I had planned to post photos of our zoo visit from the end of our recent house/farm hunting excursion today but I’m simply not in the mood so I’m just going to post some total recent randoms instead.

Yesterday a dear friend passed away after a battle with cancer. I am so sad that he has passed away, but so glad he did not suffer for much too long at the end. When we visited him last week, he was still able to bounce right up on his feet from a chair and walk us to the door. That was just one week ago. Now he is gone.

He was a good friend, a good man, and will be missed. He was also Elsa’s favorite person in the world. We don’t even know why really, it wasn’t that he treated Elsa differently from anyone else or gave her special attention. She just bonded with him. Elsa is our aspie child and really doesn’t “like” all that many people, and when she does, she doesn’t really say so. But this friend, whom she’s known since she was just 1 year old, she always remembered, and always spoke about, even when we would sometimes go a year or more at a time without seeing him.

We must always remember, our daily actions don’t always just involve us. We need to consider those who are also involved in the reactions of our actions.

Let’s just pretend I’m not really here, at my desk, writing in my blog…

shhhh…

I should be in my sewing studio, sewing like a mad woman, for this week’s stocking but Alesia and I just finished packaging up the orders from the weekend (she actually has FOUR days off this week! A first since she started her job last summer!) and I’ve spent the last 4 or 5 days packing boxes, decluttering, cleaning, reorganizing all in an effort of getting our place ready for ‘showings’.

Ah, my favorite thing in the world. Showing our home…

That last part was said VERY sarcastically… I don’t like showings at all. Such a waste of time, and such a huge disruption to daily life, while waiting for “the” buyer.

However, as I remind the children, we can’t sell the house without showing it first, so I shouldn’t complain! I need to be EXCITED at the possibility of showings, and selling. Get EXCITED dear brain of mine, get EXCITED dear body of mine! Do you hear me?!

Hello?

Hmmm… I think my hearing is faulty today…

Of course it doesn’t help this poor ole tired brain that we also just spent 4 days working on taxes amidst getting the house ready. First there was the quarterly taxes from Jan-March that had to be done. For both of our businesses. Although since dear hubby spent most of the last three months away working, that was pretty straight forward. Mine however, not as much.

Then there was the year end taxes for 2010 to do. THAT was a big undertaking, with both our businesses.

We don’t actually do our whole taxes. We get everything ready, organized, month by month,numbers tallied,  etc. etc. etc. for our accountant. Then HE takes over and finishes them for us. We’re not THAT good. I think if I tried that, right at this point in our lives, my brain would be fried.

Permanently.

Anywho. Enough rambles about our boring time of packing, cleaning and doing taxes over the past weekend.

