Wait It's Over?

Ok Ok I know it's been a while since I have blogged anything. I could use the the ready excuse of having three little girls climbing on me by day and drooling on me by night but I shall spare you this time.

This summer has gone by way to fast. I really feel like we just got going and suddenly we have to get back to the grind of school. Not that school is so horrible, the girls actually like it most of the time but it's just not as perfect as having nothing to do all day. No homework, no grades, no parent teacher meetings, and my personal favourite no early morning bus drop off. I am really not looking forward to waiting for the bus in January, but luckily that's far away. Kind of.

Somethings I am looking forward to in the fall are an end to the humidity, Halloween (we are doing a star wars theme this year), and hopefully nice new teachers for my girls who also happen to have a no homework policy,, ah to dream.

For now I am going to enjoy the last few moments of summer with the family and squeeze in a few more summer moments that I have been to lazy and or busy to do earlier. There is a fishing spot here in Ottawa that I have promised to take the girls to, and I should probably also get my fishing license before my luck runs out with the fishy police. Nothing like a brush with the law to ruin a Daddy daughter moment.

Enjoy the last few days of summer everyone!!!

Evie's Photography

The other day I downloaded about 500 digital pictures from Evie's camera. It really gives you a peek into her world, her point of view (literally) and her daily adventures. Here are some of my favourites. 

Summer travels

This summer the family embarked on a bit of a road trip to Brantford Ontario to see my family. This trip has been long overdue. I think it would be fair to say that we are crappy at visiting our out of town family. But that doesn't mean we love them less than our near family. We just aren't a big travelling family. It doesn't help that our kids have always held an adversarial mindset towards their car seats. Evie correctly noted this last trip that Mimi's car seat was her biggest enemy. It certainly seemed that way as she pulled, screamed, and flailed at the straps that held her safely and securely in place. I give her lots of credit for how hard she tried to bust out of that thing.

Travelling woes aside we did have a pretty great trip; and compared to our other babies past road trips Mimi actually did relatively well. She slept for about 70 percent of the driving, and when she wasn't sleeping it gave us extra incentive to stop and get out along the way and sight see.

Our favourite stop by far is Kingston Ontario. Both Lex and I went to school there, met there, got engaged there, started out lives together there, so it's really is special to us. I love watching our kids explore the city and wonder around our old haunts. While there I usually try to enforce/cram the idea into the girls that Queens University is the best place on earth and that although they can choose to go anywhere they want, it really wouldn't be wise to do so. Of course I'm getting ahead of myself, and I am totally kidding,,,,sort of.

Once we got to Brantford we had a wonderful time visiting family, swimming at the hotel and letting the kids hang out with their cousins. They all get along well and I can see so many similarities between them. Despite the distance they all look and talk the same way. However our kids are notably more loud and lawless than the Brantford bunch. We even got to see my younger sister who now lives and works with her husband as Salvation Army officers in Goderich Ontario. Goderich claims to have the best donuts in Canada and I must say I have to agree and unlike some artisan bakeries in Ottawa they don't charge a fortune for them.

Kingston Court house

City park formerly known as pervert park (don't ask why).

Im free!!

Noli being sad for the unknown soldier.

Passenger driving position

More driving

I think we will try to make this trip a summer tradition, as it went so well. We make so many memories when we go that the girls will have for their whole lives. Plus who wouldn't want to visit Wayne Gretzky's home town?

Finally - The New Kitchen

Ah yes - I know you've all been waiting to see the finished product.  I must apologize for keeping you waiting.  It has been a crazy month.  The kitchen renovation took 3 weeks.  The first week I kept you in the loop regarding its progress.  The second week I was kind of living between here and the cottage (where the girls took refuge for the first two weeks of renos) so I didn't have any time to write.  The third week we all got out of Dodge and went to beautiful, balmy Brantford for our holidays.

Upon our arrival back home...this was waiting for us:

Let me tell you my wife was ecstatic when she walked in.  And let me tell you something else, a happy spouse does make for a happy house!!

