Our New Swank Neighborhood

The front of our new house with roses growing in front of the dinning room window
Our back patio
The backyard with two orange trees, a lemon three and more roses
Our garage

After moving in to our new house we discovered that we live in one of the most posh area to live in San Jose - Willow Glen Community.

Here is what I think is a good comparison. Living in Willow Glen is like living in downtown Scottsdale or downtown Seattle. It is an address that everyone wants. Ray's co-workers could not believe we found a place to live in this area. I'm sure that by now they are thinking that Ray must have married a sugar-momma or that our family must have some connections with the mob.

I can only say that it is all God's doing. We had nothing to do with it. This house is a blessing that we are deeply thankful for.

A House Makes A Home For The Mattingly Family

Okay, here is what happened.

Ray was given one week of house-hunting leave. He flew into Phoenix and the next day we flew together as a family into San Jose, California. Our first stop was Moffett Field, an air force base that was now run by NASA. Even though it was no longer a military base, it still had military housing that we were hoping to get.

Well, the waiting list for Moffett housing is at least a year. We were put on a list of families still waiting for housing. We were number 20. So unless 19 families dropped off the list and a family already in housing planned on moving out in the next two days, there would be no chance of us getting into military housing.

So, we regrouped and decided to take another approach. We would locate exactly where Ray would be stationed and use that as are starting point in looking for a place to live.

We were given some advice to look at areas outside of Sunnyvale, which is where Ray would be working. There was rarely anything available in the Sunnyvale area. So, we moved our search to the surrounding towns - San Jose, Santa Clara and Mountain View.

For those of you who don't know, this is Santa Clara County area, more famously known as the heart of Silicon Valley. Almost all the major computer and Internet companies are here- Yahoo!, Ebay, Norton Security, MacAfee and Google, just to name a few. And of course, where there are multi-billion dollar companies there are sure to be multi-million dollar homes. Which for us meant places that were way beyond the income level of a U.S. sailor.

The search was long and frustrating. The rent for most two-bedroom apartments were more then what the average person in Arizona pays a month for a three-bedroom house! We looked at townhouses that started at $700,000.00 and apartments so small that we knew if we moved in most of our stuff would remain in storage for the next three years.

Now, please keep in mind that we were not trying to be picky, its just that we needed to find a place we could afford that would give us enough room for our growing family, (we hope to have two more kids in the next three years).

So, we find ourselves on Wednesday, still no closer to finding a place to call home. After looking at yet another disappointing townhouse we decide to just drive around the area and think of our next plan of action. As we are wondering through the neighborhoods when into a part of town that is just beautiful. The homes are the type you see in Martha Stewart or Better Homes and Gardens magazines. Ray suddenly spots a sign about an open house. We turn the corner and see a house for rent. We figured it wouldn't hurt to have a look. At the very least we could see how the other-half lives.

The house was beautiful. About 50 years old, the house has been own by the same couple for the last 30 years. They lived in it for the first five years and have been renting it out ever since. The house had history and character, with its own little cute quirks. We took the business card of the realtor but didn't seriously think we could afford a house like this.

Yet, something happened after seeing that house. We couldn't get the house out of our minds. No matter what else we looked at we ended up comparing to the house. And , "who on earth", we thought, "would have an open house on a Wednesday?" This had to be a sign, but there was only one way to find out. We called the realtor and discussed monthly rent. We put in an application and waited.

In the meantime we stalked the house. Evey chance we got, we went back to the house. Walked around the outside peeking into the windows and taking pictures of it with our camera phones. We stalked the place so much I was afraid that the neighbors were going to call the police on us.

The realtor, which we found our would be our property manager if the application was accepted, informed us that the owners were concerned about us being a military family. The previous renters were military and when the husband was given orders to go to Iraq, they broke their lease after only three months and the wife moved back to her parent's place. The owners didn't want the same thing to happen again. We assured them that even if Ray was shipped of somewhere else that I had no intentions of moving anywhere else- at least for a year.

On our way back to Hawaii we found out that we were approved for the house. After Ray officially left his command we returned to San Jose to sign our lease and get our keys to our new home!!!!

