Picture Pages Picture Pages, Lots of Fun with Picture Pages...

When I feel a little lonely I like to go through my pictures.  I have always been the most annoying person with the camera in the crowd.  I remember Carla Genuso making fun of me for it in high school.  (I think she was in lesbian love with Michele, who is still my best friend - jealousy can be a bitch.)  Anyway.
I like scrolling through and remembering all the great friends I have and the great times we have had together.
So, rather than overanalyze a little homesickness or try to compare and contrast different friendships, let me just say this about Hebron...

And believe me, this is not even a tip of an iceberg.

To everything - Turn, Turn, Turn There is a Season...

Our move has brought many changes.  The obvious changes are that we no longer live on the East Coast.  We spent 10 wonderful years building our lives in Hebron and now we live in a strange city surrounded by strangers.  We spent our lives in the northeast and just hauled ourselves to the southwest.
Another obvious change is that we no longer need to concern ourselves with weather.  Honestly, not at all.  And this became abundantly clear to me when my sister mentioned that Hillary had declared her candidacy.  I had no idea.  Granted, she announced it officially while we were neck deep in moving, but also, I haven't watched the news in weeks - if not months - because, truly, the weather was always the draw.
Now, I don't need to concern myself with how to send the kids out of the house (jacket, boots, layers, rain coat, hoodie, pants and short sleeves, shorts and long sleeves...) so I don't bother with the news.
My husband reads news, I read books written by Chelsea Handler.

Anyway.
I have been taking pictures with my iPhone as we go because there are so many new things to share that I don't want to forget but I don't often take the time to write it down.
Facebook has been awesome because it's basically the lazy way to stay in touch.  It's quick and easy.  But some things require more than a status update.  And some people don't do the Facebook. This venue allows me to collect my thoughts and share my pictures all in one place.  After a careful edit.

So, let's take a walk through our day here in sunny southern California...

First of all, most mornings, regardless of what you have been told, are not sunny at all.  Most mornings so far look gray and rainy.  They aren't rainy, mind you, but if it was Connecticut, I would pack my umbrella by the looks of it.
The sun does come out - and it doesn't wait until tomorrow.  It is generally out by mid-morning and it stays out and the days are gorgeous.
But the days start gray and chilly.  They warm up and get bright and happy.  And they generally end with a breeze that keeps the warm sun from making you sweat.  It really is as great as it sounds.

Jay gets up and out by about 7:00am.  I do my best to get out of bed and make him something to eat before he leaves.  Usually a Nutri-Bullet shake packed with vitamins and badstuff-fighting nutrients.  I try to shove a bagel in there, too, but he's usually out the door before the toaster pops.
Once I see him off, I wake up the little girl.  Wyatt is generally awake and playing Clash of Clans, working on his second breakfast by the time Abby wakes up.

This is Jay's office at night - but this about the lighting when he arrives in the morning as well.

The kids and I get washed up and dressed, eat breakfast and head to school by 8:30.  School is about a mile away but we drive because who has that kind of time in the morning?  There are no elementary school buses in Torrance.  With 17 elementary schools, no one lives too far away to get themselves there.

At school the gates open for "morning play" at 8:35.  The bell rings and the kids line up to go to class at 9 so this allows lots of that morning energy to burn off as the sun starts to come out.
The school campus is quite large and everything is outside.  Each classroom door opens to the outdoors, like a motel, and the lunch tables are in a pavilion next to the tetherball courts.

Tetherball is a big deal around here.

The kids have 2 recesses - one around 10 and one around 2 plus they have outdoor lunch for 45 minutes which includes playtime.  At 3:10 the bell rings for dismissal and the kids can play more - on campus or one block up at the park.
There is no "pick up" list, just a bell, an open gate and a swarm of elementary kids.

I meet the kids at the bike rack where they have parked their scooters and helmets from the morning.  We generally park a block or two away so they can scooter in.  In the afternoon I walk to school and we walk/scooter home.  For me, its a guaranteed 2 miles a day walking.  For them - it's a mile on the scooter and a great way to decompress after such a stressful day of lunch and multiple recesses.

In school Wyatt's teacher is an older, single, been-teaching-and-doing-crosswords-with-her-cats-for-40-years woman.  Very, very sweet and very old-school.  She is displeased with his scissor skills and asked me to work on arts and crafts with him this summer.  She also thinks he should work on his handwriting as third grade introduces cursive and this kid can barely print.  But he's an excellent reader!  And his math is below level but next year (third grade) they begin intervention so he will likely get caught up then...  but he's an excellent reader!
He has made several friends, he has many scars, scrapes and bloody scabs from various adventures and the school nurse knows him by name.

I don't know what to say about that boy other than he is wicked smart, adorable, clever, funny, sensitive and sweet.  A great student, he is not.  But hey - neither were his parents.  Apples... trees...

