Packing Up

Time for another adventure! I am writing this a bit early this week as Sunday we will be on the road. Taking the long drive down to Chamonix to do a bit of skiing, spend time with Auntie Claire and Matt, and get some long overdue winter gear from the first Patagonia store in Europe. 

Looks like they are easing up on all the Covid restrictions here, so that is good news. The war in Ukraine is worrying though. Fighter jets have been flying over, leaving from the NL and heading in that direction. They are prepping the port of Rotterdam to supply Ukraine. Who knows where all this will go. 

We had another house visit in Marquette - nice downtown duplex. Seems like a decent option, but there will be a bidding war. We were definitely excited about certain aspects of the house, like the location, nice layout, options, big yard, etc. The problem is that it just needs too much time and money put into it. Looks like we really need to find a simple, smaller single family home outside the peninsula. The practical side of things just really seems to be winning out in our process. If the rental income can't cover the upgrades that are needed, it just doesn't make sense to us. 

The storm took out more than just trees! Flowers too.

Amélie got to pick some of the ones that had blown down.

Our first February harvest!

November in February

This week has been all about making up for the fall storms that hadn't come this year. Lots of wind and lots of rain. Water was actually coming over the dykes and three people were killed by the wind. No real problems around our house, thankfully. 

Amélie got a concussion in gym class this week, so she has spent the last few days at home. We will see if she feels up to school tomorrow or not, but she hasn't been missing it. Her enthusiasm for school has been diminishing these past few weeks. Not sure why. 

Yesterday we actually did a bit of shopping. That hasn't happened in ages! Got some new rollerblades for the girls and I found some new shoes. It was so busy. I think a lot of time will pass once again before we go back. 

In other news, Naomi's application for a green card is now being actively reviewed. Who knows how long that will take, but it is nice to see a change in status after 5 months. 

Spring moves forward in spite of the storms. 

On Hold

We explored a lot of options in regards to buying a plot in Marquette to build on. Turns out the plot we were interested in is controversial as people want it to remain wooded. We don't want to build in a place where people don't want new houses. 

We also got a feel for the budget needed to build new, and the impression that attitudes and techniques of constructing new houses seem decades behind Europe. Not really sure it makes sense to build something that we aren't really happy with, and we don't have the budget to do it the way we would want. 

Looks like the search has been put on hold for now. We will keep an eye on the market, but probably won't get serious about buying something until next year around this time. This process has opened us up to options we hadn't considered before, so that is a good thing. There is plenty of time left!

Spring has really arrived early! Last year at this time we were ice skating at the castle. 

Pivoting

The inspection report for our house on Front Street came back very negative. Major structural issues. We can't afford to address them. It was difficult to let go of this place because it was the best option we had found after years of searching and we were really excited about it! That being said, it caused us to rethink our strategy. 

Instead of restoring an old home, Naomi came up with the idea of buying an empty plot of land and having a house built for us. Given the insanity of the Marquette housing market, this option makes a lot of sense. This way we can make decisions about what we value, and not be so constrained by the unfortunate choices other home owners have made. We are now looking into a nicely located wooded plot and some modular home options. Complicated puzzle, but in the end we feel happy and relieved with this change in our approach. 

This past week has been a bit crazy with all this housing stuff, but the girls were happy to get back into school and their routines. Luckily it was a holiday in China, and they are busy with the Olympics, so I was able to have a bit more time to work on figuring everything out. I also got to finally go see the figure skating and come along to visit Naomi's grandma. Hard to believe that she is still going at 101. Barely able to get out of bed though.

Oddly enough, a broccoli plant from last year has survived the winter and just sprouted some little broccoli's!

Fort building time.

Sleeping together after a good day.

I finally got to see some figure skating!