Just wanted to drop a note to say thank you to everyone that called, sms'd us, emailed and even sent cards to wish Dave and I for our 13th wedding anniversary. 13 years might seem a good while but him and I have been together well over 20 years now, can you believe that, we are definitely like an old married couple :-) I cannot remember life before him, especially since we have been friends since I was 13ish, golly that's a long time, he must love me right, I mean he has stuck around this long (hehehe).
Since Jade was off school because of Veterans Day we all went out for a nice lunch which was a good treat, now we have the weekend to look forward to, I am not sure who is more excited, us to have a romantic childless weekend away or Jade to go spend the weekend with Ms Tina and her best friend Louis ... and his brother Tyler of course and sister Layla :-)
Anyway just wanted to say thanks, it meant a lot !!! Oh I wanted to especially mention my maid of honor Jackie Fitzgerald and Daves best man Louis Pretorius, we could not have chosen better people to stand up for us on our wedding day, in 13 years the two of them have never forgotten to make contact with us to wish us, we love you guys !!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
House Update - 8th November ...
Ok this is a very quick update ...
Saturday we quickly went to see what had been done on the house this week and it was quite a lot actually ... from this picture you can see our garage doors are now on but more so than that, our driveway had been done as well as the pathway in front of our house. Sadly the tree that we love in front of our house has been damaged by people laying cables and the builder is not sure whether it will survive, we are hoping it will survive and asked for them to leave the tree and not remove it in the hope it will be ok. They are going to try and doctor it some to save it, if it looks like it won't make it, they will come and remove it. We will have other small trees in our front garden but we were one of the lucky ones to have a big tree out front that they did not have to remove so we really hope it is a fighter and survives.
They also built our fireplace, hard to see the stonework from a distance but it looks good, Dave would have liked more variation in color but I think once it has all been cleaned up it will be fine :-)
They also installed all my granite counter tops, I didn't add a picture here as they are still covered and you cannot get the complete effect. The bathroom counter tops were also done.
Then they started our deck this week too and apparently it will be done on our next visit. It is a nice large deck, Dave and I are thrilled at our decision to extend it a little longer than we originally planned on. It's hard to see from this angle and I did take a picture from the top but it's hard to see from there too but you get the idea at least.
This picture is taken from the other side but here you can now get a better idea of how little our back yard is, ok our property line runs into the forest so it's not like we don't have land back there but here you can see the only area that will be grassed. Dave plans in time to clean out the forest area to make it look neater but we are in no rush to do that as there is tons of work to be done before then. We might even lay a slab under the deck in time ... but that's all in the far distant future :-) inside first right ?
Ok so that's the update on the house, this week Jade is excited about two things, Thursday she is getting to go see the stage production of Annie at school, I wish I could go with but it is only for the kids, she will love it and am sure she will come home wanting to now be an actress ...
Then Friday she is going to my girlfriend Tina's house for the weekend, tomorrow is Dave and my wedding anniversary so we are going to Savannah Georgia for a short get away, we will leave around lunch time on Friday and come back late Sunday afternoon, I hope we have good weather so we can enjoy our time away, lots to see there so ... hold thumbs.
I am sure I will have lots of pics after the weekend so hang in there and enjoy the week.
Saturday we quickly went to see what had been done on the house this week and it was quite a lot actually ... from this picture you can see our garage doors are now on but more so than that, our driveway had been done as well as the pathway in front of our house. Sadly the tree that we love in front of our house has been damaged by people laying cables and the builder is not sure whether it will survive, we are hoping it will survive and asked for them to leave the tree and not remove it in the hope it will be ok. They are going to try and doctor it some to save it, if it looks like it won't make it, they will come and remove it. We will have other small trees in our front garden but we were one of the lucky ones to have a big tree out front that they did not have to remove so we really hope it is a fighter and survives.
They also built our fireplace, hard to see the stonework from a distance but it looks good, Dave would have liked more variation in color but I think once it has all been cleaned up it will be fine :-)
They also installed all my granite counter tops, I didn't add a picture here as they are still covered and you cannot get the complete effect. The bathroom counter tops were also done.
Then they started our deck this week too and apparently it will be done on our next visit. It is a nice large deck, Dave and I are thrilled at our decision to extend it a little longer than we originally planned on. It's hard to see from this angle and I did take a picture from the top but it's hard to see from there too but you get the idea at least.
