Won't you be my neighbor??

We live on the first level of a duplex. Above us lives a family with two sons, maybe 10 and 12 years old. The previous tenant said that for the most part, they were good neighbors and that they loved living in this place. We lived in our Utah house for 4 years and we grew very accustomed to quiet living. Being here with neighbors upstairs has been a huge adjustment to say the least. The house is very old and hardwood floors throughout. We can hear our neighbors walking around, the boys running around, lots of laughing and even just speaking. We have tried to be more ok with that. Now that we have the baby, I think that we are more conscious of the sounds they are making, bouncing a basketball for example. Dave has talked with them multiple times as well, just to remind them to be aware of us.

Now that the kids are in school, it is much quieter during the day. It's nights and weekends that have been a problem. Our neighbors like to go out and come home very late. Which leaves the boys home alone and the parents coming in late at night. (*Note. I know that Dave and I go to bed early so when I say 'late' my family probably thinks I mean 11 o'clock or so. But here, when I say 'late' I mean between 2 and 4 in the morning) The stairs are right above our bedroom and they also have some sort of issue with their front door, because it SLAMS loud every time they shut it. We have been woken up numerous times and Ross has been as well.

About a month or so ago, we had had it. We e-mailed the previous tenant and he said, "Yeah, the boys run around a lot huh? Drove us nuts. Oh yeah, they come in late a lot. Oh yeah, they woke our baby up a lot. . . . . but I hope you still like it there" We started looking for a house of our own to move to. We called our Landlord and told him of the situation. Then we second guessed ourselves and decided that we were just being dramatic and that it was just a bad day. We tried to have better attitudes. The Landlord talked to the neighbors and told us to keep him posted. A few days later, we made cookies and took them upstairs and thanked them for being more quiet. They had been for a few days. Maybe a week later, Dave ran into the dad and they talked, with Dave reminding him again, to be considerate of us.

This week has been ok, but this weekend was a disaster. Friday night, they woke us all up at 2 when they came strolling in. Annoying. Oh and Ross has been consistently sleeping 8-9 hours straight at night. So now my baby's sleeping through the night but I get woken up 2 or 3 times by the neighbors. So anyway, Saturday night. We put Ross down about 7:30. Neighbors were being very loud. But hey, we understand that it's Saturday night. I fed Ross once more about 9:30. While I was in his room, I heard something dropping on the floor so loud, or a door slamming, or the boys yelling. Woke Ross right up. Then around 10:30 Dave decided to call up there. Talked with the Dad and just said, Anything you can do would be appreciated. They really didn't do much. They had some family over and were just playing cards. So we went to bed, only to be woken up around 1 am when they decided to leave. Not quietly may I add. Finally, they're gone . . . . or so we thought. Dave and I both woke up about 4:30 am. Dave said, "Was that the doorbell?" No way right? A few minutes later he got up and looked out our front door and saw a man standing at our car talking on his phone. Freaky. Then this guy goes around the side of our house and then to the back. So Dave is following him through the window. He was pretty scared.

Then close to 5 am our doorbell rings 2 or 3 times again. (Even though I have a little sign taped over the bell that says 'Please Knock') Oh my heck. So Dave gets up, I came out too and sure enough, it is the guy neighbor from upstairs, reeking of alcohol. I just laugh because he didn't even talk quiet or anything, just like normal saying, 'Hey Dave, sorry about this. We were at Denny's and got locked out of our car. I had to walk here . . . blah blah blah. Can you let me in the back door? (There's a back door that can get to their house or ours) Oh geez. So Dave meets him around back and lets him in. Then neighbor wants to borrow a butter knife to get into his house. Wow. Dave offered him a ride back to Denny's but he didn't need one apparently. Dave watched him leave, walking down the middle of the street.

So that was an exciting weekend. Couple things: 1. If you're locked out of your car, call a lock smith. 2. If you can't get a hold of a lock smith, call your landlord. 3. If you are going to come to your neighbors house at 4 am with whom you are basically strangers with, respect the Please Knock sign. We are still shocked that Ross didn't wake up thoughout this.

I don't know where they really were. The closest Denny's is more than 5 miles away from our house. I don't think that Denny serves much alcohol. I don't know if they kids were home or what. We heard them all stroll in about 8 or 9 the next morning.

Now we are possibly looking for a new place to live. Enough is enough. We want to enjoy the experience here and not have it dampened by the neighbors. We're justified in leaving right? We're not just being dramatic? It's just laughable when we think about it. I hope that doesn't happen again!!