California Adventure

Day one of our California Adventure was a success!  We flew into John Wayne airport which is a lot easier than LAX, though we ended up hanging by the Duke for half an hour while Hertz "washed our car". 

But after getting everyone's blood sugar and blood pressure back to normal, we headed out to the beach - we will share more soon, but the kids loved it. 

And we capped off the night dining al fresco at a great neighborhood Mexican  restaurant.

Tomorrow Julie is at her conference while Ted braves Disneyland!

SLP vacation

We have been living like tourists in our home town of St Louis Park MN as the house hit the market Monday and we leave for vacation Wednesday so it was best for everyones sanity to be out of the house. Last night the kids bounced off the walls when they were supposed to be sleeping. There final resting spot gives you a sense for the antics.  Tonight they were better, perhaps helped by some time in the pool. 

Good news is we all but sold the house! Assuming final initials are collected we will be all done as we head off for vacation. We will send along some reports from the field!

BTW

Sleeping with socks on one's feet and hands is all the rage here among the tot set--though after Clara made her usual trip to the bathroom after five minutes in bed, she said she didn't want them on anymore.  (She washed her hands after using the potty, and Julie and Ted heard her singing the ABCs while she did it, just like Julie taught her.  She skips TUV still.  It's all almost too dear to bear.)

Raleigh House, In Her Glory

Our Hero, on the porch, before it was closed.  Who can believe we won't sit out there again?  We didn't even realize the last time for what it was.

It was another busy, busy day here at Raleigh House, Fans, but the good news is, as you can see from these pictures, we are 95% done and done.  What remains are a series of little, random things like putting away the soccer net since it looks junky from the street.  It probably wouldn't have happened if Sara and Derek hadn't had Joe and Clara over for their very first ever drop off play date.  (It was tough to top a scenic tour of the municipal dumps of the northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities metro, but somehow, they managed.)

Tomorrow, we'll finish up this and that, pack, and then blow Raleigh House some kisses in hopes she finds a new owner to love her as much as we did (preferably while we are away in California).

Charming 2 BR, 1 BATH house in sought-after Fern Hill neighborhood on double lot with two car garage, both rare for this area.  Tons of storage in renovated upstairs!  Three-season porch.  Fresh paint in many rooms.  Original kitchen cabinets and hardwood in most of home.  Mature trees and landscaping.  Meticulously cared for by devoted owners.  Not to be missed!

Living room minus all bookcases, toys, and cupcake kitchen.  (Pictures yet to be centered on walls on either side of window.)

No more coat rack.  (Vacuum awaiting ferry to repair shop.)  Dining room light is the one that was up when we moved in, saved by clever owners.  ;)

A fashion forward dad and daughter duo in the kitchen, featuring scoured kitchen cabinets and appliances.

Not much has changed here.  Imagine white sheets in the beds and matching blankets.

Upstairs, decluttered.  (This bookcase Cindy allowed us to keep.)

No one works at this pristine desk.  (Will Cindy make us move the AC?  Which implicitly acknowledges that one needs it upstairs?)

Don't you want to move right in to this cozy wozy basement?!?!

More outstanding basement.

Freshly painted fence (and storage units).  (Should have painted the fence eight years ago.)

Prettying Up the Joint

Fans, we have been busier than one-armed paper hangers--not hanging up wallpaper, but painting, cleaning, packing, and purging.  We also had a one-day-only! yard sale Friday which was epic, if we do say so ourselves.  And we are getting there.  The photographer comes at 11am on Tuesday, so our plan is to be show-ready Monday, when we will then leave and stay in a hotel before leaving for California Wednesday.  Right now, the upstairs and the porch are show-ready and thus, the bambini are no longer allowed in them as they leave a wake of happy destruction wherever they go.  The basement is also show-ready but only because everything had to be removed from it, so the the walls and floor could be painted since Minnesotans love, love, LOVE a basement for living in rather than storing things.  So one tries to pretty up the basement if one is selling one's house.  Whatever.  If Realtor Cindy says to do it, we're doing it.

So today, Julie and the bambini--but especially Joe--spent some quality time in the car.  They went to Joe's swimming class and Clara's Little Gym class, but the fun pretty much stopped there, though Julie tried her best.  They went to the bank (lollipops!), Target (Look!  It's Ms. Amanda!), Menard's ("We save big money!  We save big money!  When we shop Menard's!"), and--the piece de resistance: not one, but two transfer stations (town dumps).  Julie and Joe had to go to two dumps because the one 20 minutes away in a town called Brooklyn Center no longer accepts scrap wood.  Of course, because the scrap wood was conveniently piled on top of the scrap metal Julie and Joe were then dropping off first. But they saw someone tossing a TV so big it had to be lifted out of his F-150 with a fork lift.  Good times at the dump!  They also saw a mattress being lifted out of another pick-up with a fork lift, and then another one was in the offing!  Joe wanted to stay and watch, but there was a line of other folks waiting to get to the scrap metal bins so they couldn't stay for the show.  At the next dump--another 20 minutes away--Joe remarked to Julie that if they lived in the house across from the dump, they could just walk there.  Even though clearly (clearly) he was done riding in the car, he did agree with Julie that he didn't want to live across from a dump.

After that, the Js were off to the lamp repair store that's open, like, alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays, until 4:31pm.  Turns out, they "don't take in lamps anymore."  So they are paying the rent selling light bulbs which must be more lucrative than anyone ever even stopped to imagine.  The lamp-repair-turned-light-bulb-purveyor sent them to another lamp repair store, "Michael's".  It had a bowl with Jolly Ranchers on the counter and Michael is fixing our lamp.

There is light at the end of this tunnel.