Erie 2014

After a month and a half of yard projects, we decided we deserved a little R & R.  Tom booked us a two night stay at the Homewood Suites in Erie, about a ten minute drive from Presque Isle State Park and the beaches.  I know it sounds a bit hokey, but can I tell what an awesome vacation it was?  A two hour drive, a hotel suite with two separate bedrooms for the kids, and perfect weather made for amazing beach time. With only the smallest of waves and no worries of sharks, jellyfish, or lurking sea creatures, the kids actually got in the water this trip.

Having dinner at Rum Runners with Uncle Pat, who turned 92 that month!

Could her vintage-look swimsuit be any more fitting for this small lake town?

That's us, with the blue sun shelter.  This was a Thursday late-morning, and the beach was pretty deserted when we arrived.

 Part of our trip was an afternoon at Waldameer, Erie's Idlewild equivalent.  The boys loved every minute.

 The only melt-down was when we discovered that Tommy was an inch and a half too short to ride the small kids coaster with Tom and Patrick.  He through an epic tantrum that lasted the duration of the ride.  I can't even believe Patrick wanted to ride it, but he put on a brave face.  Afterwards, he told Tom he had fun, "but let's not do that again".  Kaya refused to nap at the beach or the amusement park, but in true Kaya fashion, wasn't crabby in the least despite her lack of sleep.

This was Saturday late morning, and our last day at the beach.  Even for a weekend with perfect temps, the beach wasn't very crowded.

Father's Day 2014

A little late, but I had to post this photo from Father's Day.

Thanks for picking us...

Exterior of House BEFORE/AFTER

I haven't blogged much because a big, unplanned project is underway at our house that piggybacked a scheduled project. (Warning: this is a long post)

Here is a picture of our house when we bought it:

The tall tree to the very right of the frame, and the beautiful, sprawling apple tree on the left had to come out when we first moved in. That left a huge gap in the already weed-infested pachysandra beds.  Did I mention the beds were also filled with poison ivy, making it impossible for me to weed without being covered in a rash? Here's the house after the trees were removed.  It wasn't pretty.

There were unkempt, sick azalea bushes on either side of the front door.  It didn't help things that one bush was much bigger than the other. 

So, we decided to give this girl a face lift.  After all, she is 56. The upper front of the house had old wood panels that had been painted so many times,  the paint was beginning to flake off in huge chunks.   You see it in this picture below, especially in the bottom left corner.  The shutters were a teal green. The windows were original to the house.

Before the contractors started on the house, Tom rented a mini excavator and started digging out 50 years of pachysandra roots.  He thought it would take a day.  Ha, Ha. While he was at it, I had him dig out the azalea bushes.  We basically gutted the whole thing.  This was the unplanned part of the renovation.  Have you ever tried to find a landscaper in the peak of summer who is available?  Looks like this yard was all ours to wrangle with. Here they go- that's Uncle Mike at the controls.

 ...and after renting the mini excavator:

Eek.  He ripped the remainder out by hand. It took FOREVER.  Then it just looked like we had been bombed instead of a house with a lot of weeds.

Back to the scheduled renovation.
We decided on a vinyl Cape Cod shingle in white to go over the old white wood panels on the upper level.  The upstairs got all new windows, and new black shutters replaced the old teal.  We were able to put shutters on the 2002 addition as well (the windows above the garage in the picture above) so that it tied in more with the original house.

 I even got the window boxes I had my heart set on for months.

While the contractors worked, we worked.  Every single weekend this summer, we have been tackling the yard.  Just removing the pachysandra and getting it prepped for grass  took about 4 or 5 weekends of labor and one dump truck of dirt to fill in the bed.  Our vision, you wonder?

 I sketched it for you guys.  This was done by me, not my kids.  Amazing, huh?

Try not to look at all the dirt.  Here's the "after" of the exterior house remodel:

The landscape portion is still a work in progress.  While the kids napped yesterday, I planted 14 boxwood shrubs.  The majority of our dust bowl will become green lawn, but for now, only two areas are seeded.  Our driveway gets repaired and sealed next week.  I guess there will be one more grand "after" picture once we get the landscaping done.  Tom and I are taking August off.

P.S. I have poison ivy.

 

And the final after in October!

 

Kaya, 10 Months

First barrette/bow-

Kaya has given up the belly crawl entirely and has mastered the traditional crawl.  She is just starting to cruise on furniture.  She still has one lone tooth ( front, center on the lower).  She loves waking me up every day between 5:30 and 6:00, although I don't get her out of the crib until 6:30 typically.  She has quite an appetite,  and is pretty efficient at feeding herself.  The only thing she seems to not be fond of is broccoli. 

She is fast becoming daddy's little girl. 

Priorities

Instead of doing these after the kids went to bed-

I watched Hunger Games-Catching Fire. Clearly, the right decision. I desperately needed some time in a vegetative state. I can do them in the morning while the baby tries to repeatedly crawl into the dishwasher.