So, I've got time to start blogging about my trip since my 12pm flight was cancelled and I won't be getting out of here till 8pm. Frustrating, but not the end of the world (as I keep reminding myself).
Matt and I left our house early Friday morning to make our way East. Not without incident of couse, our first flight was delayed an hour for weather (from the night before) and then another 1/2 hour for mechanical problems. We arrived in Newark 5 minutes after our connecting flight left. Ugh! We were put on a flight 4 hours later, so we hung out and had a nice sit down meal. It was really a treat to be traveling without kids. It would have been so much more stressful if we had 2 hungry and tired kiddos to wrangle. We did finally make it Saratoga Springs, with more complications at the rental car place, but not till 11pm.
We were picked up bright and early on Saturday morning by our Saratoga Springs real estate agent. She took us around the "suburbs" (rural) areas of Saratoga Springs and showed us 8 different houses. All were as different as can be, and we liked 2 of them a lot and 1 well enough that we are going to put an offer on it within the next week or so. It is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2000 sq ft., house on a 1 acre lot on a quiet cul-de-sac.
It actually meets all of my "wants" and "hopes" in a house!! I'm worried that with our somewhat slow timeline someone is going to swoop in and put in an offer, but hopefully not!
We met up with my Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Bruce, who live in the area, for dinner. It was so great to catch up with them, and we are very excited to be able to spend some more time with them after our move. It will be nice to have some family nearby.
Sunday we found the local ward to go to church at. Everybody was SO nice!! I had called the Bishop a week ago to introduce myself and say that we were coming to town and he had introduced me to a family in the ward who had kiddos the same age as ours. We sat with them, and she quickly introduced me to MANY women in the ward. I left with a page of phone and email address with offers to help with "anything." I was also put on the email list for the weekly playgroup! AWESOME! We already felt at home.
After church we met up with Matt's new boss to talk about our thoughts and concerns. It was my first time meeting her, but already love her. We spent 2 hours talking although it felt like 15 min. I could pick her brain for another 10 hours! Matt still has not officially accepted the position, but will be early this week.
We walked around downtown, and drove back out to our top house pick to figure out the distances from downtown, the nearest grocery shopping, Target, elementary school, etc. It is about 15 minutes from everything. That isn't too bad, but so very different than my 2 minute commute to everything right now. I'll actually have to do some planning when I go out to do my errands, no running out to the store for a forgotten egg or to McDonald's if I don't feel like making lunch!
Monday was our only day to sleep in, so we took full advantage of that! We drove out to our #2 house again and stopped to see some of the fun sites along the way. One thing that I am SUPER excited about is all of the fresh fruits and vegetables! There are farmers markets in every little town.
We went to the
Olde Bryan Inn for dinner, which is a haunted restaurant with
yummy food. It was built in the 1700's and has a fun history.
Then we went to Congress Park to watch the fireworks. It was kinda funny because there are so many BIG trees that no matter where you sit you couldn't really see the fireworks. We ended up walking to the area where they were shooting off the fireworks and you still really couldn't see them because of the trees. It was a good time.
I should say that Congress park is a very cool central park with lots of water fountains, a museum and even an old restored carousel. Very cool.
(I am home now) Tuesday I was supposed to catch a 12 noon flight back home, but found out just as I was about to walk out of the hotel room that my 1st flight was cancelled. They couldn't book me on another flight till 8pm!!! I was livid, but made the most of my day by getting my nails done, having lunch with Matt, a nice nap and then some retail therapy. I did finally make it home at 1am. I am SO glad to be home, and SO happy to see my kiddos.
This picture doesn't really do it justice, but it is on a great cul-de-sac. I can just imagine the kids riding their bikes down that long driveway and then around the cul-de-sac and back up the driveway. It will be so great to not have cars speeding by at the bottom of our hilly driveway.
On the main floor is the kitchen, formal dining room, formal living room and living room.
Living room:
Formal living room (maybe someday I'll get a piano to put in it):
Formal dining room (which will be where we eat all our meals since there is not an informal eating area):
Upstairs are all 4 bedrooms and 2 of the 2.5 bathrooms.
One of the kids rooms (will be painting):
The other kids room (will be painting):
This will be the office/guest room (definitely painting):
They have put up walls in the basement but no floor covers. We think we might carpet it right away so that we can use it for our scrapbook/craft room. Possibly a movie room. The door in the back of the picture is the laundry/storage room.
The backyard! Love, love, love!! It even comes with the swingset! I can almost see Keegan's tent hiding in the forest already.
Back of the house. Look at those trees!
Nice 2-car garage. That riding lawn mower was part of the deal.
Who could have asked for a better birthday present?
