Road Trip

For my birthday this year my immediate family gave me decorations for the lake house.  Really?!  I sometimes think my husband is more gung ho than I am for this place.   Even with my many to do lists and charts and idea files, he is the one whose heart is already there.  The gift included artwork I'd been pinning on Pinterest with a red, turquoise and yellow fun color scheme for the cottage kitchen.  The girls each painted a frame to coordinate with the colors.   They also got me a wine holder and a rooster for our kitchen.  We have one at home and a rooster in the kitchen is said to bring good luck to your entire home.  So now we are invested, we even own things for this little cottage we'd been dreaming about!  When I asked my husband what we would do with these decorations if we didn't get this cottage he said we'd find another one...

Over April vacation we decided it would be a good idea to bring the girls up to see if this was a place they could see themselves spending their summers and weekends throughout the year.  My dad, Art,  had also wanted to see the place to inspect it for us and my "wicked great" step-mom, Penny,  also came along for the ride.  We decided to all pile in one car and take the road trip together.  We figured it would make it more fun for everyone.

We had packed a picnic lunch of a variety of subs from a favorite sub shop in town.  With coffee in hand and the car almost full we hit the road. It is about a two and a half hour drive to the cottage.  With the girls being older and the conversation flowing the time went pretty quickly.  We got there earlier than the real estate agents so we took a look around the outside of the property.  The last time we'd been here the ground was covered with a foot and a half of snow.  It was great to see green grass growing, perennials peeking out of the ground and of course, the water on the lake.  We headed down to the dock and found a perfect bench to have our picnic on.  The sun was warming our seats, the water was rippling across the lake, and we even saw a duck or two.  Hopefully that was the first of many picnics with this view!

We had told the kids that it is not a good idea to act too excited when looking at a house you want to buy.  You don't want the real estate agents to think you're a sure thing!  They wandered around the house and whispered their thoughts and gave us silent thumbs ups when they knew the agents couldn't see them.  They were very funny playing the role of apathetic preteens and teens.  "Do you like the cottage?" our oldest asked our youngest.  "I guess it's okay." she replied.  Meanwhile they ran around checking out every nook and cranny.  Choosing where they would sleep and where friends and family would sleep when they visited.  They loved the big boulders sprinkled around the yard, the cozy bedrooms, and the porch off the master bedroom that overlooks the lake.   It could use a little sweeping and maybe a few new chairs but it seems like a great place for a cup of coffee in the morning.  Or as my step mom suggested, a glass of wine at night.  We have promised the grandparents they could come stay here in falls and springs when we are in school and busy with sports and activities.  Penny was already giddy with the idea of "On Golden Pond" weeks here with my dad.  Seriously, giddy.

When we were leaving and finally got in the car the girls were so excited to talk about every last detail now that they were out of earshot.  Two out of three decided the pink in one of the bedrooms had to go! They loved the tilted ceilings, curtain for a doorway,  and quirky shaped rooms.  They don't even mind that there is a captured bedroom (you have to walk through one bedroom to get to another) as we already have one of those at home.  They were already imagining themselves playing with their dogs and cousins and friends here.  My dad is very practical and when we bought our 214 year old antique he was not a big proponent of it.  He'd owned an antique and knew how much work they were.  We thought he'd have a list a mile long for why we shouldn't buy the cottage.   While he did have a list of some things that needed to be done he commented that the place was in relatively good shape and said "I'll fix the screendoors!"   My step mom was already imagining work days and clearing the woods for a fun place for the kids to play.   The girls and I were already decorating and Rod was already imagining rides on the snowmobile in the garage.

On the car ride home what my dad did say was "If you want it you might want to make an offer sooner rather than later, a place like this could go quick!"  No laundry list of problems or to do's!  They were actually looking forward to puttering around the yard themselves when they visit.   We want this house to be loved, and shared with friends and family.  When our kids are in school we want their grandparents to be enjoying quiet moments on the lake kayaking and fishing or just relaxing on the deck.  We want our friends who don't have weekends busy with hockey and soccer to come for a fall get away.  We hope our nephews grow up feeling like this is a home away from home.  We are excited for the potential of this little house and we can't wait to fill this place with our own memories.  It's safe to say that this little road trip confirmed that we were all in love!  Not only my family and I but the girls grandparents as well.  We felt at home here.   This was a place we could all imagine ourselves coming to..