Katie's Adventures December 28, 2015

New Girl in Town – Bellevue/Snowflake Lane

Hello again from Jennifer and Mike’s assistant, Katie. This month I took a trip to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. If you don’t already know, Bellevue is right across Lake Washington from Seattle. Snowflake lane is a performance put on in the middle of the street every night at 7pm on Bellevue Way. It is a holiday show where people dance in the middle of the street with Christmas music playing around them.

11559863753_4b44e84b3c_b

I started the night off by getting to Bellevue Square extra early to guarantee myself a parking spot and a good view of Snowflake Lane. I was there so early I went to grab dinner at Tavern Hall. Tavern Hall looks like an old English pub that has been updated and being that it is in Bellevue it’s updated nicely. It was a little busy that night because a group was having their holiday office party. However, they have this super cool waiting system. They use an app to tell them how long the wait is for each table. Then they text your phone when your table is ready. You can also download the app to check what your wait time is. After about 20 minutes I got seated and ordered the Cuban sandwich. It was super delicious and I would definitely go to this restaurant again. About 30 minutes before Snowflake Lane was about to start I found a spot right in front and waited.

Photo # 9781IMG142114

If you haven’t been to Snowflake Lane I suggest you should go at least once. However, it doesn’t seem necessary to go more than once unless you have kids that want to go. The whole production was definitely more focused on kids and their families. So it was something to see, but not something I would go to again. Also, being that I’m from Wisconsin, the whole experience would have been ten times better if there was snow.

Real EstateUncategorized December 16, 2015

December King County Market Update

Check out this months King County Market Update. Click to make the image bigger and check out our blog at the same time!

Dec 2015 Market Update

JenniferUncategorized December 15, 2015

Holiday Travel

Twas the week after Christmas and all through the house….not a creature was stirring, except one swimming mouse. Swimming mouse???  Ok, there was no mouse, but if there was he would have been swimming for his life!!  Here’s what happened.

download (2)Some clients of ours, Dave and Wendy, packed up their Christmas and 3 young boys, as they do each year, and headed for their cabin in Montana. They would enjoy cutting down their own tree behind the cabin, waiting for Santa to squeeze down their 3-story chimney on Christmas Eve, and frolic in the vast amounts of snow. As planned, the Christmas holiday went “swimmingly” well until they pulled into their driveway back in Kent, a week later, after a 9 hour drive across treacherous winter roads. The 3 kids peeled out of the car, all needing a bathroom break, grumpy, tired, and on Dad’s last nerve. As the kids piled out of the car, mom Wendy headed toward the door to start the great migration back into the house. As she turned the knob and went to step inside, the water came rolling out the door and down the steps. The entire one-story house held a few feet of standing water and the water was still running.  Thus began the $100,000 home restoration project.  The pipe in the wall had burst while they were away and the water had been running for several days.

So, what is the moral of the story?  Don’t go on vacation? Nope. Dave and Wendy would tell you that every time they go on vacation now, they turn the water off at the water shutoff in their closet. They open the tap in the sink and let the water in the lines run out so no pressure is left.

porchlight.jpgHere are some things your family can do while traveling for the holiday season. Personally, we have joined them in the vacation water shutoff protocol. In addition, we go online and have our mail held by the post office, leave our front porch lights on, leave our thermostat at 60 degrees, and let our neighbors know we will be gone so they can watch the house.

Cheers to a safe and dry holiday season!