Uber Busy!

Alright... We've been REALLY busy the last week. We headed to Orangeville the friday so we could attend a great wedding shower for Les and Mike in Norval on Saturday. Then had a 10th birthday party for Ayla while also celebrating mother/fathers day. Headed home monday and I immediately ordered more wood for the deck/fence.

That arrived Tuesday while I was at work so every night since has been spent working on the deck/fence with the help of my mom and dad.

Here are the pics!

Conversion from Destruction to Construction

Well the last couple days have been extremely busy. I have nearly finished the mods and supports on the old deck and with the help of my Dad and Father-in-law, we've started putting in new posts for the new deck, fence and pergola. The 4x4's weren't too bad but the 6x6's were a pain in the ass! In total we've put in 9 new posts. 3 6x6's and 6 4x4's. We still need to put in 4 more 6x6's and 4 more 4x4's. My Dad and I will have to get that done over the next few weeks after work since our weekends are pretty well booked for quite some time. Here are the latest pics.

Some more Demo!

Well my father-in-law and I were able to get started on some of the demo of the old deck. We were able to take down the old glass railings and some of the face boards so I could get a better look at the support structure of the old deck. Kind of figure out how to tie in the new one to it. It is a real hodge-podge of joists and beams, some of which have rotted out. I was able to remove quite a few of those and come up with a bit of a plan to reinforce the old deck while attaching the new one to it. Once again... I can't wait until this is done!

Progress Updates

Well I've nearly got the ground leveled for the new deck (which was a nightmare in the fact that I had no idea where to put the earth I dug up!). I've also got temporary fences up so I can start tearing things apart without worrying about kids/animals getting into the pool area. I've also gotten all my locates done for the various utilities. Only problem was they couldn't find the power line running from my house to my shed. I can see electrolisis in my future... which I guess is OK. Deb isn't really big on body hair. I've added some pics of the "job site". SO MUCH MORE TO DO!!

Kat's big word explosion!

Deb decided to write down every word Kat said yesterday to see how many she actually says. Here's the list.

Hi
Bear
Blanket
Hello
No
Kitty
Eat
Spoon
More
All Done
Mess
Cloth
Uh Oh
Patrick
Doll
Wow
Yes
Help Please
Juice
Banana
Book
Teeth
Brush
One, Two, Three
Ready, Set, Go
Yay
Hi Sweetie
Fish
Pretzels
Nose
Toes
Ear
Shoes
Hat
Head
Hair
Swimming Pool
Up
See
Mommy
Numbers
Play
Coat
Truck
Krispies
Swing
Slide
Cart
Cookie
Cracker
Nuk
Ni-Ni
Button
Fork
Apple
Milk
Park
Tomorrow (Morrow)
Elmo (That's a dog)
Doggie
Dad
Daddy
Shovel
Truck
Grampy
Gramma
Wagon
Snack
Row
Up Above
Thanks
Ball
Yellow
Blue
Bye
Out
Open
Mouse

Not too bad for a 16 month old!!!

Going to be a BUSY month or so!

So the next month and a bit are going to be extrodinarily busy! This weekend coming up, we've got the garage sale plus my inlaws are up and I'm hoping to tear down some of my old deck.

The following weekend we head to Orangeville so we can attend Mike/Les's wedding shower in Norval on the Saturday followed by celebrating Mothers day/Ayla (My Niece) birthday on the Sunday!

The weekend after that, we pack up the kids and make the trek to Kanata (a lil ways from Ottawa) to stay with Mike and Les for the weekend! In on the saturday though we will be heading about an hour away to Perth to visit my Nana. She has YET to meet my kids!! Deb and I are really looking forward to being up there but NOT all the driving!

I think we have a little bit of a breather then for a couple weeks... but then back to Orangeville to drop off the kids and head to Norval again for Mike/Les's wedding! Deb and I get a night WITHOUT THE KIDS!! Hotel and everything!! Can't wait!!

Then we head home and I have to finish the deck/pergola in 5 days! We have the Fessenden reunion thing up here this year which should be good! I just hope the weather is good throughout the week of building!

There.. My next month and a half in a nutshell!!

Project Time!

Well it's time to get my ass in gear and really figure out what I've got to do this year. Basically I get to handle all of the outdoor projects. The trick is not to bunch them up too much because I'll run out of time and money!

Here's what's made the list:

1. Build New Deck/Fence around the pool
2. Have sandpoint pump installed
3. Install a new panel and breaker system in pool shed
4. Lay down topsoil and sod/hyrdoseed front and back yard
5. Install inground sprinkler system
6. Get a Kreepy Krawly or some sort of automated cleaner for the pool
7. Finish fencing off backyard
8. Start kids playset

Yeesh that's a lot. Right now the first thing on the list is the deck and pool fence. I keep having to redesign the damn thing as I learn more about decks!

And those are only the outdoor projects I have! Deb i'm sure has a few PLUS we are thinking of having our main bathroom gutted and redone this summer. We'll probably know by late next week if we should start looking for contractors.

Back from Iron Man!

Positively Loved It!!!!!! Robert Downy Jr. Did a GREAT Job!

Highly recommend it!! Oh... and stay until after the credits. There is a scene at the end. Unfortunately I was friggin tired and forgot about it by the time I had left. So if you DO see it... TELL ME WHAT IT WAS!!

But who am I kidding... who of you that reads my blog will actually see this movie???