This picture is taken from the other side but here you can now get a better idea of how little our back yard is, ok our property line runs into the forest so it's not like we don't have land back there but here you can see the only area that will be grassed. Dave plans in time to clean out the forest area to make it look neater but we are in no rush to do that as there is tons of work to be done before then. We might even lay a slab under the deck in time ... but that's all in the far distant future :-) inside first right ?
Ok so that's the update on the house, this week Jade is excited about two things, Thursday she is getting to go see the stage production of Annie at school, I wish I could go with but it is only for the kids, she will love it and am sure she will come home wanting to now be an actress ...
Then Friday she is going to my girlfriend Tina's house for the weekend, tomorrow is Dave and my wedding anniversary so we are going to Savannah Georgia for a short get away, we will leave around lunch time on Friday and come back late Sunday afternoon, I hope we have good weather so we can enjoy our time away, lots to see there so ... hold thumbs.
I am sure I will have lots of pics after the weekend so hang in there and enjoy the week.
Monday, November 3, 2008
House Update - 2nd November 2008
Yesterday we went out to the house like usual on the weekend to see the progress over the last week and were we pleasantly surprised by how much was done ... golly they are working fast !!!
I am not sure if the photo's show it well enough but the hardy plank has now been painted and the color you see in this picture is now the color of the house, the color we chose, we were nervous about it since it had a tinge of green in it but it has turned out really well :-) Also we thought the house next door looked too similar color wise as well but on closer inspection theirs has more of a pink tinge so it does look different :-)
They had last week started putting up the shutters but I see this week they aren't much further with that but at least they finished the siding all round the house, also they have neatened up the entrance way so we could actually walk up the stairs into the house this week. We figure since they are moving so fast now, next week the house will probably start being locked up when the builders are not there and we will have to get the key from the agent on duty to go in ...
The railings have also been installed, now things are finally staring to come together and the house is starting to look like a house inside :-) The color of the oak on the stairs and the railings will be stained to match or hardwood floors eventually so it will look a bit different then but you can get an idea now :-) It's so good to finally see the stuff we chose in the design center come together and thank God everything looks ok so far :-) hold thumbs on the rest !!!
My kitchen is coming together too as you can see, the granite counter tops will probably come in the next week or so I would imagine. It's hard to see the entire kitchen from this angle but you can get an idea of what it will look like ... I hope :-)
They have also installed the cabinets in all 3 bathrooms as well as the laundry so things are coming together nicely. All the baths are installed as well.
This is the view at the back of the house, on Tuesday Dave and I have a meeting with the builder, they will be starting our deck shortly, then you will get a better idea of how the house will look at the back when it is done :-)
We didn't expect to see much change on our trip out there but as I said, we were pleasantly surprised :-) I think they are still aiming at being done before Christmas but we won't move in till mid January I am thinking, or we will start moving in around that time anyway !!!
On another note, today and tomorrow Jade has off school, they have two days of parent teacher conferences, today is ours and hold thumbs all is going well with Jade at school, I will give you an update later.
Have a good week.
I am not sure if the photo's show it well enough but the hardy plank has now been painted and the color you see in this picture is now the color of the house, the color we chose, we were nervous about it since it had a tinge of green in it but it has turned out really well :-) Also we thought the house next door looked too similar color wise as well but on closer inspection theirs has more of a pink tinge so it does look different :-)
They had last week started putting up the shutters but I see this week they aren't much further with that but at least they finished the siding all round the house, also they have neatened up the entrance way so we could actually walk up the stairs into the house this week. We figure since they are moving so fast now, next week the house will probably start being locked up when the builders are not there and we will have to get the key from the agent on duty to go in ...
The railings have also been installed, now things are finally staring to come together and the house is starting to look like a house inside :-) The color of the oak on the stairs and the railings will be stained to match or hardwood floors eventually so it will look a bit different then but you can get an idea now :-) It's so good to finally see the stuff we chose in the design center come together and thank God everything looks ok so far :-) hold thumbs on the rest !!!
My kitchen is coming together too as you can see, the granite counter tops will probably come in the next week or so I would imagine. It's hard to see the entire kitchen from this angle but you can get an idea of what it will look like ... I hope :-)
They have also installed the cabinets in all 3 bathrooms as well as the laundry so things are coming together nicely. All the baths are installed as well.