It occurred to me that I had yet to finish my story of our trip! So I thought I’d try and carry on a bit with that now, while I finish up my coffee and take a breather before I head out to the sewing studio for the afternoon/evening.

~~~

And… back to the story.

By this time we were just one day away from being home. We had driven from Edmonton, Alberta, where I had flown in from the Island, to Saskatoon, then onto see the properties, and then from Saskatoon several days later, to Calgary, and then onto Kamloops where we would spend one night and stop for a quick visit. Over 2500 km’s in less then one week, and we weren’t done yet.

Finally at one point when we were pretty much out of the Rockies and well into British Columbia once again, we passed by Lake of The Shuswap, which also happens to be right near Sicamous, BC.

A funny story about Sicamous.

When I was little, quite little, my parents took us camping in Sicamous. All my life I have had this strange memory of of seeing a mouse hole outside of a cabin, or the camp store, or something, there in the campground at Sicamous. Inside this mouse hole I can remember seeing a tiny little room/home full of tiny little furniture.

To this day I don’t know if I imagined all this, or if it was some cute little set up they had there at the campground for curious and imaginative little children like myself. Whatever the case may be, that is my memory if Sicamous. A very fond one at that.

I always LOVED camping. I still do!

We didn’t have time to make the turn to Sicamous, but we did stop at Lake of The Shuswap to snap some photos and look around and stretch our legs.

This is a VERY large lake!

Then it was back on the road again!

When we arrived in Kamloops we had just enough time to freshen up a bit, and then head out to my sister’s place in the country as she had graciously asked us to have dinner with them that night.

They have a fairly large acreage and also enjoy the country life.

I think once you have a taste for life in the country, it’s kind of hard to live with anything else.

My sister likes antiques, as do I, so I had to go around snapping photos of some!

We had a nice dinner of chilli and homemade sour dough bread. Yum.

I was secretly hoping she’d make some Dutch Apple Tart (that link has the best photos! It looks just like the kind we make!)

I guess I’m stuck making it myself some time soon…

After dinner we went back to the hotel, which I can happily report that even though it was the same hotel chain as the dump we stayed in the night before, this one was MUCH better. Very clean, well kept and there was no lingering odor of air freshener! Yay!

We enjoyed a good nights sleep and woke early the next morning to make the last leg of our trip, along with one last stop at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. I was excited to snap photos of animals the next day, especially the giraffes. I’m not real fond of zoo’s, but I am REAL fond of animals, so when a ‘groupon‘ coupon came through in my inbox shortly after my husband had asked me to make the trip, I was excited to jump on the chance to go to a big zoo for over half off the regular price!

I was happy when dear hubby was willing to oblige my childlike excitement over going to the zoo while off Island.

When you live on an Island, and you have to take a ferry to get anywhere OFF Island, the cost just becomes too great most of the time to even bother. So, I like to seize the opportunity to do off Island things as much as possible when we can! One day, I’ll actually make it to an IKEA even! ha! I keep saying that, but it never seems to happen.

I have a ton of photos from the zoo, so I’ll save the following part of the story until next time.

some ramblings about, and by, our twin girls.

Julia spent some time reading the blog the other day, and decided that she too wanted to blog. We’ve been discussing if she should have her ‘own’ blog, or if I should simply add her post onto mine here.

Julia is our ‘youngest’ daughter. Well… not really, since she is a twin, but she is younger then her twin sister Shaylah by one full minute!

Julia & Shaylah in 2006.

Julia and Shaylah may be twins, but they are very different.

Shaylah on her 11th birthday December 2010.

Shaylah is a fierce advocate of all things animal. Especially small animals.

She’s a homebody through and through. She doesn’t care to go anywhere much, but would rather be at home with her duck, her bird and all our other animals. Even though we can persuade her to go stay the night at the grandparents, often she’ll flat out refuse, or complain when she comes home about how much she missed her bird, or the property, etc.. She loves country life. Thrives off finding bugs, new species of birds, snakes, lizards, and another favorite, frogs.

At one time Shaylah had a frog her brother had caught for her in our creek, and he gave her as a birthday gift. This was probably her best ever birthday gift. Shaylah named him Henry.

She kept that frog alive for over a year! Catching and feeding him moths she’d find on the property, even through the winter months when moths were VERY hard to find. If she went away to the grandparents overnight, I was left to find moths for Henry. Ha!

He lived in our kitchen that entire time, in a plastic frog ‘aquarium’ and she’d take him out for ‘walks’ and to play.

I remember going to the kitchen one evening, in the dark, and suddenly something hopped out in front of me. It was Henry. He had gotten out of his home some how and was hopping around in the kitchen enjoying himself.

Then one day Shaylah was holding Henry outside and he jumped out of her hand. One of our shelties, Levi, jumped up and caught him like he was a treat thrown twoards him, and swallowed Henry whole.

Shaylah was SO upset, and stood there in absolute shock! I swear if she could have, she would have reached down Levi’s throat, and yanked that poor frog right out of his stomach to rescue him!

Yes, Shaylah REALLY loves creatures, great and small, but mostly small. 🙂

Shaylah recently did a blog post, on my husband’s blog here:

http://homesteaddad.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/guest-post-by-shaylah/

Julia on her 11th birthday in December 2010.

Julia also loves animals, but she’s more into the larger variety, like horses.

Julia (age 6) with her horse Nikki, shortly after we brought her home from the horse rescue.

Nikki is Julia’s biggest inspiration in all things.

Julia and Nikki have been through a lot together, already, in their short little lives.

When Nikki came to us, we did not know it at the time, but she was pregnant. We had rescued another horse around that same time, and she too was pregnant. Performing pregnancy tests on two horses was quite the new experience for us! We knew Mina, Alesia’s mare, would be fine. But we were quite concerned about Nikki as she wasn’t even two years old and should not have become pregnant so young! She was a small little thing, not even a horse really, pony size. We had no idea who the father was, how large he may have been, etc. as she was in a very large group of horses who had all be rescued together.

However, we hoped for the best.
Unfortunately, Nikki’s baby did not make it and she ‘miscarried’ at about 5.5 months, half way through her pregnancy. It was a very, very sad day for Julia. For all of us, but Julia took it especially hard. She was sad not just for herself, but for her poor little pony who had been through so much already in such a short time. Their bond grew even stronger.

