We spent much of last week and the beginning of this week in San Diego.  It was our first trip as a family of 4 on a plane.  Hands down I have to say Air Canada is taking the lead in nicest and most family friendly airline we’ve been on (and we’ve been on a lot).  Can’t say it was anything in particular but it was just the kind instructions and lack of snide remarks or annoyed looks.

Yes, Justin got a Seat By Himself!

We also took along both car seats for the first time and our new double Phil and Ted stroller… to say we had way more gear than luggage would be an understatement.  But, it wasn’t that bad at the end of the day and I think made the children more comfortable during all of the riding around we had to do by having their own familiar car seats.

We headed to San Diego in search of a house to possibly relocate to.  We recently sold our home in Vancouver and due to the exorbitant prices here and an interest in trying something new we decided to check out the San Diego market.  Most of our US friends couldn’t believe that we were choosing to move to San Diego to save money…it’s one of the most expensive areas to buy real estate in the US.  But compared to Vancouver, it looks affordable.  Not to mention that for the first time since I left the US I saw a pound of fruit priced at under 50 cents…

We spent 6 days in San Diego.  We had 32 houses to look at…no easy task with 2 small children but it went really well all things considering.

Sunset

We stayed at the Sheraton downtown and again were impressed with the niceness of the staff (similar to our experience last year in Atlanta).  We chose the Sheraton because it was an all suite hotel and with 2 babies needing naps and not sleeping thru the night always it’s nice to have an extra room.  Because we also have membership in the Starwood Preferred program we were upgraded to their club level which meant, free breakfast, free internet and 2 free drink tickets per day and water.  All said and done this probably saved us a good $60/day.  Worth the membership in our American Express Platinum program.  For anyone who travels often and does not have the card…do yourself a favor and get one.

We also get Gold Membership in Hertz with this card.  Again, no waits and great service.  However you do pay a bit more for Hertz but the cars are clean and there are never any issues.  We also obviously got the “Never Lost” system given all the driving we were going to do.

If you’ve never been to San Diego and you have children I HIGHLY recommend it.  VERY family friendly and not only were the people we met some of the nicest I’ve come across in a long time but most were genuinely helpful.

Yummy Chicken during our Room Picnic

There is a ton to do in San Diego.  Beaches of course, the best zoo in the world (or so they say), Sea World, LegoLand, Wild Safari park, outlet shopping, casinos, etc.  And I had no idea how much American history there was in San Diego.  Not to mention a TON of museums.  If you haven’t been, put it on your list.

We hit the beaches in N. County which were beautiful.  We also went to the Zoo which was very impressive though I still think I have issues with animals behind bars…  If you are there on a Wednesday the Farmer’s Market in Ocean Beach is pretty lively and fun.  Versus the Pacific Beach Farmer’s Market on Saturday which was pretty beat.

So how was it traveling with 2 babies?  Not as hard as I thought but obviously not as easy as one.  Obviously being organized and taking advantage of memberships in travel programs, etc. helps.

How did the house hunting go?  Not as well as we had hoped.  In all honesty I went down there not very optimistic.  I really enjoy living in Vancouver and all that it has to offer.  We also have a pretty good support network here.  A great nanny, Ciska, who helps me out occasionally and Justin’s Dad is close by (though he was planning ot move to San Diego with us).  I also have some great friends here now and a pretty good routine of things we like to do, etc.

But I also didn’t want to sit back and say, “what if,” one day.  So we went.  The first few days I was pretty sure it wasn’t for us.  Then we started exploring the North County and the beach towns.  That’s when I was hooked.  We found a cute house in a town called Cardiff by the Sea.  It wasn’t our dream home but it was very nice and we could walk to the beach.  It was in a cute village within a bigger town (Encinitas) with just about anything we would want within walking distance and everything else a mere 5 miles away.

We had also found a house in Mission Hills that we were considering as well.  It is an urban neighborhood in San Diego.

Who would have thought however that our luck would fail us.  By the time we got to San Diego with our list of 32 houses to look at 6 had gotten contracts or been pulled off the market before we could even look at them.  And wouldn’t you know it… the 2 houses we were about to write an offer on got offers literally the day/evening before we were to write ours.

Father/Son Moment Watching Football at What Would Have Been Our Local

We did end up putting in a back-up offer on the beach house.  It is a short sale (when the bank decides to take less than what is owed on the property to avoid a foreclosure—good for the bank, good for the homeowner and good for the buyer) so there is a chance we could possibly get the house.  But we aren’t very hopeful.

We figure “guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

All was not lost though as we had a nice getaway as a family and some much needed QT together.  We also got to see our colleague, Colin Egbert and meet his beautiful girlfriend and daughter.  Justin was also able to catch up with some other business contacts.

We are headed to Seattle next week to look at houses.  We have a lot of friends there and do business in WA state already so it would be an easy transition.

Not sure what life will bring in the next few months.  We have to be out of our house on October 30.  Part of me and Justin are sad to be leaving this house.  We love it, but it’s just not conducive to 4 people living here anymore.

We definitely have mixed emotions about our next move.  One day excited, next day down, another day confused.  But as things always do, it will all work out.