Welcome tiny overlord!

I have meant so many times to sit down and write up a post about all the things we've had going on recently.  We traveled to Peru, to Iceland, finished our landscaping and remodeled our kitchen.  But the biggest news for us is the news that our life was changing permanently - we were becoming a family of three!  We were so thrilled (and terrified) when we found that we were expecting.  I settled down into what was a mostly routine pregnancy.  Since I was 39 when we found that our baby was coming, and turned 40, the pregnancy was classified as high risk.  However, all the genetic screening and perinatologist exams showed that our little boy was developing perfectly.  We also found out that I am homozygous for the MTHFR mutation - meaning that I am deficient in the enzyme that converts homocysteine to methionine.  I was taking a modified pre-natal vitamin that contained a pre-modifed version of folic acid to make up for this deficiency, and all seemed well.

However, another side effect of this mutation is an increased risk for pre-term birth; this particular risk was realized and our tiny overlord joined us 5 weeks early.  We welcomed Nathaniel Seals Hall on January 24, 2017.  He picked a beautiful day to be born, blue skies with big white clouds.  He was in a rush, and was born in less than 12 hours once my labor began, at 7:39 pm.  He weighed 5 pounds, 15 oz, and was 18 3/4 inches long.  He spent the first night next to me in recovery, but the next morning had to be admitted to NICU.  His blood sugar never stabilized, and he required a dextrose IV and monitoring, along with supplemental formula.  The staff at Simi Valley Hospital were fantastic, supporting us completely through it all.  He only had to stay 48 hours, and then he was discharged.  We took him home that Friday.

We've now had him home a little over a week, and our tiny overlord has indeed changed everything.  I never thought I could love my husband that much more, and that I could feel how much my heart has grown with Tate's entrance into the world.  As I keep telling Jay, it has clarified so many things for me.  I am even happy during our 3 am feedings, getting to hold this little person close to me while the rest of the world sleeps.  Caring for him is both terrifying and the greatest pleasure.  I feel entirely unqualified, but determined to do my very best for him.

Getting a bottle from Dad, showing off the cutest baby toes I have ever seen!

Christmas 2014 Family Cruise

We've been busy!  I know, it's our constant refrain.  Now that my new laptop is set up and functioning, and I have access to our picture files again, more regular posting should occur.  But there has been a lot to catch up on!

Last December, Kate had a fantastic idea.  The whole family - Kate, Krista, Aunt Susan, David, Granny, Rob, Tia, Jason and me were going to take a cruise to the Caribbean just before Christmas.  We set sail on The Vision of the Seas with Royal Caribbean on Saturday December 13.  The family had met up in Tampa the night before and spent the evening there before boarding the next morning.

The Vision of the Sea in port in Tampa, just before boarding.

Jay had just had his knee surgery a month before, and was still very restricted in his activities.  Since Granny was in a wheelchair for much of this trip, it worked out well to have them together.  We could all go our separate ways during the day (enjoy an excursion, hang out on the beach, or relax on the ship) then we all met back onboard for dinner and the evening's entertainment.  The itinerary for the trip included stops in Honduras, Belize, and Mexico before returning to port on Saturday December 20.



During the first day at sea, the family mainly lounged around the ship.  I chose the Solarium, the indoor pool.  Lounging, reading, napping, eating...Tia and I also enjoyed a tour of the spa and sampled their facial creams.  Our first activity as a family was a wine tasting. Jay and I then enjoyed a couple's massage in the spa before dressing for our formal dinner that night.

The family in Chops Grille enjoying the La Fite wines. 

Day three we arrived at our first port of call, Roatan Honduras.  After a quick breakfast, Aunt Susan, Rob, and myself left for a dive trip with Anthony's Key Resort.  The rest of the family took a boat tour of the island followed by a visit to Punta Gorda.  Once again, that evening the family met for dinner and then attended the "Boogie Wonderland" show in the ship's theater.

Day four we awoke in Belize City, Belize.  For this stop, the ship cannot pull into port and so tender boats ferry the passengers to the dock.  No one had booked excursions, so Rob, Tia, Jay and myself went to explore the city on our own.  We visited the markets at the waterfront, then wandered further into town across the river.  We met a local who took us to visit a local bar.  That evening, dinner followed by the ship's orchestra performing live music in the theater.