Thankfully the vet said that Nikki would be just fine. She could never be a breeding pony as there was a problem with her uterus size/shape which caused the miscarriage. That didn’t bother us any. Nikki was never meant to be a breeding horse/pony anyways, but rather Julia’s great big pet, and friend.

Julia has always been a very gentle and caring child. She also just LOVES people. Like Shaylah, she loves to be home, however, unlike Shaylah, she also LOVES to be around others. She always goes out of her way for them too, rarely ever thinking of herself first. She also LOVES to work.

Her life dream is to have lots of land, a farm, and more horses.

As many horses as she has children one day, she’ll say.
She wants lots of children too.

Julia tells us all the time that when we grow old, SHE will be the one to take care of us. Shaylah then reminds her that SHE is going to help take care of us too.

We have a friend who is very ill at the moment. This has caused our children to be thinking of the future in a way most children their age probably don’t think about much.

It’s also caused them to be thinking about their own futures.
It’s actually done the same for my husband and I as well.

And this all brings us right back to our dream.

As I mentioned previously, this isn’t just our dream, a dream belonging to my husband and I.

This is our family’s dream.

In the pursuit of this dream we’ve come against some negativity, as one always does when things are worthwhile going after. However, we try to keep our chin’s up, and just keep on, keeping on.

Yesterday we signed the papers to put our hobby farm back on the market. Through this, Julia wrote, and wanted to share it here. I’m not going to bother editing it, or changing it, this is just as she wrote it.

And today, I have a choice. I can listen to the negative, or I can follow Julia’s leading, and remain positive.
Julia is a smart girl. I’m going to follow her example, and like her, ignore the negativities that may come my way, put my nose to the grindstone, get the work done and believe that through it all, we are going to do this!

I mean really, who could argue with this face?

Tuesday morning we awoke way too early considering we hadn’t fallen asleep until almost 1am. It was just 5:20am, and time to hit the shower before checking out of our hotel. We had spent three nights in Saskatoon, hunting down our dream property, and now it was time to start making the trip back home.

First, we would be making the drive one last time, to meet the realtor at the property we had decided we liked best.

The largest property of them all, with the lake right next door.

The fixer upper.

I wanted to take some video for the kids. They needed to see this too. They needed to know what was ahead of us if we made the decision to try for this move, this dream, once more.

This would be it. Our final try at our goal of having a ‘real’ farm.

We wandered the property one more time, and took a second look at the issues that would be needing the most work, and would be the largest expense. We discussed things some more with the realtor, and stood around in the kitchen and chatted with the present owners as well.

It was good to get a second look.

We wanted to know if we’d feel excitement, or dread, going back to the property a second time.

We felt excitement.

After the viewing, we drove around the area for a bit. We really didn’t have time for this, but we felt we needed to get at least a small ‘feel’ for what the surrounding area was like. We drove around and checked out the nearest neighbours, the town, etc. before heading on our way. We needed to get to Calgary, Alberta that night, and that was going to be another very long drive, and a long day.

We made it to Kindersley, Saskatchewan in time for a late lunch.

We soon left Saskatchewan, and were into Alberta.

It was time to leave the dream behind, for now, and think about all that lay ahead of us.

We drove straight through to the hotel in Calgary, Alberta, arriving at the worst hotel we had stayed at during our entire trip!

We were too tired to care, too much…
I wondered if I’d be able to sleep. It smelled as though they spent their days wandering the halls spraying cans of air freshner all day and night! The place was a little dilapidated as well. I was not impressed. We had tried to stick with inexpensive, yet decent hotels once we had left the West Edmonton Mall, but the hotel in Saskatoon had been much nicer then this one. I dreaded the following night as well, as the hotel we’d be staying at the next night, the last night of our trip, was from the same chain as this current hotel.

Despite the ‘atmosphere’, we actually slept pretty well and for the first time in days, we slept through the night. The room had an air conditioner which I had set on ‘fan’ to drown out any noises, and this seemed to help. We woke up at 7am and were checked out by 7:30 and on our way to British Columbia. I couldn’t get out of that hotel, and the over powering air freshner smell, quick enough!

We hit the road again!

This had been one part of the drive I was most looking forward to. Driving through the Rockies was something I had loved since I was a child and my parents would to take us camping in Banff and Jasper Alberta.

I knew we wouldn’t have time to stop very often, but I did have VERY high hopes for some quick photo opportunities along the way. We had gotten a glimpse of the foothills the night before as we arrived in Calgary, and I was very excited to see more!

The closer we got to the mountains, the more excited I became.

I imagined all sorts of photographs of gorgeous mountain peaks towering amongst blue skies.

I had been imagining this since my husband first asked if I would be interested in making the drive back home with him!

However, this leg of the drive was sorely disappointing. It snowed the entire time, and the weather was so thick we could barely see way out in front of us, let along the majestic mountain peaks we knew were hiding amongst this ‘fog’.

I also had imagined all the wild life we would see. I had made this drive MANY times throughout my life and every.single.time. I had been impressed by the wild life we saw but this was the very first time I’d be making this drive with a good camera.

Again, big disappointment. We didn’t see a single animal. I saw some tracks in the snow along the way, but that was it. I tried to make the most of it and snapped some photos of a few views we saw along the way.

We stopped at an interesting looking restaurant, the Golden Grizzly Cookhouse, just inside BC, for lunch around noon.

And then we hit the road again.

This was a very familiar site as we drove.

We were going through the Avalanche Area.

Our day was only half over so far, we still had quite a drive ahead of us.

I learned later that night on the discovery channel, that they actually have a very small army base in this area who’s sole purpose is to shoot ‘canons’ (that may be the wrong term, hee hee) at avalanche areas right through here, Rogers Pass, to keep the avalanche’s from occurring on their own, without warning. I thought it was pretty neat to have just driven through the pass and then just happen to see this on tv right afterwards! I had literally turned the tv on for a few moments to see if I could find out about the next day’s weather, and Rogers Pass happened to be on Daily Planet. What a coincidence!

