Sunday, October 31, 2010

Home Improvements

This is a view of our pool area "before" we decided to put in a pool enclosure. It will be very nice when finished I am sure. However, getting to that point from this point is a total mess. I am trying to be very patient but that word has never really been connected to me in any way. I wasn't going to post any pictures until we were completely finished but my daughter in law Heather wanted to see the process and since it won't be finished for sometime I decided to post them so you could see what we have to go to get from beginning to end. See the new grass that we planted this past Spring. It was doing quite well. I also re did the walk way to the left just last Spring.

This picture was taken in July when the family was here.
These pictures were taken today. They have the footers dug and will be ready for inspection. Then they will grind all the old cool deck off of the deck and re -do all of that. That they tell me will be a very "BIG" mess. And I thought we already had a big mess. You can also see where they are extending the deck and it will be much bigger and give us more room.
They removed the front of the screen porch and it will be supported and then will be open to the pool and will make for a very large open screened in pool area. It really will be very nice. The nicest thing is we will keep out leaves, bugs, snakes and all the things you really don't want to swim with, but are likely to find in your pool.


We had hoped to have it all finished before Thanksgiving, but that isn't going to happen, but maybe by Christmas. With the nice weather we have throughout the fall and winter we will be able to enjoy it when it is finished even though we won't be swimming. I am sure looking forward to it. It will be like one great big outside room. In the meantime, I will concentrate on the front yard getting it ready for Christmas and try not to dwell on the mess of the backyard. Will keep you postd with new improvements as they happen.






Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Fall Festival!

This evening we went to the fall festival at First Baptist in Keystone. They did a good job having booths for the kids to play games and get candy. Tanek was dressed as a construction worker. This fits him more than any other costume he could wear. He is at heart a construction worker. He LOVES anything to do with big machinery, tools or anything to do with it. He was so cute.

Tanek and mommy Here he is with his buddy Aiden. "To infinity and beyond". Aiden is his buddy and such a cute and sweet little boy. They all had a good time.

Getting some encouragement from daddy


Love that sweet face

He made a hole in one

Now this was a big hit. The object was to go into the hay wagon and find candy in the hay. What do you think 3 little boys would do in the hay? Yep, the most fun was playing in the hay and throwing it at each other. They did find some candy too!

Is that papa peeking over the haywagon?


Yep, there is candy in here. Lots of fun.
















Wednesday, October 27, 2010

It's a John Deere

Today while the concrete contractors were digging for the footers to put up our pool enclosure Gary was using the neighbors John Deere to move the dirt to the back field. Tanek loved being able to ride on it with his Papa.

He is all smiles. He loves big machines.It isn't a bull dozer, but a tractor will do for now.

Tanek loves to talk about when he was a builder. He says he used to be a builder when he was big and now he is just being a little boy but when he gets grown he will be a builder again. He said today he was also going to build pools when he becomes a builder again. I was letting him see how hard they had to work and asked him if he was sure he wanted to work that hard and he said he did.

I took some pictures of all the work they are doing, but I am going to wait until the whole job is done because right now everything looks awful and a big mess. It is always a bigger mess to redo something I think than it is to just build it from scratch. I will be so glad to get the job done and everything cleaned back up.


Such fun times spent helping Papa



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Pumpkin Patch

Today Stephanie and I took Tanek to the Pumpkin patch at the Methodist church in Keystone.
Every year they put out a pumpkin patch and you can take pictures and buy some pumpkins if you want. Tanek picked out 3 little pumpkins. One for him, mommy and daddy. He liked the little ones because he could hold them in his hands. With temperatures in the 90's this week it certainly didn't feel like fall. Last year we were in jackets at the pumpkin patch.

There were pumpkins of all sizes and colors and shapes.
These just fit in his hands nicely


These are the ones I want mommy


It is so cute


Sitting by his new friend Mr. Scarecrow

I have made my choice and I will take these 3 home please

A fun tme at the pumpkin patch











Sunday, October 24, 2010

Spots of Interest

Just some of the sights you see at Disney and Epcot. They are all decorated for fall. And everyone knows NO one does it better than Disney!


Water fall at Tom Sawyer Island


15th food and wine festival at Epcot

Epcot

Painting the grass green. No wonder their landscape is beautiful all year round.

Some of the buildings at Epcot

You can see so many different countries on one street

And the flowers are beautiful all year round and different for every season





Don't you love that blue sky?


Love this big ball

And Cinderella's castle is always beautiful

Entering the Magic Kingdom





















Saturday, October 23, 2010

Fall Disney Trip 10-(22-23) 2010

This past week we took our Fall Disney trip. Fall is one of the nicest times to go. Not only was the weather absolutely perfect the fall decorations are so pretty too. We only stayed one night this time. We plan to go back in December to see all the Christmas decorations. The crowds were so light on Thursday that we were able to ride so many rides without having to wait in line.
It was really great. This is on the people mover.

Tanek's favorite ride is Goofy's Barnstormer. It is a roller coaster for children, but it is a lot of fun and moves very fast. It is just short. We were able to ride this 6 times. On Thursday we were able to ride it 3 times in a row without even having to get off since there was no one waiting to get on. Tanek loved that.

Another one of his favorites is these cars. He was hoping for a red car and got one.

We rode the raft over to Tom Sawyer Island and that was a lot of fun. Lots of places to poke around in.
Bring out the big gun

A very wobbly bridge

Tanek's favorite character....Pluto

One of the biggest highlights is the Lego store at Downtown Disney. I think he would be happy to just go there. He loves lego's more than anyone I know. I personally don't like them at all, but I am not the one that has to put them all together. His mommy gets to help him with that.
This Woody takes a LOT of lego's.

Woody's competition and good friend Buzz Light Year "to Infinity and Beyond" We rode the Buzz Light Year ride and that is always fun.

After our first full day we were all so tired. It is so nice to have our room to go back to instead of having to make the drive back home. We really enjoy staying at the resorts and that is part of the fun. There is a lot to do and see at the resorts. The next morning this was the picture of our little guy not awake yet. Love these little feet.

Tanek and his Buzz Light Year p.j.'s

This was at Epcot at the food and wine festival. We walked through it and looked, but most of the places were not yet open. We rode on Soaring and that is one of the best rides of all. We decided after lunch to head back to the Magic Kingdom. I love walking through Epcot. Their landscaping is so pretty. I will post pictures tomorrow of some of the shots I got. I even got a picture of one of the gardener's painting the grass. And I always thought it was always green naturally.

Tanek got a Pluto hat and he loved it. Here he is with his mommy


And his Nana
And a kiss for his mommy

Riding on the monorail

Lunch time

Gotta love this sweet happy face.


The end of another day. Going home is always a good time for a nap. See you again soon Disney.

This was really a perfect trip. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was so nice that it wasn't crowded and we could do so many things. I talked with a couple people that were here from out of state. One from North Dakota and another from Indiana. They were not looking forward to going home to freezing weather. Some people have to work and save for years to make the trip to Disney. I am so happy that we live close enough and can use season passes and just enjoy it at whatever speed we want too. Sometimes we spend as much time at the resorts as we do in the parks. (especially in the summer). I am also very happy to be able to enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having.