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A few years ago, Mike and I were debating whether we should move to the suburbs. Currently, we live in a two bedroom apartment in Manhattan. It's actually not that small by NYC standards but it's certainly small by any other city's standards.

Except maybe Tokyo. But that's just a guess.

Mike thought it would be nice to have a kitchen that two people could fit in at once. I thought it would be nice not to eventually share a wall with two teenage girls.

But we both love the convenience of the city (and the culture blah blah blah) and can't imagine leaving. 

So, instead of looking for a house in the 'burbs, we decided to look for a bigger apartment.

Unfortunately, it seems the price of buying a third bedroom in Manhattan is basically the same as buying a WHOLE OTHER HOUSE.

NOTE: I'm not saying a three bedroom apartment is the same price as a house. I'm saying THE THIRD BEDROOM is the same price as a house. Maybe not the same as buying a mansion in Scarsdale. But the same as buying a more modest house a couple hours from the city.

(Yes, New York City is ridiculous. I am aware.)

Mike and I decided in an ideal world, we'd stay in our current apartment and buy a summer house to give the kids a yard and spread out a bit on the weekends.

For a few years, we had fun looking online for imaginary summer houses. I even created a Pinterest board called "My Imaginary Summer House" in which I decorated a space I did not have. (FYI- It's gorgeous. I am a master decorator on Pinterest. I also don't have a budget there. Or children, which explains all the white.)

I swear, I never thought we were ACTUALLY going to buy a summer house, but earlier this year, Mike and I found a piece of property we fell in love with.

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I say "property" because the house itself is not exactly what we were looking for… it's eighties modern with a bad paint job and a hideous deck… but it's situated on a beautiful piece of land with a picturesque creek out back.

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It was the sun porch that won us over. It's angled into the backyard so that it really feels like the creek is wrapping aorund the house.

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Also, the layout of the house is awesome. It's three bedrooms with the master separated from the other two by a LOOOOONG hallway. I can't tell you how big a selling point this was for me.

Miracle of miracles, it was priced right.

As of February of this year, we are now the proud owners of a very expensive storage unit in Eastern Long Island. I'm imagining it won't always be a storage unit, but for the time being, while it is sitting furniture-less with a bunch of unopened boxes inside, it certainly feels like it.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we packed up the kids and slept in our new house for the very first time.

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Mike thought we would never be able to get the house ready for the summer unless we stayed there. I thought he was grossly underestimating how hellish it would be to wake up in a house with two small children and no furniture. 

Turns out, I was wrong. The kids loved every second of it.

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We didn't even need to buy a house. Mazzy and Harlow would have been happy just to run around the yard and sleep under a tree.

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Even though the house has three bedrooms, we are keeping the girls in one room so we can make the third bedroom a guest room. Since Mazzy and Harlow share a room at home, they don't seem to mind or know the difference. The guest room and their room is joined by a bathroom and they must have spent a good hour running in circles (Mazzy heading one way and Harlow heading the opposite) and then screaming when they met in the middle.

It was awesome.

Another moment I loved? 

Mike and I sitting at our kitchen table/bridge table sipping coffee while Mazzy and Harlow played in the other room.

THE OTHER ROOM. 

Oh my god, I have not experienced being childless in my kitchen before 7:30pm in four years.

I have tons more thoughts to share with you about our house (the terrifying nature of having a staircase for the first time, how sexy Mike looks when he is putting up a fence by himself, the fact that the ice cream truck drives down our street at the precise moment I put the children to bed, how to baby proof a CREEK) as well as interior shots, but I'll save them for another time.

If all goes as planned, I'll be talking about this house for the rest of my life.

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