All About Anthony: Another 2 months...

I guess I have really been slacking in keeping up with this blog! In my defense, it's been a hectic couple of months and I keep in touch via Facebook with most of the people who read this anyways :) I figured I would update those who I don't keep in touch with via FB though! Long story short, we recieved our orders (FINALLY) on January 6th for Landon to do some temporary training in San Diego with HSM-41 starting Mid-February and ending at the end of June. He would continue on to Jacksonville, FL after that to fly with HSM-70 for the next 2 years as his disassociated sea tour. So, we found a furnished place to rent in SD, a house in JAX (short sale - we're still waiting to hear from the bank to see if they accepted our offer. The seller has at least!), packed everything up and left Milton, FL on February 3rd. That's the fastest I've ever done a move...in under a month! Landon, thankfully, took leave during most of that time, so we were able to tackle a lot together. It still hasn't set in that I have left such amazing friends back in Milton, as well as my house - the one that I brought Anthony home to when he was born. We also had such fabulous neighbors at that house and God would certainly be smiling down on me if he blessed us with such wonderful ones again. He also performed some pretty amazing miracles during our last few days in town. One was finding a renter for our house the day before we left town. Landon and I were very stressed and I had done everything to get my house out on websites, etc for rent. With a property manager who was less than stellar, I was getting very nervous that we would be carrying our mortgage as well as a hefty rent in San Diego. The day of our pack out, I happened to be outside when I car slowly drove by the house. Then they drove back again and stopped and asked a few questions. I invited them inside (young Coast Guard family with a 2 year old boy and a months old baby) and they took a look around. The next day, our property manager called to say they were signing a contract!! I expect them to be there for at least a year, which is such a huge blessing and takes such a load off of our backs. There were also FIVE other houses for rent on our street alone, so the fact that they chose ours made me that much happier.

We left on Febraury 3rd and drove the 500+ miles to Houston, TX (about 9 hours with stops). We left Landon's truck in FL, so packed my car with the rest of our worldly belongings, a child and 3 cats. The next day, we tackled 730+ miles from Houston, TX to El Paso, TX (Texas is a really huge frickin' state). On day 3, we did another 560+ miles from El Paso, TX to Yuma, AZ (factoid: the sun shines 91% of the year in Yuma). Then, the last day consisted of 130 miles or so from Yuma, AZ to San Diego, CA. I'm including a bunch of unedited albums of photos from the trip. Sorry for the massive amounts of pictures of nothing (you can blame TX for that). The day after arriving in San Diego, we decided to drive 280 miles north to Landon's parent's in Lompoc and spend a few days there. We hadn't been back there since April 2009, so we were very excited to get up there and see everyone. It was a great trip and extremely relaxing. We got back to San Diego on Friday, the 12th, and Landon's parents helped us settle in and Landon began training on the 15th.

Anthony and I have been making the most of living on Coronado Island. Since we only have one car, Anthony and I have been able to walk around and explore the island. Landon and I lived here right after we got married, so I was only here for 4 months last time as well. Luckily, there are tons of places to walk to - parks, shops, food, beaches, etc. I must admit, I am getting a bit of island fever and looking forward to exploring the city of San Diego a bit more. There is a ferry that leaves here and drops you off into downtown San Diego, so Anthony and I may do that once the weather gets a bit warmer. IF anything, at least I get a workout while we're out exploring! For those who are not familiar, here is a map of the area:

We live between 5th and 6th street on the side of Orange Ave. (the main drag) closest to base. Landon works right there on NAS North Island, so he's literally less than 5 miles away from work. I believe I read somewhere that the perimeter of the island (not including the base) is about 7 miles. So, that sort of puts it in perspective how small it is. I believe the ferry ride is maybe 15 minutes to San Diego. So, not very far away at all!

Here are some pics of our house...