1st Trip To Dallas

We took off Tuesday morning bright and early for our trip to find a house in Dallas. We landed got our rental car, grabbed lunch and then headed to the hotel.  After a quick stop at the hotel it was time to head out on our house hunting adventures.  With Mike along we met the realtor and saw the first 5 houses in our search.  Mike and I were both astounded and in disbelieve about how much the houses were and what we were looking at.  They were huge, some even had master bathrooms bigger than our kitchen in Seattle.  We immediately started to narrow our search and decided that too big just wasn’t for us or our air conditioning bill!  After seeing some potential we headed back to the hotel for dinner and rest!   Here are some of the things we saw and liked while house hunting

Wednesday morning we were up and the realtor picked the kiddos and I up for day 2 of house hunting.  As the day progressed I found 2 houses that had a lot of potential that I wanted Mike to see.  After a recharge at the hotel and an Elin nap we headed back out on our hunt.  I had come down with a super ill feverish case of mastitis, boo, boo, boo!  Thankfully, I know of a homeopathic treatment that along with rest knocks it out of my system pretty quickly without needing antibiotics.  So after a full day of house hunting, I was tired.  We grabbed a quick dinner out and then headed back to the hotel where Mike took the kiddos swimming. Thursday morning the kids and I stormed Walmart for some morning play time and then walked to a little pond to “feed the ducks.”  Little did we know this pond was also filled with cute turtles big and small.  It was the wildest thing!  We had also decided that a full day out house hunting for the kids was too much. 

So we narrowed down our search again and waited for Mike to get off work before we went out as a family.  By Thursday night we felt like we had 3 favorites and we wanted to head back to look at them again on Friday before we made a final decision and an offer.  After we saw the houses we headed over to Mike’s new bosses house for a dinner and some swim play time for the kiddos.  By the time we left they were both exhausted and sleeping in the car, which allowed Mike and I some much needed adult conversation time.

I had a sheet of paper going listing out pros and cons, Mike had his and we were also getting input from our families.  Buying a house in a new town in 5 days is crazy wild/stressful and a huge leap of faith.  On Friday after Mike got done with work for the day we went out and looked at 5 houses all in the Frisco school district.  We had decided after talking with Mike’s boss and his wife that that would be the best educational decision for us with the kids, especially Thomas, being school aged.  So off we went.  We decided on the Remuda house and put in an offer.  We then went to a Hibachi Grill to “celebrate” finding a house and the beginning of our new adventures in Texas!   This is the house we thought we bought below (more to come on that).

At the hibiachi grill we were instantly surprised by the price of 2 beers and a shirley temple.  We in fact asked the server if we had been charged right, to us $4 for drinks was not the norm.  We then enjoyed our dinner with a few Elin tears here and there.  She was not a fan of the fire and was in fact pretty terrified that we were all going to burn up.  She would hide her head, cry and say “hot” and “scared.”  After we finished torturing Elin we headed back to the hotel for more swimming.

Saturday we woke up and headed over for more duck/turtle feeding before we headed to the airport.  All was going well with the home buying and we needed to stick close to the hotel for fax/email purposes.  At the airport we hoped as we flew back to Seattle the paperwork would be signed by the buyer and as we landed we’d get the confirmation email that “we had bought a house.”  Well we landed and instead of the above, we got a text message from our Realtor saying to call her ASAP….UGH!  It is never simple is it?!

Anyway a long story short, a second buyer had come in and they wanted us to compete for the original house we had found.  Mike and I talked and decided that we were not willing to budge too much more for a few reasons: 1) we were at the top price range with that house and the fixes we would have done immediately (needing new fridge/washer/dryer and replacing carpeting/flooring) 2) the taxes at that house were really high 3) our realtor said, well maybe since this is happening it is a sign that the “cookie” house is the way we should go?! 

On Sunday morning we found out that we had in fact been “out bid” on the Remuda house.  So onto fingers being crossed for the Cookie House.  Our realtor called and got in touch with the sellers and in a few hours we were buying a different house, the house we originally wanted, but thought it was “just outside” of the price we wanted to pay.  Thankfully the sellers came down in price a bit and as always it seems like the cards played out perfectly for us to the the right fit.  Below is a picture of the house we did buy!!  It is a 5 bedroom 4 bathroom home with a community park and pool.  It is a perfect fit for our family and we are so excited that we bought this house instead of the other home. 

House is on the market…

…and we sort of were kicked out!  Right now Seattle has a very hot real estate market.  Houses go on the market and typically fly off just as quickly as they go on.  We put our house on the market on Friday morning and by Friday night we had already had 14 realtors through the place. 

Our realtors said the best case scenario for them was for us to pack up and leave for the weekend. We thought about it but decided that it would be best for all of us, especially the kitties, if we returned home to some normalcy each night. 

So Saturday morning we packed ourselves up and headed out of town.  After a quick stop for some breakfast we headed East towards the mountains.  About an hour and a half into our trek we pulled off for a hike. 

Thomas and Stella loved running on the trails and expending their energy.  Elin “hiked” for a little bit the whole while singing “hikin’ hikin’” and then rode happily in the back pack. 

On our way back Thomas spotted a giant slug and we were all checking it out when I got stung by a hornet on my finger.  As I am telling Mike to get the kids and go, he was telling me “it was probably a black fly and I was over reacting” and I got stung a 2nd time on the back of my knee.  By then we are all away and trying to get the stingers out.  Boo hiss, those hurt, but I am glad it was me and not the kids or Mike who is allergic. 

After that excitement we were back on the way up to Crystal Mountain.  When we arrived we noticed it was the Brew Tour and thanks to weird Washington Laws we were not able to play along with the kids there.  We instead took the gondola up to the top of the mountain where we had a nice lunch, took in the amazing view and then headed back down the mountain. 

It was nice to end a long day away from home and after closing up shop we all enjoyed a good nights sleep.  Our realtors were very happy with the open houses and said they went through 60 fliers, nuts. 

Sunday we were back up and needed to be out of our house by 9 a.m.  At 8:58 people had already pulled up to come in the house and we were off to breakfast.  We then headed over to Kelsey Creek Farm to see the farm animals and get away.  Elin loved seeing the cows and happily “moo-ed” at them.  Thomas’ favorite was driving the Johne Deere Tractor.  After our fill of animals and the play ground we headed to grab lunch and pick up something at Mike’s office.  After some fun at Daddy’s office playing on the white board, Elin and Thomas playing with the strings of bead and me “pretending to be Mike working” we took off for our daily nap drive.  Both kids fell asleep so Mike and I drove the city for 2 hours waiting for nap time to be over.  We then went to the wading pool and we had passed our 2nd 8 hour day away from home!

It was hard to be away from home and the kids were very displeased with their car seats after 2 full days in and out.  Every time we tried to put Elin in she would scream “no no noooo.”  Our realtors felt very encouraged about the 2 days of showings and we were hopeful that they days would set us up in the right direction.  Stay tuned…