House Hunting: Round 1

Yesterday, Matt and I looked at houses with our realtor. Yesterday was also the first time anyone had looked at OUR house. Before you get too excited, we haven't gotten any feedback about our house as of yet, so I can't tell you anything. Keep your fingers crossed though! (See bottom for update!)
Our adventure started in a newer development in Cburg, off of 114. We saw 2 houses there. We liked both floorplans (probably because they were virtually identical!). The first house didn't have much yard, and what yard was there had a dramatic drop off into some ravine-like thing, and I just thought "No way. Natalie will be down in that ditch in 2 seconds". The second house would have been nearly perfect. The yard was nice, fenced in, the basement wasn't finished and we were totally ok with that. BUT good thing it was windy yesterday because it sounded like tons of trees scraping the side and roof of the house, but there were no trees. ??? Not sure what was up with that, but I know I couldn't sleep with that going on.
We headed to Windmill Hills and Vista Via areas next. Most of these were absolute NO has soon as we got inside. Some had potential, but honestly, we're not up for complete remodeling work. A little TLC is ok with me, but to have to overhaul a kitchen? That doesn't appeal to me. There was one we were so happy to go see. The outside was so wonderful, even from the pics online of the inside it looked pretty good, but as soon as we opened the door it was -BAM- a huge let-down. The carpets were PINK, every room needed updating and painting, it SMELLED awful and the basement was mildewy. No thanks.
There was one that had A LOT of potential, if you have the money and time to put into it. The house itself was built in the '60s and had been very well taken care of (only one owner). But it was EXTREMELY outdated and needed a LOT of work done. Once someone who has the time and money to re-do it works on it, it is going to make someone a VERY VERY beautiful home. It's size is amazing and the neighborhood was superb. If Matt and I didn't have two small children, I'd be game to tackle it. But the truth is, we just can't go without an entire kitchen/bathroom/basement for months on end.
We looked at a brand new development, where the houses were very nice, the neighborhood nice, but the backyards are literally RIGHT NEXT to 460. I mean, Abbey could kick a ball into 460. Plus, the yard was crappy. I would have given it more of a chance if you couldn't hear so much noise from 460.
Then we ended up in a brand new development close to the new Christiansburg Middle School. These homes are being built by the same people that built the first two homes we looked at so they had the same if not better floorplans. We went inside one that had just been completed and liked some things about it, but not others. Its floorplan was a bit different and we didn't like it as much, and the layout of the basement seemed odd to us.  But we LOVE the neighborhood. The views of Montgomery County are beautiful up there. And we could potentially buy a BRAND NEW house, with a layout we absolutely LOVE for cheaper than the first 2 homes we looked at, which are 3-4 years old, with loads more yard. :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
So that's where we are right now.
Continue to wish us luck on this new chapter in our lives! I'm really hoping things go super smooth! We just need someone to buy our house!

**UPDATE**
Turns out the people that viewed our house yesterday liked it, didn't love it, but still have it on their "maybe" list. The things they didn't like about it are things we cannot change, so I feel good about that. A showing is a showing and I'm just keeping my hopes high!

Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Festival

This past weekend, we headed out to the Pumpkin Festival in Riner, VA. It was such a beautiful day (almost hot!) and there were a TON of people there. This is our 2nd year meeting up with the Williams' and spending time together there. When we first arrived, the Williams' were waiting in line for the Pumpkin Chunkin with some other friends. Apparently, if you made a pumpkin into one of the baskets, you got free ice cream, but I think this feat was nearly impossible!

Burke and some friends watching the Pumpkin Chunkin

Burke

Matt & Abbey headed down to the pond

Looking at the ducks in the pond

After that, everyone except for me and Natalie took the hayride to the pumpkin patch. Natalie and I were waiting for my mom to arrive. This was the first time she had come out with us and I'm so glad she did!

While we waited for the hayride to return, Natalie played around in the Toddler Maze.

Once everyone returned from the hayride, we took Abbey over to the pony-rides. She had been DYING to ride a horse from the moment we got there. She LOVED it. I love how excited she gets about things.

After that, we all headed over to the animals. Abbey loved seeing the rabbits, ducklings, and chicks! Natalie seemed to really like the sheep and goats.

We didn't buy any pumpkins this year, but that's ok! They had some pretty interesting ones though. There were even some grayish ones that my mom and I decided were Zombie Pumpkins.

Then we decided we were hungry! So we headed to dinner with with Williams' and my mom. Yummy Mexican at Gran Rodeo.

I love Fall. And although I tend to get stressed out easily when we go out as a family (I'm trying really hard to control that), I did have a wonderful time, and I'm glad the girls got to get out in the Autumn sunshine!