Speaking of apples and trees, Abs is the orange in this comparison.  Top of her class in reading, writing, and general behavior and attitude.  The kid every teacher wants to teach didn't miss a beat moving across the country.  Her desire to be the best and outdo the rest of the class is something that I did not nurture, she was born with that and I don't know who to blame.  She is like a tiny female version of her dad now, she is not like anything that her dad or I can take credit for from childhood.  But thank goodness for that, we say.  She's awesome.
Her schoolwork is going very well, she likes her teacher and has made many friends.
She is better at articulating her feelings than Wyatt but I suspect he feels the same way - she misses her friends.  She misses knowing everything and everyone and being involved in it all.

We took our Big Fish out of their Tiny Pond and dropped them into the Pacific Ocean.
Just keep swimming, babies...  you're doing great!!

After school we walk home and get busy being cozy.  Abby generally has quite a bit of homework, Wyatt has very little.  They sit down and work and snack while I start dinner and help them.  We eat in the sunroom when Jay gets home and after dinner they usually play outside for a bit before washing up and going to bed.

Both kids are scootering fools - all over the neighborhood regardless of my cries to stay on our block.
Wyatt picked up where he left off riding his bike and Abby has a newfound determination to get rolling.  Her terror has subsided and her determination has taken over.  She will get it any day now.  And once that mission is accomplished the three of us can ride bikes back and forth to school each day.  Over the summer we can ride to the pool for lessons then head down to the beach after that.
The pool is only a few blocks away and the beach is just under 3 miles.

The beach!  Oh my...  that's a change for us!
Torrance Beach is where we went for Mother's Day.  It was breezy but nice and fairly empty since for most californians, it was too cold for a beach day.
We settled in and the lifeguard came over to update us on the tide, riptide and currents.  The kids headed down to the water and Jay and I were sitting in our sand chairs taking it all in.  The view is astonishing, really.  Palos Verdes is a cliff town right on the shoreline and it's beautiful to see.  As we are soaking it all in - the sun, the beach, the view, the fact that we live here - I see a fin in the water!  Holy Crap!  Wyatt's nightmare come true!  A fin!  He will never swim in the ocean again!  And then another fin...  and another...  and about 12 more!
A whole pod of dolphins!!
Swimming, eating, playing...  a whole pod of dolphins - within feet of the kids in the ocean.  Being touched by surfers who sat on their boards to watch them go by.
And go by they did - several times in the hours we were there.  Playing, eating, swimming and just being dolphins!
Absolutely amazing.

 

 

 There are all different flowers, trees and birds here.  Some people have rock lawns, some have astroturf and some just allow their grass to do what it's gonna do and even if it's not thick and green it still looks well manicured and pretty.  Californians are so used to not having enough water, it's not a point of judgement.
I am loving all the different flowers.  Lots of cactus, palm, succulents, pines...  so many things I can't remember them all but I also don't have to.  One of the beauties of renting with "gardener included".  I do plan on planting some pots - a palm in a pot and a lemon tree in a pot.  And when we leave here - wherever we go next - they're coming with me.

Weird bird-head plant.

This tree is at the park up the street.  It grows sideways.

Do you think these people would mind if I dug this palm up and potted it on my patio?

Abby loves this tree with the crazy roots.

Don't know what this is called but it looks like a succulent, has purple or yellow flowers and grows everywhere!

Huge tree on our way home from school.

One of many very well groomed trees along our walk home from school.

So, Jay goes to work and the kids go to school and I am still kind of figuring out what I do.  I definitely have had days where I feel a bit lost.  I have no friends here yet.  And I know the obvious answer to that is "get involved" but a) I kind of learned my lesson about that in Hebron and I'm not super anxious to get neck-deep in school stuff again and b) even if I was, it's May... school stuff is pretty much done.

So, I will bide my time with finding a yoga class, registering for summer camps and looking forward to what our summer adventures will be and of course, trying all the grocery stores till if find my "one".
At first I was a little embarrassed by the way that this particular chore excited me, but I've decided to run with it.  I enjoy grocery shopping, I love getting the best deal and let's face it - if I didn't we wouldn't eat as well and probably waste a lot of money.  It's pretty important so it's good that I like it.  I also like laundry  And I've come to like sweeping/vacuuming.
Having a one-story house makes it all seem a little easier.  Shaving off about 1000 square feet helps, too.
Things I don't like still include cleaning bathrooms and cooking dinner.  But hey - there are only 2 bathrooms and one is super small and at least we can grill every night - way better than kitchen cooking.

I will find my zone.  And summer vacation is only a few weeks away so instead of feeling lonely or looking for things to fill my days, I am trying to enjoy the quiet and the lack of a to-do list.  It should be a welcome change after the hurricane of events we just got through, right?

