Alex is now a purple belt!

Nope.

Well, too bad, we didn't get it.

Apparently there was a last minute buyer who came out of the woodwork. The wife grew up near the cottage, and when the sellers heard who wanted to buy it, they broke down with tears of happiness. So we wouldn't have had a chance no matter what. I don't think they even paid more than we offered.

So, back on the hunt. It wasn't meant to be this time around...

Competition...

There's another offer on the cottage. The real estate agent for the sellers let it slip that "it's good there's another offer, because it makes the sellers face reality." - which means that the other offer is also nowhere near their asking price. Our agent couldn't believe their agent said that to her!

Anyhow, we took out a few of the contingencies we had put in the contract, and upped the offer by 10k. We have a set limit that we will not go above, and we have a little more wiggle room. We'll see what happens!

In pursuit of a cottage...

We made an offer today on the cottage in Monmouth, ME. We offered $75k lower than asking price, so we'll see how the four brothers and sisters react to that. They have until Monday at 5pm to respond.

If we're successful, I'll have blog updates about our renovation adventures, which will happen in stages over the next few years.

Wish us luck! And think of it as your vacation home away from home as well!

Here's the link: http://www.newenglandmoves.com/real-estate/property/35-no-shore-drive-monmouth-me-04259/single-family-home/mls-989977/1100046?pos=9&search=0039030aabfa319ee315a5c50dc04097c8d33e6a

Ahh, summer in Maine

Montreal pics

We all had a great time visiting with Becky and Scott in Montreal. Wish you all could have been there, though! Don't they look happy?

Karate Kid, Part 2

Karate Kid

Alex did NOT want to try karate. His friend next door goes, and we decided to have him try it at the same place. Alex worried and worried for weeks, and cried buckets of tears. He did two trial lessons one-on-one with the teacher and still wasn't convinced. He had his first class with all the kids on Tuesday, and ran up to me right afterward and said, "Hey, I like karate!" Hopefully it will give him a bit more self-confidence (he's been having some issues lately with crying at school). It's already better...

These pictures were made with a little iPhone app called Shakeitphoto - like a mini-polaroid camera. I wish the iPhone camera could adjust for speed and could focus better.

New bathroom

Old bathroom

Our master bathroom has been just the same as when we moved in over 4 years ago. We hated the gold chandelier and the yellow paint didn't match the marble tile. I finally got around to updating it to something we would like. Here are the before pictures (actually taken when we first looked at the house and the former owners' still had their stuff in it).