After a couple of nights of sleeping on the floor our furniture arrived from storage. It was like Christmas, unpacking boxes of stuff neither of us had seen since February.

And now, with only a three boxes of odds and ends left, we are starting to see this house slowly transform into a place we can now call, "Home".

Where In The World Is Elektra?

In the past ten months, Elektra has been doing some serious traveling. Let's see if you can add up the miles:

February: Road trip from Bremerton, WA to Laveen, AZ

February -April: Almost weekly trips from Laveen to Peoria, AZ

April-May: Flight from Phoenix, AZ to O'ahu, HI and back

June-August: Again, almost weekly trips from Laveen to Peoria, AZ

August-September: Flight from Phoenix, AZ to San Jose, CA then to O'ahu, HI

September: Flight from O'ahu, HI to San Jose, CA
Road trip from San Jose, CA to Laveen, AZ
Road trip from Laveen, AZ to Payson, AZ and back.
Road trip from Laveen, AZ to San Jose, CA

Needless to say we are all tired of traveling and it is a comfort in knowing that there are no major road trips planned for the month of October, (at least at the time this blog is being written). However, this is not the end of our travels this year. We still have a few more trips coming up, but those will be revealed in upcoming blogs.

Yes, We Are Moving!!

If you haven't already heard, Ray has his new orders and this September we will be moving to Sunnyvale, California! He'll be working at some kind of Strategic Flight Something Plan Something That...oh, I don't know, just ask Ray, he's the one working there. All I know is that the job is off the sub and closer to friends and family.

I'll be flying over to California this month to hook up with Ray and go house hunting. There is a military base somewhere in the area with housing be we don't know how close it is to where he will be working. We are going to look at all the different housing options available to us. We plan on having at least two more kids during the time we are there so our place will need to be big enough to comfortable hold our expanding family.

After a week of house hunting we will all fly back to Hawaii so that Ray can finish one last stint out at sea. Then we fly back to Phoenix, pack up everything we have accumulated here and drive it all to California to join the rest of our stuff that has been sitting in storage since March.

We hope to get a chance to visit with everyone before we make our move to Cali, but now that we are so close I don't want to here any excuses from our Arizona friend about why they can't come to visit us.

Allergies!!!

Shortly before our trip to Hawaii, Elektra has been experiencing some skin problems. She had been to the ER once already due to an allergic reaction to the perfume I was wearing. Her eyes had got all puffy and red. It took half a week to get her looking normal again.

In Hawaii as I was attending a Passion Party at a friend's house, Ray took care of Elektra. He fed her some pre-made formula and she broke out really bad. He skin from her neck down to her thighs turned red and was covered in hives.

Back in Arizona I noticed she would rash up after meals. It was getting so frustrating and I was so afraid to feed her anything because I didn't know what would break her out. There were scratches all over her body. No matter how much I trimmed her nails she would still scratch herself raw. So, I took her in to see her doctor. He took one look at her and said that she has really bad allergies.

I was given a referral to see an allergy specialist. There was a five page form that was mailed to me before her appointment. I had to answer questions about everything she comes in contact with from the type of area we live in to the number of people on both sides of the family that have allergies.

At her appointment, the specialist looked at her and confirmed to me that she has Eczema like I do. Then they did an allergy test on her. They used a marker and numbered her back from 1 to 10. Then they took small needles that were treated with different common food allergies and lightly pricked her back next to each number. The needles are so small that she didn't even feel them. The hard part came next- waiting. We had to sit there and wait 15 minutes for the test to take full effect. I had to keep her busy and make sure that she didn't start scratching. It was so hard to sit there and watch almost each spot they pricked start to get red and see hives form.

When the test was done the nurses came in and measured the hives. All the information was put into the computer. They wiped down her back and applied an anti-itch spray. A few moments later the doctor came in with the results. Elektra has high allergic proteins to the following foods:

Milk
Soy
Fish
Peanuts
Eggs

In order for something to qualify as a true allergy, you must have high allergy protein levels as well as a physical reaction when you come in contact with the substance. You can have high protein levels and never have an allergic reaction. Elektra has had a physical reaction to milk and because her number are so high for both Soy and Peanuts, the doctor is pretty sure she might have allergies to those, but we won't know for sure unless she actually eats some.

