Archive for July 2014

we were invited to a wedding in california in april.  we really wanted to go to the wedding, but weren't sure what we would do with wesley.  he was going to be about 10 months old, and the idea of flying that far away, plus a 2 hour time change, just for the weekend seemed a little crazy.  (when we were planning this, we were assuming we'd be in st louis, so we ended up adding another hour to the time change, and a longer flight since we were actually in ohio in april).  the wedding was just south of san francisco, so we decided to extend our trip and fly out the week before.  we thought that breaking up the long flights would be good for wesley, plus that gave him some extra time to adjust to the time change.  we were also excited to take our first family vacation.

tuesday night we purposely kept busy until about 8pm california time, and then we headed back to the apt to put wesley to bed.  we had also tried to keep him up a little later each night in the few days leading up to the trip.  even though it was a 3 hour time chance, he really had no issues adjusting to the time.

on wednesday we were all up and ready to go pretty early, so we got in the car to find breakfast.  after a fantastic breakfast (with seafood!), it was back to the apt for a quick nap, before walking down to the monterey aquarium.  wesley had never been to an aquarium before.  the aquarium was one of the big reasons why we decided to visit monterey, so we were hoping he'd really like it.  he loved it - he kept watching the fish swim around, and laughed at the otters playing.  we were there for a large part of the day, and all had a a great time.

 







i was glad we brought the baby ergo (carrier), as the trails would have been difficult with our stroller.  wesley seemed fine with hanging out in the carrier while we hiked around.  after a few hours, we got back in the car and started driving south again towards big sur. we stopped along the way for lunch at hotel that overlooked the coast, it was really pretty.



at this point, wesley had fallen asleep in the car, so mike and i took turns getting out to look at the scenery along the various look-out points on our way to big sur.  we drove around big sur for a little while, and then headed back north to carmel.

once we arrived in carmel, we walked around the various shops until we found a place that sounded good for dinner.  it was a really nice place and we were a little nervous about taking wesley to such a fancy resturant.  we shouldn't have worried, he quickly made friends with the couple at the table next to us, and was well behaved and happy the entire meal.  while in carmel, we walked down to the beach to give wesley his first experience with sand.  he hated it!  he didn't like it on his feet, and refused to be put down.



hopefully he will learn to love the beach because we like to vacation near water.  on the plus side, we actually ended up at a dog beach and since it was dusk, many families were there playing with their dogs.  even though he didn't like the sand, wesley really liked watching all of the dogs play in the water.

on friday morning we cleaned up our apartment and packed up our car.  we needed to be in palo alto that evening for the rehearsal dinner, but decided to take a long route to palo alto, doing 17 mile drive and stopping at pebble beach along the way.







we stopped again in carmel to grab lunch before heading on to palo alto.  wesley really did well at all of the restaurants that we ate at on our trip.  we were usually able to find something little on the menu for him to try, and we brought plenty of pouches and puffs for him to snack on.

 

once in palo alto, we met up with my family and we relaxed for a little bit in the afternoon before dressing for the rehearsal dinner.  dinner that evening ended up being really late, but wesley stayed happy even though it was hours past his normal bedtime (not even including the time change!).  he quickly charmed all of the guests.

on saturday morning we enjoyed a big breakfast with the family, and then let wesley nap for a little while before meeting up with everyone to head up to the wedding site.  it was up in the mountains, so we all took a van to the location.  the wedding venue was beautiful, and the food was fantastic.  even though it was a long afternoon and evening, we had so much fun with wesley and our family and i was so impressed with how happy he was the entire time.  we brought his car seat along, thinking he'd want to nap at some point in a quiet corner, but he didn't want to miss anything.  he did fall fast asleep as soon as we got in the van to head back to our hotel though.







after such a late night, everyone was glad to sleep in a little before we had one last family brunch.  our plane left at 2 on sunday afternoon, so we left the brunch a little early to get to the airport on time.  unfortunately, our luck ran out and the first flight to chicago (which was the longest of the entire trip) was fully booked,  wesley had to sit on my lap the entire time.  he did fine, but it was difficult for him to find a comfortable position to sleep in. the last flight from chicago to columbus wasn't full, so we were able to use his car seat again.  except by then he just wanted to be held, i think he was ready to go home.

we didn't get home until after midnight and then mike and i had to get up for work the next day.  it was a little rough for us, but wesley seemed to adjust quickly back to his normal schedule.  i think that he was so tired from the trip, that helped him sleep longer the next morning.

we had a great vacation and were beyond impressed with how well wesley did with everything!  hopefully he'll continue to be as adaptable and easy-going as he gets older...

we finally found a house that we were interested in, and after many lengthy discussions, we decided to submit an offer.  if you remember, the house was not yet listed for sale, so our process for purchasing the house was anything but normal.  the owners of the house were retiring and moving out of state.  prior to their move, one of them was having a major surgery that was going to require a substantial recovery period.  because of this, they were interested in finalizing the sale of the house long before they would actually be able to move.  we started talking to them at the beginning of april - making the entire process about 4 months until possession.

once we decided to move forward, mike and i prepared an offer (with the help of my realtor mother-in-law), and sat down with the owners to present our situation, and our number.  we explained how we could be a benefit for them because we had the flexibility to wait until august to move, and that even though our house in st louis was not yet in contract, we were confident that it would sell within their longer time frame.  they agreed with everything except for our price.  we went back and forth a few times until we agreed on a final number, and we were in contract.  we actually ended up signing the contract for the sale of our stl house the same day.

now would probably be a good time to explain a little more about the actual house. there are some of the things that we like, and the things that made us hesitate a little.  this will probably be a little long, so feel free to skip.  i mostly just wanted to get my initial thoughts down for future reference.  here's what we initially liked:

- it has 3 bedrooms upstairs, and 1 downstairs, although the one downstairs is really set up more like an office space.  this is exactly what we had hoped to find - at least 3 bedrooms, and the office on the first floor is a great bonus.  mike's new job allows him to work from home on occasion, so having a dedicated office space will be nice.

