Garage Into Shop

Daryl has been working hard turning the garage into his new shop area. He is building a bench designed by Norm Abrams (New Yankee Workshop) and has been hanging shelves for his tools and setting all of his stuff up. Gavin has also been helping Daryl. Here, he is using the drill press to drill holes into a 2x2 to hang files on the wall. Also, here is a shot of Daryl working on his bench. It has been tricky, as the cement floor is not even (as it used to be a carport and therefore tilts away from the house) and so alterations must be made to the plans in order for the bench to be level and plumb.

A Visit from Papa and Nana!!

Last week, Daryl's mom, stepdad and little dog sugar came for a visit from Cranbrook. Thankfully the weather was nice and sunny, so we had the opportunity to do lots of outdoor activities. One day, we went to the potholes with Nana's kayak, and to swim. The next day, Shayla and Nana cooked a chocolate marshmellow and walnut cake. Delicious! The children were very happy bacause they were "allowed" (by Nana of course) to put sprinkles on their ice-cream, which I was told was "much better" than regular ice-cream. We had a wonderful visit and hope to see them again very soon. Here are some photo's from the visit.

More Camping

This long weekend we went camping with the kids and the dogs. Good friends of ours also had reservations in the same campground so we spent some time with them as well. We had great weather all weekend and the kids were able to get out the water guns, go to the beach and ride their skateboards and bikes.

Shayla's First Sewing Experience

Here is a photo of the result of Shayla's first sewing experience. Shayla and I made a purse together a few weeks ago, with Shayla doing most of the work including operating the sewing machine. All I did was set her up, show her how to pin the pieces together and give a bit of help guiding the fabric through the machine. She also attached the Ribbon shoulder strap. The sparkly shapes are stickers which she added when the sewing was done. Well done Shayla! I'm very proud of you!!

New Season

We started the new camping season about 6 weeks ago and now have been out twice since the new year. It started out nice.... the birds were singing and the sun was shining, but then we had a bit of an unpredictable day. We experienced rain, snow, hail and a crazy amount of wind all within one afternoon. When it finally calmed down for the evening, it was sunny again. The above photos are all taken during that day. We ate in the trailer for the first time ever due to the weather and spent some time inside playing games and hanging out with the dogs.

We're Moving! (hopefully)

Since we are finally finished our renovations/six weeks of painting, we have put our house on the market! Even though the market is slower than it was 8-9 months ago, we hope our new paint and updates such as flooring and lighting will help us move the house quickly. Out realtors are a sister team named Amber and Rainy (hippy parents anyone!?!?) who seem to be very motivated and whom we work well with thankfully because Logan decided to eat the heel off of one of Ambers shoes the day we all met. We are looking to move to a slightly bigger house, so the kids can have their own bedrooms, and we can have more space in the kitchen and living room. Here's a shot of us putting up the sign today!

More Home Improvements

We've lived on Marathon Lane for about 1.5 years, and we keep saying that we will "get around" to fixing things up. We have accomplished a lot: turning a carport into a garage, tearing up deer fences, re-building the garden and fence, changing the gardens around, putting in a new tub and surround, filled in a huge hole in our patio, upgraded all the windows..... but we decided that now it was time to start working on the inside.

Over the last 6 weeks we have layed new flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms, nothing crazy right now, just something to cover up the ugly orange, yellow and gold from 1982. We also have painted the entire interior of the house including all of the trim (everything was yellow). We used "stone effects" to inexpensively change the counter top. We also pulled down the old monstrosity in the backyard down. Man! That was a safety hazard! Enjoy the photos.