Day five was our first port in Mexico, Costa Maya.  At this stop, Jay and I joined Granny, Aunt Susan, and David for an exploration of the local town and a Mayan temple.  We loaded onto a bus at the port with our gregarious tour guide and we were off to Limones, where the temple is located.  Just outside the village we had lunch with local Mayan descendents.  We learned about the trades, local herbs, food, and Mayan society.  When we returned to port we did a little shopping and joined Rob and Tia on the beach. 

Outside the Mayan temple located in Limones, Mexico.

Day six was a visit to a familiar port for Jay and I - Cozumel!  I can't miss diving in beautiful Cozumel, so Rob and I took off to enjoy the scenery below the waves.  The others visit the local Mayan ruins.  Dinner that night is pretty quiet- as you can imagine, we are all exhausted, and looking forward to a quiet day at sea tomorrow.

About to enter a swim through in Cedral Pass.

Day seven was at sea.  We enjoy breakfast together again and then a day of lounging in the Solarium.  The dinner is another formal night, and the family gathers for a picture in front of the tree in the central hall.  What a wonderful way to spend time with family - we made so many memories together that I know we will always treasure.  It was also a nice way to relax just before the holidays!

Jay and I in front of the tree in the central atrium.

Even more home improvement fun!

One of the great things about working for my company is that for two weeks each year, the company shuts down, and you are guaranteed to have time off.  During this time, no one is working, so you can really disconnect and not worry about the amount of email and phone calls you are missing while you are out.  The shutdowns occur during July and December.

For the July shutdown this year, we tackled some major home improvement projects.  I'll give a sneak peek to some of those now! These projects focused on needed repairs, curb appeal, and adding more functional space and energy efficiency to the house.  Some of these projects have been ongoing for a while, but were wrapped up either over shutdown or shortly thereafter.

The projects focusing on curb appeal included upgrading the look of our driveway, replacing the old house numbers, and adding some gravel and flower beds to the very front of the yard.  We also painted the entire outside of the house.

Jay is filling in cracks in the asphalt.  You can see some of the larger patches in the right of the picture.  Also behind him is the new wall we installed with azaleas and mulch.  It really added balance to the driveway, which had a wall on the other side.

This spot was completely empty when we moved in.  We planted bulbs and ornamental grasses, mulched, and covered the curbside with gravel to hide the empty dirt.

The next big project was replacing the damaged fascia and drip rail.  With the help of our new handyman, we pulled down and replaced every dry rotted piece, primed and painted it, and installed the replacement drip rail.  After that, it was time to paint the entire house.  We debated on colors for a while...

Color choices painted on the side of the house.

but in the end decided to go with Riverstone by Behr.  Since our home is stucco, we used a masonry paint.  We first powerwashed the entire house, then repaired any cracks or holes in the stucco.  After that, the fun with the spray gun began!

We painted two coats on the entire house in one day.  I will never paint a house without a spray gun again!

The color turned out beautifully.  We are still very pleased with it.  It's so nice to walk outside and not see the spots and streaks where the house paint had faded over time and been touched up with unmatched paint... not very attractive at all.

We also started building a pergola on the side of the kitchen.  The kitchen side faces the west, and since this is Southern California, it gets a LOT of sun.   In fact, since we don't have air conditioning, we have noticed that the kitchen and our bedroom is usually about 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the house.  When it hits the 90s (not a frequent occurance, but it does happen) it is very uncomfortable.  To remedy this, we put a pergola over the kitchen patio and walkway that covers the entire west side of the house.

The patio area before we added the pergola.  The area wasn't used very frequently, as it gets very hot even with the umbrella.

Stay tuned to see the results of our current upgrades!!

Bathroom remodel - things get worse before they get better!

As the old saying goes, things usually get worse before they get better.  That's especially true when remodeling.  The old hall bathroom was ugly enough that I did not even want guests to visit.  How sad is that?  So I was excited to start the remodel, because that meant that things were going to get better.  But oh, the in between....construction materials everywhere, dust everywhere, exposed pipes, trash, bathroom things in the guest room, topsy turvy madness.  I really kept repeating the mantra:  "Things get worse before they get better - better is on the way!"  We finished the bathroom in about 5 weekends of steady work.  Not too bad, all things considered.  We survived, and now we have a bathroom that I encourage my guests to visit.