A big thank you to Blundell Consulting, Inc.  Bill and is crew are amazing.  If you want it done right, if you want the best...then you want Blundell Consulting, Inc.!!  I don't care where you live...England, Germany, Russia, U.S. or Canada, get these guys to come do your project and you won't be sorry.

Another shout out to Beth and Kathleen who pretty much did the initial design for the kitchen.

I never realized what a nervous Nancy I am.  The first day of renos I could hardly sit still in my office for worry about how the kitchen was coming along.  Trusting the house into the hands of others is tough - even when I myself know I couldn't do as fine a job.  It has been continually reaffirmed to me that I need only to listen to my wife's instincts and give her lead when it comes to these sorts of things (Doh!  I can't believe I put that in writing).  She really accelerated our plan to do the kitchen in five years (by about 3 or 4 years), but am I ever glad she did.  It is so nice to be in the kitchen now...it may be my favorite room in the house now...

Now that the kitchen is done, I guess our whole reno schedule will get bumped up.  Which means in a few years we'll finish the basement and install a bathroom down there, then update our existing bathroom and shortly thereafter and add an extension off the back of the house... But that all can wait a good long while, right Lex,,,,?

After 5 Days

Well it's been a whirl wind week.  My pause in blogging was coincided with a quick trip to the cottage on Wednesday night to play some fish with the girls, read some bedtime stories to them and tuck them in.  It was a pleasure.  Thursday I did a bunch of yard work well into the night which is why my backyard has a mohawk - mowing by feel in the dark just doesn't work very well.  Friday Lex had a ball game (she's permanently taken my spot on the team) after which we drove straight to the cottage.  However before the next week of work kicks-off, take a look at the progress so far.

Please forgive the harsh colour temperature...

I'll get a couple shots tomorrow in a cooler, natural one.

Day 2 of the Renovations

Well it's day two of our kitchen renovations and it's coming along nicely.  After the drastic change from day 0 to day 1 the progress on the floor and the walls isn't nearly as noticeable, but it's a beautiful thing to see.  This is our first major professional renovation (in a planned series of renovations that will be spread out over the next 7-10 years) and let me tell you, I'm glad we hired the pros.

It's not our first renovation.  In fact it's not even the first renovation to the kitchen.  Phase I of the kitchen renovation actually happened last summer when I took down the wall between the kitchen and the front "lobby."  Said lobby was slightly larger than a closet - the wall had to go.                                  

 

Then of course there was my wife's handiwork on the floor a couple of months back.  You can read about that project HERE.  In retrospect her attempt at doing the flooring is even more funny now.  Apparently there were seven layers (SEVEN) of flooring.  The bare hardwood planks on the bottom, covered by two layers of linoleum tiling one on the other, then a layer of plywood and three more layers of linoleum tiles.  Lex and the girls would have been working away for sometime.  I guess the family that owned the house before redid the flooring every six or seven years on average.   I hope ours lasts longer.  If not, then by the time I complete the series of renos we have planned, it'll be time to do the kitchen again.  And so it goes.

DAY 2:  Notice the flooring...oooh yeah!

Out With the Old

Yesterday.

 This Monday set into motion the first of a few planned renovations to our house (dependent on how long we stay in this house) - the kitchen.  We live in one of those cute little war veteran houses built about 60 years ago or so.  While I often declare with pride that they are deceptively larger than they look, this statement does not apply to the kitchen.  Somehow it looks bigger than it actually feels...and it looks tiny to begin with.  It was a stretch having two people actually working in the kitchen at the same time.  You want to take something out of the oven while the dishwasher is being loaded or emptied?  Forget about it!  Whatever was in the oven - let it burn!!  There is no way the dishwasher and oven can be open at the same time - it was physically impossible apart from some quantum physics that may allow for two objects to occupy the same space-time simultaneously.  I just noticed my tenses are all over the place when writing about the kitchen.  To be honest I've always struggled to write in a constant tense, but in this case it's because the kitchen was just torn out today so I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that my kitchen presently resembles a room in a abandoned, derelict house.  

Let me show you.

Today.