Morning Walk

This morning Jessi and I woke up early (for a Sunday) and went on a hike with her parents. It was a really nice walk. We got the dogs together and into the car. A task that is a lot harder than it sounds. We finally got them into the back seat and headed to meet up with Joe and Anita. The walk was at a place called Dixon lake and we headed off at a brisk walk with Joe leading the way and the rest of us following along shortly after, a little huffy and puffy. We made it through the 2 mile walk in about a half an hour. The dogs seemed to really enjoy it and we were both really proud of Larry for making it the whole way.

The New Plan and Carnitas

So here is the new plan. We are going to treat San Diego like we are on vacation here. We'll pick up a book of things to see and places to go and start going there.

We kind of started last night. There is a morning show that Jessi and I listen to on our way to work. On the show, once a week, they do a "best of San Diego" and they will pick a product or service and try to find the best maker of that product in San Diego. Last week it was Carnita's. Which is a spiced pork cooked slow and then fried. (at least that is how I think that they make it) Well, Carnitas Uruapan was the winner. It is a restaurant down in Lemon Grove, we went down there last night to try it out and meet up with an old friend of Jessi's from high school. The Carnitas were very good. The meat was tender and juicy and it was served with fresh cilantro, onion, corn or flour tortillas, and of course beans and rice. The three of us ate for 30 dollars, which is kind of unheard of in San Diego, especially for the quality of food that was served there. The place was a bit of a dive. it was definitely a "Mom and Pop" style restaurant with plastic coverings on top of red and white checkered picnic-style table cloths, but the food was awesome and there was plenty of it.

After dinner we went out for drinks in Mission Valley. We weren't really in the mood for a club, just a nice bar that we could sit down at and enjoy a glass of beer and some good conversation. We ended up at a restaurant called "On the Border" it is a Mexican restaurant chain that does pretty good margaritas. It would have been nice to go somewhere with a little more authentic atmosphere but as I said earlier we are just starting to explore the city. We were all pretty tired by the about nine-thirty and because it is a 30 minute drive back to Escondido we had to cut the night short, but it is good to spend some time getting out in the city and trying some new things.

Update

So Jessi and I are back from Texas. We spent 6 months there doing school. It was an indulgent couple of months. We ate good Texas food and drank a lot of good beer. We were able to make a lot of friends and really enjoyed our time. Everything in Texas is bigger and coming back to San Diego, so are we. It is time to get back to our healthy lifestyle and get to work on our house.
We have already had four groups of visitors and look forward to having more. Suzy made it down, so did Leah and Serge, Nicko, and the Cains. It is always good to have visitors and we really appreciate everyone coming to see us and the house and see how all of our little projects are coming.
We should be here for a while now and are getting ready to do school full time in the fall. We were lucky enough that, through our time in the Air Force, we should be able to afford to live like students for a while and get through our educations. The dogs are good, the cat is good, and so are we...hope you all are doing well too

The HomeFront

Alas, Jessi and I have settled in the finest city in the world! That is right folks...we now call San Diego Home. We have spend the last 6 months in a pretty tumultuous state. But we have bought and made the first payment on a house in Escondido, which is Northern San Diego County. We are super excited about all of the excitement that comes along with owning a home. this is both of ours first home and there is a lot more to do than we counted on but there is something different about this type of work. I am not sure if it is because we know that we are putting our time, effort and money into something that is permanent or just the excitement of a new adventure but the times they are a good.
I will try to document most of the changes that happen while we move along but I can not make any promises as my time is pretty full now a days. so with that here are some pictures of the house as it was when we moved in...well those will have to come later!

Well, instead I have decided to do a new blog with the title : http://jjbateshome.blogspot.com/ check it out if'n you'd like!

Hawaii...specifically Oahu!