The pocket door is installed where the wall used to be.  This was a kit we bought that allowed us to modify the existing door.

The shiny, beautiful new tub.  I was so excited about the tub.  The old one had been painted pink, then painted cream, had patched holes, and so much built up grime I could never get it clean.  I took one shower there and felt dirty afterwards.

After the tub was installed and the pocket door was up, we replaced the old surround with cement board and tile.  Cement board is much heavier than sheetrock, and better suited for tile in a wet area.  If cement board gets wet, it gets harder, and is extremely resistant to mold or mildew.  We decided that in case of an earthquake, we want to be in this room!  We cut in a spot for an inset where shampoo can sit. 

Here we are dry fitting the tile for the shower surround.  We selected a rectangular ceramic tile for the shower.  The accent tile is natural stone and copper.  It set off the bronze fixtures we selected perfectly!  I do all the tile work with Jay assisting.  He makes most of the cuts and encourages me when I start using foul language. All the tiling was completed in one weekend.

If I had to pick one part of remodeling I hate the most, it's probably plumbing.  I have watched and assisted Jay in plumbing so many times now, and it really seems that it is as much an art as a trade.  We also had a diving buddy who is also a general contractor visit while we were working.  He said that it looked pretty good for a homeowner DIY - so we consider that a compliment. 

So behold the finished product!  A bathroom that I am enamored with.  I am so pleased about how our choices on fixtures and tile seemed to come together.

We installed a pedestal sink to have more floor space.  To make up for the loss of the vanity and the medicine cabinet, we put a cabinet above the toilet.  The toilet is the same one we had before, just cleaned up.  The wainscoting was all replaced, as was all the trim.  The floor tiles are 18 x 18.  The color on the walls is Toffee by Behr.  We chose oil rubbed fixtures for everything, including the outlet and switch plate covers. 

I think the tile job turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!  The inset was tiled with floor tiles to tie the two together.  The accent tiles go nicely with the oil rubbed bronze fixtures we chose for the tub (the fixtures are Delta Porterfield).  And the tub.... it just shines.  I smile every time I walk past this room.

Goodbye to the old, icky hall bathroom

Over the holiday break, we started getting serious about our house renovations.  We bought the house knowing that for many things, we could wait.  We wanted to paint, and get things unpacked, organized, and settled before we tackled the things that we knew we wanted to change.  Just to put it in perspective, this property was for many years a rental property.  When work was needed, the owners went with the least expensive option for everything.  The couple who owned it before us did quite a bit of work- new wiring, new fences, new flooring, remodel of the master bath, and so on.  However, they did not get to everything, as is often the case with a home in progress.  This left us with a few rooms that needed to be remodeled entirely, and some things we just want to make ours, so to speak. 

To kickoff our projects, we built a small wall along the left side of our driveway.  We planted azaleas, and Jay put in a drip hose for irrigation.  It looks very nice now that we have two walls on each side of the driveway.  The entire project took one weekend, and was very satisfying.  We were ready to tackle the next project, which was going to be a little bigger....the complete gutting of the hall bathroom. 

Some of you may remember our previous home in Massachusetts.  That house needed a lot of TLC...especially the bathroom.  However, I think we managed to take it from a dim, water damaged, out of date hole to a bright, updated, solid new bath.  Well, the good news is that our current bathroom was in no where near as bad a shape as the bath in Massachusetts.  For instance, the lights worked on a daily basis, I never fell through a wall, and it didn't smell of pee constantly.  However, it was not in great shape.  The tub and shower surround were plastic, and old, with pink showing through where the plastic had worn thin.  The vanity appeared new, but didn't work in the space for us.  The linoleum, while not a bad choice, was so dirty I couldn't get it clean, the wainscoting was water damaged, and the walls and ceiling needed paint.  All the fixtures needed to be updated.  We also decided to turn the door into a pocket door to save floor space (the bathroom is very small).  Here's our plan:

• Remove the old wainscoting, vanity, and tub
• Change the door to a pocket door with a kit
• This will mean some shifting of the plumbing and electrical (nothing Jay can't handle)
• Paint walls and ceiling
• Install new tub
• Tile the tub surround and floor
• Install new wainscoting and trim
• Put in a pedestal sink
• Install new light fixture, tub, and sink fixtures

Luckily, our new home has two bathrooms, so we don't have to get the work done in a single week.  We made a great start this weekend, performing all the demo work, installing the pocket door, painting the ceiling, and moving the electrical and plumbing.  We will next install the new tub, repair/replace the sheetrock where needed, and prepare the surfaces for tiling.  Below are some of the before pictures, and a photo of the pocket door installation. 

