My Move to California, the Good Parts (With Pics)
It's taken me much longer to make this post than I'd anticipated. Life got pretty busy again. :P
After my last batch of posts, it probably sounded like we made a mistake moving out here. But even though our move was quite the "adventure," and we continue to face different challenges, the positive experiences and and opportunities have been amazing and all three of us are really happy here. The cats seem to like it here, too.
So without further ado, I present the good parts:
-- Our first weekend here (Easter weekend), we went to Monterey Bay and spent the day at the beach. We saw tide pools and habor seals with their pups.
-- For his 9th birthday, T wanted to go to Alcatraz. I'd been there once before, when I was 7, but had forgotten a lot about the experience. We all really enjoyed the tour and want to go back again, but earlier in the day this time so we have more time to spend on the island.
-- Due to how stressful everything was and how little time I actually had, settling in was looking like it was never going to happen. So my mom flew out for a week (now that I live close enough for that) and helped us unpack. All that's left is the office (which will get done this week because my bil is going to be staying with us for about 3 months while he works on a contract with EA Games). While she was here, we went to Half Moon Bay and spent a lovely, relaxing day at the beach.
-- Remember all those car repairs I mentioned in my last post? Well, we ended up taking the car to a different dealership a few weeks ago and they told us that all that work was supposed to be covered under the CA SULEV warranty. They printed out the information with our coverage. We went back to the first dealership and when they tried to worm their way out of it, we contacted Subaru of America. Turns out the second dealership was right and we ended up getting back every penny we spent--almost $3,000!
-- The congregation at church here is really friendly and much bigger than the church we went to in Utica. Due to its size and how very introverted and shy I am, it's taking me a long time to get to know people, but I do like the ones I've met so far. Our neighbors are also really friendly and fun to get to know.
-- The opportunties and resources out here for home school are innumerable. We also joined a home school group and will be able to participate in various activities, including a co-op with them starting in Sept.
-- There's an awesome bike trail not even a two minute walk from where I live. I don't have any pictures yet because it's kind of awkward to bring the camera when I'm on the bike, but it's gorgeous. It runs along a creek and paralell to the mountains for about 15 miles. T and I have already been on several bike rides.
-- The weather here is amazing. I still can't get over how sunny it is all the time and how blue the sky is and just how colorful everything is in general. I also love that it doesn't get too hot here, either.
-- I'm loving how easy it is to find organic foods out here. I hear there's also a lot of farmer's markets, too. I'll have to find out where and when so I can start going to them.
-- We splurged and bought ourselves a Canon 5D Mark II. Chriss wanted it for film, I wanted it for photos. We've had a lot of fun playing around with it. Our first real test of the camera was the day we went with friends to take pictures of the Googleplex and also the sunset at Shoreline Park in Mountain View.
-- And finally, we spent our 4th of July on the beach near Davenport. We saw more tide pools, sea caves, and even found a huge sea sponge that washed up on the beach. And this only scratches the surface of what's available to see and do around here. We're having fun exploring our new home and experiencing new things.
After my last batch of posts, it probably sounded like we made a mistake moving out here. But even though our move was quite the "adventure," and we continue to face different challenges, the positive experiences and and opportunities have been amazing and all three of us are really happy here. The cats seem to like it here, too.
So without further ado, I present the good parts:
-- Our first weekend here (Easter weekend), we went to Monterey Bay and spent the day at the beach. We saw tide pools and habor seals with their pups.
-- For his 9th birthday, T wanted to go to Alcatraz. I'd been there once before, when I was 7, but had forgotten a lot about the experience. We all really enjoyed the tour and want to go back again, but earlier in the day this time so we have more time to spend on the island.
-- Due to how stressful everything was and how little time I actually had, settling in was looking like it was never going to happen. So my mom flew out for a week (now that I live close enough for that) and helped us unpack. All that's left is the office (which will get done this week because my bil is going to be staying with us for about 3 months while he works on a contract with EA Games). While she was here, we went to Half Moon Bay and spent a lovely, relaxing day at the beach.
-- Remember all those car repairs I mentioned in my last post? Well, we ended up taking the car to a different dealership a few weeks ago and they told us that all that work was supposed to be covered under the CA SULEV warranty. They printed out the information with our coverage. We went back to the first dealership and when they tried to worm their way out of it, we contacted Subaru of America. Turns out the second dealership was right and we ended up getting back every penny we spent--almost $3,000!
-- The congregation at church here is really friendly and much bigger than the church we went to in Utica. Due to its size and how very introverted and shy I am, it's taking me a long time to get to know people, but I do like the ones I've met so far. Our neighbors are also really friendly and fun to get to know.
-- The opportunties and resources out here for home school are innumerable. We also joined a home school group and will be able to participate in various activities, including a co-op with them starting in Sept.
-- There's an awesome bike trail not even a two minute walk from where I live. I don't have any pictures yet because it's kind of awkward to bring the camera when I'm on the bike, but it's gorgeous. It runs along a creek and paralell to the mountains for about 15 miles. T and I have already been on several bike rides.
-- The weather here is amazing. I still can't get over how sunny it is all the time and how blue the sky is and just how colorful everything is in general. I also love that it doesn't get too hot here, either.
-- I'm loving how easy it is to find organic foods out here. I hear there's also a lot of farmer's markets, too. I'll have to find out where and when so I can start going to them.
-- We splurged and bought ourselves a Canon 5D Mark II. Chriss wanted it for film, I wanted it for photos. We've had a lot of fun playing around with it. Our first real test of the camera was the day we went with friends to take pictures of the Googleplex and also the sunset at Shoreline Park in Mountain View.
-- And finally, we spent our 4th of July on the beach near Davenport. We saw more tide pools, sea caves, and even found a huge sea sponge that washed up on the beach. And this only scratches the surface of what's available to see and do around here. We're having fun exploring our new home and experiencing new things.