The Sunday Sale: Too Honest for a Bidding War?

With the decision made to head back to the Pacific Northwest, we had to move fast. One Sunday morning, I pounded a "For Sale By Owner" sign into our front yard. Exactly ten minutes later, I jumped into the car and drove straight to the San Francisco International Airport to catch my flight to Seattle so I could start prepping for our return.

The flight was quick, and the moment I stepped off the airplane in Seattle, I headed straight for a payphone to call Georgia and let her know I had landed safely.

She picked up the phone, absolutely electric with excitement. It turned out she wasn't excited because I had landed safely—she was excited because the house had been on the market for less than two hours and she already had three competing offers to buy it! She was completely overwhelmed and didn't know what to do next.

Cousins To The Rescue

Throughout the years, we always spent our vacations keeping in close touch with our best friends and cousins, Richie and Sonia Horvath, who lived back in New Jersey. We called ourselves the "Cousins Four"—a bond that only grew richer as both of our families expanded. At the time, they had two children, Christian and Jeanice, who were remarkably close in age to our own kids, Michele and Scott. We loved them dearly; we weren't just relatives, we were one big, inseparable family within the larger Horvath clan.

When Rich and Sonia heard the news that we were packing up to head back to Seattle, they didn't just send their best wishes—they decided to fly all the way out to San Francisco to roll up their sleeves and help us move.

But they did so much more than just help us pack boxes. They transformed what could have been a grueling drive up to Seattle for our little family into a fantastic, full-blown vacation for all eight of us. Before we even hit the road, we spent a few wonderful days playing tourist in San Francisco, soaking in the iconic sights, diving into great food, and watching the four young cousins laugh, play, and deeply bond together.

Wagon Ho!

Richie and I drove the station wagon, with all four kids, pulling the boat, and the girls drove my Datsun sports car.  

Redwood Forest

Big trees, little people.

Lake Shasta 

Walking the beach

We spent most of the day on the water skiing and just having fun. Then w drove to a motel in town for dinner and the eavening.