Jay is excited to get started being handy.  He's removing the old vanity here.  It will be replaced with a pedestal sink.

The tub was old  and patched, and so stained I could never get it cleaned.  Same for the floor.  It's a cheap plastic tub, and we are replacing it with a steel tub.

You can see the tracks for the pocket door here; Jay has now installed the door, moved the electrical, and finished the plumbing.

The First Christmas in Casa de Hall

This year will be our first Christmas in the new house in California.  It was an eventful holiday season for us.  We moved into the house in October, and then traveled for a week at Thanksgiving to visit family on the east coast.  A week after returning, I left for Italy for a few days on a business trip.  Jay and Meow held down the fort while I was away.  We had put up the tree before I left, but Jay hung the outside lights to surprise me when I got back. 

Jay wore his new antlers and made egg nog to enjoy while decorating the tree.

The finished tree!  We listen to Christmas carols and drink egg nog while we decorate.  Each ornament is from a trip we've taken together.

 We ran the Santa Monica-Venice Beach Christmas 5K, and that was an adventure - if you saw the pictures on Facebook, you know that we were drenched.  It only rains in the winter in Southern California, and that day was the lucky day.  Not so lucky for us.

My nutcracker collection continues to grow.

My Christmas carousel from Germany.

Even the entryway got a little snazzy!

We really enjoyed being in our cozy little home for the holidays.  The nice thing has been the two week stay-cation I got this year.  We have taken advantage of this time to put in a new wall on the driveway, clean out the garage and organize it, work on the lawn, and begin planning and prepping for the hallway bathroom renovation.  I am very grateful our house has two bathrooms, so we don't have to rush with this bathroom remodel. 

Casa de Hall - the before shots

This week marks our first week in Casa de Hall!  It has been a busy, busy time.  If you are curious about our new home, here are the shots I took before we painted and moved in.  You can see some pics of color swatches we were comparing to make our choices.  First of all, here's the front door. 

Front entrance to Casa de Hall, Thousand Oaks, CA.  The window on the left looks into the garage.

One of the first things Jay did was empty the garage completely and epoxy the floor.  He did a great job!  I could hardly believe how nice it looked when he finished.

The newly epoxied garage floor, after the appliances were returned. 

The garage enters straight into the kitchen.  It will eventually be completely gutted and remodeled, but that will be a little while in planning and saving.

The kitchen, before....

Immediately to the right is the living room.  One of the first things we did was paint the entire house.  Most of the rooms were a rather pale green, and we wanted something much warmer.  We also painted all the ceilings.  A fresh coat of bright white on the ceiling always adds polish!  The wall separating the kitchen and living room was going to be painted a rich brown...  Every room has a ceiling fan, and recessed lighting.  Jay was also wiring the living room for surround sound.

The living room.

The accent wall, wonder which shade we chose?

The living room leads to a hallway, and that's where the hall bathroom is.  It will be the first room to be remodeled, this December.  We will be putting down a new tile floor, pedestal sink, new tub, and tile surround for the tub.

Hall bathroom, before.

The guest room is right across the hallway, and the office is at the end of the hall.  At the end of the hall to the left is our master bedroom and bath. 

The master bedroom has a door onto the backyard. 

The master bath has a stand up shower.  It was also painted green, but we wanted a new color to accent the marble countertop.

The house has a fully fenced in backyard, with a brick patio and a retaining wall.  We have big plans for the landscaping!

The side of the house next to the kitchen.  A slider opens onto the patio.  The door you see leads into the garage.

The backyard has a retaining wall, and brick patio.

The other side of the yard.  There's a sprinkler system, but we're not entirely sure how to work it yet...

I hate trying to envision the layout of people's homes just by a verbal description.  And Jay and I had wanted to be sure we could fit in our furniture.  So we bought some software that allows us to build our home virtually.  We can design the new kitchen and bath, and our landscaping.  But here is a layout of the house.

Coming up next - the house after we've moved in!

It's almost official!