~~~

Some of you have emailed me asking what happened, how the story ends??

I feel I should add a bit of a disclaimer here so you’re not all left hanging as I go through the rest of our trip here on the blog over the next few days.

During the time since we first discussed with the realtors in Saskatchewan that we were interested in the one property for sure, the largest one we viewed, they suggested we put in a conditional offer to get our ‘foot in the door’.

We thought about it, hard, and discussed it, but we’ve been down this road before as anyone who’s been following our blog, or is a part of our lives, knows.

We decided against it, and decided we’d have to leave Saskatchewan without putting in an offer.

Instead, we would head back home, and get our present hobby farm on the market as quick as possible and hope for a sale, in time to put in an offer on the property we had fallen in love with.

We know this is a ‘gamble’.

But we’ve been down this road before. For the past several years in fact. Always wondering what’s holding things up, yet at the same time, truly appreciating the time we have had on this beautiful Island on the West Coast of Canada.

We do not, and have not, take our time here for granted. We love the ocean, we love the mountains, the beauty, the wildlife, and the sometimes very mild winters that surround us here.

We also love that we have family near by. My parents, and my sister & her husband, are also here on the Island and this makes the desire to move to farmland ‘bittersweet’, and more difficult.

However, our family has a dream, we have had this dream for many years now. My husband and I have had this dream from the beginning, since we first were married over 20 years ago, but at that time we never dared to even think that one day our dream could become a reality. We have both loved the country, farmland, homesteading, and all it has to offer, since our childhood years.

As time has gone on, and our children have all expressed the same desire for the same dream (lots of land, small scale farming, horses, etc.) we realized maybe this is a dream worth pursuing. We tried to pursue the dream here, however, land is very expensive here. The only way we were ever able to buy our 5 acre hobby farm was due to an incredible jump in  housing prices on our previous home, in a small nearby city, and happening across this dilapidated, junk ridden, 5 acre property that no one else wanted. No one else wanted to do the work it required. We gave up a 5 bedroom, over 3000 square foot home on a large city lot, and traded it for a 2 bedroom fixer upper on 5 acres.

This, afforded us the opportunity to jump into a small acreage. There was no other way.

This also gave us a small taste of country living, and we love it. All of us.

We want more.

MUCH more.

To get it, we know that once again we will have to jump into something needing work, and it will have to be away from the Island. This is something we’ve had to think over very seriously, all seven of us.

But we feel it’s worth it, so we’re going to give it a try. Again.

