Beach time!

It would appear that Gray is his father's child. He loves the beach and would stay all day, every day if he could. I, on the other hand, am so pale that too much sun is never a good choice. That and I'm not really a fan of being covered in sand for hours up to days (in the car, in your bag, in your scalp) after each trip. I try to be a good sport and go occasionally, but I would much rather just look at it than actually play in it. 

Pacific Beach is a tourist haven in the summer months, so we are usually driving around looking for parking or wading through a ton of people for a place to lay our towels out. I prefer going later in the season on a week day. There is generally less people out and the weather is usually nice enough to go at least a couple weeks out of every month. The one thing that is strange about the beach here is that it can be FREEZING in May, and warm in November. It is usually warm all summer, all year really, but the weather isn't 76 and sunny all year around like San Diegans would like for you to think it is. I literally wore a hoodie in late May this year to watch Josh surf. 

This particular day there were tons of dolphins in the water. It seems like I see dolphins fairly often down there, but Gray totally missed them this day. I originally saw one fin and got a little freaked out (I even know that if you see a shark you are generally ok. It's when you don't see them that you could be in trouble.) then I saw about 4-5 more pop up. They were surfing and playing along the beach. Josh surfs with them often enough, and I'm pretty jealous about that. Maybe not jealous enough to surf with him... 

Not sure if I shared these two photos below before, but I just love them so much it can't hurt to re-share them. California has beaches different from anything I've seen on the East Coast or the Gulf, but they are all beautiful in different ways. Pacific Beach is no different, it just happens to have a different vibe than most of the beaches in San Diego. 

Summer Fun!

How about a random post with a bunch of pictures that totally don't match? OK! 

Josh celebrated a birthday, and Gray picked out the cake. There were so many dirt movers on the cake, we almost didn't have enough room for all of the candles. Gray still talks about this cake! 

We stopped by the Pacific Beach firehouse because Gray saw a firetruck come back and was dying to check it out. The firemen were so nice, they let Gray get on one of the trucks and try on one of their super heavy hats! 

Gray got a new hat from the Padre's store, and he wore it constantly until he lost it. Luckily they had not sold out of them before the next game we went to and he got a replacement (that I quickly tagged with my phone number)! He is very serious about coloring in this picture. Or returning crayons to the box.

Fun times at the Safari Park!

Gray lined his boots up by his Daddy's. Awww.
Had to get a shot of that! 

Gray is officially a big boy. No more crib in his room! 

Leaving a Padre's game with Daddy! 

He is so cute, but I'm so scared this is going to end in the ER. 

He is getting TOO big! 

Babysitting two big girls. Fletch is dating both sisters on the sly.  

Skateboarding in the neighborhood! 

Josh taught him how to ride on his bottom. Much less scary for me! 

Sprinkler time! 

Rinse off after playing at the beach! 

Walking Fletch in the neighborhood.  

Beach Day! 

Fletch recovering from a walk. 

Gray gets a hideous hair cut/style.
He looks in the mirror and says 'My hair looks stupid.' 

Bike rides to dinner in Pacific Beach. 

Since we moved...

June has been a wild and crazy month so far. We moved the last week of May and spend several days following getting the old house ready to turn back over to the landlords. To say that I've never been more ready to get out of a place and get away from a landlord, is the understatement of the decade. The second night we were in the new house, the landlord (knowing we weren't staying at the house) decided it was perfectly acceptable to just go in the house without our knowledge. That just so happens to be totally illegal in case you were wondering. Trespassing anyone? I had left the alarm armed, so of course it went off and drama ensued. Not only did we not receive an apology, she later demanded we let her have free run of the house for TWO full days to do general maintenance that is normally done after a tenant vacates, on top of several other days she had already spent in and out fixing things. The landlord did not leave herself any time to make changes because she started the new tenants lease the day after ours ended. Does this give you some idea of some of the ridiculous things we had to deal with for 2.5 years? Again, understatement of the decade. 

Gray on moving day.

Gray was not a fan of the house hunt, but he is a huge fan of the "new house." He loves that he can go from his room to the living room without having to take a parent with him. He is also in love with the yard and the play ground about 6 houses up from ours. This was his 3rd move in three years (from Florida to North Carolina to California to this house), but the first one that he remembers I'm sure. He seems to be right at home here like we never moved.

Memorial Day. Loving the new backyard! 

Brothers. One is a lot more relaxed than the other. :)

Now a month after we moved down to the beach, we are mostly unpacked (4 boxes remain). It would all be done by now, but I'm going through everything as I put it up to throw out and donate things that we don't need or use anymore. We downsized a lot when we moved into this house and there isn't room for all the crap we have been lugging around the USA. If you steer clear of the guest room (where I'm hiding the boxes), I think it looks pretty put together. Curtains and hanging the rest of the pictures is next on the to do list! 

