First three properties

I went on our first house hunting trip on Monday - Mom and Dad came with me.  We only got to see three properties, but it was a start.  What a help to have several sets of eyes!  The funny thing was how we all focused on different things.  Comparing notes afterwards was the best part.  House 1 was a 10 acre hobby farm with a huge machine shed, extra garage, small shed, and home.  There were horses in a pasture as we pulled up that ran over to the edge of the fence and literally followed us as we drove like dogs.  We wished we had apples!  We have no idea who they belong to because we didn't see horse stalls.  But they were fun to watch.  Unfortunately we found the house to be less charming.  Cross off House 1.

House 2 was also on about 10 acres.  It had a pole barn, tons of pine trees planted with a trail going through them, the biggest non commercial garden I've ever seen in my life, and a house on the property.  The lane was long which made me think we'd become friends with the snow plow.  When we got out of the car it smelled like Christmas.  This house was interesting.  Different - and kind of hard to describe.  It had several sliding doors which let in all kinds of sunlight, and knobby pine on some of the walls and ceilings.  Trying to see our furniture and how we'd live there took a little mental rearranging, but I liked it.

House 3 was on a little less than 3 acres.  It was very updated and the wood floors were beautiful.  Outside there was an extra garage and a very nice outdoor kitchen area.  It wasn't wooded and there was a lot of mowing.  But overall it was very nice.

Right now if I had to choose one property to bring Joel to see it would be House 2.  We're planning our next house hunting date for early September and this time he gets to go, so we're excited.  I'll try to add some pictures as we go.

House Hunting

Tomorrow is our first house hunting trip!  Joel has to work out of town, so I'm going with my parents.  The kids are staying with my sister.  We're looking south of Waukesha and around Mukwonago tomorrow.   We'd love to find a property that has a couple of acres for the kids to play, but we'll see.  I'll let you know how it goes.

We had a good weekend at home - the kids were dog sitting for a good friend of ours.  They have three dogs so we were busy!  The kids love it and were sad to say goodbye to them this afternoon.

Here they are holding Elly and Rosie.

We're moving!

Well, we've had lots of people asking us about our move to the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin.  So I decided to start a blog to keep friends and family posted.  I have never had a blog and have no idea how this works, so we'll see!

About 4-5 months ago, Joel came to me with the idea of a job change in Milwaukee.  I didn't balk at the idea as I have in the past.  Aurora?  No.  Decatur?  No  San Antonio - too hot.  No.  Milwaukee?  Well maybe - so we went there and we liked it.  Next came the job.  Joel was and is really interested in global mining with Cat, so as positions opened up he was watching.  When this one came along, he applied and got it.  All of a sudden - we're moving!  We're excited and overwhelmed all at the same time.  As we get ready to go and make the change, I'll try to keep this up to date.