So we are still searching and searching for a home and feeling a lot of pressure to get something quick.  We are trying to find a balance of something that is kid friendly, but also not total suburbia.  OH, and for a reasonable amount of money.  The biggest thing that I am having to adjust to is that there are a lot of people who don’t care about their yards and that there are million dollar homes next to complete dumps (of course, the dumps are worth over $500K).  It is not at all uncommon to have a brand new 3000+ sq. ft home next to a 1950s rambler that doesn’t get a lick of attention or maintenence.  To me, that would be undesirable, but that is just the way it is here.  Even on Mercer Island, the homes vary GREATLY!  And MI is definitely upscale.  Yesterday afternoon we spent traipsing through an area of Seattle called Ballard.  It is a nicely kept area with tree lawns and modest homes (av. around 5-600K) mostly 2 and 3 bdrms.  But we did find one we liked that was 4 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths.  I really like the neighborhood, and the elementary school is rated a 9 or 10 I think.  SO, good elementary schools.  We didn’t get inside, but hopefully early this week.  We spend yesterday morning driving around Bellevue (which is huge) checking out the exterior of homes and their neighborhood to see if we want to have the realtor take us inside.  Friday night we spent driving around Issaquah to see if we liked the downtown/shopping commercial area.  We are concerned that Issaquah might feel too rural or far removed from the city.  The nearest grocery to 2 areas we liked (called South Cove and Colingwood) was 2 miles…seems kinda far to me.  As you can imagine, the kids are getting really sick of all of the driving around.  Harry is developing an aversion to the car seat.  The girls are good and we have been stopping at a park every time we go out so that they have a chance to burn off some energy, but you can imagine how fun it is to drive around with 3 kids all weekend.  Harry will start to fuss, Chris will be trying to pull up a map on his laptop (while driving) and someone always is hungry or has to go to the bathroom and the whine level really gets bad.  (I try to wait until we get home to start my whining).  Anyway, after we get home, we usually try to go through our flyers, look for more info on the computer, and search for more homes in the areas we like.  Today I will look for open houses and we’ll get back into the car again!!  Chris is playing soccer this morning and the girls and Harry & I went to church so they could sing their Bible school songs to the congregation.  All for now