Our trip to Folly Beach, SC

DAY ONE
Friday, September 24th

After we had lunch, and packed up the car, we headed to Charlotte. We had decided we were only going to go half-way and stay in Charlotte with Chad and Christina. Natalie absolutely HATES riding in the car for any length of time, so we knew that in order to keep everyone sane, it would be better to just drive 3 hours, as opposed to 6. The first part of the ride was ok. We have a portable DVD player for the car, and that definitely keeps Abbey entertained, but Natalie doesn't really care about it so much. She was getting cranky, so I started feeding her some Goldfish crackers. A few minutes after that, she threw up. Oh joy. I assumed it was just car-sickness, wiped her off a bit (it was just a tiny bit of puke) and we just kept going. I think she might have napped. Then, we were about 15 minutes from Chad and Christina's and Natalie really starts puking. We had to pull over and everything. I felt bad for her, but after a few minutes, and throwing up about 3 times, she seemed to be doing alright enough for us to get back on the road. We got to Chad and Christina's, cleaned her up (and the car) and she was just about right as rain. We enjoyed a fairly chill evening at their house. Natalie made herself at home in Jaw's crate.

DAY TWO
Saturday, September 25th  

Saturday, we didn't head out of Charlotte until after lunch, since we couldn't check in at the beach house until 4. So we had Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then left. Natalie did ok. She was very fussy and cranky until I sat in the back with her. Probably kind of dangerous seeing as I wasn't really in a seat, but perched on top of luggage, but you know what? It made her happy. And it stopped the crying. And we all just wanted to get where we were going! Although I did have to get back in my assigned passenger seat for the last 20 minutes of the ride to help Matt figure out where we were going. In this 20 minutes, Natalie screamed the whole time and Abbey kept yelling that she had to go pee. So we did find a place for Abbey to go to the bathroom, and we FINALLY got to the beach house! Norman and Robin were already there, Chad and Christina had followed us, and Carly would be coming later (she works in Charleston so was coming afterwards).
After a quick look around the house, and figuring out what rooms everyone was going to get, we headed straight to the beach to check it out!

 

Abbey was hesitant at first, but after realizing how fun it was, she finally let the water touch her feet!

 Natalie had absolutely no fear (as always) and went straight for the water.

DAY THREE
Sunday, September 26th

This was a BEAUTIFUL day. We couldn't have asked for a better start to our beach vacation. The water was warm, the sun was shining, and everyone was in good spirits!

 Unkie (Chad) and Abbey building a sand castle. Abbey ADORES Chad.

 The beach

 Natalie playing in the sand.

 Back at the beach together after 6 years!

Carly and Natalie playing in the sand.

 Abbey loves her Daddy too (I love this picture SO much).

 I love looking at this one. Amazing to see the size of the ocean in comparison to Abbey!

  Three lovely ladies!

After dinner at the Charleston Crab Shack, Noni (Robin) and Abbey cuddled up and watched Brother Bear together.

DAY FOUR

Monday, September 27th

RAIN RAIN RAIN. A storm blew in Sunday night. And I mean, BLEW IN. The house was rocking and swaying all night. And it rained just about all day long. We used this day to go to the SC Aquarium. Abbey had a BLAST and Natalie liked looking at the fish for about 10 minutes and then wanted to go off on her own. Day 3 (third day in SC anyway) of vacation is ALWAYS rough for me. I don't know why, but I'm always a cranky butt on Day 3, but I tried to get over it and have a good time. The aquarium was interesting, but I found myself trying to contain Natalie most of the time we were there. But thank goodness for my wonderful family of in-laws. Without them, I might have lost my mind. :)

 Matt, me, the girls, Chad, and Christina went out to eat at Taco Boy for lunch.

 The otters were probably our favorite thing at the aquarium. I couldn't get a very good photo of them (those suckers are fast!) but here are Robin and Abbey taking a look.

 Chad in the shark cage.

 Abbey picked up and held a sea urchin (I didn't get a photo of that, there were too many people crowded around this area) but she would NOT touch a sting ray. Natalie on the other hand, was keen on diving right in there, and would have if I didn't have such a death grip on her. :)

 This is what the beach looked like that evening.

DAY FIVE

Tuesday, September 28th

This was our last day at the beach. :(

Luckily, it was another gorgeous day! Natalie took an early nap, and Matt, Abbey and I enjoyed some time down at the beach together. We even saw dolphins! I didn't get a photo of them, but they were SO close and there were about 10 of them, and they kept surfacing. It was so neat!

    An amazing double-rainbow! The colors playing off the water were so cool. What a nice end to our stay!

And, it would be wrong of me not to mention this lovely lady:

This is a fertily statue that I found in the room Matt and I were staying in. I found it within SECONDS of us deciding to stay in there, and IMMEDIATELY removed it. I hid it in Chad and Christina's room! It became a game between us and Matt and I would find it back in our room, and we would hide it in theirs again. I can't say much more (since Christina might be reading), but let's just say that this game isn't over yet! *insert evil laugh*

We drove the entire 6 hours back on Wednesday. It wasn't bad at all. Natalie stayed fairly content, and slept the last 2 hours. YAY! You could definitely tell she was happy to be back home though! I think we all were.

Overall, it was a WONDERFUL time. I love being at the beach. There's nothing like the ocean to remind you how small you really are, and how big the world really is.