One more thing,  these are from Manhattan Beach:

We watched a fisherman reel in a big one on Manhattan Beach Pier.

He knew what he had, said it was about 80 lbs.

Several photo ops later, he threw it back.  Very exciting!

East Coast, Meet West

Many, many thoughts to share.  In the past 18-20 days we have seen our home in CT packed up and loaded on a truck, unloaded in CA and everything in between.

So many goodbyes, see you laters and keep in touches...  it's hard to comprehend.
Strange as it may seem, I was not very sad to leave our families.  I think the security of knowing they will still be family, still be there and will always be a part of our lives takes the worry out of the distance.
It was really sad to leave our friends.  Distance takes more of a toll on friendships because you now have to work at it.  It's not as easy as a carpool or a last minute glass of wine or a quick text.  It requires effort.  So, realistically, as I was leaving I knew there were friends I would never see again.  Sounds harsh, but it's realistic and closing that chapter of our lives was tough.  But I take heart in that we have years of wonderful memories - with photos to prove it - and that will never disappear.

I have been stressing over "Thank You Notes" but there is truly no way to thank your friends and family for sending you across the country with their love, well wishes, sadness, joy, celebration and a bunch of gifts!  We are so blessed with so many good friends and so much love in our lives.  We left CT with more wine than we started with, this is certain.  Handmade scented candles, local syrup and honey, townie mementos and a handmade jug of New England memories...  There are no words or individual notes than can express my appreciation.  We built a beautiful life in Hebron.  We were surrounded by love and support.  We made friends that were an extension of family.
My friend Wendy said to me once, "in this town your kids are never anywhere that you don't know at least one person they are with".  And that is a beautiful thing.  the safety and security of that happy little bubble.  We will never try to recreate that, we will always treasure it.

Our dogs & cat were shipped with a very nice man in a temperature-controlled van with many other beloved pets.  It was an easy "Incredible Journey" remake but thankfully, they did not plot to escape and find us on their own.  Instead, they stuck with Ronnie and arrived safe and sound - if a little skinny and exhausted.  Should you ever find yourself in a position of moving and needing to get your pets there, too, I highly recommend these guys.  They were great.
They have adjusted well and continue to sleep, eat and do a lot of nothing as if nothing has changed.

Pete absorbing some California sunshine by the loquat tree.

We have been surrounded by boxes, paper and our stuff for almost two weeks now.  We are finally almost done.  I see a few boxes that I need to sort and put away but at least I know what is in them and where I have to go with them.

before

after...  but still not done!

I have Salvation Army coming tomorrow to take a few things we shouldn't have bothered packing and I hope to make the garage livable for my car this week.

But we have come a long way and my anxiety has settled quite a bit.

There is no Stop & Shop here so I have been shopping here and there trying to find my grocery groove.  I loved the Farmer's Market but, of course, bought more produce than we can eat and threw half of it out.  I need to temper that excitement a bit next time.

Only 4 people live here!

I am sure I have more to share about the move, the movers, the packing and unpacking and the adventures as we settle.  The fact is, I have been putting off sending an email or posting a blog because there is SO much to think about and share that it is intimidating to sit down and try to do.

Bottom line is this - the four of us embarked on this adventure to gain a better sense of ourselves.  We wanted to take away the safety net of family and community and learn new ways in new places, on our own.  We want to see how life on the west coast is, we want to see the west coast!

We were ready for a clean slate and this is exactly what we had hoped it would be - so far.

We do not take lightly the luck and blessings that we have received.  We also do not take lightly the hard work and team work that we put forward to make things work.  All in all, life is quite good and we are a very happy little clan.

More to come as more thoughts and stories occupy my brain.  I thank you so much for reading, it helps me to put it out there.  

Here are a few pics to fill in some gaps..

Scootering home from school.

After school, Friday afternoon beach day.  Manhattan Beach.

Manhattan Beach Pier about an hour before high tide.

We spent a week+ at the Residence Inn while we waited for our "Household Goods" (& pets) to arrive.

King Harbor, Redondo Beach  (about 3 miles away)

The kids sleeping on our last night at the RI.

First Day at their new school!  975 kids in K-5.  Big change!

Here, let me leave you with my deep thought from the other day:
It is so refreshing to live in a place so large that there are too many people to keep score with.  No one cares what you're wearing or where you bought it.  The street you live on does not affect your social standing in the community nor does the car you drive.  And no one here is the majority.  Indian, Japanese, Cuban, Mexican with a sprinkle or black & white - no one group dominates.  This is truly a place where you are judged on the person that you are - if you are judged at all.  This is city living.  So refreshing and so much easier to be able to do what you love and be who you are.  You are completely anonymous but never alone.
I know you can do that anywhere - and we all should - but for those of us from tiny towns still living in tiny towns, we know how hard that is.