We're Moving! (And St Lucia Day 2016)

A year ago, we decided not to move.  Our 1100 square foot house would do just fine for us--yes it was cramped at times, but if we were to use our space wisely, it would be fine, right?  Americans are gluttons for space are they not?  We put in a play structure, made plans to clear out the basement storage room for a makeshift office, and figured we would add a second bathroom someday.  That should do it.

And then...well, it wasn't any one factor that changed our minds, it was about half a dozen at once.  Our kids grew.  With the older two each within an inch of their same gendered parent, tight spaces became even tighter.  Forget about having anyone over.  Our house was at max capacity with the six of us.  Once everyone was seated at the dining room table, no one could get anywhere in the else in the house without playing musical chairs (the dining room is in the center of the house).  Then there was the week when we all got sick at once and our six year old asked for a second bathroom for Christmas.  We knew our bedroom situation, with our youngest in a nursery attached directly to our room, would be less and less ideal as she aged.  At 4 it was still working great.  But how many 8 year olds want to walk through their parents room on the way to theirs? (And how many parents want their 8 year old traipsing through their bedroom at any moment)?  As we looked at high schools for our oldest, we found we wanted to live in the community where he went to school.  We looked at our local high school, and we liked it better than we thought we would, but it was not as good a fit as the one across town that we ultimately chose.   Lastly, being closer to our parents was a big plus.  Right now they help us out a lot with babysitting and the like.  In 10 or 20 years the relationship may be reversed, and they may need some help from us.  Even if we are just getting together for fun, it is nice being twice as close geographically.  So...we are moving.


It took a while to find a house.  We originally thought we'd try to move between June and August.  So did everyone else.  Interest rates were low, the economy was picking up.  After the great recession there was pent up demand.  There was a run on houses like you wouldn't believe, and the square mile of walkable downtown we had our eye on was particularly hot.

Eventually we found a great house, a little further out that we thought we wanted, but right on the bike trail, in view of a lake, nice and quiet with a lot of nature around.  While getting to that walkable area with grocery, library, bank, theater, etc will take a little longer, there are up sides we hadn't previously considered.  There is no traffic noise. In fact, our neighborhood is so out of the way it is almost hidden.  We have a little patch of woods and access to a pond in our backyard.  Beyond that is the trail and the lake.  A lake was never even on our dream list.  We did not think it was possible.

The house itself has a very straightforward layout, and covered everything we wanted--4 bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, living room and family room, eat in kitchen and formal dining room.  Most things in the house are circa 1962, but it has been well maintained.  Everything is fully functional--perfect!

When we asked our future next door neighbor about the neighborhood, he mentioned that there is a lot of wildlife.  No kidding!  These prints and scat are from our yard.  

That said, we will miss our old neighborhood.  We will miss all the friends we have there, the brand new park and splash pad down the street, nearby museums, the view of the state capitol and cathedral and the picturesque bridges we drive over daily.  I will miss the charm of a pre-WWII house, our strawberry patch and herb garden, and our honey crisp apple tree that just started bearing fruit.  I will miss everyone knowing us in the grocery store, the coffee shop, the library and bakery.  I will miss being a short bike ride away from the nature center where our youngest two have gone to preschool (we will be driving back twice a week for the rest of the school year so Aria can finish the year).

Our move ended up falling right over Christmas break--just like the last time we moved.  Back in 2008, Solomon and Nova's first night in the new house was Christmas Eve.  This time it was just a few days earlier.  We celebrated St Lucia Day the next morning.  As always, we managed to surprise Charles.   

My phone was doing a particularly awful job at taking photos, so we just have to go with what we've got in.  I'm not sure which group picture is better, so I included both.

Given all the difficulties of moving, we improvised a bit and used ready to bake cinnamon rolls, shaping them like we would saffron buns.  The red ribbons were nowhere to be found and there was no greenery for the crowns, but no one seemed to miss them.