Outtakes or things I found amusing on our last trip

Kids snoozing - it’s a long ride to PA!! At one of our favorite parks in PA, they had this blue thing and the curiosity got the better of me. It is hard to tell the scale from the picture, but this unit is probably about 7 feet tall. The 4 white things on the towers are button lights and there are several different types of games you can play/compete in. The games are accompanied by funky music and when the lights turn on you have to press the buttons as fast as you can. John and I just played one game, but I would have liked to try them all if it weren’t so hot!

In WV, someone had the brilliant idea of closing one of the main freeways and then closing the alternate route down to one lane for road construction. Brilliant, really. This sign was posted saying “Road work 3 miles ahead – POSSIBLE DELAYS”. Shockingly enough, we were sitting in traffic a while before encountering this sign.

Cool leaves and flowers at the museum. The leaves were huge!

From riding camels outside, to riding dinosaurs inside :) And this is one of two cool suspension bridges through the gardens. Once you got off the bridge, you still felt like you were bouncing up and down.

God’s creations at the Creation museum.

This sign cracked me up. They did not have a similar sign by these zorses (zebra + horse). In this picture, he is calmly and gently eating from Savannah, but don’t be fooled. A few minutes later, Savannah had her back to him (while I was trying to take a picture on my cell phone) and he grabbed a hold of her ponytail and was trying to eat it. He gave her a pretty good tug before she managed to get away from him. Consider yourself warned :)

ok – you’ve really got to work with me here because this picture is not the best quality. This was a last ditch desperate attempt to get a picture of this guy … riding down the freeway with a SPARE TIRE around his waist! Gives a whole new meaning to having a “spare tire”.

 

Coolest thing – this is a mural – shadow and all! The kids thought the balconies were real until we walked past and they disappeared :) And I just noticed that the front mantel like thingy on the right is real and the others are painted. side note: curiosity got the best of me, so I looked this up – here’s the story.

Here’s another mural in downtown Nashville. Here’s the story for this one. Man – now I wish I would have found more of his work – very talented and fun details.

Yep – for you, hi-d :)

Highlights from our trip to PA

We have returned home to Alabama from a trip to PA to visit family and friends. We had a great time! I didn’t pull my camera out nearly as much as I should have, but here are a few of the pictures that I did take.

We are blessed with great friends – the kind that you just pick up where you left off and just keep on going. Our kids had the chance to get to play with friends – we enjoyed bbq’s, fireworks, canoeing, sleepover (for kids), swimming, and just tons of fun. We got to catch up with friends and family, but there is never enough time to visit everyone that we would like.

On our way home, we went a more western path – through Columbus, OH (this is the capital building), to the Creation Museum just west of Cincinnati (in KY). We spent Friday there enjoying the museum, exhibits and gardens. I would recommend the museum, but is probably suited to a little older children better.

Beautiful gardens – these flowers were very cool.

Camel rides!!! Hadden has never ridden a horse, but decided he would try the camel :)

“Gomer” wanted to stop for a snack.

We stayed the night in Louisville, KY and then on to Nashville, TN where we walked around for a few hours.

Final stop was at a high school friend’s home – great fun to catch up a little bit.

  

Although we had a great time and wish we could have visited longer, it is also good to be home :)

Hope you can come visit us soon!

“We’re getting there”

Probably the number one thing we said throughout the house process and we still have a few things left to finish up, but “we’re getting there”.

When Rob and Teresa were here, they made the comment that from my previous pictures, it was hard to tell how the house is laid out. So, I have taken a few shots of the more finished spaces to try to show it.

From the front entryway, you can either go up a 1/2 flight of stairs or down a 1/2 flight of stairs (think open split-level). I don’t have a picture because the entryway is still unfinished and doesn’t look so nice :)

The main level has the kitchen, living area, dining area, homeschool area, office and half-bath. It is an open floor plan with walls around the bathroom and one wall to hold the kitchen cabinets and pantry.

At the top of the stairs, looking towards the right is the living area.

Looking to the left is the kitchen and office further to the left (conveniently hidden because it is always a work in progress). The chalk drawing is a fun thing for Savannah and Daddy. She draws pictures (of horses, of course) and he likes to add to them. She loves finding his handiwork and sometimes even leaves them in.

    

A couple of more shots to try to get the perspective. In the one on the right above, you can see the stairway.

Along the back wall of the house – the deck would be out the sliding doors on the right-hand side. I am standing next to the armoire (pictured in the topmost picture of this post). This is our dining room table. The last picture in this group is our homeschool area. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this piece we found at IKEA. There is a column of drawers for each kiddo and one for me. LOVE it! It is actually in IKEA’s kitchen furniture section, but John is excellent at thinking outside of the box and it is perfect. Did I mention that I love it?

Main level half bath. The color is the same as the kitchen area and pillars. It doesn’t photograph well, and it was also my least favorite color to paint. I had to do 3 coats to get it to look decent.

From the kitchen – it shows the corner of the kitchen island and is looking at the stairway. The front door (still not painted) is visible, but 1/2 steps down. I am standing next to the refrigerator. So from here, also 1/2 flight up or 1/2 flight down.

So, now up to the landing, looking down over the main level and you can see a little bit of the second level. Look closely, you can even spy Hadden playing in the living room. Oh yes, and Lilly, the spoiled one sprawled on the floor. You can also get a perspective of the back deck and dining area beyond the kitchen.

Upstairs is the bedroom level. At the top of the stairs to the left is Savannah’s room and shared bathroom. On the right is Hadden’s room and straight back a small hallway is the master bedroom and master bath.

This is Savannah’s room – we found the bunk bed set on craig’s list. Now my challenge is to try to pull the turquoise and the purple together. Note to self: furniture first, then paint. She loves it, so that is really all that matters. It is a really cute piece – has drawers and shelves on the one end and a little desk on the other end.

This little horse just makes me smile. Savannah got him at the arts and craft fair that we went to recently.  You’ve seen their bathroom, but here it is again.

This is Hadden’s room. We also found his furniture on craig’s list. (Hadden is still wondering who Craig is :) His bag is already packed for our trip. You can see a bit of his deck, also. Each of them have a little deck off of their bedrooms. I also have a challenge in this room to pull the green and blue together. Again, furniture first, then paint. I am hoping to go shopping for curtain fabric while in PA – hopefully I can find something that will work.

Fondly known as the cockpit, aka very top landing in the tower. The far left picture shows the topmost stairs up to the roof. The middle picture is the captain’s chair :) The right picture is actually a reflection in the mirror at the bottom of the stairs, so it is in reverse, but I thought it showed all the pieces pretty well. Confused yet? :)

The master bedroom area is not finished, so no pictures yet. We did get a king-sized mattress finally, and wonder what took us so long. We are hoping to have the inmates build the bedroom suite, but am not sure of the timing.

          

Finally, VERY EXCITING to me, we moved the washer and dryer to the master bath! Whoo hoo! I used to think that having the laundry room in the basement was a good idea … that was before all of the loads and trips up and down the stairs. Although it was great exercise, it also made a necessary chore extra hard and undesirable. The final picture is of our temporary little dresser. I don’t know why, but I just love this little piece. If I remember the story right, previous owners of the house that I grew up in left it behind. When I went to college, I “stole” it from the storage building and have had it ever since.

Hopefully, these pictures have helped to figure out where stuff is in the house. If not, you’ll just have to come and visit and see for yourself :)