Operation Orcas: Take 3

So I managed to get up to Orcas in one piece, it was a long trip up and I'm not particularly looking forward to the trip back.  It's hard traveling with a baby!  That said, so far Silas has been a super trooper.  Tomorrow I head into Seattle to hang out for the day and see my bro and his family.  That will be nice and it will also break up my trip home a bit.  Orcas is as beautiful as ever.  This place still feels right to me.  Oh yeah, I'm also happy to announce that Ecstatic Dance has made it to Orcas!  Yay!  That will be fun!  I am excited about living here.  

Anyway, let's get down to the nitty gritty, I know you are all wondering, . . . what about the homes???   I looked at four homes on this visit and, fortunately, Gary and I both have the same top two.  So that's good!  I believe we could live in both homes happily.  But how do we choose which one?  Now begins the weighing pros and cons.  

The breakdown, . . .

Home #1 (not in order of preference): 

( There are views in almost every room in this house, here is a picture of the view from the master bedroom!  Wouldn't it be amazing to wake up to that everyday?)

This place has the "awe" factor as soon as you walk into it.  It's gorgeous.  GORGEOUS!  There is tons of inside space and an amazing view.  It is high up on the mountain which means that the land around it is rocky and also has some very steep slopes.  Despite this, the land is still beautiful, it's a mossy heaven up there.  Being so high, also means we will be snowed in a few days each winter, . . . but it wouldn't necessarily matter in this home, in this home,  you would enjoy a winter storm.  

This place has great finishing touches.  The kitchen has cherry wood cabinets and a huge range.  Each bathroom has some cool tiling and pretty colors.  There is also a river rock fire place that runs straight up through the living and kitchen area (picture to the right).  Gary told me that Serafin tried to climb up it when she visited!  Also, . . . vaulted ceilings, . . . need I say more?  

The home itself is very practical, but the location and the lands around it are not.  The outside needs work, there is no garden space and a lot of the outside space would need some major fencing to keep the kids from diving off the hillside.  Now that makes me nervous.  Although the lands aren't that bad, I'm still not sure if I want to deal with the worry this property might bring in terms of child safety.  

Home #2: 

A sweet home.  This is your typical ranch style house.  No "awe" factor, like the other, but this was a very calming, mellow home.  It definitely felt like more of a "family" home.  There is a large living area and dining room and I easily pictured Christmas and Thanksgiving feasts here.  I could almost hear little feet running around in the hall way.  

A major plus about this property is the surrounding land.  It's much flatter and the garden is already set up and ready to go.  The location is better in terms of locality to other families and island resources.   The land itself is divided into three plots, if we ever needed to sell a parcel for extra income, or whatever, we could.    

. . . 

So there you go!  After some serious hashing it out with Gary, I'm sure we will figure out which one we are going to shoot for.  At least there are some real potentials here.  I truly believe if it's meant to be, it will be and if not, then there is a reason for that.  We'll see what happens and you can bet that I will keep you posted!  It's sooooooooo crazy to think that if this all goes through we might be moving this summer!  AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!