Baja California Sur 2016

Michelle and I just returned from our trip to Baja California Sur. We enjoyed the scenery and weather and caught some fun waves.

Follow this link to view a photo album from our trip.

Professional Photos

Mario, our contractor, recently paid for a professional photographer to come into our house and take pictures for use in advertising for his firm. See below for the photos. We love how they turned out!

Night On The End Of The Point

It isn't too often we get the opportunity to view the city lights from the end of Point Loma. The Cabrillo National Monument closes at 4:30 PM. Once in awhile the monument is open for a special evening event. Last Sunday Steve Correia invited Michelle and I to attend a fundraiser for the monument. We brought our camera along to capture the evening sky.

Some of the photos below are looking north to the submarine base. Others look south towards Tijuana. We were also treated to a full moon rising over the eastern horizon. A beautiful evening.

North Island and downtown San Diego.

 The submarine base and dry docks are located towards the left side of this photo.

 The lights of Tijuana.

San Diego harbor entrance.

Moon-rise over San Diego.

A view of San Diego with the Cabrillo National Monument Visitors Center on the right side of the photo. The photos above were taken from the viewing area outside of this building.

The bees are back

Michelle, Jack, and I spent the morning eating breakfast burritos on our deck. We listen to the birds and the bees. The avocado tree is sprouting new flowers and we can hear hundreds of bees flying around pollinating the crop. Looks like we'll have a full harvest in a few months.

Week 37

Michelle and I came home yesterday to find this on the kitchen counter. Our home remodel is officially complete and it brought us joy and sadness. We love our new home but we are sad we won't see Mario, Cesar, Adon, Tio, and the rest of the crew around anymore.

I always told Cesar he had a really nice hammer. He left it on the counter with a note saying it was a gift to us. It made us cry because Cesar used this hammer every day as he built our house. It was a special tool to him. 

Michelle always says we live in the house Cesar built. We love every square inch of it and we especially appreciate the friendships we developed with Mario, Cesar, and the rest of the crew. We enjoyed sharing stories and laughing around the table in the backyard.

Thank you for everything.

The end of january

It's the end of January and our project is really winding down. 

The fence has been completely installed and stained. We love the look! It has been over 7 months since we were able to look at the patio furniture. This morning I removed the remaining tools and supplies and set up the couches. We forgot how comfortable they are! 

We had some remaining tile left over from the back porch so we asked Cesar if he could install it on the front porch. Now both of our porches match! 

What's left to do? Just some odds and ends. For example, the front door has been stripped of its paint. Now it needs to be sanded cleaned up and restained. The doors to the bathroom need to have their stoppers put on. The water filter was moved from an outside location to under the house. Now they need to patch up the hole created for the water heater when it was located outside. There's a few bricks that need to be put under the fence to keep the skunks out and a few more Bricks need to be placed around in order to finish up the planters. I need to reinstall the outdoor speakers and some wiring, and when we are finished, I will probably power wash the bricks. The cabinet handles for the kitchen finally arrived. The cabinet maker is stopping by next week to install them.. 

Other than that, are project is almost complete! Michelle is parents will be here in 2 weeks. We expect to be completely finished before they arrive.

Merry Late Christmas

Michelle and I are enjoying a restful and relaxing winter holidays. While it is been cold, the surf has been big and unrideable for the last few days. I finally was able to go surfing this morning. The work on the house continues. Cesar and his team are completing some brick work around the backside of the house. The Ensenada garden is almost complete. We love the new steps by the back patio. Cesar Inc. railroad ties into the design to match the rest of the backyard. Michelle has been cooking wonderful dinners and I have been working on the backyard and the side of the house. I recently cleared out approximately 20 trash cans worth of plant material. We are looking forward to returning enjoying the remainder of the week gardening, working on projects around the house, and surfing.

Week 27

We have been busy during the last two week moving back into the house and getting things finished. I have been spending a lot of time on the AV system.

Michelle and I moved in all of our boxes and everything we need is back in the house. The entire project is almost complete. The electrical is finished and the plumbing is complete. The only things that need to be done are outside. We still need to finish the brick walkway, repaint the outside of the house, install a new fence, and finish the Ensenada patio. Otherwise we are moved in and happy. It is a wonderful place. We will try to continue posting news as it becomes available.

Week 25

A lot has happened during the last week. Each day almost five or six different guys have been here working on the house.

Enrique the electrician stopped by the house and installed all f the switches. I installed our hanging lights. They look awesome.

The heating system is up and running. We are enjoying nice warm temperatures inside the house! Nate the heating system reviewer is here to evaluate the system and verify it is up to code.

The bathroom is almost finished. We need to install some outlets, mount door pulls, and build a small cabinet for our towels. Other than that, it is completely functional and looks beautiful! We are now taking showers indoors.

We have moved into the bedroom. It is 100% complete. It is the first room in the house to be totally done.

The table we ordered came in and it looks awesome!

The crew is now working on the back patio and it should be complete within 2 days. I will send more photos later but we are very busy moving back into the house.

After spending six months outdoors I have forgotten how warm indoors can be. Sleeping in our bedroom is just like staying at Ponte, the winery in Temecula. It is beautiful and luxurious!