So yesterday was a pretty standard day ... I guess, like I mentioned yesterday, we're moving into a routine in preparation for school. In the early afternoon, Cyndie took the kids to the library to see a magician. They really enjoyed that and came home with lots of interesting descriptions of what the show entailed. For an hour or so while they were gone, I used the Suburban (the tractor didn't weigh enough to keep traction) to pull bushes out by the roots. It worked pretty well! The main purpose was to get rid of bushes that will be blocking the doors that we'll install, but also some were done in preparation for getting rid of some of the "planters"* that we'll do next spring. Cyndie had sailing in the evening so the kids and I had roast that Cyndie had made in the crock pot and then worked on hanging the hammock out in the yard and played some cornhole before the team came over for worship practice.
*The so called planters are a combination of rock and bark beds that are not grass, but really not flowers either. There are over-grown/scraggly bushes in most of them. Really they're mostly a pain in the behind since they get full of weeds and there are so many of them. The plan for this fall is to prepare them (remove bushes, rock/bark, weed barrier) for putting grass in in the spring. We'll probably do this every where (around the whole house) except for between the boardwalk and the house and a small spot to the left and right of the front door. The line of thinking is that doing weed and feed and mowing with the lawn tractor is much easier than trying to weed all these beds, and it just plain looks nicer!
Emma is gearing up for school. We'll probably go shopping for a first day outfit in the next day or so. I'll do the same with Timmy too. I guess I'm the designated shopper for the family!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A settled house means ... construction!
So, it's that time of year. Visits from friends have come and gone. Summer is winding to an end. Backpacks are being pulled out of storage and school supplies are materializing. Life is close to returning to the normal routine of the school year. What does that mean for the Wildwood DeVries? Construction!
Last night after an early evening of "Family Movie Night"*, Cyndie and I moved the furniture in the dining room and took the lovely knotty pine paneling off the wall. We now have a dining room of insulation! It actually went pretty quickly, which we were very happy about. The other nice thing was that I found that the socket that I'll have to move in order to put in the french doors is at the end of a circuit, so I'll just have to shorten the wiring rather than move it ... saving a lot of work. Next up in the process of getting the doors in ... taking out a bunch of bushes on the outside of the house, then removing the siding. We're going to pay a friend who is a contractor to actually install the door, but he suggested that we remove the siding as it will mean less time for his guy on site, and therefore a smaller bill which we're all for!
*So we watched Jonah, A VeggieTales Movie. It was kind of "Eh". There were a few nice one-liners, and a couple of the songs/dance routines were good, but all in all I can see why it did so poorly in the theaters. I'd give it a 2.4/5.
Movies I've seen this year (in the theater/a few video):
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Last night after an early evening of "Family Movie Night"*, Cyndie and I moved the furniture in the dining room and took the lovely knotty pine paneling off the wall. We now have a dining room of insulation! It actually went pretty quickly, which we were very happy about. The other nice thing was that I found that the socket that I'll have to move in order to put in the french doors is at the end of a circuit, so I'll just have to shorten the wiring rather than move it ... saving a lot of work. Next up in the process of getting the doors in ... taking out a bunch of bushes on the outside of the house, then removing the siding. We're going to pay a friend who is a contractor to actually install the door, but he suggested that we remove the siding as it will mean less time for his guy on site, and therefore a smaller bill which we're all for!
*So we watched Jonah, A VeggieTales Movie. It was kind of "Eh". There were a few nice one-liners, and a couple of the songs/dance routines were good, but all in all I can see why it did so poorly in the theaters. I'd give it a 2.4/5.
Movies I've seen this year (in the theater/a few video):
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Zone Visit Megapost ... Part I
Okay, so here are the first 20 or so pix from the Zone visit ... we had a blast!!
Of course the girls (and Tim too) played lots of dress up and dolls, etc.
Timmy and Caitlyn did a lot of hamming around.
The Dragon's Lair presented opportunity for a lot of fun.
This is on a walk around the "Wildwood Loop".
This looks like a picture out of some kids magazine!
We took several walks and on each one Caitlyn came home with at least a handful of wildflowers.
We celebrated all the kids' birthdays one night.
Many of the evenings were passed playing Guitar Hero.
The Zone kids and our kids both love to swim, so the pool and lake were big hits.
Here's Maddi learning a song.
One evening Jim, Laurie, Cyndie, and I went out for dinner while the kids stayed with a babysitter.
After dinner we walked a bit of the lake trail.
We picked out this house as the best we saw.
Here are the kids with their baby sitter who also happens to be the daughter of Tim's preschool teacher this fall.
One evening we had a bonfire and roasted marshmellows.
This is down by the beach at the lakefront.
More to come later, but no time for parsing through the other pictures right now!
Of course the girls (and Tim too) played lots of dress up and dolls, etc.
Timmy and Caitlyn did a lot of hamming around.
The Dragon's Lair presented opportunity for a lot of fun.
This is on a walk around the "Wildwood Loop".
This looks like a picture out of some kids magazine!
We took several walks and on each one Caitlyn came home with at least a handful of wildflowers.
We celebrated all the kids' birthdays one night.
Many of the evenings were passed playing Guitar Hero.
The Zone kids and our kids both love to swim, so the pool and lake were big hits.
Here's Maddi learning a song.