This is the view at the back of the house, on Tuesday Dave and I have a meeting with the builder, they will be starting our deck shortly, then you will get a better idea of how the house will look at the back when it is done :-)
We didn't expect to see much change on our trip out there but as I said, we were pleasantly surprised :-) I think they are still aiming at being done before Christmas but we won't move in till mid January I am thinking, or we will start moving in around that time anyway !!!
On another note, today and tomorrow Jade has off school, they have two days of parent teacher conferences, today is ours and hold thumbs all is going well with Jade at school, I will give you an update later.
Have a good week.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween 2008
Just three quick pictures, Jade was a pink fairy this year for Halloween, it was all inspired by the skirt when would light up when a button was pressed. I knew it was going to be hard to show you guys exactly what it looked like but here are the daytime pics and one night one that might give you an idea of how it looked !!!
Oh and I am still blowing pink stuff out my nose ... yuk, thankfully it was easier to was out than to spray on. It was a fun look though :-)
We went to our old neighborhood so Jade could Trick or Treat with her old friends, she really had a good time with them :-) I am so happy we decided to do that. Next year she will have a whole new neighborhood to check out, that too should be fun !!!
Tomorrow we will go through to the house again and see if there are any visual changes that we can take pics of for you guys. Until then enjoy the remainder of the weekend.
Oh and I am still blowing pink stuff out my nose ... yuk, thankfully it was easier to was out than to spray on. It was a fun look though :-)
We went to our old neighborhood so Jade could Trick or Treat with her old friends, she really had a good time with them :-) I am so happy we decided to do that. Next year she will have a whole new neighborhood to check out, that too should be fun !!!
Tomorrow we will go through to the house again and see if there are any visual changes that we can take pics of for you guys. Until then enjoy the remainder of the weekend.
Monday, October 27, 2008
This weeks update ...
Jade caught a cold this past week, actually since she started Kindergarten just about every week she comes home with some kind of sniffles, thank God she is such a healthy child and eats so well so everything she gets over fast and nothing hits her that hard but this past one ... well she is almost over but she is still coughing, poor thing. I guess the early cold mornings don't help either but on Friday morning when really I feel as a mom she should have stayed home although she thought she was ok, they had their mile run at school and Jade would rather have died than missed that, being Friday, I figured what the heck and sent her. It was freezing that morning so because I had to work later the morning and wasn't feeling too great myself after a bad night, I let Dave go stand in the cold to cheer her on :-) He said she did fine, I told her she could run on one condition that she didn't try to win, that she took it easy, you see there is another run at the end of the year where they are timed again so she thought she had to run her fastest ... I told her next time she can run as fast as she could but this time coz she was sick she needed to take it easy. Dave said she pretty much ran in the middle of the class so she still did well, as athletic as she is with her gymnastics, she really isn't a runner so I didn't expect her to win anyway :-) That being said, she tries so hard, I know she would have done a lot better had she felt more herself.
Anyway here is a picture of her class before the run, you can tell that most of them ran with jackets on it was so cold.
On Sunday we went out to the house to get an update, most of you probably are getting tired of these updates but we are trying to show our folks the stages of how a house gets built her so please just hang in there, it will eventually be built and you won't have to hear too much more about it :-)
Here you can see that they have started putting the siding on the front of the house but remember I mentioned before that the color you are seeing is not the color that you will see in the end, it still needs to be painted, that being said, I kinds like it this light but it's going darker ... they have also started putting the shutters on too, I think one more week and we will need a key to get in every week as the garage doors will be on which is our main entry right now into the house.
This is the back of the house, I am sure shortly they will start our deck, you can see that the one side of the house closest to the camera is all done being sided too but the other side hadn't been done yet.
These two are just of the inside, it's a lot cleaner looking than it was last week but here was so much dust going on because they were actually working on the house when we stopped by that I didn't even go in, Dave just took a quick pic or two. Yeah it was Sunday, can you tell they are eager to get it done. They say it will be done before Christmas but we have no intentions of starting to move in till mid January, so ... guys since we won't be making a trip out to SA anytime soon, we will have lots of space for you, so hint, hint, time for a trip across the ocean, come visit !!!
Last but not least, I want to tell you about a proud parent moment, on Sunday evening at church Jade was asked by the Monsignor to help take up a basket when they took up the offertory, you see during the mass she attends a kids class in one of the back classes and then when the Father is done with the Homily, they come in and those chosen walk down the center of the church with the rest of the group taking the offertory and rest of the goodies for communion, only Jade was right in the front and she did so well, she had to walk up on the 'stage' as she calls it, the alter to put the basket up there and then come down for a blessing. She was so cute and so proud, she ran back to us with a big smirk on her face and mom of course was almost in tears.
