Off and running in CA

We start July with Jim's Change of Command. It was a wonderful day and we were so excited that so many of our friends and family and friends that feel like family were able to make the trip out to join us. Hopefully we can continue the trend here at 3rd MAW and keep the momentum and excitement going. 

    

One of the highlights of the whole experience was having Jim's parents and his sister Sallie join us. His parents haven't flown in several years and it was a really big deal for them to be able to make the trip. Thankfully Sallie was able to help, and the trip would not have been possible without her tireless and loving support.  Of course in typical Jimeral fashion, Jim packed quite a bit into their short trip. Trips to a beach house at Camp Pendleton and down to Coronado in addition to the Change-of-Command (CoC) and all the associated festivities really kept them on their toes!

    

    

    

The evening of the CoC, while the rest of us were celebrating at the house, the kids drove down to the airport to pick up our friend Nic. Nic is currently living in Rome with his family and they are poised to move to Bahrain later this summer. He is a rising senior and has been on a whirlwind tour of the US, checking out potential colleges along the way. His mom reached out months ago and asked about the possibility of having him join us for a few days and I said by all means - SEND HIM! The kids all get along great and it was wonderful to have him join us for the 4th of July. He got some sun, some surf AND we toured a few colleges along the way. But I am getting ahead of myself.

We rented a beach cabin at Del Mar Beach for the holiday week. Sadly, the house wasn't big enough for all of us so we brought a tent for the boys to stay in and hoped for the best. The beach was awesome! We also brought surfboards and boogie boards. It was just what we all needed - a little rest and relaxation.

    

We decided to head over to Oceanside one of the afternoons because the kids were getting restless - all that time on the beach and in the water can really wear on you after a while - Ha Ha. We passed the Top Gun House, which was the home of Kelly McGillis' character Charlie. It is filled with photos of the filming of Top Gun and is home to High Pie which sells delicious hand pies. We also walked on the pier and watched some surfers enjoying the waves. All in all, an enjoyable afternoon.

    

Our last night at the beach we once again had to pitch the tent. This time some folks in our group didn't think we needed to use the tent stakes. These same people may or may not have been boy scouts (or Marines). Not sure how the tent managed to stay up through the night 😳.

We kept hearing about the Fair and had seen the lights and rides from the highway so we decided to go ahead and check it out. All in all it was pretty much just like every other fair I have ever been to. The kids enjoyed riding some  rides and we took in the monster truck show which was a first for me. The fair is held at the Del Mar racing track and one of the sections takes you over the racetrack to the infield. Jim and I were super impressed, the kids - not so much.

    

    

The next morning, Jim and I took Ben to the airport to catch his flight to San Antonio. He was able to secure a spot in an Air Force-sponsored three week introductory flight program called Aim High Flight Academy. These programs are held at various universities throughout the US and there was even one in Yokota Air Force Base - Japan! Ben really wanted to get that location, but it would have interfered with pre-season high school football, so he was also happy to not get it. 

The goal of the academy is to inspire the next generation of aviators and to give kids the opportunity to learn how to fly. The Air Force uses it as a recruitment tool, but you are in no way obligated to them or any service for that matter. But the goal is to light a fire and hope the participants decide to follow up with military service in the future.  But first Ben had to get there! We should have gotten to the airport earlier than we did cause the line was out the door just to drop off your bag! It was even longer to get through security! There was a real chance Ben was going to miss his flight, but he approached a couple near the front of the security line and asked them if they minded if he got in front of them since he was going to miss his flight otherwise. Not surprisingly, they let him! So off he went. We are positive he will have a wonderful time. I just hope he calls us once in a while. Three weeks is a long time.

While Ben is off learning to fly, Lilly, Lucy, Nic and I headed up to Santa Barbara for Lucy's orientation. We of course made a few stops along the way for Nic to check out some campuses since technically that is why he is here. First on the list was UCSD. It is seriously about 20 minutes away from the house so I told him this was a must do. 

Since we had Lilly with us, we also stopped at UCLA and she walked us all over the campus and I feel like he got a pretty good introduction to what that school feels like as well.

