Hello everyone,
I had good intentions of updating our blog sooner than this but as always, we have had lots going on, so unfortunately the blog kept moving down the priority list.
So our biggest news is that we purchased a house last week. We have been looking at houses since the end of September but haven't had much luck. The housing inventory is quite low and as I mentioned in our previous blog, the houses are very expensive here.
Anyways, the long and short of the story is that 2 weeks ago today, our real estate agent called me to say that a house had just come up for sale that morning, that he thought it would sell quickly and highly recommended that I go to the broker open house that day. Fortunately, I did go!!! It is a HUGE project but with HUGE potential (as you will see from the photos I include). It is in Montecito, on an acre and a quarter, is about 3 blocks from Coast village road, where there are shops and restaurants, it is a 3 minute drive from the school and about 5 or 6 blocks from Butterfly beach.
Anyways, back to my story. So I went to look at it and while there, I emailed Patrick to ask if he could come look at it. He said he was in a meeting and didn't have time before leaving on a flight to Seattle a few hours later. I looked around the house again and called him to beg him to please come. He said he was fine with me making the decision about putting in an offer but I said I couldn't do that without him seeing it. Fortunately, he did end up going to the house after I left and his email to me was "it is 100 hundred percent your decision and 100 percent your project". That night we contacted the real estate agent to let him know that we wanted to make an offer and that we also wanted to go through one more time with a friend of ours from the girls' school who is a contractor (and also from Ontario). The 3 of us went through the house on Sunday and he agreed that it had great potential. Our offer went in that night and then on Wednesday afternoon we got a call saying that there were 5 offers but that they had accepted ours (one of the offers was even $50, 000 more than the asking price and they didn't even ask us to match it). Our real estate agent had told us that the market is very competitive here so recommended that we write a letter about our family and include a photo. In the end, we have heard through the grapevine (it is a small town) that they wanted a family in the house, so maybe the letter really did work???!!!
Currently there are tenants living in the house, so they will be there until mid February. We are hoping to have the contractor and designer start on it right away. Everyone says that remodelling takes a long time here, so at this point we are thinking that the soonest we will be in the house is by May or June. Fortunately, our lease here on Lighthouse Road is until mid May and we can stay longer if we want to.
To view photos of the house on Olive Mill Lane-
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| Montecito Y |
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| Jaeda's 1st swim competition at the Montecito Y |
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| First Friday (October) for Sienna's class |
Sienna with a friend of hers from Crane. The girls were in their glory (a dog, cats, birds and baby chicks).
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| the sign of a good play date (she fell asleep in the car and I had to carry her inside) |
We drove from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to see our dear friends, the Benedikts. We met them when we were living in England. Jaeda and Sienna were in the same classes as their lovely children. They relocated to California in the summer of 2011. Never in our wildest dreams did either of our families think they would all live in California.
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| the drive along the coast |
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| passing through Malibu |
The Benedikts live in the lovely Palisades in a beautiful home overlooking the ocean.
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| crazy hair girls |
That afternoon we drove to see some other friends of ours. Patrick and Nav went to university together and were roommates for a year (they have some great stories). Nav, Zaheeda were fabulous hosts and our girls loved mothering their 2 beautiful children. We all had one great big sleepover :)
The next day (Sunday) we drove to Disney to meet up with other Canadian friends of ours. The live in Edmonton and were in California on vacation, so our 2 families met up for the day. Patrick and Aaron went to high school together in Sarnia.
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| birthday party at Mollie's |
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| view of Santa Barbara from the pier |
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| Ty Warner Sea Center |
One of the moms from Jaeda's class is super artsy and has all of these great kids' parties. This one was for about 8-10 children at her place. They decorated gingerbread houses but for Halloween.
At the girls' school there are chickens. If you take in a half carton with your name on it, they will fill it for you with eggs from the school chickens.
I took the girls to the zoo for the first time and they LOVED it (thank you to some of our wonderful English friends for giving us the annual family zoo passes).
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| the zoo overlooks the ocean |
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| fun with a piece of cardboard |
one of the families from Jaeda's class does an annual Halloween party at their house
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| This is when it got scary and we had to leave. The girls made Patrick sit in the back seat with them all the way home from the party. |
We are so proud of Jaeda. Each year the school does a "music hour" where kids can volunteer to sing, dance and/or play an instrument. Jaeda choreographed this song and dance for herself and 4 of her classmates, which they performed in front of the whole school during the day and then to the hall filled with parents in the evening. What we love the most, is that she has transitioned so well to Crane after being at such a fabulous school in England.
Crane does a country fair every October (a bigger version of the Harvest Hoedown that I organised in England).
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| the ever popular cake walk |
Jaeda and Sienna are both taking Spanish at school. In the Spanish culture they celebrate "the Day of the Dead".
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| pumpkin patch/play area in a parking lot....made me miss Herrle's |
The below photos are from the Lower School Halloween Parade. Each of the children have to say hello, give his/her name and tell everyone what they are dressed up as. Like Upton, Crane starts working with children from an early age to be confident and comfortable with public speaking.
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| Sienna (far left) |
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| Jaeda (5th from the left) |
I am not sure any country does Halloween like the USA!!! Wowsers!!!!!
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| one of my favourite memories as a child (the counting, organising and trading) |
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| Jaeda's 2nd swim meet at the Santa Barbara Y |
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| a lovely November Saturday morning at our house |
The following 2 photos are from Sienna's "First Friday" in November.
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the Crane coyote
The school does an annual Thanksgiving lunch for the whole staff and all of the students. I volunteered to help out and am so glad that I did. It was absolutely incredible. It started off with a beautiful and very moving talk from the Headmaster. |
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| Sienna (in red) sitting with her Crane family |
Our first American Thanksgiving
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| our feast |
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| feast outside :) |
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the Sonos office
Patrick was trying to not own a car and was instead riding his bike every day. He finally caved a few weeks ago. As you can see, the girls are thrilled!!! |
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girls with a friend from school helping at the Food Bank
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