Amish buy in bulk too.

why not...

...get a piece of the stimulus package? How are we going to do this? We have a contract on a house. We weren't sure whether or not we would buy or live on base here, but the wait to get on base was just as long as getting into a house-so we thought with the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers this was a good time to take the plunge. With our budget in Delaware it was either a house in a development (NOT ideal) or an older house in an established neighborhood.

After a week of hard core house hunting we concluded that we were not willing to completely renovate a kitchen and deal with oil heating. That only left a development. We found a brand new home ready for quick delivery and it already has a lot of the landscaping done. It is a smaller lot, but the development is nice and we were able to get some nice upgrades for the house. We even got to pick out the tile and grout colors. Plus we know this house isn't going to be ours for forever so it's okay that we don't love everything. The closing date is on August 31. This means we still have another month in a hotel (we have already been in them for more than 2 weeks). Here's a few shots of the house for our family who has been asking about it. Hopefully everything works out well so we will finally have a place to call home (which we be great since we have been "in transition" since the end of January).

The lighting makes the house look light yellow, but it is actually white with dark, dark green shutters and door.

just peachy

Wyoming, DE a little town just south of Dover had a peach festival last weekend. The festival downtown had the normal arts and crafts, food, and booths. There is only one working peach orchard in the town any more, but they put on a show. They give away peach ice cream cones all day, have a wagon tour of the farm, music, and all the fresh produce that you could want.

Ben and Rhone cooling off in the shade
Rhone enjoying his wagon tour. He still loves tractors!
Free peach ice cream cones. They were delicious!
Rhone enjoying a taste of peach ice cream.

Rehoboth Beach

Friday we decided to head to the beach for a much needed break from our hotel room and our recent real estate endeavors. Rehoboth beach has a board walk, shopping, and lots of other touristy things, but we just stuck to the beach for this trip. We were only there a few hours, but the drive wasn't bad and it was certainly worth the trip for the sun and the people watching. We even saw some dolphins swimming around. Next time I think we'll try out one of the beaches at the state parks because we hear they are less crowded. Come and visit and we'll take you to the beach!

Of course we had Rhone sun screened up and sitting on the beach towel under our umbrella, but of course Rhone loved, loved, loved the sand and did a face dive right into it. He didn't cry even with all that sand so close to his eyes. We ended up skipping the swim shirt since we didn't think the sand under it would feel very good.

Watching the waves- Rhone wasn't so sure about them.

Hanging out with Dad (notice they both have a farmer's tan)

Staying shaded up

We had sand everywhere.

I mean everywhere :)

Five Fun Facts

1. There are no sales tax in Delaware
2. Dover's claim to fame is that it is the capitol of the first state (Delaware is the first state).
3. Delaware is 1,954 square miles, Oneida county where I grew up is 1,202 square miles
4. The state flower of Delaware is the peach blossom
5. Dover is only 28 ft above sea level