Our last couple weeks in San Diego were a whirlwind, but a fun one!

My brother's family was in town at my parents' house before Christmas, which was a windfall for us -- normally we only get to see them a few times a year, so we got bonus time before we see them in Atlanta! The downside was that everyone got super sick, so the adventuring was at a minimum and there was a fair amount of napping, self pity, and racing to the nearest tissue box. But sick or not, I was grateful for the time. (Sidenote since everyone I know seems to be sick right now: did you guys know there's a such thing as a travel humidifier? We got one when we were sick, and now we can bring it with us everywhere. Handy.)

Then I went to Findlay, Ohio to see Mike's family for Christmas. He had already been there for two days. It was jam-packed with family time, and was a real blast. My only wish is always to be able to spend more one-on-one or small group time with each person, so we can really get to know each other. So I felt really grateful, knowing that this trip would give us that exact opportunity.

We flew back to San Diego, and had four days until departure. We spent a day at the San Diego Zoo with my parents. Then on New Years Eve, my aunt joined us all for Indian brunch and a movie. Then we went home and did a Miracle Fruit taster buffet! If you're not familiar with miracle berries, they're a berry (more easily taken in tablet form) that bind with your taste buds in a way that removes bitter and sour flavors from food, so things taste really sweet (even super sour stuff that you can't normal eat straight). My parents hadn't done it before, so we set up a whole table of a bunch of fruit (lemons, limes, and grapefruits were the major crowd pleasers), salt & vinegar chips, pickles, cheese products, and more, and had a sweet feast. When we were done, we went to go watch the ball drop. We decided to celebrate Eastern Time New Years instead so we wouldn't have to stay up till midnight, but at around 9:02, we confusedly realized that the ball hadn't dropped -- the channel we were watching was on a three hour delay to line up to Pacific Time midnight. Whoops!

Other highlights from the past few weeks:

Doing VR with my brother and sister in law
Trying a bath bomb for the first time (so fizzy and blue)
My one-year-old nephew's first trip to our family Mexican place, Anita's (which my parents have been going to since before my brother, his father, was born)
Mike's dad made a little fort for me in his shop so I could drink coffee and read my book while watching the beautiful snow falling outside
Driving around Findlay with Mike's parents to look at Christmas lights and seeing Santa
The Christmas Eve walk down Findlay's luminary-lined Main Street
Watching Sound of Music for the first time, and enjoying Mike's mom's reactions to one of her favorite movies
Asking the guy next to me on the plane if he'd switch seats so Mike could sit next to me, and he said that he loves his wife but would never give up a Comfort Plus seat for her like Mike was doing for me
Accidentally wearing my slippers to the zoo and having to buy really expensive tourist flip flops

After our botched New Years countdown, Mike and I stayed up late packing up the RV. Next post: our goodbye to San Diego, and lessons learned from our first leg.

We’ve been in San Diego just over three weeks now. It simultaneously feels like the time has flown by, and also like we’ve been here forever. It’s really comfortable here, in every way. We have a great time with my parents, and so far, it’s exactly how we hoped -- just living lives alongside each other, doing our thing but sharing time and knowledge and interests, just generally being ourselves. Even having a shared TV show that you can watch together feels special. (Who thought Mike and I would like Nashville so much?)

We’re still weirdly busy. One project we hadn’t thought of was updating our addresses everywhere. What do you put as an address when you don’t really have an address? We have a Traveling Mailbox based out of San Francisco, and Mike has a PO box there, too, but are you allowed to use those things for car registration? DMV address? Voter registration? Should we try changing states, for taxes? Or for voting? We could use my parents’ address, but they might be moving while we’re on our trip, so then what? Definitely didn’t think about all that ahead of time. Another unanticipated question: how do you get car insurance if you don't have a car? All things to figure out.

The Lilac fire was pretty close to our house. By now it’s fully contained and it isn’t affecting us directly anymore. But the first day or so was a little uncertain. When it first started, the winds were blowing so hard that the mandatory evacuation zone was growing bigger and bigger, and they couldn’t really get in close enough to start containing it. The evacuation zone got scarily close to the house, and on that Thursday night, we packed up our stuff before bed just in case an evacuation order came in in the middle of the night. Having lived in places that have fires or hurricanes for much of my life, I wasn’t too worried at this point, but Mike was a little nervous. I said, “We’re on our trip! This is an adventure!” He said, “This isn’t the kind of adventure I had hoped for!” Luckily, the winds started dying down the next day, and it’s been calmer since then. No evacuation required!

The following day we went to Disney’s California Adventure with my parents. None of the four of us had been before, and we had a blast! Mike convinced me to go on some of the scary rides that I probably wouldn’t have done on my own. This picture sums up our attitudes quite nicely:

We’re about to drop 10 stories down and Mike looks like he’s sitting for a corporate photo

Our RV has been in the shop since we came back from Arizona, so we haven’t been able to work on it, which is a bummer. Plus we just sort of miss it! But... not blowing up in a propane tank accident is a pro, so, worth it.

I put on two business workshops last weekend, which went well. They were the first workshops I’ve done outside the Bay Area, so I was a little nervous. One was about starting a business after you’ve retired, and the other, aimed at the same audience, was about tools to protect your online privacy. I hope they were helpful! Because I’m going to take both of them on the road, and turn them into webinars.

Mom bought some jacks and a cat’s cradle book. We’ve been playing here and there every day. It’s been really fun, and both will be good games to take on the road. Definitely a great gift, and fun family time.

We were able to light the Hanukkah candles with my parents last Tuesday, which made me happy. We made latkes, and I took the opportunity to try frying some papadams for the first time. Indian Hanukkah is delicious. It might just have to be a new holiday tradition.

I took a whirlwind trip to Orlando last week to attend a business workshop which rocked my world, and one of my closest friends and favorite people, Heather, was also there with me, and that was a blast. I also got to see my other brother, Ilan, and his family, which was a special treat. My nephew Yoav destroyed us all at dreidel:

My brother, Eyal, and his family are visiting now, and we’re so happy to be able to spend time with them. We gave them the guest room which means we're now sleeping in the RV in the driveway. I kind of love it.

Next up, Mike just flew to Ohio for Christmas, and I'll be joining him in two days. (Sappy as it is, Mike and I have gotten really accustomed to basically never being more than five yards away from each other at all times. I know it’s kind of pathetic, but we definitely miss each other when we're apart!) A few days after we return, we'll be leaving California!

I’m going to miss San Diego, and I will really miss my parents. And I cannot believe we’ll be in New Orleans in just over two weeks! Onward we go…

San Diego, final chapter

San Diego, continued