There are three big things happening in life for us right now.  The first?  Our house!  Escrow is set to close tomorrow.  We have some work to do at the house before we move in.  It's in rather good condition, but it needs to be painted, cleaned, the garage set up to our liking, etc.  The home has been a rental property for a few years, and while move-in ready, there are some upgrades we will make over time.

Right now we are planning to move midway through October.  That gives us a month to perform the painting, then pack, and follow that with the move and unpacking.  I am planning to take some pictures before we move in, so we can share our progress here as we make our upgrades.  Here are some of our more long-term plans:

• Renovate the guest bathroom:  We will do this ourselves, adding tile, putting in a new tub, tiling the walls, and putting in a new pedestal sink to replace the older vanity.  This will be happening in December.
• Put down new hard-wood floors - no time set yet.
• Fully renovate the kitchen - this one will be pretty extensive, as we have several major changes we would like to make if possible.  We will be saving our pennies to hire a contractor and have the job done properly.  No time set yet, probably two years.
• Paint the outside of the house, replace the back screen door, and replace the front outside light.  Probably early next summer?
• Landscaping - this one requires almost an entire post of its own.  In the front, we will be adding trellises with jasmine, and some plantings in the front bed, as well as staining the retaining wall.  In the side, we will be added a gate and a pergola over the seating area, and installing Meow's fountain and custom catnip garden, and a kitchen herb garden.  We will be raising the bed and staining the concrete.  In the backyard, we are going to replace the existing wood retaining wall with stone, build a pergola over the existing patio, add a raised vegetable bed, put in a new walkway, and set up some nice plantings on top of the retaining wall.  Maybe add a small storage building if needed.  We will do this as we can, and put in a more defined timeline later.  

The second thing keeping us busy is Divemaster training.  We passed our exam, and are now in the midst of our qualifications for skills.  Then we have practicums and all the dives we need to complete.  I hope to have this complete by end of Q1 2014.  

The third thing, as always, is work and our professional commitments.  Things are busy, busy, busy at Amgen - for very good reasons.  And my new position is incredibly challenging and engaging.  I am a biologist working in engineering; quite the change.  It is really challenging my very rusty calculus skills.  I'm also hoping to finish up a paper with my post-doctoral lab, and I am serving another year as AWIS LA/VC chapter president.  Jay is really pushing himself with his writing, and while he is not pursuing it as heavily as he originally intended, he still has photography work he is handling.  Plus his required stay-at-home husband work...

We are still trying to make time for fun things.  We went to the LA County Fair in Pomona this weekend.  We walked through as many exhibits as we could, and really marveled at what beautiful things people can make.  It was fun to hold hands, watch the lights and the people screaming on the rides, and smell the fair.  We of course had funnel cake.  We also took a wine tasting class, on the joys of red wine blends.  It was a good weekend.  The next ones will not be quite so colorful, since we will be spending those painting and packing, but I am committed to enjoy the process and remind myself that everything takes its allotted time.  

Where have we been lately? Well....

We have been underwater, of course! We are now far past where we were a year ago.  We are completing our Rescue Diver certification course this weekend.  Next up, Divemaster.  After that, well, I think we might just enjoy the diving.

We've been working!  I am settling well into my full time position at Amgen, learning lots about process development and engineering.  It's been a big change, but it has gotten better and better with time.  Jay has made the biggest move of all this year in regards to working.  He left Ricoh in January, one week after my position started at Amgen.  He's been a freelance writer and photographer ever since, and amazing me with how hard he can work at home.  The boy has focus, that's for sure.

We have been enjoying life in the suburbs!  Since our move to Thousand Oaks in December of 2011, things have been very quiet.  We are living in a two bedroom townhouse with wonderful cathedral ceilings, a courtyard complete with water fountain and catnip garden, and a big back patio.  It is a beautiful, relaxing place for us, and for Meow.

We have been traveling!  We've been to Cozumel, Mexico for a dive trip organized by the TO Dive Club.  We've been to the central coast and Ojai.  We've been to Las Vegas.  Of course, we've also been back to Georgia to see family.

We have been house hunting!  And now, finally, we may have found the One.  Our new home in Thousand Oaks, Casa de Hall.  Stay tuned....

Catalina Island

Wow!  Behind again - I promise, it's just because we are having so much fun.  Jay bought me a Roomba for our anniversary, so that should free up some time to post more.  :)  My birthday was a month ago, and I am just getting around to posting some pictures. 

