Family

The birthday cake was baked, the tea cups laid out, gifts were wrapped and balloons blown up. My Dads birthday party was only missing my Mum and Dad, who were due within the hour to spend two weeks with us. It always feels a bit more like home when family comes to stay, so everything was looking rosy.

And then we got an email from our landlord serving us notice, with a few weeks to find somewhere else to live.

We knew our rental contract might come to an end, but all indications were that he wanted us to stay. We suspect the temptation to sell has something to do with his change of mind. The property market here is crazy.  When Facebook - and other tech companies - moved to San Mateo County two years ago they pushed average salaries up by more than 100%. On a peninsular surrounded by water there isn't enough housing. A three bedroomed family home in our school district is at least $900k; $1700 a month in rent gets you a one bedroomed flat. Last year property owners here saw their homes rise in value by at least 15%, in the city they rose by 26%. If you can find the deposit, you need to buy.

Our immediate priority remains keeping Annie in her school, which means we need to live in the school district. Yet, as I write, there are only a handful of houses to rent, and when one is advertised there can be up to 30 applicants at the 'open house'. 

Which is why we ditched the birthday tea and opened the gin.

Having Mum and Dad here was wonderful. It was an impromptu trip to keep me company whilst Dan returned to the UK to celebrate his 40th birthday with family and friends. Naturally, we couldn't let him leave without a celebration of our own!

For Dans 30th birthday I took him to Madrid. As we walked into the airport bar his friends were there to surprise him disguised in false mustaches and glasses. It was therefore entirely appropriate that his friends here gatecrashed our romantic meal for two on his 40th, disguised in the same way!

Birthday lunch with Mum and Dad at Sam's Chowder House, Half Moon Bay

Back in London Dan enjoys some female company - I was so sad to not be there to make these four ladies a group of five. Our time will come this summer when the children and I travel to the UK whilst Dan does a tour of duty in Brazil with a round shaped ball.

Talking of round shaped balls, a Father and Son trip to Whitehart Lane - Brian, Pat Jennings and Dan

Meanwhile, back in California it was Annie's week to be class superstar which meant putting into practice her presentation skills. For 'show and tell' she chose to bring in her grandparents. Her classmates had many questions to ask the two Welsh guests - 'do they miss Annie', 'what does 'Bampy' mean' and the common question - 'is Wales in England' (My Dad's reply to this is always - aghast - 'do you live in Canada!!?') It was certainly a more productive interview than the one a few days later with the 'Italian' shop assistant who asked my parents if they were German. Or maybe Norwegian?

Mum and Dad headed south for a few days on a road trip to see Carmel, the Big Sur, and Hearst Castle (pictured above) which was built by the same chap who built St Donat's Castle in Wales. Upon their return I got to hear all about the history of the Hearst family, including the infamous Patty Hearst kidnapping of 1974. We ended up wondering where Patty was born and discovered her family home was in Hillsborough, 2 miles from our current house. 

The sea lions along Pacific Highway 1

Feeling the cold at Mountain View Shoreline Park

Last month, Annie and I celebrating my birthday.

We have watched with shock the news stories of flooding in the UK. It seems remarkable that whilst our British friends and family batten down the hatches, we are experiencing official drought conditions. Our local reservoir is worryingly depleted of water, and people are talking about short showers and reduced flushes. Dan and I like to think we are making an extended effort to save water by drinking more wine.

Tom started preschool this week. Since Annie's former preschool teacher owns his new school, and our good friend is a teacher there, it's a home from home for him. Having spent every day of his two and a half year old life with me, his first day was especially significant. Having counted down the weeks to my first 'free' morning it was with a feeling of disappointment that I headed to Home Depot to buy bubble wrap and moving boxes!

In two weeks time we move into a corporate apartment and will put most of our belongings into storage.

We have no idea how long we will stay in California, but it's clear that we need to have consistency with schooling and avoid living at the whim of a landlord. Our plan is to consider buying a house - a very exciting step in our adventure.

The apartment move will mean our fourth home in just over two years yet it's difficult to complain. Buying makes sense. The apartment gives us great flexibility, and as an added bonus has a pool, gym, sauna, bike paths and playground. It's located alongside the Bay so Im excited about the flat running trails I can explore. The apartment is small, and we will miss not having everything under one roof, but that just means less floor space to clean and fewer toys to put away before wine time starts!

And after all, home is where the family is and that's all that really matters.