Fun with Boys

After the Outdoor Program Picnic, the boys wanted to play on the rock sculpture.  So Wren climbed up on top of this one.  Just after I snapped this picture, he asked for a bit of a spot.  "You got it," I said.  "No mom, I don't got it," he said.  But in the end he did make it up and was pleased.

 Here you see the boys both pleased to be hanging on the rocks.

Then we played our new favorite game.  Museum.  One person is the night watchman, while the others try to be statues.  The watchman walks around through looking this way and that, trying to catch the sculptures moving.  It is a great non-competitive game that we all just love.  After that a quick game of "toilet tag."  And then home. 

School starts next week.  Wren starts 7th grade and Dakota starts Kindergarten.  Yahoo!!! They are both excited.

Porch and Siding

Stuart and I worked this weekend to build our porch.  We both agreed that this was the best, most sturdy porch that we had ever been a part of building.  We took direction very well from our builder.
So the crew framed the roof and placed the posts.  And this weekend we did all the deck framing.  We will wait until after the drywall and painting to put down the deck boards.

Today they finished siding the east facing side of house.  It is really shaping up and looking good.

Windows and Siding

Now come the details on the outside that really make it look like our house.  Windows and Siding.

So the windows arrived on a truck.  Triple Glaze super windows.  As the crew unloaded the windows we all got excited.

The big windows took 2 guys to move.

Something about filling the holes in the walls develops the character... and makes it feel real.

The boys were very excited for the windows.

And the the true character development.  The siding began...

We like the extra sill detail on our window trim... well worth the $5 per window... (These are the decisions we must make and happy to do it.)

This morning when I arrived, one side of the house was completely covered with siding.  Yipee!  It looks like a house.  Now we wait for the siding to finish and then to paint which I think comes near the end when they will paint outside and inside all at the same time.

Details begin to Emerge

After the big framing push, the details begin to fill in.  It is a bit like painting a big canvas.  Taking the big idea, blocking it out, then adding the details a little bit at a time. 

Here are some of the details as they begin to emerge. 

On the south side of the house we have these two wonderfully big windows.  To keep the sun out in the summer time, we designed an awning to shade the windows.  I love how our builder put these together.  They just look wonderful.  

 Another view of the awning.

The front porch is beginning to take shape.

 And here is the back porch roof.  Stuart and I will build the decking part... I guess we can do that pretty much any time...  this picture shows the roof shingles which are light in color to reflect heat away from the house.

 The stairs are masterfully crafted.  Our builder is great and he takes his time and really gets things right.  A joy to work with so far.  I have kept the under the stairs space open but have yet to decide completely what is going to happen there.  Maybe the printer as it is right behind my desk space or maybe a sweet little reading nook with bean bags.....the second ideas definitely sounds better to the boys....

The master bath shower just got framed in so now I know what I will be tiling.

I have really been loving seeing our ideas become reality.  And I forgot between the last house and this house, how many decisions there are to be made at this stage.... Like how wide should the shower door be??? Will it fit and swing open with the size toilet that we are getting.... Little things that do make a big difference....  But loving it. 

Our current big question has been picking out colors for the exterior of the house.  Finally after trying to match our ideas and the reality, I knocked on the door of a house down the street.  It is a house we keep going past and saying, "Yeah, something like that..."  Well after multiple tries at "something like that," I just knocked on the door and asked what colors they used on their house.  They happily explained that they had done the same thing in order to get the colors they used. They headed to the basement and brought out the paint buckets with all the numbers and codes.  So today I went to the paint store and had them mix up 3 quarts of paint so I could test them on a bigger surface.  I love the colors.  But.... I think that paint colors are a bit like sharing the name of your baby before it is born...If we share we might get some opinions that we are not interested in hearing so you will all have to wait and be surprised.    :  )

The Roof Trusses

So the roof trusses arrived on a BIG truck.  The truck had it's own crane.  Before the roof could go on, the bathtub insert for the upstairs got flown in a placed in the bathroom.

Then came the roof trusses.  Here are the back porch trusses.

 And here are the house trusses coming in.

After the trusses were flown in and had landed the crew spent the rest of the day setting the trusses.

 By the end of the day the trusses were all set.

 And then a day later we had all the roof sheeting on.

It all move so quickly at this stage.  And each day is full of many little decisions.  And reminders of decisions that have to be made.

Our boys are away....

Our boys got on an airplane today in Boise, ID and flew to their grandparents in Arizona.  They were so excited and seem to be having a wonderful time. 

See Jeanne's Blog postings at
http://www.paysonponderings.blogspot.com/
for the wonderful chronicle of the boys fun.

 Mean while Stuart and I went on a little mini trip back in time to our days of nomadic life style.  Here we are camping out of the back of our car on National Forest land in a sweet little spot we found near the take-out for our kayak run the next day. 

Unfortunately we took no pictures of our blissful 2 days of boating and camping so words will just have to suffice.  We kayaked on the North Fork of the Payette river on the Cabartan section. (Class II-III)  The water was warm and the scenery was lovely.  We headed over to the South Fork to camp at Pine Flat Campground.  About 1/2 mile down stream at the end of a lovely trail there was a hot spring.  The spring came out of a hole in the rocks about 30 feet up and came tumbling down in this hot waterfall.  It dropped into a pool about 12 inches deep and the perfect temperature for soaking.  The next day we boated on the Canyon Section (Class III-IV).  It was lovely and wonderful.  After a day on the river we got in the car and headed back to Walla Walla.   We have had a productive week working and getting things done on the house project and tomorrow we head back to Boise to pick up the boys.