365 Days in San Diego: The Truth About Moving

This is it guys. It's our last day in San Diego. Tomorrow morning we close this short but sweet chapter in our lives. Most of you probably assume that, after the not so great first impressions of the area that I live in, I would be thrilled to move on. Most of you will be surprised to hear that I am not.

Here's the truth about moving your family from one location to another:

You plant roots wherever you go. Whether you want to, or not.

Sure, when we got here I figured, "Hell, we aren't here long enough. I'm not even going to try to settle." I didn't paint the walls, I didn't work too hard at making friends (except friends for my kids, of course), we didn't even find a church. We were going to explore the city and enjoy what it had to offer and then move on. It's not worth settling here. But you know what happened?

We settled.

We made friends. We built a home. We found our favorite park, preferred grocery store, best go-to restaurant for dinner, favorite family outing locations. We explored the shit out of San Diego and we realized what a culturally rich city it was, and how much it had to offer to all four of us. We made memories here.

Because that's what you do. You settle.

No matter how hard you might resist it, roots are going to grow. Sure, the neighborhood we moved into wasn't the best part of town. The weather is boring after a while (yes, boring) and the public school my oldest attended was the golden example of how public education is failing miserably, but even so, San Diego became, for one brief year, home. The city is fascinating and alive, and really represents everything good about Southern California (as opposed to say, Los Angeles). Beautiful sunshine, sandy beaches, chill surfer attitude, skaters, rich history, street tacos!!! And unique to San Diego, a city that has adopted, if not completely absorbed themselves in all branches of the US military, which immediately made us feel that we belonged, that we fit in here.

Most military families have adopted the "home is where the military sends us" and it's true. "Home" is not where you originated. Sure maybe "my hometown is _____" but really, "home" is where you are living. San Diego is now a massive vessel of an entire year's worth of my family's memories. For the rest of our lives it will always be where Calen began elementary school. Where Camden learned to ride a bike. Where I fell in love with surfing (even though I only did it once). Where Calen fell in love with baseball (and in particular, the Padres). Where Brad and I fell back in love, because after all, distance makes the heart grow fonder. From Seaport Village to Old Town to Coronado to La Jolla Shores and everywhere in between, this city belonged to us. And for 363 days we called it home without thinking twice. Until tomorrow when we drive away, it is home. And I love my home. And I don't really want to leave my home.

So yes, I'm going to miss it here. I'm going to miss beach trips in January. Family nights at the Padres game, and twice-weekly trips to the world famous San Diego zoo. And if the opportunity should arise to move here again, we would probably take it (and probably opt to live in a different community next time). We have even decided that we will take annual vacations to San Diego while we still live in California. 

So thank you, San Diego, for your 363 days of exciting, busy days. Thank you for forcing us to plant roots, even though we didn't want to. Thank you for being home.

Tomorrow, our next chapter in Petaluma, California will start. And you know what will happen?

We will grow roots. And make it home.

One Year in San Diego, Day 301: Old Town

Disclaimer: Yes, we have done a TON of things in the area since I last posted our 365 days in San Diego theme. Yes I DID just sit on the calendar and count how many days since we moved here. 

We're almost done here, folks. If our potential move date of June 15th holds out, we will be out of here in 67 days. Which means our grand total days in San Diego will be 370.

That was quick, wasn't it?

We've exhausted most of our bucket list for this city already. And luckily, moving just 9 hours up the coast, we will be within reach to return to San Diego to vacation (which we intend on most summers) and hit whatever we've missed. My opinion on San Diego is, it's a tremendous city to vacation to, just not the best to raise kids. At least in the area I live in.

Monday was Brad's last day here before the final deployment to Alameda to decommission the ship. So we turned it into a family day and spent the good majority of the day in Old Town San Diego, taking only an hour intermission to go pick up Calen from school and return. If you visit San Diego, check out Old Town. It's the first U.S. settlement in California, and it's been recreated (most of the old buildings are long lost from a fire in the 1870s) to remain as it's original old Mexi-Cali mission village. Super cool place to explore and learn some history too. And then go to Cafe Coyote for a good Mexican dinner and be sure to hit up the old lady outside who makes you a pile of warm homemade tortillas and butter to take home for $2.

Sitting where the first US flag was flown in California

While The Lion Sleeps...

I hate the "in between stage."

Moms (and Dads) know what I'm talking about. That point in time when your child drops his nap. By not napping, he's horrifically cranky, whiny, and semi narcoleptic from mid afternoon until bedtime. But if he does nap, even if only for 45 minutes, he's suddenly awake partying until 11pm. Thus the in between stage. Awful. 

Camden turns 4 in two weeks. He's terribly knee deep into the "in between stage." Combining that with his already impatient and testy personality, he's become an absolute treat in the afternoons. 

The other day Cam had a post-whining-fit narcoleptic spell at dinner, mid bite into his cheeseburger. He at one point snapped awake and excused himself from the table, just to flop down on his brother's bedroom floor and sleep for an hour. 

Instead of waking him up to avoid him sabotaging bedtime, or just letting him sleep peacefully, Daddy and I decided to take complete and total revenge on Camden's peaceful slumber.

That's what normal kind, caring parents do, right?

Easter

I had enough pictures from today I decided I may as well put a blog up about it. Since you know I haven't posted since October. Yikes. 

We had a great Easter. We started off yesterday with cascarones (confetti eggs). Nothing is more therapeutic than siblings pounding each other's heads eggs with their fists. 

Therapy.

Then began this morning with the traditional backyard egg hunt and basket handouts, and church with friends. For the second year in a row, the kids wore super hero shirts under their dress shirts. Secret identities (insert a muahaha here).

This year's baskets (and a basket from Grammy and Papa too)

I crack myself up...

After church, we attempted to go to Torrey Pines State Reserve and do one of the walking trails, but the closest available parking was (I kid you not) over a mile away from the trail head. So we drove from there to Fiesta Island to fly the kids' new kites, and there were no less than eight million people at that park. So we drove from there to Old Town, parked at the train station, took the trolley down to Seaport Village (in downtown), and spent a good part of the afternoon in the grassy field there flying their super cool new kites (from Costco for $12.99 each...you're welcome), playing tackle football and even held some parrots (because that's what street vendors offer in these parts...). It was a perfect ending to a great Easter. 

Cam's huge alien and Calen's super rad 3D dragon