- it has 2.5 baths.  we really wanted to have a master bath, or the ability to add a master bath at some point, so this was a huge plus for us.  the master bath has kind of an odd layout and we will eventually want to update the finishes (this goes for all of the bathrooms), but for now we are happy to have the extra space and not have to deal with expense of trying to add a bathroom.

- it had a "renovated" kitchen - unlike our first house where the kitchen was unusable until we did some updates, this kitchen is ready to go.  it's also has upgraded appliances - gas cook top, double ovens, 42" fridge...  again, the finishes are not our taste, but certainly livable.

- it had a sun porch.  this was not something that we were necessarily looking for, but the little room off of the living room has great potential.  it even has heating and cooling, so with some new windows, we should be able to use it year round.

- closets!  our stl house had zero closets on the first floor.  this house has several on the first floor, a closet in each bedroom (2 in the master!), plus an extra closet in the upstairs hall.  and several built-ins!

- the yard is fully fenced except for the driveway, it has a nice patio area, and established landscaping.  although the actual grass portion of the backyard is smaller than what we had before, the overall lot is about what we had in stl, and i think it will be fine for our family.  it also has a nice 2 car garage.

- the house seems "solid".  the original house was built in 1947, and the addition was constructed in the early 2000s. everything is in good shape...

- everything is also upgraded/new.  the mechanical systems, while not all that new, were the top of the line when installed, and still are in good condition.  the house has a newer roof, all new windows (except for the sun porch), refinished hardwood floors, and a dry basement.  the appliances are all high end, and not that old.

- the location.  at the end of the day, i think that the location was the biggest selling point.  it's located in the more historic part of ua, and is walkable to both ua, and grandview.  we will also be near the elementary school and middle school that wesley will eventually attend, so he will be able to walk to school.  there is a nice library and a park just down the street.  we are really excited about the neighborhood and are anxious to start exploring!

and here's what had us hesitating at first:

- the finishes throughout.  while technically fairly new, the finishes just seem dated, and are not at all our style.  lots of fake "stone" tile, white corian counters with white distressed country style cabinets in the kitchen, gold/chrome two tone fixtures...  there is carpet in the master bedroom that is lavender, and the carpet in the family room is dark red.  i know that these can all be updated and replace (we certainly worked with much worse in our first house!), but we won't have a lot of extra money in our budget after our new house payment, and it also seems a shame to me to take out new finishes just because i don't like them.

- the layout - this was the biggest issues for me.  the original house was probably not very big - maybe 1200 sq ft total?  the current size is 2240 sq ft.  the house has a living room across the front, with a small dining room off to one side, and a sun porch on the other.  the stairs are in the middle of the house.  the kitchen is a galley style kitchen behind the dining room, and that connects the original part of the house to the addition.  this is also the main passageway to the back of the house and the family room, which seems a little odd to me.  you can also get to the family room through the office - i think that we will like having the office off of the family room, but i doubt guests will go through our office.  keep in mind that our stl house had basically 4 connected spaces on the first floor, so that probably makes the layout of the house seem even more disjointed to us.  upstairs, the layout seems to flow a little better, with the master bedroom at the back of the house as part of the addition, and the 2 other bedrooms at the front.

- it has 2 living spaces on the first floor.  i don't know that this is necessary a bad thing, especially now that we have a kid, and all of the toys that come with a kid.  but we are not "formal" living room people, so i hope that we figure out a way to actually use both spaces.

- the addition just has some odd things going on.  for example, they decided to make the family room one step down from the adjoining kitchen area, and the office.  there is an odd amount of extra space in the kitchen.  in the master bedroom, the windows and doors were placed in a way that makes the furniture arrangement very limited - in fact, i think our bed will end up covering portions of the windows.

- the dining room is very small.  so small, that i'm not even sure that our table will fit into the room.  this is the only eating space (with is good, i like only having one area for a table), and i was really hoping to be able to fit our table since we are also hoping to be able to easily entertain.

- the basement is on the smaller size and the ceilings aren't very tall.  there is only a basement under the original house - the addition is built over a crawl space.  mike really wanted to be able to finish an area of the basement, so that we could have a true family room (with tv, surround sound, toy storage).  i don't think we will need to the extra space, esp since we have both a living room and family room on the first floor.  the laundry is in the basement, so we might want to eventually do something to make that area a little more inviting, but we don't have any immediate plans to do work in the basement.

i think that overall the house has many of the items we had our on wish list, and i really think it will be a good fit for our family.  i think that the way we live in this house will be so different than how we lived in our stl house, because the houses are so very different.  i think that's probably the reason why we hesitated for so long (well, that and the price!)  i'm very interested to see what we think of the house after we've lived in it for a while.

since the previous owners are still living in the house for a few more weeks, i won't be sharing any photos of the interior until we have possession.  here's the front thought - it's a brick cape cod.  you can't see any of the addition, but it's in the back.  the sun porch is off to the side, and the driveway is on the other side of the sun porch.

i should also mention that we had our inspection and were told that our house was in fantastic shape.  besides some chimney repairs, they couldn't find anything wrong with the house.

so now you're all caught up.  we closed a week ago, and are now just patiently waiting for our move-in date.