Home Improvenot....

The joys of home ownership are the continued 'projects' that seem to be going on.  We are in the process of having some windows replaced and thought it was a brilliant idea to go ahead and start changing the trim out...  Well we stained and polyurethaned trim and more trim and this was just for the Master bedroom and around 3 windows in the boys rooms and office!  I can't even think of how much more we have to go.  Just take it in phases to make it manageable.!

One of 4 sawhorses with trim.

The work space.  Forget parking our cars in the garage for a while.

 On to flooring.  We have need to replace our carpeting upstairs since we moved in 5 years ago.  We finally made the plunge and we are replacing the carpet with hardwood floors.  This is 10 boxes of the 46 that we have.  I joke and say that our marriage is going to be put to a test as we have decided to install the flooring ourself.  What have we done??

Here is less than 1/3 of the flooring that is in our house ready to install.  10 out of 46 boxes.

Random Thoughts from my children.

Evan is now wearing a 'cup' for baseball.  Hayden says it is to protect his 'ding ding'.

Hayden has figured out that he likes fried shrimp while we were in Hilton Head.  So we were driving to Chicago and stopped at Cracker Barrel and I told Hayden that they had a fried shrimp kids meal.  He looked at me and said 'Mommy, I only eat shrimp when we are by the sea.'

The boys are having a conversation, this is all 3 boys.  Evan makes a comment that boys don't care about clothes.  Hayden interjects with yes we do they have to be cool clothes.  Daddy looks at Hayden and says cool as in keeping you cool in the heat.  Hayden, 'no daddy, like sexy cool.'

Ok then.

Happy 10th Birthday Evan

Evan recently turned 10 years old.  I was giving him a hug on his birthday and said 'Happy Birthday buddy, I can't believe you are 10.  When did that happen?'  He looked at me and said 'TODAY.'

Thanks genius!  We did celebrate with a gaming party and 14 boys.  The party was wonderful as none of the boys stepped foot in my house!  They all stayed outside in the gaming truck and then the garage was for cake and ice cream.

Summer Travel

Our summer travel is done.

We spent a week in Hilton Head with Tara, Jackson, mom, dad, Mollie (the dog) and Sadie (the dog).  We had an awesome time.  We rented a 4 bedroom house so everyone had their own 'space' and took both of the dogs down with us.  We stopped near Asheville NC on the way down as we wanted to go and see the Biltmore Mansion on Saturday as we couldn't check in until 4pm.  We got to the Biltmore and the tickets were $65 each!  The boys just wanted to see the outside and aren't really at the age to appreciate the true beauty of the mansion so we took a pass.  We went to the McDonalds right outside the gates as we saw this on the travel channel as one of the top 10 McDonalds in the country to visit (whatever that is about, be we watched it didn't we??)

Biltmore Mansion McDonalds

We finished the drive to Hilton Head and got stuck in traffic trying to get on the island.  It took us an hour to go 5 miles!  This is where Sadie was most of the drive.

Evan's riding partner

Our first night there we rode bikes to dinner and Hayden tried to scratch his face and bit the dust.  He had a road rash on his face, elbow and knee.  His head bounced off of the pavement, thank goodness for the helmet.  We are really lucky he didn't injure himself.

Showing off his 'road rash'

After a great week of fun on the beach, in the pool and riding bikes we headed home.  We drove straight through on the way back and go home about 9 pm on Saturday June 30th.

Is Hayden really drinking beer?

After a quick day at home on Sunday the boys were off to grandma and grandpas on Monday and Tuesday as the sitter was off the week of July 4th.  We spent the 4th of July with friends, watching the parade, eating at their house, going to see fireworks, etc. 

Ready for bed

Thursday July 5th we were off again.  This time we drove to Chicago to visit the Howard family.  We got to their house around 9 pm and all of us stayed in their son Connor's room or aka 'The Bat Cave' because it is decorated in Batman stuff.  The next morning John fixed breakfast for everyone and we just hung out and talked and laughed.  Around noon we were off to our next adventure of going to Key Lime Cove in Guernee IL.  This is an indoor waterpark.  We were supposed to go to Six Flags but it was going to be 105 that day so we bagged it.  All 5 boys (Evan - 10, Hayden  - 6, Connor - 5, Graham - 3 and Ian - 1) swam for about 6 hours!!!  We grabbed dinner as the Howard boys, well mainly Graham, was in breakdown mode, and off they went.  The next morning Hayden said the bottom of his feet hurt soooooo bad.  No more pool, we were headed north to Wisconsin. 

We were staying in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  Daddy had a work meeting on Monday so we all tagged along.  Saturday evening we just grabbed dinner and hung out at the pool.   Sunday we ate breakfast at a place called Al Johnson's in Sister's Bay Wisconsin.  We had heard we must go to this restuarant if not to eat then just to see the goats on the roof.  Yes you read that right, the roof is made of grass and the goats keeps it 'mowed'. 

'Best hot chocolate EVER'

Yes these are goats on the roof of the restaurant

After breakfast we took a schooner ride around the bay  that lasted for about 2 hours.  Wasn't the best 'kid' activity but they managed.

Hayden helped bring the sails in

Evan napped

View from the Eagle Tower in Peninsula Park

We then drove to the Peninsula State Park and went to the top of Eagle Watch to look out over the bay and then hiked a trail. The following day was daddy's work meeting so we dropped him off and then went exploring on our own.  We ended up at a beach after eating more ice cream than 3 people should consume for lunch at a place called Wilson's.

Wisconsin was BEAUTIFUL and we can't wait to return!