We truly appreciate the loving support so many of you have given us through it all!

We went back to the hotel that evening after having viewed the four properties, with the promise that our realtors would look up any new listings that had come up in the meantime.

Later that evening they sent us 4 or 5 other listings. Unfortunately, at least three of them had been properties we previously had on our list at home and had decided against for one reason or another.

Two were new listings we had not seen before, and we pondered them over night.

Early the next morning we called our realtors to discuss viewing the two we pondered. We shared some concerns we had and they promised to find out more information, and call about getting us in for some viewings.

In the meantime, we decided to go for a drive and check out a bit of Saskatoon. We needed to stop by the nearest mall at the tech store, and when we walked in I was pleasantly surprised to see great big ads for MOMpreneur! Gotta love a city that promotes entrepreneurial moms!

Then we stopped by a car wash as the truck sure needed one after all the driving we had been doing on snowy/slushy/dirty/salty roads!

While washing the truck, we received a call from our realtors, and through some talking we decided the other two properties were not right for us and that it was too late in the day by this time to expect anyone to get ready for a house viewing that day. We decided instead we would go and view the large property that needed work, again, first thing early the next morning before we left the area. I wanted to get some video of the property, and the area, for the kids to see when we got back home.

Then, we went out for lunch and discussed some things. We talked about the property, what we liked best, the full section of land… and we talked about the work, lots of work, that it entailed.

If anyone thinks we take lightly what we are getting ourselves into, think again.

We’ve been through a fixer upper before. The good part about that, is we know what we’re getting ourselves into if we go this route again.

The bad part about this is we know what we’re getting ourselves into if we go this route again.

Believe me. We know.

For those who are new to our blog, let me share a few before and after’s of our current hobby farm.

Our house before:

And after:

Our cabin before (and this isn’t a true before photo as we had already replaced the windows and some of the roof, the sides, AND taken the extended bathroom OFF the roof. Why anyone would build a bathroom out onto a roof is beyond me, but the previous owner was quite proud of his creativity, so who am I to judge? ha!):

Our cabin/workshop, after:

Front view:

Barn before:

Barn after:

View of the property before, but after we had already removed TWO large bins of steel and THREE large bins of garbage. I’m talking the HUGE industrial bins here, not garbage ‘cans’. Ha ha! There was SO MUCH junk left behind it was almost unbelievable!

View of the property after:

So… as one can see, we really do know what we’re up against.

And we don’t take this lightly, we take it very seriously.

Over lunch we had quite a serious discussion about whether we even want to go through all of this, all over again.

Are we crazy to even consider it?

We discussed everything. The work, the cost, the time.

Was this REALLY what we wanted?

Were we REALLY in agreement about it all? We both had to make sure we were BOTH up for this. We also had to know our KIDS were all up for this. They too know the work, the cost, and the time involved in such a huge project.

We had to be sure everyone was on the same page. If we were going to do this, it wasn’t just for us, it was for everyone, and everyone had to want it.

A project like this isn’t one you take on without forethought. LOTS of forethought. And, with the knowledge that you can’t do it alone. It’s either one for all, and all for one, or there’s no sense even considering it.

These were the decisions we had to make as we pondered the property we were quickly falling in love with.

After our time of conversation and leisurely lunch, we headed back to our vehicles and hit the road.

The next property we would view would be the furthest out (50 minutes from the large town/city we were in), but also had the most land. We had been anxious to view this one for weeks. Over a full section of land, PLUS an indoor riding ring. Our children were most excited about this one as well.

Our realtors warned us after viewing the previous home, which was done up so very nicely and showed extremely well, that this next home would be nothing like the last one.

Hmmmm… how did that not surprise us?

I joked that with all that land, it’d have to be pretty much unlivable for us to dismiss it completely… we like land.

This is the driveway. All that land along the left side, belongs to this property. On the right side?

A lake.

A LAKE!

Have I mentioned I love water?

See in the far distance, just beyond the trees? That’s a house near the center, and on the right, is the riding ring.

I’d show you the lake, but it’s all covered in snow, so like us, you’ll have to use your wonderful imagination.

See? Riding ring, and, a horse. Stick a horse in a photo of any property, and the property becomes that much better.

