7-24-11

No one really works on Sundays, so today we just had to grin and bear the wait for an answer on the house. So we decided to head 15 miles up the road to Port Angeles. We had heard about a sand sculpture contest and thought we'd check it out. After driving too far and having to turn around at the paper mill, we finally found the festivals location. There was food, and music, and a ton of art booths. We browsed the booths for a while then watched a guy demo his Chapman Stick (which is like a bass and guitar all wrapped up into one) Jack was really impressed, he wants one. Then we spent some time watching a guy make wooden puzzles, which I have always wanted to do. Afterwards jack got to pick one out. He ended up with a mastodon puzzle. We then headed over to the sculpture area, where this years theme was sports. I liked the sumo wrestlers best.





After that we got some fair food...chinese noodles, egg rolls, sweet potato fries, and a crab chille relleno. We ate while barely tolerating the musical entertainment.
Then ice cream.

With full bellies, we headed back to the car where Lola was eagerly waiting our return. Just a few minutes later we found ourselves entering the Olympic National Park- Hurricane Ridge. This amazing place will literally be our backyard soon. The road took us up into the Olympic Mountain Range through fields of wildflowers, long tunnels, great views, and ultimately to Hurricane Ridge.











Usually this time of year the snow has melted off, but we were lucky this year there was still plenty to play in. The kids were giddy as they played and got soaked in the ice cold run off.











We spent a while checking out the ridge, then drove back down the hill. On the way down we got a great view of Sequim, The dungeness spit/bay, and what I believe is MT. Baker in the distance. Kind of reminds me of the view of Goleta when coming down San Marcos Pass.


There is tons more exploring to do here and I really can't wait. But tomorrow is back to business. Good night.

Location:Sequim / Port Angeles, Wa

7-23-11

All caught up now, today is really today that I am writing about.

Still no word yet but we really weren't worried about it. As soon as they countered they were locked into negotiations with us. They couldn't accept offers from anyone else and we were feeling good about it working out.

We wanted to go to Port Townsend again so off we went. This time we went to check out this old presidio turned state park. We had no idea what to expect. There was a beautiful sandy beach! I don't think we could have gotten out of the car any faster. We were all so glad to be on a beach and we didn't think there were sandy beaches like this so close to Sequim. As we sat there we were overcome with joy. We were really glad we are making this choice. This is a place that if we were just visiting we would be thinking let's move here! Of all the places we have been on this trip and all the things we fantasized about this place feels right. I feel good and excited to be moving here and am ready to go home and pack up. If it weren't for our friends we might not go back at all. (After living with no stuff this whole time, you really realize you don't need much.)

Charlene called to tell us that they won't carry back at all :(. She did say that their realtors father wants to carry back the rest of the money. It's weird, but he thinks it's a great investment. Either way we still want to see if we can make it work out. We will go to the bank and talk to this guy before we move on to Jake Way.

After some beach relaxing we got some lunch at a cute 50's soda shop. Then we did some shopping and headed back to Sequim. I imagine we will be spending a lot of time in Port Townsend.

We had dinner at Mimi and now we are going to watch some 30 Rock and go to bed. Tomorrow is our last day here before we head home.

Location:W Sequim Bay Rd,Sequim,United States

7-21-11

Today???? I can't remember what we did this day all I remember is we were waiting for an answer from the Jardin owners. Our realtor said they were really nice and expected them to counter. But the hours went on and no call. We were not feeling good about it.

We are really falling in love with this area. There is a lot of natural beauty and outdoor stuff to do. The people are all nice and not pretentious like a lot of the people in Santa Barbara. Everyone says hello and is just friendly. I am glad we thought of this place and are moving here. It's going to be a good change for us.

By the time we went to bed no call. Our hopes were down for Jardin. Oh well there is still Jake Way.

Location:W Sequim Bay Rd,Sequim,United States

7-20-11 Day 100!

I never thought we would make it 100 days. I bet most people reading this didn't either.


First thing this morning we called Charlene to make an offer on Jardin du Soliel. We decided we couldn't pass up such an amazing opportunity. I mean you really can't put a price on the amazing work these people did the last twelve years. So after signing our names a million times all we could do was wait...Charlene was going to present the offer to them at 2 the next day.