Wow, What an absolutely beautiful state. It is no wonder that the native Hawaiians are so upset about having so many people come in and take so much of their land. Life in Hawaii is slow. The highways still have sixty mile an hour speed limit, with 55 being the standard as you get closer to the city (or town as it is called here). Jessi and I are fortunate enough to have family that lives on the island and are willing to put us up for a couple of weeks. It has been the most relaxing of the vacations thus far. The sun makes relaxing much easier than the snow. We have spent several days doing nothing but lounging around the house and spending time with our nephews who are just about as cute and well-behaved as anyone could ask for. We made it to Waikiki and Honolulu and Jessi found tickets to one of the bands that she really likes...Motion City Soundtrack. We went there one night and saw them play. They played in a small venue called "The Pipeline Cafe." I think that we were the oldest people there who were not escorting their children, it seems to be a theme of the concerts that we have been to.
Jessi took me to a spa for Valentines day and we got a couples massage. We were both in one room and the ladies did a really good job, I thought that I was going to have bruises after she was done with me!!! It was painful, relaxing and invigorating. That is something that we should try to do on a more regular basis.
Henry, Cindy, Jessi and I all took a dinner cruise from Honolulu out in the Ocean. There was music and food and drinks. The food was good, mostly oriental, and served buffet style. We ate and watched the hula dancers do their thing. Then we went upstairs to the lookout area and saw a whale...well, the tale of one anyway.

We went snorkeling and got some pictures of some fish...but they are on an old-style camera and have to be developed, so those pictures are going to have to wait.

We also went to a luau! It was held on a resort just down the road from Henry and Cindy's place. There was all kinds of activities, from making your own lei to throwing a spear at a target. Jessi, Henry, Linda, and Vincent all got "Polynesian tattoos." Vincent's came off in the bath and it set him to crying. He was so upset that his tattoo got washed away!!! There was a hula show with dinner and there were traditional dancers from each of the original settlers cultures. The fire dancer was my favorite! It made for some interesting pictures...


We went to see the USS Arizona Memorial and stumbled across the USS Utah memorial as well. It was a touching place and very reverent. This was the perfect place for Jessi and I to end our enlistment. Our last few days of employment were spent on the beach...getting paid!
We only have a couple of days left and then it is back to real-life...or as real as it is going to be for us for a while.

Salt Lake City

Well, the next step of our vacation is a stop in Utah. It has been too long since I have spent time with my family and friends in the area. This is my nephew who is as cute as he is crazy! We got to spend a little time with him and Bart, Sarah and Jaxson. The worst part about living in England for the last three years is how much the people in our family change during the time between visits. Jessi and I are really excited about being able to see them all a lot more!

Salt Lake offered the first snow that I have seen in a couple of years and Jessi got to experience shoveling for the first time! We have been able to get to see a lot of Salt Lake and it is crazy how much it has changed in the 5 years since I was last here for any period of time. The relaxation factor has been fantastic.

Chris and I went to see The Great Buck Howard, the movie that started the Sundance film festival in the "locals showing" It was a really good movie about never losing sight of your dreams and believing in something.

Chi-City

So, We have a friend named Nikko that we met in England. He is a good guy...really funny and a lot of fun to hang out with. Well, as long as we have known him he has been talking about Chicago and how much fun it is and how we have to go. Well, two and a half years later we finally made it to Chicago and it was well worth it. We stayed right downtown and it was really neat. The whole city (that we wanted to go to) were within minutes of the hotel...as long as we were in the cab. We ate good food (Chicago Style Pizza and hotdogs) and drank good beer (312 which is a Chicago area code and a pretty descent beer) The first day that we were there was spent on the hunt for some warm clothes and the rest of them were spent recovering from the long nights( the bars are open until 4am). The only thing that could have made it a little better is if it was warm enough to spend any kind of time outside. As it was we spent the whole trip dashing from building to cab to building and the little bit of walking that we were able to do was done with the utmost care taken to ensure as little skin as possible was exposed to the elements. Lots of fun though! We are going to try to make it back there in the spring or fall one of these years. There is a lot that we didn't get to do and those times of year are supposed to be fantastic!

This is one of the many "Birthday Desserts" that we got for Nikko. I think all but one restaurant that we ate at in during our time in Chicago we had them sing to Nikko and bring him dessert...it was hilarious...his Birthday was a month or so ago! That's funny, I don't care who you are, that's funny!