Oh oh ... I said last thing but I wanted to mention one more thing, today I took Jade to have her eyes tested, my gut feel was that there was nothing wrong with her, I mean she is my child that can find a needle in a haystack but her pediatrician suggested it so better safe than sorry. Well they did a bunch of tests before even seeing the doctor then they dilated her eyes for further testing, not ever having had that happen to me before, I had no idea what she was going to experience and from what I understand, it could be a totally scary experience and she was as usual such a trooper. She had to wait 30 mins before seeing the doctor, in that time her site got worse and worse and she kept on telling me how much less she could see, a scary experience for me actually but she was totally ok and handled everything so well. Bottom line is thank God all is well and she passed all the tests perfectly, hopefully she has my eyes and not her dads, the doctor says obviously it is no guarantee but it looks like she is going to be fine and won't have eye issues anytime in the near future ... Thank God !!!
Jade is such a brave child, as long as you tell her what she is going to go through, no matter how uncomfortable things are, she just deals with it, she is way braver than I am, that I know for sure, poor thing, I am so proud of her !!!
That's it for now, Halloween on Friday so I am sure there will be lots of pics then.
Anyway here is a picture of her class before the run, you can tell that most of them ran with jackets on it was so cold.
On Sunday we went out to the house to get an update, most of you probably are getting tired of these updates but we are trying to show our folks the stages of how a house gets built her so please just hang in there, it will eventually be built and you won't have to hear too much more about it :-)
Here you can see that they have started putting the siding on the front of the house but remember I mentioned before that the color you are seeing is not the color that you will see in the end, it still needs to be painted, that being said, I kinds like it this light but it's going darker ... they have also started putting the shutters on too, I think one more week and we will need a key to get in every week as the garage doors will be on which is our main entry right now into the house.
This is the back of the house, I am sure shortly they will start our deck, you can see that the one side of the house closest to the camera is all done being sided too but the other side hadn't been done yet.
These two are just of the inside, it's a lot cleaner looking than it was last week but here was so much dust going on because they were actually working on the house when we stopped by that I didn't even go in, Dave just took a quick pic or two. Yeah it was Sunday, can you tell they are eager to get it done. They say it will be done before Christmas but we have no intentions of starting to move in till mid January, so ... guys since we won't be making a trip out to SA anytime soon, we will have lots of space for you, so hint, hint, time for a trip across the ocean, come visit !!!
Last but not least, I want to tell you about a proud parent moment, on Sunday evening at church Jade was asked by the Monsignor to help take up a basket when they took up the offertory, you see during the mass she attends a kids class in one of the back classes and then when the Father is done with the Homily, they come in and those chosen walk down the center of the church with the rest of the group taking the offertory and rest of the goodies for communion, only Jade was right in the front and she did so well, she had to walk up on the 'stage' as she calls it, the alter to put the basket up there and then come down for a blessing. She was so cute and so proud, she ran back to us with a big smirk on her face and mom of course was almost in tears.
Oh oh ... I said last thing but I wanted to mention one more thing, today I took Jade to have her eyes tested, my gut feel was that there was nothing wrong with her, I mean she is my child that can find a needle in a haystack but her pediatrician suggested it so better safe than sorry. Well they did a bunch of tests before even seeing the doctor then they dilated her eyes for further testing, not ever having had that happen to me before, I had no idea what she was going to experience and from what I understand, it could be a totally scary experience and she was as usual such a trooper. She had to wait 30 mins before seeing the doctor, in that time her site got worse and worse and she kept on telling me how much less she could see, a scary experience for me actually but she was totally ok and handled everything so well. Bottom line is thank God all is well and she passed all the tests perfectly, hopefully she has my eyes and not her dads, the doctor says obviously it is no guarantee but it looks like she is going to be fine and won't have eye issues anytime in the near future ... Thank God !!!
Jade is such a brave child, as long as you tell her what she is going to go through, no matter how uncomfortable things are, she just deals with it, she is way braver than I am, that I know for sure, poor thing, I am so proud of her !!!
That's it for now, Halloween on Friday so I am sure there will be lots of pics then.
Monday, October 20, 2008
House Update
Well it's been a week or two since I updated last, since they were working inside there house doing all the electrical and water, you weren't seeing too much from the outside so I thought I would wait a bit for a bigger update !!!
