Perfect Timing...NOT

You know what they say about investments - well, besides, “Oh, crap!” Seriously though, something like “Timing is everything” or “Buy low and sell high” may come to mind. In real estate, “location, location, location” is paramount. In the case of our home, a phrase from Get Smart is appropriate...“Missed it by that much.” The house is only 50' from the Eugene School District boundary where we ultimately wanted our kids to attend. With Trevor approaching high school (can that be...) and Hannah starting middle school (what?), it was time to earnestly explore options, the best (and really, the only) being to move into the Eugene School District boundary. With the kids' private school only an option through eighth grade and an already shaky real estate market, the timing seemed right to begin the moving process early in 2008. Projects began at a fevered pitch in the Spring to prepare the house for listing, including finishing the 900 sq.ft. walkout basement. We managed to “Get 'er done” just in time for the bottom to drop out of the market. Yep, if you were looking for the root cause, this might have been the listing that broke Fannie's back. Or was it Freddie's...So now, we continue to wait for that elusive buyer.

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Trev's Tracks

With Trevor's move from a middle school with 80 students to one with over 600, it took a little bit of getting used to and has had its ups and downs. It also meant switching to a rival Ultimate Frisbee team! Unfortunately his new team lost all but one match to his former team in the Fall Series, but it was fun anyway. Sailing (and racing) our boat with Dad continued to be a lot of fun for Trevor over the summer. Trevor enjoys the speed and hopes to learn how to sail a boat on his own next Summer. Lacrosse also interests Trevor, and he likes to experiment with his lacrosse stick by stringing it and restringing it and restringing it. He recently decked out his new stick with a custom strung pocket and his future high school colors. Trevor looks forward to Spring so he can play and watch lacrosse to prepare for the high school team. Finally, Trevor did Crux rock climbing camp again last summer and got to join the advanced, older group which did much more climbing on Skinner Bu...

Sailing in the Nude?

In May, Mike sailed in the NOOD (not nude, however) for the first time. Oh, that's the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design. The Seattle event provided three days of racing in Puget Sound for over 200 boats in 24 classes. Whew! In addition, the Santana 20 Class Championships were hosted by the Eugene Yacht Club over the summer. The Santanarama 2008 was great week of fun and competitive racing. Mike's frightful-looking boat finished 6 th out of 39. Apparently, ugly is fast. On a smaller scale, but no less enjoyable, Mike loves racing our 14' Lido with Trevor. They make a pretty good team and managed to take 2 nd and 3 rd place in the Summer and Fall Wednesday Night Series respectively. Trevor was recognized as the “Junior All-Star” in the Lido fleet . After Trevor masters the Zuma, Mike hopes he's ready to take the helm on the Lido.

A Sailing Adventure

No, it's nothing close to the Barcelona World Race (as those sailors spend Christmas in the Southern Ocean). Heck, this wasn't even a race. But it was an adventure. Perhaps inspired by the story of Grandpa Herc sleeping on the Flying Dutchman on Cayuga Lake , Trevor became interested in his own nautical adventure last year. With the realization that Mr. T would become a teenager at the end of the summer, Mike was determined to share the experience with Trevor before another summer slipped by. The plan was modest. They would simply spend the night sleeping on the Lido on Fern Ridge Lake and meet up with the rest of the family the next day for a picnic. The two adventures pushed off from the dock in the early evening. The north wind was fairly strong and refused to die as the sun went down . We found shelter in the lee of a small island and prepared the boat for the night . Although it took a while for the wind to die and the boat to stop rocking, Trevor and Mike mana...

Merrifield Times

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