Busy Weekend.

Several Marines from Josh's squadron came home from a 7 month deployment last Thursday. I couldn't miss my friend's spouses homecoming, so Gray and I went to the squadron to join the festivities. Gray was wearing his cammies and his Daddy's wings, so as Gray left the house he waved and said "I'm going to work."

Too cool for pics with Mommy. 

If you ever have the chance to go to a military homecoming, I would highly recommend it. I haven't ever been to a homecoming where I didn't cry. I tend to be a cryer anyway, but how can you NOT get a little misty when seeing people reunited for the first time in months? I know how excited I was the day Josh got home, but seeing my friends reunited with their husbands is almost as good as if it were my own day to celebrate. There is nothing more special than that first hug and kiss after so much time apart. The days before Josh came home felt like I was getting ready for our wedding with all of the anticipation and excitement in the air. Deployments aren't fun, but homecomings are so amazing they almost make you forget about all the things that he missed or that you had to deal with alone. Almost. 

Legoland!

At the last minute we backed out of our plans to go to the SD Fair because it was a beautiful Saturday and I didn't really want to brave the crowds. We opted for Gray's favorite place on earth, Legoland. This kid loves Legoland almost as much as he loves us. It's nice to have something that he loves so much just 25 minutes up the road. He has been begging to go back since before we got to the parking lot Saturday afternoon. 

Leaving church. 

We left church Sunday afternoon and Gray just HAD to "sit on the rock." He made this crown in Sunday School (which people in California have apparently never heard of before) and wore it for an extended amount of time Sunday and he continues to talk about it. Josh and I are still driving inland to an amazing church a friend told me about just before Josh deployed. Oh man is it the best church ever! It takes us around 30 minutes to get there from our new place, but we always learn something and get so much out of the services that we just can't switch to a closer church. If you are looking for a place to worship in San Diego, look no farther! 

First ride on the beach cruiser! 

And finally, we bought beach cruisers a couple of weeks ago. We were waiting to ride them until Gray had a seat and helmet. I finally picked them out and placed an order. Josh installed the seat and as soon as Gray got on it he decided it was a death mobile. He started screaming that he wanted to ride in the car. He wanted to walk. He was "so scared." I told Josh we should just ride around for a minute and see if he warmed to the idea that we weren't going to kill him and within a few minutes he was laughing and having a blast. We rode down to the beach and once we got home Gray said riding the bike was his "favorite." 

Maybe this coming weekend we will hit the SD Fair and try something fried, like deep fried cereal...

Sleeping to Dream

Jason Mraz has this amazing song that I discovered while Josh was deployed, named Sleeping To Dream. The chorus says:

     Sleeping to dream about you

     And I'm so darn tired

     Of having to live without you

     But I don't mind

I found that the song pretty much said it all in the midst of Josh's deployment. I would sleep just to dream about having him home, but usually I wasn't so lucky. 

I heard "Sleeping to Dream" on iTunes earlier and it occurred to me that I have been dreaming about our impeding move. A LOT. I dream that we are already there. I dream that we are in the process of moving and our landlords continue to be insane (which is actually fact based). I dream that I can't get our new couches to work in the space. I even had a dream that I tripped and broke a box of treasured items.

I hope when I fell up the stairs yesterday (that actually happened), it was the last time. I'm so ready to get out of here and be done with this house, this ridiculous corner lot with the crazy fast drivers in this neighborhood, the millions of solicitors, the stupid stairs that I fall (up or down) at least once a quarter, the irritating landlord emails, and all the ridiculous landscaping issues that come with this house. I can't believe we are moving down to the beach Friday --which happens to be in 4 days-- not that I'm counting or anything. 

I am in the process of cleaning and packing the rest of the goods this week. I'm thinking the days ticking by on the calendar will be all the motivation I need to get it all done by Friday. Until then bear with me if the only things I'm capable of discussing are wall colors, forwarding mail, security deposits, insane landlords, boxes, bubble wrap, or the logistics of moving our million dollar framed diplomas without getting any nicks/scratches. I'm apologizing in advance. 

Pacific Beach. Here we come!

I did a quick Google image search and found this image taken in Pacific Beach to show you the beach near our new digs. I think this photo may be a little misleading, because every time I go down to the beach at PB there is a lot of seaweed and even more people to be found on the sand. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful photo of the pier in Pacific Beach. 

Amazing sunset.  

The first time we drove down to PB, I remember seeing Brody Jenner! I almost yelled out to my old friend (I think that is a fair term, because I know him better than most of my FB friends), but quickly realized it was his doppelgänger. Then I spotted Brody again, only to find out that 96% of 20-something males in Pacific Beach looked just like Brody. Since that was one of the first days we were here in San Diego, I did not understand that there is a style out here unlike any other I had seen. Shockingly, Brody Jenner isn't the only boy in North America who wears flat brimmed hats. Or tank tops (Think West Coast tank, not white trash tank. There is a remarkable difference.) Or entirely too much black. Or sunglasses that are clearly (at least in the deep south) made for women. It's actually the norm around here. Who knew?

