Saturday, July 23, 2016

Kids Obstacle Challenge

It was a no-brainer signing Carter up for this super fun obstacle course. He had a blast and took 2nd place in his group!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, July 18, 2016

The Joys of Owning a Home

Some day, I really will get to a point where I can enjoy my home.....right? There are many, many Pinterest projects in the queue for this house. A great majority of them are exciting to me. However, in the meantime, we keep stumbling upon bogus "projects" the former owners attempted. Daily visits to Lowe's are becoming quite the reality. I just want to get to the FUN projects, not the clean-up of shoddy work!
 
The electrical situation in the master bath was......mind-blowing. Matt's best friend owns an electrical company, so we got him over to the house ASAP to assess the situation. A sizeable donation to Lowe's (one of many, oh what fun!) later, and we were operating under a much safer system.
 
 
 
While all of that fun was going on, I finished up the kids' rooms. Carter has the BSU room, and while we have a few more things to add in the coming weeks, it's just about complete. He LOVES it! You certainly can't miss his room once you get upstairs! ;)
 
 
The girls' room really reminds me of an Easter basket with the colors they chose. We definitely have more stuff to add to the walls, but for the most part, this room is done.
 
 
The doozy of all projects came to a head last week. When the inspection was done on the house, it was determined that there was a leak in the sprinkler system somewhere. The owner of the house took it upon himself to "fix" it, and even certified that it was done. Not so much. We had considerable flooding of the yard late last week, and pulled in the artillery (read: my parents) to get the problem temporarily stopped until we could find a permanent solution. We have enlisted professional sprinkler people to complete the project, but to save on labor costs, dug out the hole on our own last night. What a mess!
 
 
At some point, I'm hoping that the fixing of bullshit cover-up projects will subside and I can actually get down to my Pinterest projects!

Monday, July 11, 2016

Boston!

A couple months ago, Matt sprung a surprise on me......a trip to Boston to see a game at Fenway. Was I excited? You bet I was!! And then I launched into the whole buying a house thing, and the excitement for this trip was sort of trumped by the excitement of buying a house. But the day came to start packing and getting our butts on a plane, and trust me, the thrill came rushing back. I've been to Boston before, but it has been 10 years. And while I have done a tour of Fenway, I have never seen a home Red Sox game. It was definitely a whirlwind trip, but so freakin' fun!
 
We had a little flight delay, which put us into Boston a little later than planned. We got ourselves checked into the hotel and immediately set out to find a great restaurant for dinner. Mission accomplished, with some ice cream as we strolled down Newbury and Boylston streets to the hotel.
 
The next morning, we set out on the Freedom Trail, which is a must in Boston. It definitely takes you to some major historical places, and is a great way to see a lot of downtown Boston.
 
 
 
Yes, the dome is real gold!
 
 
 
 
 
Benjamin Franklin's parents' graves.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Don't ask..... ;)
 
 
 
We stopped at Beantown Pub and had a wonderful lunch!
 
 
 
 
 
This balcony was where the Declaration of Independence was first read to the public.
 
 
 
Faneuil Hall is one of my favorite places in Boston, along with Quincy Market. We spent over an hour just wandering around the shops and vendors.
 
 
 
 
After most of the Freedom Trail, we headed back to the hotel to dump off all of the merchandise, and headed to FENWAY!
 
 
 
 
My happy place!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I have to say, watching Big Papi hit a homerun in the second inning was the greatest thing EVER. Bucket list item totally checked off! The atmosphere at Fenway is 100% electric, and when that ball pops off his bat, it goes CRAZY in that house!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After the game was over, the throngs of people headed to the T. We opted to hit a sports bar to let the crowds die down, something we thought would take 20 minutes. Well, an hour and a half (and $110!) later, we finally managed to get ourselves to the T and back to our hotel. What a crazy fun trip!!