Let me back track here a bit, two weekends ago Jade and I went to see Disney On Ice, every year I like to take her to some ice show but I was excited about this one since there were 4 stories, Cars, Lion Kind, Little Mermaid and TINKERBELL !!! Yeah not Peter Pan but Tinkerbell ... I had no idea what that story would be all about but I was exited for Jade since Tinkerbell has been the character for the past year or so :-)
The show was good, the Tinkerbell part was a little confusing but I think she got it, hopefully she got it. It was a great mom and daughter fun morning, of course dad has had his fill of ice skating over the years so didn't think twice about getting out of this one (hehehe) !!! I actually took lots of video if I get a chance I will load some.
After that Jades school had their Fall Festival which to me was a little disappointing but Jade had fun and that is all that matters right. Dave was out at the house laying surround sound cables etc. so he got out of that one too, lucky guy !!!
I am sure I have mentioned it before but Jade is really loving school, this weekend she said the best part of school is learning to write, I was sure it would be the playground, or gym class or the bus ride but was thrilled to hear just how excited she is about learning to write and well we all know she loves reading so that she is enjoying too :-) Now let's hope this excitement follows all the way up to graduation right.
Anyway, this past week was even more fun for her, they had a mock farm day where the kids had to either come to school dressed as a farm animal or a farmer, well mom being so uncreative dressed her like a farmer and she looked too cute, I totally didn't have time to take pictures at 6h30 in the morning so you will have to take my word on that one. She had dark green overalls on with a cute checked shirt under it, and pony tails, she loved it :-) Today they are going to a real farm, it will be the first field trip Jade has taken without me so I am a little nervous of that.
Actually that's not true, last week they took a short field trip to the fire station but that being just across the road that wasn't too big a deal for me not to attend, but this one is a good way away, they get on the bus at 8h30 this morning and wont be back till just before school comes out. She is so exited, hopefully I get lots of details as to how it went. It's cold today so hopefully she is warm enough, no rain hopefully but it's 2 degrees here this morning, later should be a lot warmer but Winter is on it's way that is for sure.
What also was fun for her this past week is the school had a Donuts for Dads morning, so instead of her catching the school bus, Dave took her to school and he and all the other dads had some coffee and donuts with their kids before school and going off to work, too cute.
Friday this week the kids are all doing a mile run at the school, I am going to pop down before going to work early Friday to support Jade, that's going to be a long run for the little Kindergartners, I am not even sure they have to run the entire distance but it is definitely advertised that way so we will see :-) hold thumbs, thank God she is very athletic so she should be ok.
Now onto the house, as you can see they have started with the brick work, I was a little disappointed how similar the bricks were to the house next door to use but I think the more I look at it, the more I can see the difference and once the siding is up and our colors are different, things will be better. We have two totally different shape houses so there is no chance they will look that similar.
This one is from the back, you can see they have started the siding, it's hardy plank so it gets painted the color we chose so what you see there is not the finished product.
Here you can see they have started the drywall inside, what a mess and oh how dusty but it's starting to take shape, it looks so very different with the drywall, amazing actually :-)
We actually got to meet our neighbors yesterday too, they moved into their house about two weeks ago, Jeff and Wendy, they have 3 kids, lets see if I can get this right, Hope is 8, Holly is 10 and David is 13. Jade got to play outside with them while the adults talked, they seemed nice so that's good to know :-)
So yeah, that's the update for this week, I am sure I will have more pictures next weekend. Have a good week.
Let me back track here a bit, two weekends ago Jade and I went to see Disney On Ice, every year I like to take her to some ice show but I was excited about this one since there were 4 stories, Cars, Lion Kind, Little Mermaid and TINKERBELL !!! Yeah not Peter Pan but Tinkerbell ... I had no idea what that story would be all about but I was exited for Jade since Tinkerbell has been the character for the past year or so :-)
The show was good, the Tinkerbell part was a little confusing but I think she got it, hopefully she got it. It was a great mom and daughter fun morning, of course dad has had his fill of ice skating over the years so didn't think twice about getting out of this one (hehehe) !!! I actually took lots of video if I get a chance I will load some.
After that Jades school had their Fall Festival which to me was a little disappointing but Jade had fun and that is all that matters right. Dave was out at the house laying surround sound cables etc. so he got out of that one too, lucky guy !!!
