At the Crossroads . . .

The days are rolling by pretty calmly right now. As the time comes closer and closer for our baby to be born, a pretty large decision looms over our heads. "Where are we going to live?"

When Darcey and I first married, we lived in a nice little apartment in Riverside. It was an awesome place to live since it was smack in the middle of a mall, a theme park, a hospital, Target (Darcey's favorite), and work. Plus it was cheap so we were able to pay rent and buy food. Imagine that. In January of 2005, a storm rolled into Ojai that kept the rain pouring for almost three weeks straight. In the time this was happening, a large landslide got a lot of media attention in nearby La Conchita where several homes were destroyed and one man lost his entire family. Back in Ojai, my in-laws were putting sand bags around the property trying to keep the water out. They ended up losing almost everything. It's a long story but you can read it on my brother in-law's blog here. Darcey and I bought a trailer and moved up to help get the house rebuilt and back in shape. Sean and Randi have been in their beautiful home for around two years now and Darcey and I are still in the trailer.

With all the struggles and frustrations that go with living in a camper, there's also many benefits. We've been able to go on a few sweet vacations, buy a new car, and save a bunch of money. The trailer life is not going to work any more since the family is growing so we're on the look out for the right opportunity to move up in the world. Option #1 is move to Ventura. It would be the most expensive choice and it's hard to spend a lot of money with the way the economy is right now but it's a nice safe town to be in and everything we need is near by. Option #2 is to buy in Ojai. It would be great to stay close to Darcey's parents while the baby is small but there is nothing in this freakin' place! If you want to do anything entertaining or need to buy a specialty item, chances are you're making a 30 minute drive. Option #3 is to move back to Riverside or Corona. My family is mostly within 10 minutes and there's the most amount of stuff to do. It's also the cheapest but there is a massive work shortage. If I'm able to find a well-paying, steady job I think this is the best choice, but only if I find that job does the plan work. Pray for us. It's a huge decision to make while our family is going through so many changes.

Baby Update: 14 weeks

Darcey and I headed down to the doctors office yesterday for the second appointment in our baby adventure. Other than having to sit in the hallway because it was so packed in the office the appointment went pretty good. Now that I mention it. I forgot to ask the doctor something while we were there . . . and now I can't remember what it is again. Dang!

What I do remember is that we heard the heartbeat again. I could listen to that all day. The doctor mentioned that the beat was a little below the normal. It was nothing to worry about at all but it usually means it's a boy. I tell myself not to get my hopes up as if I'd be disappointed with a girl. A girl is really what I hoping for. Don't ask me why. I wish I knew.

Bitter Sweet Home Coming

I can't exactly say that if we got stuck in Maui for a few more days I would be too bummed out about it. After all, I was getting a sweet tan finally and my stress from work wasn't even a daily thought. What I can say is that when we came home it wasn't too soon. It was just right.

I thought this would be what my view would be for the 11.5 days I spent on the beautiful island in Kahana, Kapalua and Lahaina, but it wasn't. It ended up being even better than I expected this vacation to be.

The afternoon we arrived at Kahana Sunset, I watched the McAfees run to the beach just at sunset as if it was the baby Jesus. The days were full of snorkeling, frisbee, swimming in the pool, laying out, sleeping in, scuba diving, shopping, kayaking, rock jumping, road tripping, site seeing, fine dining, home cooking, movie watching, visiting family, making friends, hiking, photo taking and most of all, enjoying quality time with my wife.

It was some much needed time off. The whole family had waited a long time to get away and spend time together.

The Perfect Day

The perfect day starts by waking up with a smile on my face and then looking over at Darcey and she's smiling too. "We're going to Hawaii today."

Darcey and I sold our scooter to some friends in Corona so I drove it down after work the day before to drop it off. It was a long day. After sitting for 15 hours straight, I was surprised that the idea of sitting on a plane most of the day didn't bother me one bit. I could sit next to Darcey in a small space for the rest of my life.

The day continued to be perfect because the airline played "The Office" which the entire family is a big fan of. The flight went by fast for 5 1/2 hours. We ate lunch on a short lay over at the Honolulu airport.

