Epilogue: Tuesday, July 3rd and onward……as I mentioned I write this now on the airplane to Las Vegas. Two weeks and numerous lists later we are incredibly ALMOST settled. The challenges have been coming rapidly and from all angles – but we have been doing a good job taking care of the big ticket items. After we arrived in Ann Arbor I had an excellent interview with Borders books and was subsequently offered a position which I will start tomorrow. This was the biggest piece to fall into place. It will be an excellent position and will give us some flexibility as I will be working a 4 10-hour day work schedule. We also found daycare for the kids. Lucas and Sammie will be in the same location for the first couple of months. It is a nice small building with a couple of rooms – the toddlers for Lucas in the back - there will be about 7 other kids with him – and a much larger room for the kids – about 15-20. There is a lot for them to do and we both think they are in dire need to get back to being around other kids. When we went in there to look at the daycare they played very nicely with the other kids while we inspected the place. Sammie wanted to stay as she had already made some friends – makes the job that much easier for us – we sure do have great kids. The heat has finally subsided and it has been much more pleasant – not the blistering heat and humidity. The one item that both Laura and I are struggling with are the diagonal streets in Ann Arbor – they are quite confusing. The city in general is on a grid – but there are about 3 or 4 main diagonal streets that cut through town and sometimes it is a little difficult to tell if you are going straight or on a diag. Anyways we will eventually master it as we begin to fathom the actual small size of the city we will be living in. It is going to be a welcome comfort to be able to get across the city in a matter of 10-15 minutes. For the time being, however, I am resigned to not leaving the house without our trusty little friend – Stella.
The biggest news of all, however, is that we have found a house!! We began to meet our agent immediately when we got into town and did some house drive bys. We went up north to Laura’s parents house for some R-n-R at the Lake on the fourth and to refresh ourselves and await the call from Borders. Quick side note – the fireworks purchased in Wyoming had been burning a hole in my pocket (no pun intended) and the anticipation to set them off was palpable as we drove up. The excitement grew until finally I was able to light some off on their beach – I was proud of my purchases – however, about two minutes after I started shooting ours off I was put to shame by the nearly epic show of fireworks from a house two doors down – as they set off fireworks that could possibly have put the San Ramon fireworks show to shame. My little bottle rockets couldn’t hold a (roman) candle to the ones these guys had. So after mine were done we sat down and enjoyed an incredible show of fireworks on the lake. Anyways - the house – we had a long list of items we wanted in the house and have been very picky about it. We were looking in specific neighborhoods and nothing had come up. A house came on the market that didn’t necessarily jump at us but got on our list to view this past week. When we went to see it we both fell in love – it had most of the things we wanted:
The biggest news of all, however, is that we have found a house!! We began to meet our agent immediately when we got into town and did some house drive bys. We went up north to Laura’s parents house for some R-n-R at the Lake on the fourth and to refresh ourselves and await the call from Borders. Quick side note – the fireworks purchased in Wyoming had been burning a hole in my pocket (no pun intended) and the anticipation to set them off was palpable as we drove up. The excitement grew until finally I was able to light some off on their beach – I was proud of my purchases – however, about two minutes after I started shooting ours off I was put to shame by the nearly epic show of fireworks from a house two doors down – as they set off fireworks that could possibly have put the San Ramon fireworks show to shame. My little bottle rockets couldn’t hold a (roman) candle to the ones these guys had. So after mine were done we sat down and enjoyed an incredible show of fireworks on the lake. Anyways - the house – we had a long list of items we wanted in the house and have been very picky about it. We were looking in specific neighborhoods and nothing had come up. A house came on the market that didn’t necessarily jump at us but got on our list to view this past week. When we went to see it we both fell in love – it had most of the things we wanted:
Large kitchen – with nice appliances
Mudroom
Large garage
Large yard
Private Master bath
Four bedrooms
Close to Sammie’s pre-school
Basketball hoop in driveway
On a cul-de-sac
In one of the more desirable neighborhoods.