I am sure I have mentioned it before but Jade is really loving school, this weekend she said the best part of school is learning to write, I was sure it would be the playground, or gym class or the bus ride but was thrilled to hear just how excited she is about learning to write and well we all know she loves reading so that she is enjoying too :-) Now let's hope this excitement follows all the way up to graduation right.
Anyway, this past week was even more fun for her, they had a mock farm day where the kids had to either come to school dressed as a farm animal or a farmer, well mom being so uncreative dressed her like a farmer and she looked too cute, I totally didn't have time to take pictures at 6h30 in the morning so you will have to take my word on that one. She had dark green overalls on with a cute checked shirt under it, and pony tails, she loved it :-) Today they are going to a real farm, it will be the first field trip Jade has taken without me so I am a little nervous of that.
Actually that's not true, last week they took a short field trip to the fire station but that being just across the road that wasn't too big a deal for me not to attend, but this one is a good way away, they get on the bus at 8h30 this morning and wont be back till just before school comes out. She is so exited, hopefully I get lots of details as to how it went. It's cold today so hopefully she is warm enough, no rain hopefully but it's 2 degrees here this morning, later should be a lot warmer but Winter is on it's way that is for sure.
What also was fun for her this past week is the school had a Donuts for Dads morning, so instead of her catching the school bus, Dave took her to school and he and all the other dads had some coffee and donuts with their kids before school and going off to work, too cute.
Friday this week the kids are all doing a mile run at the school, I am going to pop down before going to work early Friday to support Jade, that's going to be a long run for the little Kindergartners, I am not even sure they have to run the entire distance but it is definitely advertised that way so we will see :-) hold thumbs, thank God she is very athletic so she should be ok.
Now onto the house, as you can see they have started with the brick work, I was a little disappointed how similar the bricks were to the house next door to use but I think the more I look at it, the more I can see the difference and once the siding is up and our colors are different, things will be better. We have two totally different shape houses so there is no chance they will look that similar.
This one is from the back, you can see they have started the siding, it's hardy plank so it gets painted the color we chose so what you see there is not the finished product.
Here you can see they have started the drywall inside, what a mess and oh how dusty but it's starting to take shape, it looks so very different with the drywall, amazing actually :-)
We actually got to meet our neighbors yesterday too, they moved into their house about two weeks ago, Jeff and Wendy, they have 3 kids, lets see if I can get this right, Hope is 8, Holly is 10 and David is 13. Jade got to play outside with them while the adults talked, they seemed nice so that's good to know :-)
So yeah, that's the update for this week, I am sure I will have more pictures next weekend. Have a good week.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Renaissance Festival 08
As usual this year we went to the Renaissance Festival ... oh gosh my moms going to hate me for all these pics again, she went with us years back and loved this festival !!!
We always make a day out of it and really enjoy it !!! The only thing we did differently this year is we didn't watch the jousting which we always do but we were busy enough that we didn't miss it ... also this year we passed on the traditional turkey leg and tried the bread bowls for lunch ... bad decision :-(
I somehow think this tree guy looked different last year, I need to go back and look. I tried to persuade Jade to go and stand between his legs like others were, for a photo but she didn't want to hear of it (hehehe).
Jade was mesmerised by all the wings, obviously with Renaissance being all about Fairies too, there are many fairies to see and lots of wings and outfits for sale.
Here is one of those fairies, she was beautiful, she played a flute and I too was mesmerised by her :-) She called the kids over and out of her pocket she would pull out a flattened clear marble but it was full of fairy dust so when she placed it in your hands you were covered in fairy dust, Jade loved this and went back twice for more :-)
Here are some knights, probably ones that partook in the jousting, I am not sure, I am always amazed at how many people dress the part for the festival, it's pretty neat actually, I could just sit and people watch all day, I love this festival :-)
I actually bought Jade a very regal dress for the festival but it was too long and it just would have gotten buggered up so I let her wear this one, the boots were not ideal but still she kinda looked the part and as she walked by, people working at the festival would refer to her as being a princess and she was just tickled pink by all that !!! Next year she can wear the other one !!!
Last year if you can remember Jade rode the elephant, well this year the elephant was on break when we went by him so she decided she would ride the camel instead this year :-)
This year since Jade was just a little bit older we decided to let her go on this trampoline thingi ... I knew with her gymnastics background she would be fine on it and since she is so close to doing a back handspring on her own, I knew she would enjoy this, see for yourself, do you think she did :-)
Here she filled a bottle with color sand ... we were all upset that before we even left the sand had gotten all messed up, we don't think it was compressed tight enough but oh well ... we live and learn right !!!