By far the best part of the day for the family was while we were renting our cars. Most of the deals Matt could find on the internet were about $20 a day for an economy car. Being the cheap skates we are, we managed to find a better deal on priceline.com for $13 and $15 a day for two cars. The guy working at the counter wasn't too happy with us laughing at the fact we didn't want an upgrade for double what we're paying in the first place. When Matt asked how much it was to add another driver the response was, "If you're not going to pay 10 bucks for a jeep, you're not going to pay for your wife to drive." Matt and I managed to not burst out in laughter as the clearly on-commission salesman printed our receipts. Once we made it out to the parking lot we walked past the luxury cars waiting in the front while jokingly saying, "I'll take that one." We quickly realized that there was only one economy car left. A red Toyota Yaris. Thinking he's going to have to upgrade us to a slightly larger car like a Accord or Seabring, the guy noticed that all eight of us were together he said the most beautiful words a person in his position could ever say. Pointing at a Black Lincoln Towncar and a Black Chrysler 300 he said, "You guys just take these two." I wish I had a camera on our faces. We put our luggage in the cars in record time hoping to jet out of the parking lot before the guy realized what kind of a deal we were getting. It was one perfect thing after another. We needed to find a Costco and it was the first store outside of the airport. The drive and weather were perfect. The condo with the ocean view was perfect. The fresh pineapple we had for dinner was perfect. The bedroom view is even more perfect than the other one. Being with family makes it amazingly perfect. That's it. We're moving.

An Early Mother's Day

There was no way I was going to let one of the worst allergy attacks I've ever had spoil a day with my mom. For a while it seemed like every hole in my head was leaking but it was totally worth it.

Because we're leaving on Mother's Day, my mom and I wanted to meet up and give her a chance to see Darcey's side of the family while they are in California. Everyone was there except for Sean. He had to work at his fire station in Malibu.

The Camarillo Outlets was the cool place to be, especially because it was empty due to being Monday. A new Johnny Rocket's is opening but is still being constructed much to the groups disappointment. We had to settle for food court Thai food. I got a kick out of seeing Eoin walk right to the stand he liked and order chips. The guy behind the bar kept telling him they don't have chips but Eoin kept saying it over and pointing at the big picture. Finally Hailey saved the day by walking over and explaining to Eoin and the food guy that he wanted french fries. Irish.

After a few hours of shopping and talking about the past and future, the group was pretty burnt out and wanted to get some rest. Darcey was a trooper all day. The queasy feelings haven't worked themselves all the way out of her system yet. She hung in there all day like a champ. I ended up getting some sweet camouflage shorts I've wanted forever. I don't know why. But Eoin and I matched and that's what's important. It was awesome to see my mom. Living a couple hours away keeps us from seeing each other and family as much as we'd like. It was cool to look at little kid cloths with her and listen to her remember things about me when I was little.

Waiting for Hawaii

We leave with the McAfees and Kingsleys for Maui on the 10th of this month for two weeks of sitting on the beach, hiking, site seeing, and eating spam. It seems like it's been 4 years since we've planned this vacation. When I need a brake from work it usually goes that way. As much as I'm looking forward to my first tropical travel destination, it comes at a time where every cent we make is going straight into savings. Paradise can be expensive and diving into money that is suppose to be for our first house can be a little demotivating. But I guess we have to enjoy the islands before global warming washes them away.

We're going to be staying on the west side of the island but we may try to make it over to the Hana Hwy on the other side for a day or so. I've heard the drive is beautiful and is full of waterfalls, tide pools and empty beaches. After picking up a book about all the stuff on Maui I realized that it would take more than a two week trip to see all there is to see. 80 or 90 trips throughout my life time should do it. We still have to figure out what we're going to do for auto transport and stuff like that but Matt seems to have all the ducks lined up.

Playoffs 09

Last Monday was pretty awesome. After enjoying a nice day off my brother in-law Matt and I left for Anaheim in the afternoon to see game six in the first round of the NHL playoffs. The eighth-seeded Ducks took down the No. 1 Sharks, owners of the best record in the NHL this regular season, in a best of seven series. Anaheim is one of only five teams to do that in more than 40 years.

Since the game was at 7:30, I was afraid we were going to get stuck in traffic heading through LA but, thanks to the recession, it wasn't a problem. They tickets we managed to get weren't in my dream spot but I wasn't about to fork over $380 to be on the bottom level. Once we got in our seats they turned out to be just fine. We could see the game and were close to the $11 per hot dog food bar. Living in Dublin, Ireland, Matt doesn't see much hockey. I did my best to explain technical rules, the rivalry between Anaheim and San Jose, and how awesome it was that the Ducks were embarrassing the best team in the NHL by leading the series 3-2.

Right off the first puck drop, the two players taking the circle dropped gloves and started wailing on each other. The tension between the two carried over from the last game. It was about this time that everyone around us started saying under their breath, "This is gonna be a good game."

It was. Even though the Sharks got the first goal, it was the last one they would score this season. The Ducks scored 4 times during the game to get the series winning game. One of the best things about the game was the lady sitting in front of Matt. Every time something positive happened for the Ducks she would turn around for a high-five. If you didn't see her holding her hand up for one, she would hit you on the leg until you did. I don't think Matt will want to give anyone a high five for as long as he lives.