Come on Over

The last few weeks have been very busy. We enjoyed a lot of visitors, starting with the Knutsons. We had hoped for an end-of summer outdoor weekend, with hiking and enjoying the Long Trail Brewery deck, but the rain changed our outlook. We did have time for some tough Scrabble games, and Brian was able to use all 7 letters in one turn! We had great weather the next weekend, when the Shows came up from CT. I saw new parts of Dartmouth as we toured the campus, and we sat next to Dr. C. Everett Koop at brunch (the '80's Surgeon General that wrote the cigarette warning). When they left, I met up with my Aunt Rosie and collected my sister, Michelle. Michelle and I had fun with hikes, picnics, and a trip to the Ben & Jerry's factory where we tasted Orange & Cream.
We brought Michelle to Boston as we started our crazy trip to VA. We flew to Baltimore, met Brian's dad, and drove to Charlottesville. We explored the university campus and met up with a few of Brian's friends before the UVA vs TCU football game. While I went to visit my cousins, the rest of the group saw TCU win by a landslide. We headed back the next day, as Brian had only one day at home before he left for his first work trip of the fall. He is in Atlanta and Alabama this week.
Amongst all the visitors and travels, we have continued our quest to buy a house. We took Michelle on our second viewing of the top 3 houses and quickly ranked our choices. We are still learning the lingo and procedures. We put in our first offer as we left for Virginia, and had a little back and forth over the next 3 days. Another buyer put in an offer, and we had some anxious waiting time before finding that our top offer was out-bid. So, nearly a week later, we have to start planning our next offer. We will wait until Brian is home next week, as it has been hard to negotiate apart and while traveling!