I don't think I have seen these mushrooms there before, very cute.
Here Jade is doing a small ride, thought it would make a funny picture since as you can see all the rides are manually driven by people ... obviously :-)
Last but not least here are two character pics ...
See you next year Renaissance Festival !!!
We always make a day out of it and really enjoy it !!! The only thing we did differently this year is we didn't watch the jousting which we always do but we were busy enough that we didn't miss it ... also this year we passed on the traditional turkey leg and tried the bread bowls for lunch ... bad decision :-(
I somehow think this tree guy looked different last year, I need to go back and look. I tried to persuade Jade to go and stand between his legs like others were, for a photo but she didn't want to hear of it (hehehe).
Jade was mesmerised by all the wings, obviously with Renaissance being all about Fairies too, there are many fairies to see and lots of wings and outfits for sale.
Here is one of those fairies, she was beautiful, she played a flute and I too was mesmerised by her :-) She called the kids over and out of her pocket she would pull out a flattened clear marble but it was full of fairy dust so when she placed it in your hands you were covered in fairy dust, Jade loved this and went back twice for more :-)
Here are some knights, probably ones that partook in the jousting, I am not sure, I am always amazed at how many people dress the part for the festival, it's pretty neat actually, I could just sit and people watch all day, I love this festival :-)
I actually bought Jade a very regal dress for the festival but it was too long and it just would have gotten buggered up so I let her wear this one, the boots were not ideal but still she kinda looked the part and as she walked by, people working at the festival would refer to her as being a princess and she was just tickled pink by all that !!! Next year she can wear the other one !!!
Last year if you can remember Jade rode the elephant, well this year the elephant was on break when we went by him so she decided she would ride the camel instead this year :-)
This year since Jade was just a little bit older we decided to let her go on this trampoline thingi ... I knew with her gymnastics background she would be fine on it and since she is so close to doing a back handspring on her own, I knew she would enjoy this, see for yourself, do you think she did :-)
Here she filled a bottle with color sand ... we were all upset that before we even left the sand had gotten all messed up, we don't think it was compressed tight enough but oh well ... we live and learn right !!!
I don't think I have seen these mushrooms there before, very cute.
Here Jade is doing a small ride, thought it would make a funny picture since as you can see all the rides are manually driven by people ... obviously :-)
Last but not least here are two character pics ...
See you next year Renaissance Festival !!!
House Update
Well this week you won't see much of a difference from last weeks pics because this week they concentrated on the electrical inside, as far as we know that should all be done by the end of this week where we will go do an inspection pre drywall ... wow !!!
Since it was raining last week when we went out, I decided to go and take the pics from the back of the house so you could see that in progress too :-) As you can see all our windows and doors are in.
Most of you won't have seen this before, this is what the framework looks like inside as they are building.
This is a view looking up ...
This is the view from my kitchen / breakfast nook and too the left my lounge. The woods are pretty close to our house as we don't have a big back yard which Dave loves ... little yard work to do.
Anyway, I am not sure we will see anything different next week but we will wait and see, only time will tell.
Since it was raining last week when we went out, I decided to go and take the pics from the back of the house so you could see that in progress too :-) As you can see all our windows and doors are in.
Most of you won't have seen this before, this is what the framework looks like inside as they are building.
This is a view looking up ...
This is the view from my kitchen / breakfast nook and too the left my lounge. The woods are pretty close to our house as we don't have a big back yard which Dave loves ... little yard work to do.
Anyway, I am not sure we will see anything different next week but we will wait and see, only time will tell.
Monday, September 29, 2008
House Update
We had quiet a busy weekend, Jade had a party on Saturday afternoon, it was her BFF Maggie from preschools birthday, so while she enjoyed her party which was a big girl Hannah Montana birthday party, Dave and I took advantage of the free time and went out for lunch, then went to pick up our new flat screen TV that Dave has bought for our bedroom in the new house ... now I just have to figure out where the hell to store that huge huge box in our little apartment :-(
After getting Jade we went through to the new house to see the progress and were shocked once again by the progress ... The roof was on and all the windows and outer doors were on, I cannot believe it !!! This is going so fast !!! They had also delivered the two baths for Jades bathroom and the spare bathroom and our bath for our master bathroom, wow !!!
Anyway it started to rain so I didn't manage to get any pictures but this one.
