Sunday, April 12, 2015

San Diego visit, now back in Hot Springs for brief stay - Part 1

Katie and I drove to San Diego for my annual medical, vision and dental appointments.  All the appointments were done in two days, except for my annual physical.

After my dental appointment on Tuesday morning, we headed for my son, Tom and DIL, Trish's house in Carlsbad to visit with them and their kids, Kennedy, Gavin and Graydin.  Then on Friday, my daughter, Kristy and SIL, Matt arrived with their kids, Drew and Lauren.  We had a full house, with lots of good food, five grand kids going a mile a minute, and Katie and the resident dog, Jagger, getting along great.  It was a really nice visit.  Katie loved it so much, she didn't want to go back to The Palms when I put her on a leash to walk over and get something.  No way was she leaving all the fun.  She sure has changed since our first year on the road.  :)

I parked across the street from Tom and Trish's house, like I did last year.  They are on a curve, so I can't park in front of their house, but the neighbor across the street is on a corner, so parking along the fenced side of his house is my best place.  Level and not in anyone's way.  Below Kristy, Matt and Lauren were walking toward The Palms so I could show them something new inside.  :)  That's "mean neighbor's" house on the corner.


Unfortunately this guy is a real pain, and reported me to the HOA the first day I was there.  By law I can park for 72 hours, so he was jumping the gun a little.  :(  >(@%#!   Tom received a letter from the HOA and he called them and explained I was there for a week for an Easter visit, and the HOA was fine with that, but this neighbor complained about a friend who was visiting, too, twice!  Geez, Mister Meanie, get a life!  Tom just rented a business property that has a fenced yard with lights and cameras and from now on I'll stay there, and he'll lend me a truck to drive. That will make it a lot easier.

Tuesday night Trish and the kids went to their religious Meeting and I got a good picture of them all dressed up and ready to go.

Kennedy, Gavin, Graydin and Trish

While they were at their Meeting, Tom and I went out to dinner.  There are so many great restaurants in San Diego.  He's eating gluten free and organic foods, no dairy, as much as possible, and it's amazing the restaurants that serve great, tasty meals that fit his eating plan. 

Saturday night we all went to a sushi restaurant, where I had real sushi for the first time.  I love fish and Tom wasn't surprised that I liked sushi.  He ordered many plates of different kinds, but when the last two kinds came out, I was so full I didn't try them.  I was warned ahead of time not to eat all the rice - it really fills you up, so I didn't - but I was still full early on.  I especially liked the Ahi Tuna.  The Salmon was my second favorite.  The whole meal was quite an experience and what a treat!

I wanted to take some photos of what I ate, and my granddaughter, Kennedy, took over and arranged my plate for me for the "photo shoot."  Good job, Kennedy!

I think this is a salmon piece.  Please don't notice the "kids helper" at the end of my chopsticks.  ; )

This is one of the plates that came out:

Everything is arranged so beautifully.

Saturday before Easter we drove to Old Town San Diego and took the Trolley Tour.  It was the third time for me.  We only got off the trolley once, at Seaport Village, for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory - which was great.  If you take the Old Town Trolley and get off at the different stops, it takes a whole day.  A great deal and wonderful way to see the whole city without having to drive yourself.

Trish took this selfie of us on the trolley:


I love this photo of me - no wrinkles!  I think Trish has a special app that does this.  Thanks, Trish. :)

We also toured the old San Diego Police Headquarters and Jail which is behind the restaurant.  The whole Police Station area has been redone into a shopping center, but they left part of the jail area.

 The BAD GUYS:  Dopey, Meanie, Shifty, Grammy and Smiley

Easter was such a nice day - The Easter Bunny came, then Tom cooked us all Eggs Benedict.  It's our family breakfast for any holiday, and they were perfect!

 Tom and Matt

 Trish, Tom and Matt


 Kristy eating Easter Eggs Benedict

 My breakfast - Eggs Benedict and a few raspberries.  I didn't take much fruit, but I ate every bite!

The kids had an Easter egg hunt, and then we had a honey-baked ham with all the trimmings.  Matt's sister and husband and two kids joined us - Erin, Steve, Molly and Owen - so there were seven cousins.  They all get along great and had a good time together.

 Get ready...

 Get set....

Go!

 Tom and Trish have a great yard for hiding and finding Easter Eggs



Everyone got a good share of the eggs, filled with candy and some with money.  Kristy and Drew looking for lost eggs.

After the egg hunt, we all just hung out, eating and drinking and visiting.  The kids were busy doing their own things.  At one point, Lauren and her cousin Molly decided they were going to play dress up.  I think they were playing "Models" or something like that.  :)  Kennedy decided she was going to help them out with some of her old clothes and then do their make-up.  Here they are in one of the outfits:

 Beautiful girls Molly and Lauren.  Notice Molly's blue lipstick?  At first they had each other's outfits on, then switched.  This was a better fit.  