One evening Jim, Laurie, Cyndie, and I went out for dinner while the kids stayed with a babysitter.
After dinner we walked a bit of the lake trail.
We picked out this house as the best we saw.
Here are the kids with their baby sitter who also happens to be the daughter of Tim's preschool teacher this fall.
One evening we had a bonfire and roasted marshmellows.
This is down by the beach at the lakefront.
More to come later, but no time for parsing through the other pictures right now!
Sorry to disappoint!
No pix of the Zone visit yet, so you'll have to make due with a quick blurb about the last day.
Last night we had the "Ladies Bible Study Summer End BBQ" here at the house. This is a community Bible study lead by one of the ladies from church, Karen Hinz. It was a lot of fun. There were 20 or so kids and 16 - 18 adults. We hung out outside most of the time ... kids playing on the Dragon's Lair and in the bounce house, adults sitting around and chatting or playing Cornhole*. It was a blast. The crowd were going by about 9p, so it was late to bed for the kids, who were showing the effects of that late night this morning. Oh well.
*We'd played Cornhole with Jim and Laurie when we visited out there. As a thank you gift for hosting them they gave us the 8 needed bean (really corn ... hence the name) bags and a gift certificate to Home Depot to get the rest of the materials. I built the stuff Sunday and finished up the last coat of paint yesterday morning!
Last night we had the "Ladies Bible Study Summer End BBQ" here at the house. This is a community Bible study lead by one of the ladies from church, Karen Hinz. It was a lot of fun. There were 20 or so kids and 16 - 18 adults. We hung out outside most of the time ... kids playing on the Dragon's Lair and in the bounce house, adults sitting around and chatting or playing Cornhole*. It was a blast. The crowd were going by about 9p, so it was late to bed for the kids, who were showing the effects of that late night this morning. Oh well.
*We'd played Cornhole with Jim and Laurie when we visited out there. As a thank you gift for hosting them they gave us the 8 needed bean (really corn ... hence the name) bags and a gift certificate to Home Depot to get the rest of the materials. I built the stuff Sunday and finished up the last coat of paint yesterday morning!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Posting pickup
Well, I notice it's been a while since I've posted, so to start things off again*, something different ...
Liverpool drew their away tie (that's game to you non-soccerites) at Standard Liege last week. It was a disappointing result, but they still should pull out a victory on the return leg at home and advance to the group stages of the Champions League. On the weekend they won they Premier League debut for the 2008-2009 season 1-0 with a nice strike from Fernando Torres. It was a satisfying start to the season, even more so when considering the opening tie for Manchester United and loss at home for cross town rivals Everton.
*Okay, I have a bunch of pictures to post from when Jim and Laurie were here. I'm working on that, so hold tight! That will be the real return to more regular posting!
Liverpool drew their away tie (that's game to you non-soccerites) at Standard Liege last week. It was a disappointing result, but they still should pull out a victory on the return leg at home and advance to the group stages of the Champions League. On the weekend they won they Premier League debut for the 2008-2009 season 1-0 with a nice strike from Fernando Torres. It was a satisfying start to the season, even more so when considering the opening tie for Manchester United and loss at home for cross town rivals Everton.
*Okay, I have a bunch of pictures to post from when Jim and Laurie were here. I'm working on that, so hold tight! That will be the real return to more regular posting!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Finally, the season starts!
Okay, try to contain yourselves. I know you have all been chomping at the bit for Liverpool FC's season so start, but your wait is over. Liverpool opens it season in the Champion's League playing away to Standard Liege, a team from Belgium.
I know you are all ready to hear the results, so I will post them when the game is over!
I know you are all ready to hear the results, so I will post them when the game is over!
Short Stuff
This is a midday short post, but I thought I ought to get something out there before all my loyal readers bugged out!
The time with Jim and Laurie was great. The kids were, for the most part, very good. There were, of course, the spats and ups and downs, but I'd say for the amount of sleep that they got (which usually ended up being an hour or so less a night than they were used to), they, all four, did great.
The trip ended in fine fashion. Sunday we went to church and then the church potluck at the camp. We lucked into getting a pontoon boat ride, which the kids loved ... especially when we hit waves and water came up on the boat. We had such a good time we went twice! The big action on Monday/Tuesday was staying at the Timberridge Lodge and going on both days to the water park there. The kids were all over it. Caitlyn wasn't quite as into it, but she made do. Anyway, there were short slides and long ones, jacuzzis, fountains, etc, etc.
So it was a fun time, now we just need to convince Jim and Laurie that they want to live here so we can rinse and repeat more often!
The time with Jim and Laurie was great. The kids were, for the most part, very good. There were, of course, the spats and ups and downs, but I'd say for the amount of sleep that they got (which usually ended up being an hour or so less a night than they were used to), they, all four, did great.
The trip ended in fine fashion. Sunday we went to church and then the church potluck at the camp. We lucked into getting a pontoon boat ride, which the kids loved ... especially when we hit waves and water came up on the boat. We had such a good time we went twice! The big action on Monday/Tuesday was staying at the Timberridge Lodge and going on both days to the water park there. The kids were all over it. Caitlyn wasn't quite as into it, but she made do. Anyway, there were short slides and long ones, jacuzzis, fountains, etc, etc.
So it was a fun time, now we just need to convince Jim and Laurie that they want to live here so we can rinse and repeat more often!
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