After that we went through to our old neighbors TD and Sylvia, Dave needed to fix something on his PC so we popped in there for a while. On leaving TD said he wanted me to take a picture of him for my blog ... I don't think he thought I really would put him on my blog but here you go TD ... now you too are famous amongst my blog followers :-)
Yesterday, Sunday we went through to the SA'n Festival which was being held about 30 minutes from our house. I thought it was going to be quiet a big event since it was running Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend but really it was almost a waste of a trip, I say almost because I got a yummy bag of koeksisters which made it a little more worth while. I think the organizers put a lot of work into getting it off the ground but in all honesty, it was really disappointing, and if it is going to be an annual event, I know we will pass on it and thinking many others will too, sad but true.
Then being out that way we went to Concord Mills for a bit, I love Concord Mills, anyone that knows me knows that !!! After that we went to check out a house being build in a neighborhood close to the Mills. It is the same model as ours we are building but we thought was ready for sale but it wasn't it probably is a week or two ahead in being built than our house so we didn't get to see too much there or get any ideas. At least it showed me how the house will look flipped, you see the model that we have been looking at it is built the opposite way to the way our one is being built, this all depends on where you house is situated in the road ... and me not being too visual knew it was going to be difficult for me to figure it all out. Our old house was the same so we are used to that but still, you know when you buy something on the idea that it will look almost exactly like the model and now it is flipped ... well that messes with my brain.
We got home in enough time thankfully for Jade to get her homework done, can you believe she gets homework every day and a project every weekend !!! And this is Kindergarten, gosh I have a lot too look forward to.
Anyway I need to get done and get out of here, I need to go get gas now that Charlotte has gas again, it's been crazy with almost all pumps being out of gas and people not being able to make it to work because they dont' have gas, not to mention the prices the gas stations are asking for gas because of the shortage, and those that have gas have 2 hour wait lines outside, madness ... but hopefully today it will be much better, hold thumbs.
After getting Jade we went through to the new house to see the progress and were shocked once again by the progress ... The roof was on and all the windows and outer doors were on, I cannot believe it !!! This is going so fast !!! They had also delivered the two baths for Jades bathroom and the spare bathroom and our bath for our master bathroom, wow !!!
Anyway it started to rain so I didn't manage to get any pictures but this one.
After that we went through to our old neighbors TD and Sylvia, Dave needed to fix something on his PC so we popped in there for a while. On leaving TD said he wanted me to take a picture of him for my blog ... I don't think he thought I really would put him on my blog but here you go TD ... now you too are famous amongst my blog followers :-)
Yesterday, Sunday we went through to the SA'n Festival which was being held about 30 minutes from our house. I thought it was going to be quiet a big event since it was running Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend but really it was almost a waste of a trip, I say almost because I got a yummy bag of koeksisters which made it a little more worth while. I think the organizers put a lot of work into getting it off the ground but in all honesty, it was really disappointing, and if it is going to be an annual event, I know we will pass on it and thinking many others will too, sad but true.
Then being out that way we went to Concord Mills for a bit, I love Concord Mills, anyone that knows me knows that !!! After that we went to check out a house being build in a neighborhood close to the Mills. It is the same model as ours we are building but we thought was ready for sale but it wasn't it probably is a week or two ahead in being built than our house so we didn't get to see too much there or get any ideas. At least it showed me how the house will look flipped, you see the model that we have been looking at it is built the opposite way to the way our one is being built, this all depends on where you house is situated in the road ... and me not being too visual knew it was going to be difficult for me to figure it all out. Our old house was the same so we are used to that but still, you know when you buy something on the idea that it will look almost exactly like the model and now it is flipped ... well that messes with my brain.
We got home in enough time thankfully for Jade to get her homework done, can you believe she gets homework every day and a project every weekend !!! And this is Kindergarten, gosh I have a lot too look forward to.
Anyway I need to get done and get out of here, I need to go get gas now that Charlotte has gas again, it's been crazy with almost all pumps being out of gas and people not being able to make it to work because they dont' have gas, not to mention the prices the gas stations are asking for gas because of the shortage, and those that have gas have 2 hour wait lines outside, madness ... but hopefully today it will be much better, hold thumbs.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Week 3
We popped by the house yesterday, Sunday ... this is week 3 and I house is completely framed. Here you can see the house from the front and from the side, remembering I can't really get far enough from the house at the back because of our small garden back there and all the wooded area to get a shot from the back but hopefully this helps :-)
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