We are in but with a plan B!

We had a great plan destroyed by our builder! He was brilliant and gave us lots of options, too many. We wanted to put a new kitchen in and the area was quite small, too small for such a big house (Fran). We planned out some ideas and it was really difficult with such an odd and fairly small area. After about an hour of sorting something out our builder suggested we knock the main wall down and open up the whole floor and then Fran can have whatever design she wants! Fran likes the builder.

This means that our main living area is going to be out of action for awhile, if all goes ahead, and we will have to live at the back of the house. Could be interesting!

Shakespear Regional Park

The weather has continued to be fantastic during our Easter break and although we have been busy with the new house we still ventured to a new regional park. Shakespear is about 45 mins north and was surprisingly huge with lots of places to visit. There were three beaches and lots of wonderful viewpoints but no play areas and Oli was not impressed. However, Oli had his cricket friend, Harrison, with him and they both brought their scooters which meant we could keep him happy with a couple of scooter sessions.

We are in!

We picked up the keys today about 11.30, just in time to meet the carpet guy who arrived at 12. The previous owners had dogs and although they did a great job of cleaning the carpets they need to be replaced, all of them! It felt great to finally get into the house and everybody who visited were really positive particularly about the size of the house which helps! We still have to pinch ourselves as seems incredible that we are now home owners so close to the beach in such a lovely area.

Alex was keen to show off the house again for the blog. They did such a good job of cleaning it, that it didn't look too bad but it does need a lot of TLC and paint. We are pleased to have our stools back next to a breakfast bar, its just so 'social' or so Alex tells us. Alex took off his pants for you all so you could see him do a practical demonstration of our laundry chute, although Oli did try to turn into a Oli chute later on. Alex still enjoys making fun of our double doors leading onto the roof in our room, can't see why?! We found a new room on our last visit but couldn't get inside as it was so full of rubbish. We were pleasantly surprised to find a work bench so I can do all my DIY work in there. We wont see much of that room then. The outside of the house is nicely paved with a side entrance for the bikes as demonstrated by Al.

The boys had a fantastic day of running around an empty house, lets hope its not empty for too long!

Our new neighbourhood!

We wanted to explore our neighbourhood and try a route to our nearest town/shops which is in Browns Bay. We met up with Claire and Nathan for the walk from Rothesay Bay to Browns Bay. It's only a 10/15 min walk on the cliffs so it will be very useful as they tend to hold lots of car boot sales and fairs etc there. Oli was particularly pleased to see Fin who is now a school mate. The photo at the top is Rothesay and its generally a very quiet beach which suits us fine!

Proper photographs from our Easter Russell Trip

Dave and Doetre have an awesome camera and they both took lots of excellent photographs. Oli was particularly pleased with their photos as they had one of his crab. Until recently we still had that crab, it was sitting in a plastic box! Oli had sneaked it into the car and it survived nearly a week before we sent it to toxic waste dump.

Another day, another scooter session!

As soon as Oli wakes up he is asking if we can scooter. I put him off till 9.30 am and then we were back to the road. Tom graced us with his presence although his legs got tired after 10 mins. We visited another bay which looked like a good one to explore at a later date as there were some caves a bit further round.

Rock climbing in Russell

Russell had lots of bays to explore so we decided to go left and climb around the rocks. The boys loved exploring the new area and literally for hours dug in the sand and found some very strange things! The rocks we had to climb were not too bad so there were no 'cliffhanger' moments.

Rothesay Bay 500m away!

Here are a few more pictures of rooms we haven't shown yet such as the ensuite shower in our room and the 2nd living room which will be great as we can close the door on the boys toys.

As we left Fran was keen to find out exactly how far we are from Rothesay Bay and it was 500m. I think we will be seeing a lot of this beach!

We gonna need more paint!

We were allowed one more visit to our new house before settlement date and as our friends, Sue and Paul, were heading back to Guernsey on Saturday we got in early. This was the first time Alex saw the house as he refused to get out of the car on our first visit because he was reading Percy Jackson! This was probably not a good time to visit as the previous owners, who lived there for 28 years, were attempting to clear out. I will be impressed if they do clear out by next Friday. Alex quickly chose his room, the biggest of the three. The first two photos are the downstairs rumpus(playroom) and our bedroom with the amazing views. The decking wraps around the house from the kitchen to the main decking which goes outside the lounge.