It has been a little crazy these past few weeks. First, we've been thinking about getting a used car to replace the 8-year-old Toyota Rav4 that we currently have. It is a little small for a family of 4 and luggage, and we are starting to have some space issues with luggage when doing things like traveling for a long weekend. We found some good deals on some loaner Volvo XC70s, but by the time we got around to scheduling a trip out to the Long Island dealership they were all sold (at least we knew a good deal when we spotted it!). So that sort-of fell through.
Then, the studio apartment that abuts our unit on one side went up for sale. We entertained grand notions of buying it an combining units, but it turned out that the seller really wasn't all that interested in selling (he'd rather rent), and he really was not interested in any offer below his asking price (and we were not upping our offer without a counter-offer, especially in this market!). So that fell through.
But the excitement of having more space made us think about how we keep spending all the summer weekends in NJ, and how we keep trying to cram into Cheryl's Grandmother's beach condo (1 bedroom, 1 bath). So we decided to look at real estate on the Jersey Shore, with the idea of purchasing a summer/weekend home. While looking, we found a terrific 3-bedroom 2-bath house in
Highlands, NJ with a driveway and a little yard that is only 2 minutes from the beach (
an article on the town from the New York Times is available here). We decided to rent for a year to see if we liked the area enough to eventually buy something. Our lease starts the first week of June.
We're looking forward to having a place to escape to on weekends that is bigger than our current place. Not only can we store stuff there, but we can also use it even in the winter months as it will be better to be cooped up in a 3-bedroom house on weekends than in our 2-bedroom apartment in the city--more room for the girls to spread out. And Loren loves the beach so, so much. And look how happy Kate is when she got the news:
Here are some pictures from that weekend we went out to NJ (Mother's Day Weekend, actually) to look at property. We went to the farm in Holmdel Park
that we have been to several times before with Cheryl's parents and Grandmother. We also invited Chris and Lisa to bring their daughter Lily and join us. And our friend Michelle was in town and so she also met us there for a visit.
Once we were back home, Loren asked for a photo in her new dress with Kate.
She then took this picture of me and Kate. I think she did a pretty good job! I had to squat down so I'd be level with her and the camera.
So we're all looking forward to weekends on the shore! We may even stay out a week or two over the summer as the commute in on the ferry won't be too bad. All part of our grand experiment to see if we like it.
So no car, no bigger apartment, no purchase on the shore, but a 12-month rental to see if we like it. And that crazy journey is why we haven't posted anything in 3 weeks to the blog.
NYC
