We Made It!

We finally made it to Owatonna! We got a late start on Wednesday because we had to go to the closing for selling our house, so we didn't leave until 2:00. I had hoped to make it to Buffalo, but since we got going so late we only made it to Rochester. The next day we left around 10:00 and got to Elkhart, Indiana around 8:00. It was a little slow going since we tried to stick to Payton's eating schedule, so we weren't as efficient as we could have been. Going through Chicago the next day took quite a while since there was a lot of traffic...and of course the tolls around Chicago are ridiculous. We finally rolled into Owatonna around 8:30 Friday night. It sure is nice to know that we don't have to hit the road for awhile. Payton did much better on the trip than I expected. She managed to sleep quite a bit and only got cranky a few times. She was pretty happy just talking to herself and playing with toys. We close on the house here on Wednesday, so hopefully we'll be fully moved in by the end of the week. We bought a bunch of appliances today which should be delivered by the end of the week too. It will be nice to be back in a house instead of living out of hotel rooms.

Payton Update

With everything going on over here I realized we haven't given a Payton update in a while! She just had her 9 month well baby check-up today, so now is a great time! She is actually turning 9 months on the 3rd, but we wanted to get that appointment done before we move!

She weighed in at 20 pounds 8 ounces (75%), 28 inches long (63%). She is looking perfect (I am quoting the doctor on that one:))Good thing we just recently moved her to the bigger car seat! She is pulling herself up on everything! She has been very happy lately too. The teeth thing seemed to have slowed down. She just has the two bottom teeth right now. Hopefully she will good for us on the long car ride next week!

Good News!

Well, we received a call tonight from your real estate agent in Minnesota and we got the house we wanted! We are just waiting to hear from the builder now on an estimate on finishing the lower level. We are SO happy! This house is just perfect for us and Payton will now have a huge backyard to play in! We are set to move next Wednesday. We have a lot of loose ends to tie up between then and now, but we are getting anxious to get going! Now that the house is ours we will be in temporary housing for only about a week. I am very happy about that! Now we just have to buy appliances... fun fun fun. We will keep you all posted. Attached is a photo...

House Offer

We found a nice house and put an offer on it. However, it already had an offer on it, but it was contingent on the buyers selling their current house. We, of course, don't have to worry about that since we've already sold ours and close next week. The current buyers will have 48 hours from Monday morning to prove that they can buy the house without selling theirs, or sell their current house. According to our agent, this rarely happens so that would mean we would get the house. We put a closing date of August 5th, which Tina is thrilled about since she wasn't too happy about living in temporary housing. We'll know more on Wednesday so we'll let you all know then.

Two Weeks Notice

It seems that the two weeks notice for leaving a job (this job anyway) is just a formality...I'll be at work for these last two weeks, but I guarantee there won't be much work getting done. I'm pretty much just showing up and searching for houses on the internet and canceling utilities and making sure everything about our move gets done. Combine that with the two weeks of vacation I just had and the week between ending this job and starting the new one, and I won't have done actual work for over 5 weeks! Its like I'm a school teacher with the summer off. I'm sure the excitement of the new job will get my butt back in gear to do work again.

House Hunting

We're off to MN for a house hunting trip this weekend. We'll have a marathon day on Saturday looking at a dozen or so houses. It will be nice to actually have a decent down payment this time. And on top of that the mortgage rates are even lower than they were two years ago when I thought they were as low as they'd get. It seems that most of the houses in that area are very similar...all ranches. I wonder why they don't build different styles anymore. We like the colonial we have now, but each have their advantages and disadvantages.

We're leaving Payton with her usual sitter for the weekend. We didn't even ask her...she offered! It will be so much easier especially since Payton gets really cranky while traveling.

The movers came yesterday to do a walk through so they would know just how much crap we have. It looks like they do the packing on Monday, July 25, and load on the 26th. We're renting a small U-Haul trailer to tow with us with things that we would need right away..mostly Payton's stuff. The movers won't take things like propane tanks and paint, so it goes in the uhaul too. We close on our current house on the 27th then we plan on hitting the road once that's over. I figure on three days to get to MN. I'm sure Payton won't allow us to drive more than 8 hours otherwise we would try to push on. So, we will officially be in Minnesota on July 29...hopefully.

Happy Baby at the Lake!

Busy Busy Busy

Well, we just returned from our 2 week vacation to MI. We were able to stay at Brian's parents lake house while we were there and the weather was perfect. We got a lot of skiing and tubing in. A couple of our friends from Massachusetts were able to join us and are now planning their next trip to the UP!!

Our house sold in a week and now we are off to MN this coming weekend to find a house there. (Jeannine, I will be calling soon!) Payton is staying behind with a friend because she is just not happy travelling right now. Those teeth are killing her!! She is EVERYWHERE, and is now happiest when she is "walking" along the furniture. She just turned 8 months!

It was SO nice to be on vacation that now it is so hard to get back to everything here. We will be busy the next couple of weeks. We are set to move on the 27th of this month! Goodbye New England!