It All Began So Simply....Part 1

You know how it goes...

It's just a little house project....

In this case it actually started last summer.

We figured it was about time to paint the house and since Dylan would be around for the summer we could utilize the extra muscle power, he could earn some money, and we'd knock this puppy out.

But....we never did decide on a color so the summer came and went.

SO when this summer rolled around... we were totally on it.

We picked out the color.

Found a source....

And started scraping and prepping...


That was when we found out the laundry room door was rotted out....

As was the floor below it...

Collin was home too, so we took advantage of his love of problem solving.


The dude can figure anything out.

Sorry Col.

Do you feel used?

If it makes you feel any better Arik's dog, Duke, was feeling rather used too.

 
 
And well....

As long as we were replacing that door and the siding around it ...

We may as well replace the teeeeeeny window in the boys' bathroom...right next to the laundry room... and make it a bigger view window.

And so it began.



Next up we decided we may as well add that window we always wished for in the master bathroom.

Seriously.  For about eighteen years (but who's counting) we've been looking at this.

I know.  Not bad right?
And the thing is... I totally picked this house because of this bathroom.

First of all just the the fact that it had a master bathroom made me giddy.

I was totally over the charm of sharing a bathroom with four little boys.

And it had this great tub.

What more could an exhausted mother want?

Just the potential for sitting in a tub had me ready to sign on the dotted line.

But the thing is.....

Beyond that mirror... is an ocean view.

And every day we wished for a peeky hole.

And since Collin was having a great time cutting holes in our house we decided to go for it.

How cool is that?

Muuuuch mo betta!

Only we got so caught up in all the hole cutting we didn't actually have windows to put in the holes.

Details.

For for a while we were well ventilated.

Plastic sheeting was our friend.


And the saga continues...

We have now replaced two doors, four windows, added a new window and replaced all the siding on that side of the house.

I know, right?

And guess what?

No paint yet.

More coming soon...


Cath

25 Years

Twenty five years ago today we stood together in front of God and everybody (and I do mean everybody we have a very large family) and said "I do"

It's the kind milestone that makes ya pull out the old album and scan photos on your almost vintage scanner and hope that no one will notice all the dust that you didn't clean off.

It was a very 80's affair.

The dresses and the hair were huge...

And we were really young...only we didn't know it...

And everything was very pink...which strikes me as odd because I rarely have anything pink in my life.

But I'll tell ya what I do have...
Everyone of those girlies is still in my life in some way.
The little one now has a little one of her own.
We must have sealed some kind of bond-of-the-pink-dresses.


My dad has always been into vintage auto restoration so he hooked us up with one of his friends for the cool ride.

We had to sort of pack that dress into the car so we could fit...
I took up way more than my quota of the back seat.
What was I thinking anyhow with that dress...in August...in So Cal??



The reception was at a golf club it was kind of a Dutch version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My Mom and Dad....probably trying to calculate how many years it might take to pay off approximately 8 million dinners.

The cake was huge too....like three fountains under there and who knows how many layers.
It was almost as big as the dress.

And if this isn't all just 80's overload enough for ya...

For our first dance we chose How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

And one of my lifer best friends sang it....that's her in the left corner.

If we can be the best of lovers,

Yet be the best of friends;

If we can try with ev'ry day

To make it better as it grows;

With any luck, then I suppose,

The music never ends!

It's workin' for us so far.

Looking back on the gifts of twenty five years,

Cath

Bits and Pieces

It's been a while.

Life kind of took over for a bit as it has a way of doing every now and then.

And even in the unexpected there are gifts all around.

Though none of us would have chosen the circumstances, I got to spend some time with my Mom and Dad....in a hospital ICU burn ward after my Dad's race trailer blew up with him inside.

My dad is out and about and doing much better now but it gave us all a scare.

I learned a lot about the procedures involved in burn care and got to experience a very caring burn care team.

I got to see a couple of my brothers, brother and sister-in-law, Aunts and Uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews....all in the course of a week.

I'm still getting back around to my "normal" schedule (whatever that means) and am seriously in arrears here.

I have stuff to post tho...

It's coming I promise.

I just wanna share a few quick ones today.

A few weeks ago the BHHS boys and girls soccer team gave a soccer day camp for the local youth soccer players.

It was time put the boot on the other foot and play coach.

Inspire their charges.

And most of all...

Make sure they all had some fun!

The girls took charge of the littlest ... and cutest...future Bruins.

This guy definitely has a spot on the BHHS soccer team waiting for him.

It was a successful week overall and the players and "coaches" all learned a lot...and had some fun.



While I was away Dylan left for a week at Northwest Soccer Camps...now in their 39th year.

By the time I was back he was just about home too and full of enthusiasm about camp.

He learned a lot from the many coaches attending and had a very successful week.

During Power and Explosion training he broke two of the Power camp records.

One for vertical reach and one for power jump .... 5 standing broad jumps back to back.

He also tied the Explosion Speed record for the 20 yd dash.

And best of all....their "cabin" totally rocked the evening skits. 

One of the coaches there...Edu...played on the 1970 Brazil World Cup team with such notable teammates as Pele, and Rivelino...guys who only need one name...sometimes known as the best attacking team in the history of the game. 

He gave Dylan  this signed photo for his accomplishments at camp....pretty cool.

Dylan says he still has that amazing footwork the Brazilians are known for.

He also received lots of encouraging words from some of the other coaches on staff and at least one offer for a letter of recommendation if he needs one.

We'll see what the year holds.

Life in a remote place has its drawbacks.

Visibility is a big one.

We're all looking forward to the coming season.

We loooove watching the boy play.

Cath