Bathroom Remodel

The bathroom in our house was a little.....well....past it! A remodel had been in the plans for a while. This summer was the first in years without coursework or testing for my teacher's certification so it was time!

I began work on it in July. We were staying at camp, so we still had facilities there. This meant I had to go back and forth between camp and home (an hour's drive). It quickly became a drag.

I started demolition without a clear idea of what the finished project was going to look like - rare for me. When it comes to things like this, I normally have everything planned out to the last detail. Having to make decisions mid-project caused some delays, but it went well overall. (That is, once I got the 600 lb. cast iron tub outta there. It took me a good part of day two.) I even came in under budget!

I had a plumber help with the tub-shower unit (getting it in there was a real song and dance; plumbing it up was tricky, too). Everything else I did myself.

Everyone says the finished product is great! It really is quite a change. Now all we have to do is make the rest of the house look as good as the bathroom!

Blognotes

Two things:

First......I'd like to thank Jared and Mike, fellow teachers, for helping me simplify and debug some of my blogging.

Second.......if you wish to leave comments, I have made it easier to do so. Before, you had to have a Google account. Now, anyone can leave a message. Have at it! Would love to hear from you!

Ian said.........

One day Ian dipped his chip in his raspberry yogurt. Steph asked him how it tasted. "Yogurty!" came the reply.

In the car after talking and talking and talking..........."I think my breath is runnin' out."

Last night he ate his last bit of food. He apparently was pretty stuffed. He said, "That'll make my belly hatch!" (We watch nature shows.)

There are so many others! I'll have to write more of them down.

Ian had a lot of firsts this summer: trotting on a horse, tubing, solo fish catch, horseshoes, t-ball, holding a frog...............Who knows what things are in store for the fall!

Chillin', Thrillin', and Grillin'

Another place we like to go in summer is Chris (Steph's twin) and Ann's camp on Unity Pond. Their three boys, Kyle, Wilson (often called Wil), and Cooper, like to play games, fish, go tubing, and just generally create a ruckus. Ian loves to hang out with his cousins. And you can't beat the atmosphere..... laid back and all about the fun!

Pictures:

1. Ian's got a frog. (Grampa Ball on right, Wil in background)

2. More s'mores! (L-R: Ben, friend of Wil, Wil, Cooper)

3. Ian with Uncle Chris, fishing off the dock

4. Ian goes solo!

5. Cooper with our Black Lab, Jake

6. Tubin'!

7. Ian's first tubing! (Went over the chop with nary a flinch!)

8. Ian's version of a ringer when he plays horseshoes with Grampa

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

The day everyone was to arrive at camp for the big visit, I used a small ladder to change a bulb in some hanging lights in the living room at camp. Just three hours after putting the ladder back on the side of the shed out back, there was a nest on one of the rungs! Mama's a fast builder. Days later, eggs appeared. After a couple of weeks of checking on it, we saw that two of them had hatched. Mother was skeptical of us, but we were careful not to stress her out. She seemed proud of her little ones!

Fourth of July Get Together

We had a great time seeing everyone who came up: Mom and Dad, Jeff, Marion, John and Kathy, Toni and Tim. Dad played styrofoam darts with Ian, Jeff read books and shared a room with Ian in one of the lofts, Kathy tried out her new kayak on the lake, and Mom got a lot of great snapshots! Marion stayed in the other loft. She brought something special for Ian. All enjoyed lots of cuddles with Colin. We lucked out the night of the Fourth. Across the lake, some folks had some serious "boomers" and right next door they had a lot of fireworks. We kept cheering them on. We had glow sticks, sparklers, a campfire, and, of course, s'mores! And I heard a potato gun a few times..... We ate well, talked a lot, played a full-contact version of Pig (card game) and got caught up on things. It sure was nice to relax and have some fun!

More to come, gotta run.....

Update on our 4th of July Weekend and pictures coming soon !!