However, due to how quick her flare-ups are when she comes in contact with something she is allergic to, the doctor has advised that I keep her away from Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Eggs, Shell fish and Soy until she is at least 3 years old. Then we can feed her a very small amount and see if there is a reaction. Until then, I have medication to help her with her Eczema and minor allergic reactions and, should she accidentally eat something she is extremely allergic to, the doctor has given us a Food Allergy Action Plan that includes carrying with me at all times a EPI-PEN Jr, which is an injectible epinephrine to be used for severe allergy reactions of throat tightening, immediate hives, and or severe rapid onset of shortness of breath.

As you can imagine this is a lot for our family to take in. There is so much I don't know about allergies. Most people know I have an allergy to eggs, so i can color the Easter eggs but I just can't eat them, no big deal. Ray's allergies are a little worst so he has to stay away from certain plants or his sinuses go crazy. But neither of us were ready for this.

There is a small chance that she may outgrow some of these allergies and that is what we are praying for. In the mean time, please do not feel offended if we ever come over for dinner and I grill you about every single ingredient in the foods you just prepared. I feel good knowing we have a Food Allergy Action Plan, but I will feel even better if we never have to use it.

Oh, The Things You'll Learn

Every day, Elektra is learning and growing. I wake up excited each morning wondering what new discovery she will make today. She has discovered her feet and spends several moments during the day playing with them or trying to eat her own toes!

Now she is learning to crawl. She is able to pull herself across the floor and if she gets tired of doing that then she just rolls herself over to where she wants to go.

She loves jumping and is content spending hours just doing that. But the greatest thing she has learned to do by far is smiling. Every morning she wakes up with a smile on her face. (I'm serious, you can ask Ray, Linda and my mom, they've all seen it). I've joked about the fact that while most babies wake up with a look on their face that says, "Don't even talk to me until I've had my Starbucks", Elektra wakes up like Snow White with her hair perfectly in place and birds dancing all around her while I'm expecting at any moment for her to break out into a song.

She smiles at everyone and where ever we go, she seems to have a natural way of brightening people's day. I just hope that this is a stage she never grows out of.

Pearl Harbor Memorial

No amount of pictures or videos can do justice to this site. The emotional impact that you feel when you visit the museum and then take the ferry over to the memorial is just overwhelming. The Pearl Harbor Memorial alone is worth the plane ticket to Hawaii. Let this be on your list of things to do before you die.

Elektra and her Daddy

" I've got my daddy and I'm not going to let him go!!!!"
Cuddling with baby - the best excuse for running late for work.
I'm sorry Elektra, but even with the hat on, you still can't go with daddy on the big submarine.

Our Hawaiian Princess

Here is our little tropical princess enjoying a walk through the park after a nice morning checking out the surfers at the beach.

Mommy & Baby Have Gone M.I.A.

Yes, it is true. For the last couple of months Elektra and I seem to have gown missing in action. But before you start yelling at us, let me explain....

Our disappearance was for a good reason. We left the hot dry heat of Arizona to spend two wonderful fun-filled months in Hawaii ! ! ! ! ! ! What better way to kick off the summer months then on the cool beaches of Hawaii with the two loves of my life - Rum & Coke. (Oh, sorry, I meant Ray & Elektra).

On April 17th, after way too much time apart, we arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii and was greeted by my hubby and one of our friends. During our time there, Ray showed us the military bases, we spent time at the beach and I finally got to see his sub up close and personal. We also attended the annual SPAM festival. Yes, Hawaii is a huge fan of SPAM. They even have a SPAM McMuffin on the McDonald's breakfast menu!

It was great when Ray's family flew in to spend a week with us. We toured many historical sites including the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

If you have never been to Hawaii I strongly recommend that you go, and if you've been there already I suggest you make plans to go again. Hawaii is constantly changing and new things are being built all the time. Even one of the crew members on ray's sub, who's family lives there, could not believe all the changes that happened in the one year that he was away.

So, now, yes we are back and I do plan to keep this blog up-to-date on all the newsworthy events going on in the life of the Mattingly's.