Strawberries and balloons!

Our days have been packed over the last month.  We have been on a bit of an emotional roller  coaster.  We have spent what feels like every waking moment looking for a home to buy.  There is not much on the market right now and so when something does come on it is gone within 24 hours and typically much higher than asking price.  We first placed an offer on a house we both fell in love with in Ann Arbor only to learned we were out-bid by $15, 000.  We looked at what seemed like 100's more houses and then we found one that was at the higher end of our price range, in a decent neighborhood but was really priced high for the type of house it was.  We submitted an offer, both felt awful about it and so we withdrew the offer.  Then 2 days later we found another place that we have submitted an offer on, the place needs a lot of work but is in a good location.  We just learned that there are at least 2 other offers on the place.....so the saga continues.  Sometime in all of this we spoke with the landlord and he agreed to let us stay in our current location month to month, then 1 week later he called saying nope we needed to move by the end of July.  Colin convinced him to let us stay until the end of August.  So for now we are hoping that we are able to find a place and move by 8/31 or we will be knocking on the doors of those near by with our bags packed!  There is nothing on the rental market at this point either.  So our schedule has been at the mercy of the homes coming on the market.......when a new one comes on, we drop everything and go and take a look.  If we are not physically looking at the house we are scouring the web for new listings popping up.  I am pretty sure our real-estate agent is about to kill us.  In our free time we have been up to see Mimi and poppi in Gaylord, pick strawberries and a few other things in-between.  The strawberry picking, tractor ride and park has been Lily's highlights.  It is so cute how she, even today, continues to recount the day (this was 3 weeks ago).  This is her version: go pick strawberries, Aunt Megan, Mama, dada and Lily; go on a tractor ride; go to the park; pick strawberries; see goats.  I also reminded her today that we had donuts!  Yes all at the same farm, who could ask for more?

Such a big girl!

We went at 9 am.  It was so hot so we finished picking by 10.  I realized that crouching in the hot sun pregnant is NOT my favorite thing, it made me very nauseous.

Testing the goods.

Aunt Megan and Lily

This weekend was the Howell Balloon Festival.  It is quite a sight, 40 balloons take-off at set times,  together all weekend long.  Saturday was Aunt Kalie's birthday and so we woke to find 22 hot air balloons rising above the lake for Aunt Kalie's birthday.  Lily LOVES hot air balloons,  Curious George has a story about hot air balloons and the come over the lake frequently and so this weekend was so exciting - not only getting to sing Aunt Kalie happy birthday but also getting to see the balloons take off.  If you click on the picture you will be able to see the balloons better.

Watching the take off.

Who can look at the picture when there are so many balloons back there?  Hello?

A picnic for the babies.  She was feeding them each gold fish and making sure they went in their mouth.  It was so sweet.