But seriously, Brody does live just a couple hours north of here. Plus he doesn't have a real job as far as I can tell, so it could have been possible for me to run into him. Stranger things have happened... All of that is to say that "West Coast Casual" is real and I am loving it. We wear jeans to church half of the time, I can were flops basically anywhere. I'm loving California! 

Anywaaayyyy, back to my original post. PB is famous for young people who love night life. Luckily our new homestead is a few miles away from the beach in a quiet little neighborhood so we aren't surrounded by hooligans (man, I've really aged a lot in 5 years) at all hours of the night, BUT we are close enough to enjoy all the exciting things we have been missing out on living 'inland.' Josh and I are both so excited to get moved and settled in, so we can really get to know the area. I can't believe we have less than 20 days until we pick up the keys to our newest home. Actually 18, but who is counting? It's like moving to a whole new city, but without having to make new friends! It's going to be awesome!! 

Moving on up.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen. Beans don't burn on the grill. The Gates' are moving on up and here is the super-short version of our impending move. 

Picture it. It's January 2012. Your husband is deployed deep into the middle of a combat zone. He is working 12 hour days/7 days a week. He hasn't had a single day off in months. You are preparing for his homecoming, and are getting more and more stressed as the days slowly move along. I'm sure you are wondering, "Why would you be stressed that the love of your life is coming back into your arms after months and months away?" Simply put, people were losing their minds by the minute. Then the landlord decides to lose her mind (presumably) to keep the ball rolling. 

I get an email wanting to know if we will be renewing our lease... at the end of May (keep in mind it's mid-January). Oh and BTW we are going to be going up on your rent by $400/month.   

No. Really.          

That. Just. Happened.

I politely informed our landlord that Josh wasn't really in a place (literally or otherwise) to discuss such important things via small scraps of phone conversations that may or may not be interrupted by another Marine asking about the latest round of low light quals or whatever Marines talk about at work. I told the landlord that we would be unable to tell her anything for quite some time, or at the very least until he got home from this deployment. Apparently your husband being in a war zone isn't a valid reason for not telling someone if you plan to stick around after your lease ends in over 4 months. (I told you everyone was losing their minds.) Long story short, they put the house on the market and it was rented about .05 seconds later. Awesome. I love to move. :(

After being on the base housing list for about 15 months, you would think that being next in line would be a sure thing. Obviously, it wasn't. I spent several weeks looking at all of the wrong places, that were nasty, small, in the wrong location, had no yard, didn't allow pets, were available too soon or too late, etc. I also saw a few of the right places, but they were naturally rented before I could write a check and turn in my application. (Obviously those landlords weren't waiting on the right tenants. "Um! Hello! We are over here!!") 

I was beginning to lose hope, but I kept telling myself that God knows where we will be in 6 weeks and I kinda doubted it would be in a van. Under a bridge. With a collection of shopping carts. And old tattered quilts. 

But deep down I knew that couldn't be the outcome... 

because we don't have a van. 

Needless to say, there is some kind of loophole in the 30-day notice policy for base housing. A couple bought a house and vacated within two weeks, so we got their house! I went down and signed the least yesterday and when I dropped my friend off back in the neighborhood (she lives the next street over!!) I noticed the cleaning people were there. I may or may not have gone in and taken about 394 pictures to show Josh. 

I'm sad about leaving the most awesome neighbors a girl could ask for, but I won't miss our looney landlords, the worst "gardner"of all time, the super slick stairs in this house, or the most insane water bills in the free world (I'll never believe that sane people pay more than $125/month for water.). I'm also stoked about having a back yard Gray can actually play in and enjoy, plenty of room for Fletch to play friz, carpet (Oh how I have missed you!), being so close to a "tot lot,"potentially painting some rooms, and the new couches we are on the verge of buying! Oh and Josh's favorite part. He will be thisclose to the beach. Now we can all be happy! 

Well, that's it for the longest post ever. I hope that you have learned something from all of this, because I think I have. I kept telling myself to 'wait upon the Lord' (this amazing song that we sing at church almost every week) and don't worry because if He is going to take care of the birds in the field, our little family would be A-OK. All the while getting a little more stressed as each acceptable place was snatched out of my grasp. I suspect that God knew all along that we would be moving into that cute little yellow house down by the beach... Maybe next time I will be better at waiting upon the Lord, like that song says. 

Now, please excuse me as I'm headed out to buy some boxes. 

*We are accepting all help offered in the upcoming move. :)