 Molly, Kennedy and Lauren - I think the adults enjoyed the fashion show as much as the girls did.

We had Easter Dinner later than planned.   Originally it was going to be 3:00, but we had so much going on and so many Hors d' oeuvres, we ended up eating around 4:30 or 5.  We had a Honey Baked ham, mashed potatoes, peas, asparagus, and green salad, and for desert, two cakes and three kinds of Bundt cupcakes.  Wow, it was all delicious!  I love a traditional Easter Dinner!

On Monday, Matt was flying home to northern California.  He had to get back for work and everyone else but me and Tom went to San Diego to take Matt to the airport and then do some sightseeing.  Tom and I stayed home to finish up working on a project.  More about that later.

Tuesday everyone but Tom went out for breakfast.  Tom worked that morning and after breakfast Trish and Kristy surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland, where they were meeting up with Erin, Molly and Owen. Kristy and the kids were spending the night with Erin and her family, then heading back home from there early Wednesday morning.  This is a photo from Trish's FB page:


 The seven cousins at Disneyland

I went back to the house after breakfast to meet up with Tom, finished up a few things, and then I left for Viejas Casino in Alpine for a night and then on to Hot Springs for a week.  Tom headed up to Disneyland to meet up with the rest of the family.

The medical stuff went "almost" well.  My teeth are great, cleaned and good for another year.  My eyes are good, I got my once-every-two-years pair of new glasses.  Had blood tests done, everything there was good, except my cholesterol is high.  I go through this every year and try to lower it with diet and exercise.  It's always worked before, but last year I wasn't careful with what I ate. 

I'm lucky that Tom and Kennedy have been on their new eating plan because it's probably exactly what I should have been doing.  Trish has been eating Gluten Free whenever possible, and since Tom and Kennedy are on a good eating plan now, I got a lot of good information from them to start me off, threw away all the "bad for me" foods, and am keeping a food diary.  I still have some shopping to do, but so far I'm doing fine and lost 1/2 pound the first few days.  I'm taking things slow, but so far so good.  I'll discuss this with my new doctor on Friday and see what he has to suggest.  I don't want to take cholesterol lowering meds unless I have to.  If he says I have to, I will, but I'll still do the good eating so next year I can be taken off, I hope.  We'll see....

I have a new doctor because my Primary Physician cancelled my annual physical twice, and when they called the second time to reschedule again, I told them I was changing doctors. I've been thinking about changing for a while and now was the time.  I was able to get an initial appointment with a new doctor for next Friday.  Since I had some time to kill and RV parking in San Diego is so difficult for dry camping or super expensive for RV parks, I drove back to Hot Springs.

Wow!  The weather is great and there's no one here.  Just me, a man in a Class A, and another man in his RV.  This campground looks SO DIFFERENT with all the people gone.  My season pass is up on the 15th, but I'll be leaving to head back to San Diego on the 13th. 

More family photos next time.  Are you excited about that?  I am!  Also, I was scared enough to actually move sites at Hot Springs - also next time.  Let me tell you, I wasn't excited about that!

From me and Katie, have a great Sunday, everyone!  :)

PS - Major RV mod coming up!  Stay tuned...

14 comments:

  1. What a great family post...ok spill it ...I want the wrinkle free app...and a cliff hanger end!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A great picture of you! Love your glasses!

    Virtual hugs,

    Judie

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'd say you were very busy! No wrinkles? I could use that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the app - just search for

      Perfect365: One-Tap Makeover

      I just downloaded it - curious what it can do... :)

      Delete
  4. Some beautiful grands you have there and what a lovely back yard! Curious what happened at Hot Springs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks like you've had some amazing days with family. I agree in that in that Mr. Meanie needs to get a life. I could understand if you were there for a long time but just a few days? He really is Mr. Meanie.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, what an idiot that neighbour is. Too bad for HIM! Great stay with family and now back to baking Hot Springs. I guess it is hot enough for you there. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The weather here in Hot Springs is in the high 80s, with nice breezes. You guys wouldn't believe how empty it is. Three RVs, including mine, in this whole place. It really is beautiful here when you can really see the landscape. :)

      Delete
  7. Your family is adorable! Love your wrinkle-free pic. Your food plan sounds perfect--we need to do something similar. Jim takes red rice yeast rather than a cholesterol-lowering medication & it works very well for him. We buy it at our food co-op but I'm sure you can find it at any vitamin store. Happy journeys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the red rice yeast tip - I'll check that out, and ask my new doctor about it. apparently he has training in alternative ways to deal with "issues" so I'm hoping to get some good tips from him, too. I'll ask him about that red rice yeast. :)

      Delete
  8. I tried red rice yeast and had the same negative muscle side effects. I think I have tried every med known to man without luck. Hope they work better for you if you end up going that route.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments - we LOVE them!