Thursday, August 21, 2008

We are finally home!

It has been a week since we boarded a plane in South Africa to home. What a week it has been!! We are busy looking for a house - two cars - busy getting reacquainted with family and friends - and missing friends in South Africa!

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House hunting is exhausting!! It is fun to go through other peoples houses, but I get tired just trying to make the right decision on what house is good for us and the family. I found the perfect house - well maybe if you combine the top 3 - is that even possible?
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Here are some of the houses we have been looking at - what do you think?
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KRAFT HOUSE



http://www.greenridge.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MLSNumber=720894&PRM_MlsName=greenridgeGrandRapidsMI&VAR_AgentCode=3416&VAR_OfficeCode=66

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STIMSON HOUSE
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http://mls.grar.com/GRARReports/ListitLib/report_builder.aspx?report=public_full_prop1&mls_acct=1724465&footer=5651485376837974&header=5651485376837974&maillog_id=5038739153

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http://www.theultimatetour.net/videos/5882_Stimson.html



Well, we have finally adjusted to the time change and are busy getting ready for school starting and Maddie and Alex are busy catching up with cousins and friends. On Wednesday we went to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens. The cousins had a chance to play together. We were missing sweet Stella! We had a great day.
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The kids all excited to go inside the gardens



I went with my mom, my sister Katie and my sister-in-law Michelle

Maddie and Arianna - sporting the same shorts!




playing in the great lakes splash pool


The Gang


The horse sculpture

READY



SET

GO!




Maddie and Arianna

Andrew, Alex, Chase and Nicholas
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I also got to spend some time with my new nieces that I just met. HOW PRECIOUS THEY ARE!!



Juliet

Sylvia

BREAKING NEWS!! Scott just came home with a car tonight - ON A TRAILER - not a good sign! He bought a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8 turbo with a blown motor. He says "all I need to do is put in a new motor" - like he has done that 100x before! He says 20 hours worth of work. I know how much he loves projects - well I think he has his work cut out for him!

backing the trailer up to my dad's shop



the car

Scott proud of his purchase

11 comments:

denise said...

It is sooo good to have you home! We've been enjoying having you around and collecting on all those hugs!
It was nice to spend the day at the Gardens. The kids were all so good!!
My vote is for the Stimson house! I think it's a great house on a wonderful piece of land. A little more driving but I don't think you'll be disappointed! Good luck with your offer and good luck with the car!

Anonymous said...

hey guys, the stimson house looks cool and the video is so impressive, but i vote for the kraft house! I love the living room with the built-ins and the red dining room. of course there's still time to look around zeeland!!! :)

jen

MikeandLynette said...

Hey Lia~
Welcome back. I KNOW the house on Kraft is nice. I have been in there before. GREAT location. It is less than a mile from where I grew up!
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

So, you guys could not forget about us, so Scott decided to buy a car that looks like ours! Awesome one Guys!!!

Steven B

Anonymous said...

Hi Lia & family,

I like the Kraft house too.... All the best for the house hunt. Have you found one yet?
Great to hear that you guys are doing fine and you are enjoying time with your family...
Guess what: You wrote that your car is not working.... well ours ("yours") is not working either... The Renault key broke and we had to order a new one, because we didn't have a spare key... It takes three weeks to get a key delivered from France to South Africa. Can you believe it? ... Well, we ordered two keys right away and can't drive the car for the next few weeks... that's just so AFRICA... :-) We have sold our old Jetta just two days before the Renault key broke, so we are stuck with just one car at the moment. BUT Alex' work has agreed to a rental car for him, so we will hopefully pick one up tomorrow. Otherwise we are doing fine. Squirrel is also doing really well.
And your couches too... :-)
Ok, need to get some sleep now.
A big hug from all the 6 Streckers + Squirrel...

Marva's "Marvalous" Memories said...

What great pics!!! Scott looks so proud in the car! I didn't look at the links for the houses yet, but I love the look of the Kraft house. I'll check them out further. Looks like you had lots of fun at FMG! Love ya!! Aunt Marva

Marva's "Marvalous" Memories said...

Okay, now I looked at the links but I still don't know - I LOVE them both! I know I got sick of driving when I lived out by Green Lake, so I would probably go for the Kraft house, but if you don't mind driving, the Stimson house is awesome!! Love ya!

Anonymous said...

AWESOME CAR!!!!! now let's see how many hours it really takes for scott to replace the engine! our trustworthy golf just broke down last night :-) now we're carless. so send scott our way when he's done!!!! :-)

ROBYN in SA - your old home

Robs said...

oh, and i made your banana muffins!!!!! they were GREAT! :-)

joan b. said...

Lia! It's great to see you back in the photos of your mom and sisters :) Welcome home - we're eager to see you!

Anonymous said...

I vote for the Kraft house....Is that who you put are putting the offer in for???