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Life Is One Adventure After Another!
I started this blog page as a way to keep everyone up to date on Bob while he was working over in Egypt, and to share our wonderful travel experiences. Now that he's back home, I'll still post family updates once in awhile, as well as items of potential interest from the Decatur front... Life's little adventures continue... ;-)
Joe brought Robbie, Serenity and Abby to Nana & Papa's for Halloween. Jack-O-Lantern carving and trick-or-treating in Decatur has become a tradition for Joe & Sierra's family, and one that we thoroughly enjoy!
Jack-O-Lanterns were carved the night they arrived. We were especially proud of Robbie, who carved his own pumpkin, without assistance from anyone. Since he was going to be Batman this year, he decided on a bat for his Jack-O-Lantern, and it was a pretty difficult pattern.
Abby's pumpkin was a kitty cat. Sissy's was a goofy smiley guy.
Here is Robbie's bat. He said he didn't care how long it was going to take him, he was doing it all by himself and he was going to do it right. He did an excellent job for a 7-year old!
Here are Batman and Eyeore on Halloween evening.
Batman, Eyeore and Tweety Bird.
Closeups of the cute little Tweety Bird, Batman and happy Eyeore...
Waiting in line for the zoo to open. This year we did "Boo at the Zoo" for trick-or-treat. They had several treat stations, a talking Jack-O-Lantern who talked to each child about their costumes, carousel rides and a "spooky" train ride.
Finally, this week visible, tangible progress is being made on the master bathroom project. So much of the work up to now has been prep work that simply made dirt and dust and seemed like a supreme inconvenience! I know the inconvenience of the past weeks will be well worth the finished product... but it was so nice to come home today and see so much done!
Pictured below are the new vanity top and medicine cabinet, both of which were custom-made.
In this photo you can see the new spa tub. Mark McCarter, the tile installer, is also the son of some friends. He has his own tile installation business and is the one who installed our kitchen floor a few years ago. He's started the shower floor, and in this picture is beginning the main floor area. The tub surround and all the walls will be tiled as well.
Last weekend Bob and I (and Pepper) drove over to Rockville, IN (Park County) during the annual Covered Bridge Festival. We spent some time in the town, exploring the vendor booths and food stands, then followed one of the covered bridge tour routes to see some of the bridges. It was a nice break from the bathroom remodel and all the weekend chores at home!
Fall is my favorite time of year in the back yard. I love when the ornamental grasses plume out, the mums bloom and I can have ornamental kale in the pots around the patio.
When we visited Shelly & Matt last month, Pepper rooted out a stuffed frog doggie toy at their house that Matt had brought home from work for the boys to play with. She became very attached to it, brought it back to Decatur with her and carries it all over the house! Thanks, Matt!
I didn't think to take 'before' photos, but here is the master bath remodel project in progress. Everything is pretty much torn out except the old sink and toilet, which will be torn out within a few days. The new tub is going in, and the new shower will be constructed, in a couple of days. Still waiting for the heating coils for the floor, and the new vanity top and medicine cabinet to arrive. All should be completed in a couple more weeks, thank goodness, and I'll post the 'after' photos!
My tool man, Bob the Builder!
Where the new spa tub will go...
New tub, leaning against the bedroom wall. You can't tell in the picture, but it's a nice silvery gray color... so are the stool and new vanity top.
Bob took a few days in September and went to Virginia to spend some time with Wendy. I wish I could have gone, but I'm saving my few remaining vacation days for when the fam is home for Christmas! They golfed with some of her friends, played Texas Hold 'em with some more of her friends, and went to the Air & Space Museum.
They have this wonderful playground at the preschool Dane is attending. I sure wish we could build a slide like this in our back yard for the grandkids!
Just about as soon as we arrived at Shelly & Matt's house, Dane had to show us how he performs with his music ("Keet Oiban," of course), and he invited Nana to dance with him, too.
We were able to drive up to Minnesota to visit Shelly, Matt and the boys over a weekend in September. The date was chosen in order to attend the USAFA-University of Minnesota football game, but the best part of the weekend was the time we were able to spend with the family at home. We had a blast playing with the boys and really enjoyed Shelly and Matt's wonderful hospitality.
Little Erik is such a happy baby, and a handsome one, too!
Here are some stills of Dane entertaining us with his dance routine...
The afternoon of our arrival, Shelly had the opportunity to take Dane to his preschool for a "preview" of what was to come. As you can see, the kid wasted no time at all scoping out the awesome playground!
Abby would love this sliiiiide!
Naturally Dane zeroed in on the balls!
And then the sandbox...
When Matt showed up, Dane showed his dad what was what.
On Saturday, Papa and Dane decided to go for a walk. Here they are trying to teach Pepper to pull the wagon.
When I was up visiting Shelly, Matt & the boys in early June, Dane wanted to show me how high he can go on his swing. This makes Shelly crazy with worry, but she deals with resigned acceptance since all the Z's are apparently born with a predisposition to extreme sports! Note, Dane is swinging with one of his CD's in hand! Matt's passing and Uncle Todd is receiving.
Pepper was four months old yesterday, 6/18. For her birthday, she got spayed! The cone they put on her at the vet's was almost as big as she is, and kept getting caught on the ground as she tried to walk around!
Finally I cut off more than half of it, and she is much happier. Good thing, as she has to wear it for two weeks until her sutures come out!
I was amazed at how the gardens had popped into bloom while I was gone... only five days! They were only budding when I left, and the tomato plant below was about 1/3 the height that it is in this photo (today, 6/19, it's more than a foot taller, by the way). Of course, we've had so much rain... I took these Monday, 6/15, the only sunny day we have had this past week!
June 10-14 I flew to Minnesota to stay with Shelly & Matt and help out a little with Dane and Baby Erik. In the photo below, Dane gets to hold his baby brother for the first time.
After making nice, he managed to get in a sneaky elbow to the head move!
This was bath time for Little E. Matt doesn't like him much, does he?
Shelly and I took D and E for a walk around the neighborhood and Dane made friends with this little dog on the way. We had a hard time getting him to resume the walk!
Dane's at the age where he examines every twig, rock and bug along the route. He found a prize this day, a green plastic BB!
Here's Nana with her two youngest grandsons.
Shelly and her two boys.
Erik was getting some tummy time on Nana. Notice in the second photo how he's already starting to do push-ups!
Naturally Matt had to do a photo shoot! Shelly is the assistant holding up the backdrop.
As long as E was being cooperative and the light was good, I took a few myself!
Abby's pumpkin was a kitty cat.
Sissy's was a goofy smiley guy.
Here is Robbie's bat. He said he didn't care how long it was going to take him, he was doing it all by himself and he was going to do it right. He did an excellent job for a 7-year old!
Batman, Eyeore and Tweety Bird.
