Whirlwind worldwide tour!

In an attempt to be as efficient as possible, Jen and I decided to combine our trip to D.C. for the Olmsted Foundation orientation, our trip to Brussels for house hunting, and our trip to Seattle to visit our family. Here's how the math falls out: 12,011 miles flown, 28 hours on a plane, and 4 airplane meals (we were lucky to get that many). Yowza. The Olmsted Orientation in D.C. was amazing. We stayed with our friends Mike and Brittanie who just had their first baby (congrats again, guys)! They were so gracious and it was awesome to see them. The orientation was incredible. It was great to meet all the other scholars of our class (except for one; Jamil and his wife were busy having a baby!), and scholars from previous classes as well at the reunion that also took place that weekend. We also got to spend some quality time with our new buddies Dave and Becky. The weekend was a complete blast, and we were sad to leave D.C., which has now become one of our favorite cities. Continuing our amazing trip, we had a blast in Brussels. Chocolates, beer, fancy food, and old Europe. We loved Brussels, and we're really looking forward to living there. We made the most of our week: we saw 22 different apartments with 5 different realtors. We didn't find "the" place, but we got a great feel for the city, and we got to know the neighborhoods so it was definitely well worth it. The final leg of our trip took us back to Seattle to visit family prior to our departure. It worked out really well because we took a few more days than we normally do when we go home, so we made our typical rounds and spent time with our family before we take off for three years. Hopefully, the chocolate and beer of Belgium will be enough to entice them to come visit us!



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I am Russian cowboy. Please...

My broham Jeff and his lady friend Alex flew down all the way from Spokane to sunny San Diego for a week, so I put on my tour guide hat and we made the rounds. On the list were a drive up the coast on the 101 (I explained to them that freeways and highways here in SoCal are referred to by their number, preceeded by the definite article "the". They weren't that impressed.), a trip to Balboa Park, dinner in Coronado followed by a walking tour, an example of a typical hangout night at Alex's place (affectionately known as the "Chinese Prison"), a visit to the Zoo, and a flight in the UH-1Y simulator up at Camp Pendleton for some rockets and guns. It was a blast.

Miscellany

I just downloaded the pictures from my camera to my computer and found a few more outings of which I hadn't yet written or posted pics. Turns out April's been yet another busy but fun month, and it's gone so fast I didn't even appreciate it.
-3 April: Bushwalla and Jesse Johnson in Chris' backyard
Chris Leahy knows how to throw a party. He organized three kegs, two bands, and about 200 people for a shindig in his neighbor's backyard. Don't worry, she was part of the planning process. It was a blast until the cops broke it up around midnight. The most ridiculous part is that Chris is a cop, and the cops were still really rude to him. Weak. We all headed over to The Waterfront after, and had a blast anyway.

-Easter Brunch in PB:
The next morning a bunch of us went out for Easter Brunch down in PB to celebrate all of Jenny's (not my Jenny, one of our friends named Jenny. Confusing, I know.) sisters being in town. This was my second Mexican food breakfast buffet, and although the idea of a Mexican breakfast buffet still just doesn't seem right somehow, I'm a big fan.

The last week of April will be fun, too. My brother Jeff and his girlfriend Alex are in town and that's sure to be fun. I just got a new camera too, so expect to see a bunch of pics and videos from their trip...

Early April Update

It's been a busy 4 weeks. Here's the recap.
We found out in early March that we will be going to Brussels, Belgium for 3 years, and in the interim we've solidified a number of plans. First, we'll be leaving SD on August 21st, and we'll be heading over for a house hunting trip in mid-June. We just started French lessons down here, and we're loving it so far! We're going to institute French only speaking hour at the Hensarling house. I have a feeling it will be pretty quiet around here for at least a couple weeks.
-Birthday Weekend
My buddy Nate and I have talked for a while now about renting a plane and flying our brides up to Santa Barbara, and with his pre-deployment training, and life in general, we hadn't had a chance to do it until my birthday weekend. We checked out the plane early in the afternoon on Friday, and after giving the girls a thorough brief, we launched out of Carlsbad-Palomar on our way to Santa Barbara. We headed out over the ocean, took a little detour over Santa Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, and finally touched down in Santa Barbara. We stayed overnight and got back in the plane early Saturday afternoon. The trip up was fairly direct, but on the way home we took the scenic route through downtown LA, south along the coast, took a detour through Camp Pendleton, and finally headed all the way down through downtown SD and over Coronado island. Awesome.



-28 MAR: Trolley Tour
Jen and I decided to be cheezy tourists and take a trolley tour of SD. Our conductor was Bob, and he was incredibly knowledgeable about SD history. It was a great way to spend a spring evening.