I’m not going to share anymore photos at this point, since I don’t feel comfortable sharing a bunch of photos of someone else’s home on my blog, but suffice it to say, yes, the house, and every building on the property, except for the riding ring, needs work. And the riding ring needs to be completely cleaned out. The horses, all ten of them, have been using it as their barn/litter box. Hee hee. Horses tend to do that when given free reign. They like to poop everywhere.

I bet you thought horses were above that didn’t you? Bet you thought they were all graceful, clean, and dignified?

Ah well, nothing a small tractor and some work couldn’t take care of.

We’re good at looking past the ‘crap’. Quite literally this time. Hee hee.

So the house was ‘ok’. The upstairs is really quite fine. The square footage of the entire home is larger then what we have now. We have aprox. 1200 square feet, the house on this property is over 1300 square feet, plus a full basement. The basement however, is not livable. It’s not been taken care of, it has to be gutted and redone. There’s no getting around it. Because of the large amounts of water last year in Saskatchewan, the basement flooded. Flooding is not the usual, but because it could happen again, drainage needs to be put in around the entire home and the basement will need to be fixed up so that it won’t happen again.

Big expense. Large amount of work. Lot’s to consider.

The next, and final property we would be viewing that day was a quarter section, like the first two.

The land was nice, but again, this farm raised cattle and although there were outbuildings and some fencing, they were not really suitable for horses.

The home was nice, well taken care of.

The kitchen was HUGE. TONS of cupboards. Always a plus.

The home would have to be completely updated, as every square inch was just as it would have been built, same floor coverings, etc.. The home had been loved, but definitely lived in. The long shag carpet would all need to be replaced. The basement, although MUCH better then the previously viewed home, had a very large cistern that took over almost half the space.

Again, lots to consider.

After the final viewing, our realtors took us on a bit of a tour through the same town/city in which we had lunch.

Then we stopped at Tim Hortons for a cup of coffee, and to chat about all we had seen that day.

They promised to see if anymore listings had come up since we had arrived in Saskatchewan, and get back to us that evening.

We would be in Saskatoon for just two more nights, just one day, and would need to view things quickly if we were to see anything else before we left.

We stayed in Saskatoon for 3 nights. We arrived in time for a late dinner on Saturday night, so we just ordered pizza and rested up from the drive.

Sunday morning we woke up at 7:45am so we could meet with the realtors by 10:00. We had a bit of a drive ahead of us and didn’t want to be late.

The plan was to view four farms.

We had begun with a list of about 20! Our price range is tight, nothing over 250-300,000.00.
If we make this move, it’s to find a simpler  lifestyle. Not one with more debt, but instead a lifestyle that would allow us to give our children a good head start as they move into the next phase of their lives. Yes, there are farms in our local area, but the price differences are exorbitant! A 26 acre property with a custom built home here in our area is  over 1.4 million.

That same property in the area we are looking now would be 400,000.00, with the newly built custom home. Yet, if you are willing to put in some elbow grease, you can find much more land for MUCH less. That’s our goal. To buy as much land as possible, with a ‘livable’ home, within our budget. We have our list of must have’s on the property, we know what we’re up against if we choose a fixer upper, yet again, and we’re ok with that. We are willing to do the work.

We have a list of criteria the property we choose has to meet with points on it such as:

-livable house
-lots of land
-fencing for our horses
-shelter for our horses
-good water on the property
-good area with good economic growth
-must be a private property, yet still within easy commuting distance to nearest hospital, fire, etc.

I feel like I’m forgetting some things, but you get the idea of what we’re looking for.

We have tried to find all of the above here in our area, within our price range, and it’s just not been possible. Not with as much land as we would like to have. We’ve had people question why ‘so much’ land then, and there’s no easy way to answer it. It’s our dream, our desire, we know others might never understand, and that’s ok.

The first property we looked at was a true fixer upper. A little more work then we desire, for the return in value.

The old barn, while beautiful, would need to be almost completely redone. The place was not really suited for horses, but rather cattle, as is the case with a lot of these old farms. The home had not been lived in for quite some time, and it showed. The land was 160 acres, and although that may seem like a lot, we know through our research, that the price was too high for what the whole package had to offer. Although this property was priced below our budget, after all the work was done, we would have exceeded that budget. We didn’t “love” the property, so it was onto the next one.

The next property was the same size, the price was at the top of our budget, but the house showed VERY well. It was beautifully renovated on the inside. The outside was quite plain, but fine. There was no fencing, which would mean thousands of dollars. The land had also been used for crops, so it would need to be reseeded for horses. More money.

