The Grand Tour!

You asked for it, so here it comes! The grand tour of our new estate!!!

We'll begin outside, taking you through every inch of the lush, green acreage that we call "home". To make your tour more comfortable, we've provided you with three of your very own tour guides and a cushy, all-terrain vehicle to ride in.


We'll begin our tour here, in the driveway. This gravel path leads from the electronic gate at the main entrance to the property, through the towering trees, to the carport, house and guest house. We have no idea what this road will be like to drive on in the snow and ice this winter. I'm sure you'll be hearing about it...


As you first enter the grounds, if you take a sharp right turn, a trail will take you up a hill and to a place we like to call, "Capitol Ave."


We call this "Capitol Ave." simply because if you squint tightly, on a very clear day, and stare off into the distance long enough, you might catch a glimpse of the state capitol dome. Very impressive, I know.


From Capitol Ave., we head down the hill to what we call "Machinery Way". The previous owner bought this property from an aged farmer, who left all kinds of old, antique farm equipment behind. "Machinery Way" is where you can spot some of these old treasures:

As we drive through the grounds, most of what you will see is tall, green and leafy:








with maybe a touch of color...




If you stay sharp, you might also spot various forms of wildlife while on our tour:






Several rows of planted pines can be spotted throughout the grounds as well:



And if you need a quiet place to pause and reflect, you can find plenty of places to do so as well.


About halfway between the main entrance and the house, we have the massive fire pit. This enormous rock pit is great for roasting marshmallows, hot dogs, and anything else the kids want to throw in:


In the middle of the property is the lake:




Don't ask me how deep it is. I'm sure I don't know. The lake is great for catching bass, and dodging snapping turtles. This is what happens when someone forgets to tie the boats to the dock:

The lake is man-made, which means it has a dam:



Just beyond the dam is what we call "Scenic Drive:


On a little further, we come to the thriving "vineyard":

One of my personal favorite spots on the property is "pine street":

And finally, "the orchard". (This is where I dream of planting rows & rows of fruit trees someday.)

As you can imagine, we could spend hours exploring every hidden corner of the 42-acre property, but we won't. Instead, we'll proceed on to the living quarters of the estate.

The first building you see, as you reach the end of the drive, is the guest house.





This pre-civil war cabin was disassembled and moved to its current location, where it was re-built on a solid foundation and equipped with plumbing and electricity. The original house was much smaller, and consisted of one room stacked on top of the other. The bathrooms and staircases were not part of the original structure.




The basement of the guest house is equipped with a full kitchen, and garage. This is where we store all of Justin's high-tech "farm equipment".



Across the driveway from the guest house, we find the carport:

Past the carport, and in front of the main house is this charming little koi pond:



There are no koi fish in our koi pond. Instead, Justin has placed his biggest and best bass from the big lake in this little pond and the kids find great pleasure in hand-feeding our pet fish live toads and "baby fishies".

Not far from the koi pond is the "dinner bell". This usually works, unless Justin is running his new, high-tech, professional, very LOUD lawnmower. Then it doesn't do a thing.


When we took possession of our new property, we weren't quite sure what the previous owners would leave behind. Imagine my glee when we walked into the living room and saw that they had kindly left this beauty hanging above the fireplace:

I promptly moved the hairy beast down to the storage room under the house.

Speaking of the underground storage room, that is also where you will find the boxes and boxes of belongings that we just don't have room for in our new home:

Outside the basement storage room is where you'll find our family's favorite place to bathe:

Above the basement storage room is the patio. If you are ever invited to our house for dinner, you will likely find yourself sitting here, overlooking the lake, munching on a delicious frankfurter, hot off the grill.



From the porch, we enter the main house:




The first room we will visit is the kitchen. When we first moved in, this room was covered with two different floral wallpapers. The kids and I promptly remedied that problem. Now, you just have to really like the color green when you come to our house:


From the kitchen, we can see the living room, and pretty much the rest of the house:


Adjacent to the living room is the laundry room, bathroom and master bedroom. (It's impossible to get any decent pictures inside any of these rooms. Trust me. I tried. They're way too tiny.)

At the far end of the living room is the screened porch:

And the "stairs" (I know, I know, more like "ladder"):


Up the stairs, we find the cozy quarters of all four children. I know, I get claustrophobic every time I go in here, but the kids don't seem to mind at all.


As you can see, Justin has forbidden me to touch the wallpaper in the kids' bathroom. He says it's "trademark". Whatever that means...

And this is where we will conclude our tour. Thank you so much for joining us! Sure, there's plenty more to see, and you can certainly see it as soon as you decide to come and visit us in person! See you then!!!

P.S. Yes, that is my 7-year-old driving the "Mule". You can tell by the look on his face just how he feels about his new "chore".