We finally did it. We had a real, true, "staycation" and I would definitely do it again!
Tom got off work at noon on Tuesday and we dropped the kids off at Cedar Lake Camp about 2:30.
Margaret's good friend Faith was attending for the first time:
And this was a good picture of Tom and Marie in her room (the girls were in the same "cabin" again. . .they were hoping to be separated but the camp was so full they ended up this way).
The boys, of course, ran right off as soon as they got their cabin assignments and it was all I could do to get a super-quick side hug from them when I ran them down. This is the cabin Thomas was staying in:
And Frederick was in the "bird cage" with the girls. . .this building is broken up into four smaller "cabins". . .I think the girls were in Purple Martin and Frederick in Red Robin. Faith was in Blue Jay.
The girls were in the far end on the second level. Here is a shot looking from the top railing out. . .
Isn't it such a beautiful camp? And the weather forecast was absolutely *perfect* for the 2 1/2 days they were going to be there -- high 70's in the middle of March!!!
We headed back home, stopping at DQ for a treat :) Although we had a "list" of things we'd like to accomplish, we decided that we would just stay in and be lazy Tuesday. I'm not much for that but Tom loves it so it was something I could "do" with him. It was quiet with no kids around. . .we happened upon a documentary on Netflix called Forks over Knives. It was very interesting and definitely worth your time if you're interested in the adage "Eat to live, don't live to eat". It gave us something to discuss and talk about over the course of a couple of days.
Thursday morning we started on our "list". First up was a trip into town for Starbucks (ha!) and Lowe's. We loaded up. . .
30 bags of mulch (yes, it took that much!), 150 ft of soaker hose, edging, shelving for the kids' bedrooms, and paint samples. We were optimistic :)
The front door was white for 4 years and I just plain didn't like it. Last fall Margaret suggested "brown" and I did it this way and actually kind of liked it (except I bought a flat instead of satin and was sorry about that). But it was bland, bland, bland. I have been resisting the green forever. But green it became.
Well. . .definitely not my taste exactly but not as bland as the tan. . .then I went ahead and re-painted the molding around the glass and spray-painted the hardware ORB. . .just because we had it laying around and the shiny brass was getting to me. I'm definitely going to have to re-do that but this is an experiment to see how well the spray-painting holds up to see if it's worth the trouble to do all the steps correctly :)
I also got the pillers painted. This took two days (and now some touch-up needs to be done) but it's been bothering me for a long time and the weather was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for this kind of job.
The finished product really is satisfying:
And, although it's only something you really notice from the front porch, *I* know it's done and that's worth a lot to me :)
While I was doing this, Tom rented a rototiller and churned up all of our beds (after spending 2 hours weeding!), then laid out all that mulch:
He added some edging too and I think it just "finishes" off the area by the driveway. . .I think maybe around the sidewalk too???
Anyway, yes, we had some fun too! I wish I would have taken pictures of that part. . .but here are the memories:
We went with good friends to a wine-tasting at DelMonaco Winery, then out for a fantastic Italian dinner. We enjoyed our time so much. . .just like vacation but we got to come back to our own house :) We also took home some great wine including peach and blueberry! Can't wait to have some friends over and break those bottles open!
We also went on Friday to a matinee. Yes, like, in the middle of the day and having popcorn for lunch -- yea! We saw One Thousand Words. . .it was a nice message and it was fun to see Eddie Murphy in a good movie. After coming home and finishing up the shelving, putting the hardware back on the door, etc. we felt like we had another full day.
Since we truly really do *like* our house and enjoy spending time on it, this was a fun vacation for us. Especially since we were both off work and had no alarm clocks to wake up to. . .no kids to get anywhere. . .and since we were *supposed* to be out of town (originally we had planned on a little trip to Atlanta) no one really knew we were here so there weren't tons of engagements or phones ringing or anything. I barely got online!!
So, here's a picture of the front of the house, in progress (the left side still needed mulch, the hardware wasn't on the door yet):
Now we need some flowers. . .get the cushions out. . .do you see my tulips blooming?!? In March! And Tom did get a different kind of grass down so we'll see how that takes off. . .the yard has been tough for him since the beginning:
Wow. Now that's a blast from the past! Almost 6 years ago. . .actually just 2 months short of 6 years ago. Hmmmmm. . .
Off to soccer and to then to Nashville for a girls' day with our cousins. . .pedicures, lunch, a little Homegoods shopping - yea!
Back to school Monday. . .I spent about 6 hours there getting ready for our last 9-weeks yesterday -- woohoo! So glad to be in school. . .so glad my kids get to go to such a great school too. No complaints. . .but this weather is making summer seem more and more real!!!!!!!
Love,
Jenni
Tom got off work at noon on Tuesday and we dropped the kids off at Cedar Lake Camp about 2:30.
We headed back home, stopping at DQ for a treat :) Although we had a "list" of things we'd like to accomplish, we decided that we would just stay in and be lazy Tuesday. I'm not much for that but Tom loves it so it was something I could "do" with him. It was quiet with no kids around. . .we happened upon a documentary on Netflix called Forks over Knives. It was very interesting and definitely worth your time if you're interested in the adage "Eat to live, don't live to eat". It gave us something to discuss and talk about over the course of a couple of days.
Thursday morning we started on our "list". First up was a trip into town for Starbucks (ha!) and Lowe's. We loaded up. . .
I also got the pillers painted. This took two days (and now some touch-up needs to be done) but it's been bothering me for a long time and the weather was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for this kind of job.
The finished product really is satisfying:
While I was doing this, Tom rented a rototiller and churned up all of our beds (after spending 2 hours weeding!), then laid out all that mulch:
Anyway, yes, we had some fun too! I wish I would have taken pictures of that part. . .but here are the memories:
We went with good friends to a wine-tasting at DelMonaco Winery, then out for a fantastic Italian dinner. We enjoyed our time so much. . .just like vacation but we got to come back to our own house :) We also took home some great wine including peach and blueberry! Can't wait to have some friends over and break those bottles open!
We also went on Friday to a matinee. Yes, like, in the middle of the day and having popcorn for lunch -- yea! We saw One Thousand Words. . .it was a nice message and it was fun to see Eddie Murphy in a good movie. After coming home and finishing up the shelving, putting the hardware back on the door, etc. we felt like we had another full day.
Since we truly really do *like* our house and enjoy spending time on it, this was a fun vacation for us. Especially since we were both off work and had no alarm clocks to wake up to. . .no kids to get anywhere. . .and since we were *supposed* to be out of town (originally we had planned on a little trip to Atlanta) no one really knew we were here so there weren't tons of engagements or phones ringing or anything. I barely got online!!
So, here's a picture of the front of the house, in progress (the left side still needed mulch, the hardware wasn't on the door yet):
Off to soccer and to then to Nashville for a girls' day with our cousins. . .pedicures, lunch, a little Homegoods shopping - yea!
Back to school Monday. . .I spent about 6 hours there getting ready for our last 9-weeks yesterday -- woohoo! So glad to be in school. . .so glad my kids get to go to such a great school too. No complaints. . .but this weather is making summer seem more and more real!!!!!!!
Love,
Jenni
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