The barn was alright, needed a little tlc, but again, no fencing so we would not be able to easily use it for the horses. Work would need to be done before we could even move in. An expense we don’t care to be rushed into for a property at the top of our budget.

However, the inside really was impeccably done, and I can see how one would be very tempted by all the ‘prettiness’. It was all just our style too, some modern, with a bunch of antique thrown in. Just lovely! It was a little sad to walk away from it all, knowing in our hearts that what we buy, will most likely not look anything like that, at least not until WE are finished with it.

The property was also just 160 acres, a quarter section, as large as that may seem, for the top of our price range, and the lack of fencing etc., we just didn’t fall in love with it.

After the first two properties, we stopped to take a break at the nearest larger ‘town’. It was really nice! Our realtors took us out for a buffet lunch at a local restaurant. This worked out perfectly as it gave us a chance to ask lots of questions about the local area, the economy, etc. etc.. Both husband and wife had grown up on farms in the area, and had remained their entire lives. Who better to ask all our questions?!

We discussed real-estate, the economy in Saskatchewan, children, fishing, hunting, raising animals, and just about anything else you could think of.

We walked away from lunch feeling much more knowledgeable about the entire area and excited to continue our search for ‘our’ farm.

We had decided ahead of time that we’d not only make this a farm/house hunting trip, but also a bit of a second ‘honeymoon’. We never really had a true first honeymoon, as we had made the move across country from British Columbia to Ontario right after our wedding 20 years ago. This would be a similar trip, yet this time we’d take our time, a little, and we wouldn’t be travelling as far.

It had been a long winter. Hubby had been away almost three months, with just one week home during that time. It was time to be together, to continue on in the search of our future dreams, our goals.

We remained in Edmonton, at the West Edmonton Mall, for two nights.

We spent time relaxing, enjoying one another’s company, and we even spent some time visiting with family that I hadn’t seen in over twenty years.

It was a very nice time.

The next day we headed to Saskatoon.

We saw some very interesting sights along the way.

Some bison. We would love to raise a couple one day, but would need to learn a lot more about them first. Do they need to be in large herds, or like cows, can they be in pairs, etc.? Lots to learn about all aspects of farming.

One day at a time. We’re not looking to become full fledged farmers, just looking to become some what self sustaining. Some land, some gardens, some animals. It’s all part of the dream.

But first, we need a farm/house/land!

We were impressed by the wooly coats of all the horses we saw. They have lots of room to roam in Saskatchewan!

Lots of old farm houses, and barns. Some of my favorite things to photograph. However, all these photos had to be taken through the truck window, so… not my best. One day I shall roam the country side with lots of time on my hand, and lots of time to stop at each one.

Grain elevators were a common site of course.

Although the new modern style of grain elevators don’t ‘tickle my fancy’ quite as much as the old style. Although I realize modernization is a necessity.

And 7 or 8 hours later, we arrived in Saskatoon!

We had plans to meet up the following day, Sunday, with two realtors, a husband and wife team.

At that point, our house/land/farm hunting would truly begin.

A few weeks ago, my husband learned that the job he was on at the oil fields would be coming to an end earlier then expected. Spring break up was upon them, as things were melting and the ground was getting soft.

Since he had his truck in Alberta, this meant he needed to get it home.

He came up with the brilliant idea to have me fly out to meet him, and drive back home with him! However, rather then just drive straight home, why not turn the opportunity into a prospecting trip. A chance for us to look at farms, together. Our only opportunity since we first dreamed of buying a large farm over 5 years earlier.

How could I say no? We had been wanting this opportunity for SO long, as anyone who has been reading the blog knows. We had actually given up hope on ever having an opportunity to even buy a large farm, last summer, when we took our hobby farm back off the market. However, with Graydon being away from home working, and life changing so much over this past winter, we decided maybe it had been a mistake to give up on that dream. Maybe it was time to pursue this desire to have a large farm once again. Maybe we were never meant to give up on the dream in the first place.

It was time to find out! The doors of opportunity seemed to be upon us, and we were not going to allow them to shut without at least trying to walk through them first. We need to know if there is still hope, before it’s too late. Our children are not getting any younger, and neither are we. It felt like, and still feels like, it’s kind of now, or never.

Of course, this was all easier said then done! I was REALLY nervous at first, every fear a mother could have sprouted up inside me.

