Sunday, June 29, 2014

June is worse than May ;)


I know that I apologized in May that I hadn't been posting, so here I am on nearly the last day in June saying the same thing. I have some pictures to better explain why I don't post - along with the caveat that we are still in a 900 sq ft apartment with 5 people and a dog. The renovations are coming a long, but we are weary. The house is definitely shaping up into what it will be, and inspections begin on Monday. Dry wall will be soon after that (plan is Tues/Wednesday). 
 Here is a picture of our current kitchen/den and dining room. 
 Close-up of the dining room. This used to be our porch. 

 This is the new LARGE window in our bedroom which makes me happy by just existing. 
 Coo loved his soccer camp. 
 H-P can't wait to go next year (not so handy in flip flops) 

 Even though soccer isn't exactly Buck's favorite sport, he loved playing around with Coo after camp. 

 The oldest son of 2 of our closest friends came with his best friend to a conference at DU (J is in blue)
 Our crazy family took them on a short trip around Denver and into the mountains. 
 We went to Red Rocks to watch about 1000 people work out ;) 
 The oldest and the youngest of ours and our friends' off-spring (only 15 years difference!) 
 Can't forget the tornados going on ALL OVER the city this summer (nightmare) 
And the First Communion Kids led the Corpus Christi procession at our Parish…that's Buck in the blue and beige with one of his best friends to the left. 

Our family is off to New York tomorrow to visit the aforementioned friends at their Lake House (capital letters just seem right here). I can't wait to see them - OR to get out of this little space we call home :) 

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Soccer Camp


Coo is attending a 1/2 day soccer camp all week. It's amazing how much this adds to our world cup fever. Coo loves the camp and H-P and Buck love playing around on the beautiful (and costly) DU (Univ of Denver) fields. Coo won a soccer bag because the camp voted him "best jersey" on jersey day. USA, baby! But only because Canada didn't have a jersey to choose.

I hope you're having a great start - middle - of summer. We're gearing up to get out of dodge in a week or so. It will be nice to see some old faces (and some young faces too).

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Lazy Days of Summer

Summer has been a full-time activity around here for the last three weeks (yes, CO schools are out at the end of May!) Mourning the loss of our pool at home -well, the boys mourn it and RKZ and I mourn how tired it made the boys- we have joined a local Athletic center in order to enjoy the pool there. The favorites are the giant inflatables they bring out every afternoon and the 3 foot pool for H-P to cruise in safety. 


 The big boys enjoying one of the inflatables



And we've also been spending a ton of time at local parks with friends. I just love the "summer-ness" of these shots on the tire swing.

RKZ is on a trip for work until Friday, so stay tuned for some "What I do with them on my own" posts!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Denver Kid's Museum

This summer has already been so incredibly busy. The random posts are just another sign of the crazy. Wait till I have a house and an office. You'll be sick of me...
We have a medium-sized Children's museum here in Denver. It's downtown and only took about a 30 minute drive from our apartment.

H-P is in a fireman phase. He wants to climb on every fire truck he sees. Also, he loves the outfit :) Who doesn't?
Bucks' amazing flip flop slide down the fireman pole.


One of my favorite sections of the museum is the "make it yourself" section. There are real tools and a bunch of recycled materials for the kids to make things. It seems innately dangerous, but fun too. Coo just wanted to hammer nails into little pieces of wood.
Buck making a telescope out of toilet paper rolls.
H-P loved using the most dangerous, obscure (to me) things.
We moved on to the ball chamber where the kids made tracks to keep balls moving through vacuum powered pipes. I think we were there for over an hour.
Coo especially loved the ball space. He made a lot of friends as they worked on their tracks.
 Lastly, we hit the bubble room. The big boys made giant bubbles out of bubble fluid.



H-P found the train room next to the bubble space. He was so happy! 

There are even more happenings around the house with the renovation. We are prepping for a big trip back East and a few weeks away from our apartment. Happy Days ahead!!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Renovation moving on!

Summer is in FULL SWING for us (I have a lot of pictures to prove it) but I've heard from a few people that they are more interested in what's up with the house. The Reno is in full swing too. I don't have a good supply of "before" pictures - I'll wait until the big reveal for that so that I can get these shots up. 
 The basement is fully framed in and electrical (to make it very light) is almost done.
 basement bar (notice the soffits above)


 This is the bottom of the new staircase (coming from old dining room). There is a new powder room1/4 bath under the stairs.
 Adorable baby catching a nap while we meet with the electrician (poor kid)
 This is the current view from our kitchen toward the backyard (that's RKZ looming in the shot). They have raised the ceiling height and added a new covered patio.
 What used to be an 8 foot celling is now 10. A large slider is going into the door space. The furthest framing is the new patio.
 another view from the kitchen back. 

 Next to our kitchen, we have a new garage (pictures follow). This will be our mudroom and pantry.
 If you are standing in the new garage, this is the view of the mudroom. But, the door is actually toward the front. This was a framing problem that is already fixed


 view of the new back covered patio. There is a full wall next to the tree.
 view from the back yard toward the house.
 Patio vault

Sorry that there isn't more detail. I have to run to Buck's baseball game. Ahh, summer.