We decided for my birthday weekend this year to go to Catalina Island, and, yes, go diving.  I believe for the next few months you should just consider this blog a run down of our diving adventures.  We took the afternoon ferry over on Saturday, and stayed at the Hotel Atwater.  That evening we strolled through Avalon, and had dinner at Armstrong's.  We went to bed early, since the next day would begin early. 

Our diving master and instructors took the first ferry over the next morning, and we met them at Casino Point.  The old casino in Avalon is built right on the water, and now overlooks a dive park preserve with some of the best diving I've experienced in California.  It was lovely.  We were able to get in three dives that day.  The video below was taken during our Fish ID dive - we are working towards our Advanced Open Water certification, and this was one of our skills.  The large orange fish you see are called Garibaldi.  The spotted ones are kelp bass.

That evening we rented a golf cart, and drove into the hills surrounding Avalon to get a better look at the scenery from above. 

The golf cart driver, and photographer.  I grabbed the camera for this shot.

The view of Avalon bay from the hills above.

That evening we celebrated with dinner at The Landing.  We watched the sun set over the water and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  The next morning we had time for breakfast and a quick walk along the water front to the casino before we caught the last morning ferry back home.  We will need to return to Catalina soon for a much longer visit!

My passion for writing, love of investing, and something cool I'm getting paid to do!

I know.

Two posts in one week?  We don't seem to make the time to do that very often, do we?  Especially when you consider that the post April just did was from our trip in JULY...

Anyhow, this will be quick.  Many of you know that I love to write, and that one of these days I plan to retire and be a writer.  Well, April has insisted that if I am to do that, we need to be rich.  So I have been actively investing for the past 5 years or so, and have really become quite passionate about it.  The bottom line it that for most of us, the only way we can have the promise of a better tomorrow is by long-term investing.

So with that said, I have recently begun writing blog posts for the Motley Fool.  For those that aren't familiar with Fool.com, it's one of the best places to go to learn about investing as an individual.  It's all about empowering people to take their financial future in their own hands. 

At any rate, I have been an active member of a couple of the services that they offer (specifically Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers) for about 5 years, and it has really enriched our lives, and allowed us to make up for lost time towards our retirement plans. 

And while picking your own stocks and investing directly in them isn't for everyone, understanding if you are heading down the right path is for everyone.  And while Financial Advisors aren't necessarily bad people by nature, most people don't know that they are just sales people first, and that their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.  Doing your due-diligence and understanding where your 401(k) money is invested and why you are being recommended specific Investment Funds by Financial Advisor is just as important as questioning your Physician about your health, and the prescriptions that he gives you.  This is your future.  Don't just leave it up to a sales person. 

Okay, so I am really starting to ramble.  Check out my blog.  My goal is to post at least once per week, and increase over time. 

If any of you want to talk investing, please reach out to me.  I'm not an expert, and I'm not going to tell you which stocks to buy.  But I can tell you where to start!

-jh

Diving trip to Key West

It has been on my to-do list to get the blog updated for some time... this particular trip was taken the first week in July.  We headed to the Florida Keys to get in some scuba diving, and spend time with Rob and Tia.  We haven't had an honest-to-goodness vacation in some time, so we made the most of our time.

We rented a house on Key Largo.  During our stay, we went diving with Island Ventures.  This was a great diving outfit.  On our first morning out, we were the only four people on the boat.  In fact, all the dives had fewer than a dozen people on them.  You don't always get that with charters - often they pack as many people as possible onto a boat.  In total, we had six dives with Captain Al.  All were beautiful, warm, relaxing... ah, what's that?  Nausea?  Seasickness?  Well, I had a new secret weapon!

Do you see that little patch just below my ear?  That is a scopolamine transdermal patch.  It led to my first trip on a boat without motion sickness.  In fact, while others on the boat did get sick, I remained blissfully symptom free.  For once, it was me bringing water to sick passengers.  I loved my first experience diving without nausea.  It was incredible!



Jason complained about the equipment he used to take photos underwater.  We dove at several sites, including the Benwood wreck, Turtle Ledges at the French Reef, the wreck of the City of Washington, Elbow Reef, Christ of the Abyss at the Dry Rocks, and the Horseshoe Reef.  We saw so many beautiful, colorful fish, and although the coral reefs are not faring well with global warming and other depredations, they were still amazing.