A large family room where the kids could play
A bar area
An exercise room
All of these things were in the house we found. It is a one story ranch with a lower level – not unlike Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Gordy’s house out in Mountlake Terrace. The house was built in 1972 and is about 3500 sq ft. It is not in the closest neighborhoods to downtown AA, but it is a two-minute drive to the river and probably about 5 minutes to downtown. Yes things are a lot closer here. Both our jobs are on the other
side of town – but once we master all the streets the commute should be minimal. Sammie’s kindergarten is literally two blocks away and she will eventually be able to walk to school which we are very happy about. The current owner has a riding mower for the lawn – which I will be all to happy to use as well. 
The yard is large and sweeps around the house with large areas for the kids to play. It is in a quiet neighborhood and the yards are fairly private. The kitchen is very large and has granite countertops with plenty of space for storage. The downstairs, however, was what sold us. In the basement there is a large family room with 4 other rooms. One official bedroom, one study, both of which are fairly large. One storage room and one sun room off the back of the house. Just a great space for us to grow into and watch the kids get older. We are very excited about it. I have put in some pictures in this blog of the house – but they are also a lot more on snapfish, which I’m sure you have already seen. We immediately went to our realtor’s office – Dave Dean – who has been an incredible font of energy and patience through this whole process. Going to all the houses we looked at with us and our traveling circus was enough to make Laura and I crazy – but he was unbelievably patient. The last straw was drawing up the offer in his office – it took about 3 hours and Laura and I were shuffling the kids back and forth – they were going stir crazy and making lots of noise – but somehow we got it done. They accepted the next day – and our closing date is August 13th. Now we just have to suck it up and live in our little apartment for the next 30 days – which, now that we see the light at the end of the tunnel, may not be so bad. In any case, tomorrow we officially start our new lives. Both Laura and I start our jobs and the kids go to their new daycare. The next couple of weeks will find us sinking our roots in just a little deeper.
Hope you all are doing well. It has been quite an exodus – just a fantastic trip, but one I’m not sure I will be ready to EVER do again. Adios and thanks for reading. We’ll see you soon.
-The Weintraub Adventure team. July 2007
Large garage
Large yard
Private Master bath
Four bedrooms
Close to Sammie’s pre-school
Basketball hoop in driveway
On a cul-de-sac
In one of the more desirable neighborhoods.
A large family room where the kids could play
A bar area
An exercise room
All of these things were in the house we found. It is a one story ranch with a lower level – not unlike Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Gordy’s house out in Mountlake Terrace. The house was built in 1972 and is about 3500 sq ft. It is not in the closest neighborhoods to downtown AA, but it is a two-minute drive to the river and probably about 5 minutes to downtown. Yes things are a lot closer here. Both our jobs are on the other
side of town – but once we master all the streets the commute should be minimal. Sammie’s kindergarten is literally two blocks away and she will eventually be able to walk to school which we are very happy about. The current owner has a riding mower for the lawn – which I will be all to happy to use as well. 
The yard is large and sweeps around the house with large areas for the kids to play. It is in a quiet neighborhood and the yards are fairly private. The kitchen is very large and has granite countertops with plenty of space for storage. The downstairs, however, was what sold us. In the basement there is a large family room with 4 other rooms. One official bedroom, one study, both of which are fairly large. One storage room and one sun room off the back of the house. Just a great space for us to grow into and watch the kids get older. We are very excited about it. I have put in some pictures in this blog of the house – but they are also a lot more on snapfish, which I’m sure you have already seen. We immediately went to our realtor’s office – Dave Dean – who has been an incredible font of energy and patience through this whole process. Going to all the houses we looked at with us and our traveling circus was enough to make Laura and I crazy – but he was unbelievably patient. The last straw was drawing up the offer in his office – it took about 3 hours and Laura and I were shuffling the kids back and forth – they were going stir crazy and making lots of noise – but somehow we got it done. They accepted the next day – and our closing date is August 13th. Now we just have to suck it up and live in our little apartment for the next 30 days – which, now that we see the light at the end of the tunnel, may not be so bad. In any case, tomorrow we officially start our new lives. Both Laura and I start our jobs and the kids go to their new daycare. The next couple of weeks will find us sinking our roots in just a little deeper.Hope you all are doing well. It has been quite an exodus – just a fantastic trip, but one I’m not sure I will be ready to EVER do again. Adios and thanks for reading. We’ll see you soon.
-The Weintraub Adventure team. July 2007
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