazing to have this community.

We've gone bowling:

and met at several different restaurants on base that don't mind us just hanging out for hours.

This week we checked out 'Create Space' at one of the libraries.  I was overwhelmed by all of the things they had there!  The different sections included: two 3-D printers, a wood engraver, robotics, movie making with a green screen, a cricit and sewing machine, crocheting, Legos, and every other crafty thing you could imagine.  And all for free and for our disposal.  Colin made a 3-D airplane and the kids drew while we waited.

The boys met some of the kids at the movie theater (they were the first ones there).  It's not a typical movie theater, but every once in a while they play $1 movies.  Snacks were cheap, the theater was nice and they basically had the place to themselves.  They played a new movie too, so it was a win all around!

 

Change of Command ceremony

Colin and I went to the Change of Command ceremony for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unity (Ben's new command).  We got there early and listened to the band.

I hope we can do more of these events in the coming years; it's rare for the kids to see Ben at his job but always really cool when we get glimpses into this world.

Ben praying at the beginning of the ceremony:

After the ceremony, Ben took Colin over to get a close up look at the aircrafts.

I have been informed to not call them airplanes, yet I couldn't tell you the right name for them.  Colin loves planes and talks of one day flying them.

 

New Year's Eve at Sea World

We made a somewhat spontaneous decision to do something fun for New Year's and use our yearly pass for Sea World. 

First stop, tacos!  We happily discovered that our favorite taco spot has several locations.

Last time we were there:

A lot has changed in 3 years!

  P.s. Colin is as tall as me now :(

It was different going at night, but they had everything decorated for the Holidays and fireworks at closing.  We were only able to see one show; a Holiday musical...usually they do a dog show here and I kept waiting for the dogs to come out, but no dogs ever came.

This is how impressed Colin was with the penguins.

Sure wish I could take credit for the cute little boy in the photo.  I'll just pretend he goes with us.

Christmas flamingos!

We sipped some hot cocoa and watched the dolphins.  We didn't see them jump, but it's still amazing to see them swim around.

And our own viewing of the orca.

Then we got to count down for the east coast ball drop and watch fireworks.

It was a spectacular night! 

I had to pinch myself as we were leaving.  This is the first time that we didn't have to go back to a hotel or drive back to Yuma...we just drove home and that felt pretty amazing.