House Hunting....woohoooo!!

Wow, what a weekend! Hot, and I'm talking 36-37 degrees C hot! And getting in and out of the air conditioned car in that heat, is not fun, no way! But we were looking for houses, so we did it happily.....well, maybe not happily, but we didn't complain much, and the kids were stars I tell you!

We had our list of requirements, and knew we probably wouldn't get our utopia, as far as a house was concerned, but were going to try our hardest nevertheless!
For those of you unfamiliar with American houses, let me fill you in briefly!
Gardens seem smaller than what we are used to, well, in our price bracket anyway! Most houses have a breakfast nook, which is actually a smallish room off the kitchen, where the family usually eats. There is then a formal dining room, not sure how often it gets used though? Maybe on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Sunday lunch I'm guessing? There is a lounge/family room, normally off the kitchen & dining room, where the fireplace is. And then there is a formal lounge, and I'm not sure how often that gets used either, but anyway?
Most of the homes we have seen have the master bedroom on the ground floor, with an on-suite bathroom. And the other bedrooms are then upstairs, along with either a den/games room, and attic. And other bathrooms are upstairs too. The kids have decided they definitely want their bedrooms upstairs, and are really excited about it, I wonder if they'll feel that way when they have to start carting all their toys back up the stairs when it's pack away time??

Our realtor took us to 8 houses on Sunday, and we went to one on Saturday, and there is one that definitely stands out from the rest, in that it is nice and bright, alot of the houses in the particular area we want to stay in are darker, because of all the trees around. And the windows don't seem as big as the ones in SA. This house, however, has alot of windows, and the only down side is the fact that there are carpets all through the house, except in the Kitchen & Bathrooms and Breakfast nook. We are not big fans of carpets, as I am constantly watching that the kids don't spill juice all over them, but because this house meets most of the other requirements, we are pretty happy with it.

We only saw one house with a pool, and it was alot more than we want to spend, so I don't think we'll go for that one, although the idea of us having our own pool again is really appealing! We really miss our pool & lapa in SA!

There are also no appliances included in the house, with the exception of a dishwasher and microwave, which seems to come standard in most homes. So we will have to get find ourselves a fridge, washer and dryer. Until our container from SA arrives, we will have to "rough it" a little, buy some mattresses for the kids to sleep on, a sofa bed, for us to sleep on, and we can always use them later on too. Then just a few pots & pans, to cook in, and some plastic crockery to use as well. So we are in for some fun!!

I will keep you all posted on the home, once we have officially signed the papers, and paid the deposit and rent etc, etc. So watch this space, hopefully I will have some pics for y'all too!!