Utah and California

We just got back from a trip to Utah and California. I boldly took little Nathan home all by myself since I had some time off. He was pretty good for me on the plane. He really like being there with his uncles and aunts, and played outside way too much. Now he hates our apartment. He learned tons of new words from his uncles, like "push" and "hots" (that means chicken?) He also learned tractor and grandpa (sounds like papa). Now that we've left he occasionally points to men with gray hair and calls them grandpa. I was amazed how well he did there, and now I wish we had stayed there longer.

We went to Goblin valley for a day and let Nathan hike all over. My brother Tom left a part of himself there for anyone who visits in the future. DO NOT stick your hand into any holes there. I guess someday his frontal lobes will fill out and his judgement will improve, but now we can only hope for it.

We made a sweet video while we were out there that can currently only be viewed on Stewart's facebook account. The link is: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=15999313754 I'll try to find a better way to link to it.

Melissa joined me and Nathan in southern California to find a place to live. While we were there I let Nathan play in the hotel pool and hot tub for a while even though they were cold. I figured he get tired of being cold and cut the activity short, but even when he was shivering he didn't seem to care. At one point he was standing on the first step of the hot tub and bent over to stick his hands in the water. As he bent down his little bum connected with the lip that sticks inward from the edge of the hot tub and launched him headfirst into the middle of the tub. I jumped in to pull him out so he was only submerged for a few seconds. He gasped for air, grunted, and then started fighting to get back down in the pool; he didn't care at all. That boy is addicted to water. A couple weeks ago we took him to the zoo and at every exhibit he would only notice the water. Sure there were some big lions, giraffes, elephants, but those were not nearly as interesting as the pools that separated them from us. Sometimes I would make him look at the animals, but after a few seconds I could see his eyeballs roll back to the water. Next time I want to give him a fun time I'll just fill up the bathtub.

So in California we decided to just rent for the next three years instead of buying. Right now home prices are dropping in southern California, but I think it's just the beginning. I talked to a loan officer who told me (I think to encourage me) that 70 percent of all California home loans are interest only. I didn't need any more convincing of the fact that the housing fiasco in Cali has only just begun, and that home prices will probably fall for the next 5-10 years there. I also saw a report from a Yale Economics professor that showed that for the last century housing prices, when adjusted for inflation, have stayed basically the same. Now, in only the last several years, they've risen to more than twice the past century's average. Every time they rose and fell in the last hundred years they eventually returned to the mean. I think that any optimism regarding home values rising again in the near future is unwarranted.

So instead we are going to rent. We found a nice little 3 bed, 2 bath house with a yard and 2 car garage, in a very nice neighborhood, with three pools, lots of trails and green space. Nathan and our new baby will be able to play there and will be safe. It's going to cost us a bit, but I'd rather have the little ones in a nice area. The new address will be 2482 Dartmouth rd, San Bernardino, CA. You can plug that into Google map and get a nice look at the neighborhood. It's only about two miles from the Medical Center, so I'll be able to ride my bike to work possibly year round. That doesn't mean I'm going to ride it, but the point is I'd be able to if I ever felt like it. I'll also be close to Loma Linda's awesome gym where I get a free membership. That doesn't mean I'll go to the gym, but....

The big move will happen on May 30th. I'm going to pilot a Penske van across the country in three days and get us moved in while Melissa and Nathan relax up in Susanville at her parents house. I'm not quite sure how we worked that out. Then we'll spend some time visiting family before I buckle down for my first stint as a doctor. Hopefully nobody dies. Luckily I'm going to be able to pick up some of my brothers in Utah to help us with the move. I worked a deal out with Tim that he could buy one of our cars for cheap if he would use it to drive the other brothers down to help me move. Hopefully we can get everything wrapped up and enjoy a trouble-free move.