Then, the Tsunami hit Japan and I started thinking all kinds of crazy things. We live on an Island about the size of Japan, across the Pacific ocean from Japan. There were Tsunami warnings on the other side of the Island and I just kept thinking, “How can I even consider leaving my children at a crazy time like this?!”

I can be a bit of a worry wort at times.

(just a bit though!)

I do believe my fears had some merit, but having been a mother almost 20 years, and having my fears never proven to be founded, I had to get over myself this time. I needed to realize this was a huge blessing, not something to fear. Fear can be a dangerous thing if we allow it to control what we do and I’ve struggled with fears all my life! I wasn’t about to allow fear to ruin this awesome opportunity! I had to get a hold of myself.

So, on with the planning! We needed to make sure the children would all be taken care of. I had never left all five of them for more then a couple of days before! However, things worked out just fine. The younger three spent the week at my parents and the older two held down the homestead with the help of a friend.

Then I needed to make sure business was all taken care of. Lots of overtime hours, some organizing, and things were taken care of as best as possible on such short notice.

Then to book a flight, plan the trip as inexpensively as possible while still allowing for some fun and adventure, and organize viewing the properties. Hubby took care of that part on his end and connected with the realtors.

Everything was set.

Last week early Thursday morning I boarded a little plane to head off the Island, to Vancouver.

It was exciting! The first time I have traveled without children in over 19.5 years! My first time traveling alone since I was just 18 years old. Twenty two years ago! Before children, before I even met my husband. I had felt very nervous about it all at first, overwhelmed even, however, the more I thought about it and talked myself out of my own fears, the more excited I became.

I’ve always loved flying. When I was just 16 or so, a friends father took me out to lunch to a neighboring small airport. He and I both loved planes, so we walked around looking at all the different ones we saw there. We were watching one pilot practice his take off and landing. At one point, he landed his small plane and came over to us to ask if we would like to go up for a ride in his four seater?! Would we ever!!

When we were up in the air, he allowed me to take over and fly the plane! What an exhilarating experience I will never forget. I flew it over my parents house, the ocean, and the beach, before giving back the ‘reigns’ so he could land the plane.

I was very sad to find out my friends father died years ago, but I’ll never forget him, or the once in a lifetime opportunity I had to fly a plane because he went out of his way to listen to what I enjoyed and share his own love of planes with me.

And now, back to last week’s adventures.

When I was awaiting the first flight, I realized I had no gate number on my ticket for the connecting flight. I felt a little flutter of panic, realizing I had NO idea where I would need to go once I made it to Vancouver. A young couple was sitting nearby and I wondered if they might also be connecting to Edmonton and felt a nudging to ask them. I got up the courage to lean over and ask, but they were not. They were just going to Vancouver. However, the young man asked me why I was asking. I wondered at his question, but told him I was catching a connecting flight to Edmonton but my ticket was blank next to the gate number. He glanced at my ticket, pulled out his iphone, typed for a second, and let me know I was to board at gate 27 and proceeded to explain exactly where I would find gate 27 once we arrived in Vancouver!

I thanked him ever so much for his help! Then I marveled at our technology today, and the help of a stranger.

Once we landed in Vancouver, I found gate 27 with no problems. It was right where the kind stranger said it was.
My flight was delayed by about 45 minutes but that gave me time to wander a bit and explore the airport. I checked out the bookstore and a new release I have been wanting, but opted not to buy it there for $32.99 plus tax (yikes!). I’d have to go without reading this week. Ha ha!

I heard on the radio that the Vancouver International Airport had been chosen as the best airport in all of North America. I could see why! The bathrooms alone were so spectacular, I had to snap a photo with my phone!

While I waited for my connecting flight, a Tim Hortons coffee to go was a must have.

I sat and watched them load our luggage onto our plane.

The flight was uneventful. The weather is almost always beautiful above the clouds.
Blue skies and white layers of fluff.

I chatted a bit with the passenger next to me and we discussed camera’s and the Island. She too was travelling to Edmonton from Vancouver Island.

The Rockies were beautiful, as always, in all their glory.
I was almost there and was feeling so VERY excited!

Our grand adventure was about to begin. Over the course of the next 7 days, Graydon and I would travel thousands of miles, together.
We would view many farms, and discuss many dreams and possibilities, all with the hope that maybe, just maybe, this time we would find our forever home. Our family farm. Our ‘real’ homestead.