Having a blast without feeling sick!

Brain coral.... brains....

Me reading the plaque at the Christ of the Abyss site.

Stoplight parrotfish, one of my favorite to spot! 

When we weren't in the water chasing parrotfish (or yellowtail snapper, bar jack, French grunt, butterfly fish, spadefish, French angelfish, Blue angelfish, Sergeant major, damselfish, goby, Spanish hogfish, or any other of the beautiful species we got to see) we were enjoying the other delights of the Keys.  For one, we went kayaking in the mangrove forests.  We rented two-person kayaks at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, then promptly got lost.  We spent about 30 minutes getting lost, then about 2 hours finding our way back.  Thank goodness for GPS and iPhones.  Map reading is not my forte.   It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!  After we got back home, we grilled out and watched the fireworks from the house.

The back of my head in the kayak, wondering where we are.

We also spent one day in Key West.  On the drive down we stopped at Robbie's of Islamorada so I could feed the tarpon.  And I spotted this giant lobster.  Who wouldn't want a vacation photo with a mutant lobster?

We visited the southernmost point (just a short 90 mile swim to Cuba), then headed to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It was magical - air conditioning, gorgeous butterflies everywhere you looked, and the cutest birds!

Posing at the marker for the southernmost point... clearly.  It was brutally hot that day.

 From there, Jay and I headed to Ernest Hemingway's house.  I'm sure it's a lovely house, and I enjoyed the tour.  I have even read an Ernest Hemingway book or two... but let's be honest here.  I went to see the famous six-toed cats.  There are around 45 cats that live on the property, with free rein to do as they please.  All are descendents of Hemingway's original six-toed cat, Snowball. 

Count the toes on that paw... that's right, six.  And he let me shake paws.  Love.

From that point, we ran flat out to get to the Key West Shipwreck Museum before it closed. 

I am leaving out the naps, the enormous amount of seafood, and all the fun we had just hanging out.  There's only so much room for pictures! 

Weekend in La Jolla

Over Memorial Day weekend, Jay and I headed to La Jolla, CA just outside of San Diego.  We were planning to see our friends Zach and Cheryl, their little guy Chaz, and do some scuba diving in La Jolla Cove.  We drove down that Friday night, intending to do our dive on Saturday.  But due to a storm earlier that week, visibility was not good and our dive was postponed till Sunday morning.

Instead, we walked the waterfront and visited with the harbor seals at Children's Beach. 

The seals swim up on the beach, the surrounding rocks, and sun themselves. The smell is not the best, but it was fun to watch them.  I was pretty excited about being in the water with them the next day!
Here's a very comfortable seal napping on a rock:

After watching the seals we headed for a delicious lunch at the Brockton Villa Restaurant.

The food was delicious, and the restaurant itself is beautiful.  The fireplace was covered in abalone shells.  That night we had dinner with Cheryl, Zach, and Chaz in old town San Diego.  Chaz was a lot of fun.  He had grown so much since the last time we saw him, and he was a chatterbox!  He has quite the vocabulary for a 2 year old - not surprising considering how intelligent his parents are!  We could've stay all night, but since we had an early dive trip, we headed back at a reasonable hour.

The next morning we headed out scuba diving with Rod from Dive San Diego.  We only got a few pictures - as you can see below, the visibility was still not great.  The seals were not out because some sea lions had come in, and they were busy fighting a turf war on the beach.  Also, I got very sea sick.  Again.  Without a boat.  But hey, look at the starfish!

Yeah, the seasickness was bad.  Apparently just being in the ocean makes me ill.  We had to cut the dive short, and getting back in was really tough for me.  I took some nausea medication, and slept the entire afternoon.  (I now have a prescription for scopolamine- I hope this helps because nothing else has.)  When I woke up, I felt much better.  Jay and I headed back to the waterfront for drinks and dinner at Azul  La Jolla - another fabulous meal! We watched the sun set over the cove, and headed back to the hotel. 

It was a great trip, but underscored for me that to continue diving, an activity I enjoy a lot, I need to find a solution for the nausea.  I feel so sick, it's hard for me to get comfortable underwater. I have also had to cut my dives short, missing out on a lot of fun.  Hopefully the scopolamine will work- if any of you diving friends of mine have experienced this, and have some advice, I would love to hear it!