A Family Get Together

My sister and her husband, who live in Oklahoma, flew into Seattle for a visit last week. I drove my Mom and Dad over to Bellvue to visit. My sis has been in a battle with cancer for the last couple of years, so her being able to come was very special to us all. We got the good news a few days before her coming that she was cancer free!!! How wonderful!! We had a nice visit..went to eat on the waterfront at Lake Union...went to Pikes Market....and had my 15 year old nephew drive us around and in downtown Seattle (he did great). My niece and I experienced green tea w/bubbles (YUCK). It was a short visit...but so great to see them.

Color on the Walls & a New Back Deck

I am a bit behind in my postings...things have been busy! We have the inside of the house all painted.

The kitchen is sagey green.

The living room is a warm beige.

The guest bathroom is blue.

Minty green graces the walls of the master suit.

The laminate flooring that was in the living room and dining room was saved...here Jessie is laying it in one of the bedrooms. He put it in both of the smaller bedrooms and the laundry room

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The deck out back turned out beautiful!!

The Walls are Back Up!

Wow, it seems like all of a sudden so much has been done on Mom and Dads remodel! The heat pump is in, the wiring and plumbing is done and the drywall is completely installed! The man that hung it, did it all by himself, then taped and sanded it. Mike put a coat of primer on it then Jose sprayed the final coat of texture on. He is a working machine!! He did a nice job too.

The first picture above is of the master bathroom and closet, the next two are of the master bedroom. This area used to be the kitchen/laundry room/back porch and guest bathroom.

Above is the new kitchen/dining area.

The original ceiling was left in the living room. Notice the entry closet...that used to be the doorway to Mom and Dads bedroom. We hope we don't find them in the closet sleeping too often. LOL (just joking guys!!)

The plan is for Mike and Jessie to spray the primer and ceiling paint on tomorrow...then on Thursday and Friday we will paint! We have most of the paint...but still need to find a color for the kitchen. Hummm....I have a few ideas.

Jessie is getting the foundation for his house put in this week. He will be ready to build as soon as the remodel is through.

We got the blueprints for our next house too. Mike will get started on that after the third cutting of hay is in. It is a really cool house!!

My baby Dixie is growing fast! She is changing colors, and is quite a mixture right now. She is such a sweetie..I am enjoying her a lot.

The last picture is of Dixie with her grandma Mandy...How sweet!!

Nova Scotia

We recently returned from our trip to Kingston, Nova Scotia. We had a great time...except that DH was sick in bed a couple of days...Bummer. Kelly and Ryan have a really nice place and 3 terrific dog kids, Nevaeh with ball, Daisy laying down, and Kyisha (all were rescue pets).

We went to the beach...it is very rugged and the water is cold, not something you would want to swim in.

Kelly and I went to Annapolis Royal to a farmers market (above), we had lunch at a sweet lil cafe, then walked up to an old fort site on the hill. It was built in the 1700's, with the trenches all dug by hand.

We had fun walking through the streets and poking around in some of the shops.

They took us for a drive through the countryside... that is one our favorite things to do! So many old beautiful houses and picturesque little homes along the ocean side.

Kelly prepared a delicious Indian meal for us. We started off with a Mango Lassi (yogurt smoothie) and Samosa's (potato & pea stuffed pastry) with mango chutney. Then we had two kinds of chicken one being Butter Chicken, rice and naan (Indian yeast bread). Kelly made everything from scratch and it was sooo good!! Very spicey! YUM!! The atmosphere was complete with Indian music playing in the background while we dined!

One morning we got up and drove to the town of Digby, it is famous for it's scallops. We had lunch down by the waterfront, browsed through several shops then headed on down to to a tiny town at the end of the penisula to go out whale watching. There were about 10 of us on the boat and the conditions were quite foggy. Before long we found a humpback whale with her calf. They are HUGE!! Every so often they would deep dive with a wave of their tail and be gone for 5-10 minutes. They would turn the boat motor off so we could hear them blowing through their blowholes when they came up. Then we were off following them again. We ended up seeing 5 humpback whales and learning alot about them. Very Fun and Interesting!! A Great Day!

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The next day Kelly, Mike and I went on a drive to the south shore to the town of Lunnenburg and to Mohone Bay. That was a beautiful spot too.

We went shopping, Kelly made us wonderful food (she is a terrific cook!!), played with the dogs, and went to the lake. Ryan even taught me how to canoe! It was great...even though we did end up in the water (well we had all 3 dogs in with us and our navigation was a little off...LOL). The best part of the trip was just being with the kids though...I miss them being around sooo much. I'll end with a few pix from the lake, see the tiny frog in Kelly's hand?

Up on the Rooftop..

The hay is all in so back to work on the house. The shingles are nearly all on, and they really look good!

Mike is putting a sun tunnel skylight in the hallway, this is how it looks on the roof.

This is how it looks inside right now.

The new french doors will bring lots of light into the living area.

Outside there will be a new deck to enjoy the view and soak up sun.

There will be a corner sink in the kitchen under the windows.

Next week Mike will start on the plumbing, the electrical will get going and installation of the heat pump in on the way. I have the kitchen layout pretty much done..just a bit of tweeking and then mom and I will need to select her cabinets. How exciting!! It is going to be so cool!!

We moved the steers to town to be lawnmowers for the pasture. The train was a little unsettling to them at first..but they are getting used to it now and seem content.

Finally....Dixie is Here!!

Last Thursday morning Mike came rushing into the bedroom at about 5am waking me with a start. He told me there were now four horses in the barn! (We have been getting up and checking every morning for about a month) I quickly dressed and ran to the barn to meet my long awaited new arrival.

I decided to name her Dixie. It will be fun to see what color she ends up. Her dad is grey... So far most of my horsey friends think that is what color she will turn. Time will tell.

Dixie is 4 days old in these last 3 pictures. You will be seeing more of her as time goes on.

On another note...Mike has been haying, so not much done on the house in town. We did get the porch railings up at our house though.

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