Next we had some lunch and headed over to the Olympic Game Park. It's a drive thru wild animal park right in the middle of Sequim. Paul and I had been there before. Lucca fell asleep so we got a little alone time with Jack. He really thought it was fun to feed the animals bread. You buy a loaf before you enter. There are Lammas, prairie dogs, peacocks,yaks, bears, horses, deer, buffalo, tiger, lion, wolf, zebra, a rhino and elk. It's not really the best place for animals but they are all rescue animals so... The non-viscous ones are not in cages and come right up to the window to get the bread. The bears are behind a fence and they catch the bread in their mouths. Like I said not the best place but...














This duck really likes the bread.

After that we went to home depot to get some boxes to start packing Mimi up. We have decided that we are going to leave her up here. She needs a little work and it is way cheaper to store her here.

Dinner and bed as usual. Except for the waiting hell.

Location:W Sequim Bay Rd,Sequim,United States

7-22-11

When we woke up we called Charlene and she said she had called and emailed them and gotten no response. She was surprised and thought they would still call.

We decided to go to Port Townsend, a town 30 minutes east of here. It was awesome! Cute Victorian houses beautiful ocean views and more nice people. We got some hotdogs from a gourmet hot dog stand and ate at the park across the street. Then finally Charlene called and said they made a counter offer. Yes! We were in! She was going to look at it and we would come by in a few hours to see what to do. In the mean time we walked around the shop area and decided we would come back tomorrow and do some shopping, Jack wanted to go to the toy store and we had some gifts to pick up. We really liked it here. It reminded us of San Francisco.


















At Charlenes we looked at the offer and decided to meet their price but still ask them to carry back some on the money, something they didn't want to do. Ok, sign four hundred more times and wait again.

We headed back to Mimi to do some packing and dinner and bed.

This waiting is killing me!

Location:W Sequim Bay Rd,Sequim,United States

7-19-11

We already had a meeting set with our realtor this morning at 10 so we went to meet her with the plan of getting an offer together for Jardin. Charlene had already heard from thier realtor and knew we wanted it. She took us to see some other amazing properties that would work out and we would be happy with but we still couldn't stop thinking about Jardin. There was one that we had been looking at for a long time online that we really liked. Jake Way was the name, it had a huge forest, a nice pond, fruit and nut trees and enough room for lavender and vegetables. We were torn. Oh and it was a fraction of the price of Jardin.



Lucca picking flowers at Jake Way.

Charlene left us with a lot to think about. We went to a local pizza place after that. Our heads were swimming. After the kids went to bed we talked for a long time and decided that we would make an offer on Jardin and if that didn't work we would go with Jake Way. They are totally different properties and would mean different things for us. With Jake we would be starting our business from scratch and creating everything on our own, our way. With Jardin we would have to spend most of our money but would take ten years of starting a business away. We could end up spending all of our money on starting a business or spend money now on a very well respected established farm. We start what we dreamed of or have an oppertunity to take an amazing business to the next level. Either way we would be doing what we want and have lots of hard work ahead of us. Either way we were feeling pretty lucky to be faced with two great opportunities.

Whew! Time for bed.

Location:W Sequim Bay Rd,Sequim,United States

7-18-11 Day 98

I'll let you in on a secret...I'm writing all these blogs on the 22nd so its a little hard to remember exactly what happened when, but I'll do my best.

First thing this morning we decided we needed to change Rv parks. This one is gross and we are so close to our neighbor that our door almost bumps the side of him. We also talked to the Jardin Du Soliel realtor this morning. She let us know that the property and the business were for sale and lots of other promising details. We made an appointment to see it at 2:00 today.

We went to our new camp which had space for the kids to run and it is across the street from the beautiful Sequim Bay. We decided to go get lunch and head to a park to let the kids run before we saw the house. As soon as we pulled out of the camp we saw a bald eagle sitting on the beach right here. It was huge.



Then a few blocks later we saw the resident elk herd hanging out in a subdivision yard. We definitely like it here.



We went to Toosties, a local drive thru coffee and burger place. They were good. We found a beautiful park where the kids played on the playground, Lola ran in the dog park, we watched the ducks by the pond and picked cherries from the trees. Wow, we really like this place.

It was time to go see Jardin du Soliel. I...can't...even...explain...how...much...we...fell...in...love...with...this...place!
It was so amazing. The house is a beautifully restored 1800s Victorian farm house with too many amazing details to even list. We were going to have to figure out how to make this work. We were in love.

On our way home we had to go to the grocery store and home depot. Our bed is not happy that it hasn't had a break in over three months so we got some plywood hoping to firm it up. (it worked)

We went back to mimi and put the kids to bed while we fantasized about Jardin du Soliel. (go to jardindusoliel.com to see pictures of the farm)

Location:W Sequim Bay Rd,Sequim,United States