Of course he was also getting to check out UCSB which was really the only school he wanted to see in the first place. While he was on the school tour and Lucy was off getting oriented, Lilly and I walked into Isla Vista and tried to get acquainted with the life that Lucy will be living come September.  The place is simply amazing, and she is going to have a great time! We dropped Nic off at the Santa Barbara Airport before heading back to campus to pick up Lucy. I hope he had a good time, I know the kids were happy to see him and it felt like no time had passed since the last time we had seen him. 

One of Lucy's future roommates was also attending the orientation at UCSB and it is kind of crazy, cause it is a girl she played soccer with at Meridian High School in Falls Church! Several of her Meridian friends also applied to UCSB but I think Mia might be the only one that is attending. We ran into Mia and her mom as we were preparing to leave. I am happy that Lucy will have a friendly face to start out her college journey. The 3rd roommate also happens to live in San Diego, so hopefully we will meet her before move-in day in September.

Next up is Lucy's 18th Birthday!! Of course we took her out to eat and showered her with gifts, plus Lilly made her a cake! All in all it was kind of a perfect day, although we were missing Ben. She has truly grown in to a fully formed person! Well not fully formed, cause she is only 18. But you know what I mean. Our little goose is ready to take on the world!

    

    

Earlier in the day the girls and I went on a little birthday hike in a nearby canyon. Lilly had done some research and said this particular one had some waterfalls. Since it was kind of hot, we thought that sounded like a good one. We walked for about an hour before we got to the river and followed it towards the falls. Of course once we got there they both decided they really wanted to go swimming but neither had brought a suit so instead they just waded around. We will for sure have to come back with Jim and Ben.

Ben is still having the time of his life in San Antonio. The flying experience is all that he imaged and more. He has sent us numerous videos of him piloting the aircraft while taking off and landing. We are assuming his instructor is doing the filming since he is the one doing the flying! Here he is in his flight suit surrounded by his new favorite toy!

Meanwhile back in San Diego, Jim and I took the girls out to eat to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary. They are going to NC for an extended trip so this will be the last night with kids in the house. We tried to go to this famous Dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung, but they didn't have any last minute reservations and Ben really wants to go with us so we will try to make that happen soon. Dinner was good and of course having the girls with us made it extra special. 21 years! Hard to believe all of the things we have been able to squeeze in that time span with more to come I am sure!

The next morning I dropped these two beauties off at the airport. Lilly has her sights on getting a job in NC and extending her visit until end of August, while Lucy is just going for a two week visit with a goal of getting her driver's license while there. Hopefully she can get some babysitting jobs as well! I am going to miss having them around! But with Ben gone for another week, we are going to get a taste of what life will be like in two years 😢😩😬.

We decided our first taste of freedom kid free adventure would be to join our neighbors on their sailboat for the afternoon and then dinghy over to Coronado for dinner. Yes, it was as fun as it sounded! I mean did we miss the kids, well of course, but it was also kind of cool to reconnect with each other AND being on the water is always a mood lifter.

Also during our kid free week Jim got to head over to our old stomping grounds in Yuma and hang out with some familiar faces for a night. I am sure I will get over there at some  point, hopefully when the temps are not over 100 degrees. I guess somethings do stay the same.

        

While the girls are on the east coast, they managed to make their way up to Victoria in order to see Mamama and Gaga for a quick visit. Any time they can spend with their grandparents is special and we are so thankful they were able to figure out a time that worked for everyone. Luckily, two of Jim's sisters and their cousin Sam were able also able come and visit too! It was a full house!

As soon as the dust settled on getting into the house and moving allll the boxes out of the house, Jim cranked up the tower garden. He is mixing things up this time around. I talked him into some cherry tomato seeds and a cucumber. Not sure how that will work out once either of them start producing but we can always transfer them to a pot if they get out of the germination stage. 

    

Ben finally returned from his 3 week stay in San Antonio! He said the program was incredible and he really enjoyed the flying. However, the weather didn't fully cooperate and he wasn't able to get enough hours to attempt to solo. But he has the flying bug so hopefully Jim can figure out a way to keep getting him into airplanes. When we picked him up from the airport we asked if there was anything he wanted to do and he said he wanted to see the pets! Wesley was super excited to see him, Yoshi not so much. We are happy to have him home and thrilled he had a great experience.

Now the real fun begins for him. Football practice starts on August 1st! He said he was able to work on his conditioning while in Texas so we will see just how much work he did very quickly. One thing is for sure, the lower temps and humidity should be a welcome relief compared to what he experienced in Texas!