Our primary objective in rebuilding La Jolla Caribe is to mitigate the damage from hurricanes as much as possible. Every choice we make has to meet the criteria of being impact resistant. Aesthetics and everything else are secondary. So we are building a cement home with cement decks. It is intimidating to know that once a floor or wall is poured there are no changes allowed. Window and door types and sizes, every plug, light switch, and electrical fixture location, and all bathroom fixture placements have to be planned out much earlier than typical wood frame construction. We see the plans in our sleep and overthink as much as possible. We had the privilege of watching the cement crew work this October and they are amazing. We are fortunate as well to have a local islander looking out for us. We saw evidence he had perused the work after the lower deck was poured and actually caught him on camera inspecting the freshly poured second deck last week. Of course our kids think we should adopt him and have already named him Rivet (after our dedicated and skilled project foreman who also watches over everything).

Stay tuned for more progress on our rebuilding efforts. . .