It's finally almost done!

I know that it has been a while since I have posted an update but once school started, things have been crazy!

We have been working constantly on putting the house back together. Since my last update we have almost everything done!

Completed thus far since the start of this adventure:
Pool table taken apart and moved
Basement carpet installed
Basement "put back together"
Pool table put back together and felt replaced
Bathroom painted
Living room painted
Living Room carpet installed
Living room "put back together"
Kitchen flooring installed
Kitchen Painted
Hallway and upstairs landing painted
New washer and dryer ordered and installed
Bathroom REpainted
John's "new" desk" put up
My new desk ordered and put together
New living room blinds ordered and installed
Basement Closet cleaned out and shelves redone
Duct Cleaning

During all of this work, we have made 5 trips to Goodwill, filled many garbage cans and donated several boxes of kitchen "stuff" to a friend's daughter who is in the process of purchasing a house and does not much to start with. We are still working on unpacking boxes of stuff that we needed to move when all of this started. I have a feeling that we will be making several more trips to Goodwill before everything is done.

We have a few more projects that we are looking to do over the next few months, but these are just "extra" things that we have decided to do since we have started with the updates. Some of these will be near future, some will be "at some point in time" lol

*We are in the process of converting closet by washer and drying into a pantry, complete with roll out shelves. John's brother did such a great job on the ones that he put into his house that we asked him to do some for us!
*We are also in the process of cleaning out the office and turning it back into a spare bedroom... just need to figure out what we are goign to do for a bed in there.
*As we are doing the office/spare bedroom project we are also doing some work with Darrin's room as one of this dressers is moving into the other bedroom, we need to get rid of one bookcase and may get him a new "smaller" bed so that he will have room for a desk in his room. (his current bed may end up in teh spare bedroom)
* On the "in the future" list, remains adding another bathroom in the basement as well as an egress window. Not really sure when that will be done, but it would be a very nice addition!!

The bulk of the work is behind us but at the rate that we are going, I don't think we will ever be finished!

Progress, slow but sure!

The basement carpeting is officially done! They came back on Monday to finish it!! The installer that has been working on our house is too much fun! He is easy to get along with, likes to joke around and is quick with a smart remark, and does fabulous work. But just don't call him Sir... he said that just doesn't work LOL We also found out yesterday that our vinyl for the kitchen has been ordered and will be here in about a week or so. We are tentatively scheduled to have the kitchen floor taken care of the Thursday after Labor Day! That will take a few days and then they will be able to do the living room carpet.

Guess that means that we need to think about getting out new washer and dryer ordered so that it will be here shortly after the flooring is done in the kitchen/laundry room!

In the meantime, after we finished painting the bathroom, I guess we didn't have enough... we decided to paint the living room! We think we have paint figured out, but just to be sure we picked up a sampler of the paint and tested it in a few spots around the living room. If all goes well, we will pick up the paint right away so that we can start painting next week.

So there has been progress. Seems like it had been crawling along but now it seems like things are moving right along and before long we will have a "mostly" new house! Guess the only think left to consider is pulling the wallpaper from the kitchen, but that is another discussion for another day! Let's just get through one project at at time... oh wait, we are already in the middle of 15 bazillion projects! LOL

Update

I figured that it was time for an update on our home repair adventures.

Going to the laundromat is for the birds! Last night was laundry night... granted it took me less than an hour and a half to get everything washed and dried, but the whole idea of having to HAUL it to the laundromat and back home again is no fun!

Last week Wednesday, the Dehu's left (no more extreme heat!) and on Monday the last of the fans were finally taken out (everything is quiet again!) We are also missing a bunch of the flooring in the kitchen as they needed to pull that out to get the floors completely dried. The last week has been spend talking to several different companies and getting estimates from them on the repairs. We are still waiting on the one form the restoration company that was originally sent out to do the initial cleanup/drying. We should have that by the end of the week. We have also been going through endless samples of ccarpeting and tile to figure out what we are going to have put in! We had foudn some vinyl that we really liked and kept going back to as our favorite (in photo to left). However in our last trip to one of the flooring companies, we found another one that is from the same company and same line that we like better. Will have to get a photo of that one posted as soon as we have time to get them uploaded.

We have also decided that, since our house is going to be torn apart to get everything fixed, we are also going to redo the carpeting in the living room as well as the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom. So, we have spend the last 4 days moving everything that would could out. When you are redoing floors in the 3 largest area's of the house, it gets hard to figure out where to put everything! We have a garage full of stuff and the spare bedroom is getting close to being full! Jim is going to take the toilet out for us this weekend when he is in town so that we can start pulling wallpaper and get everything repainted right away.

The pool table was also moved yesterday. We had a crew come in, disassemble the table and haul it out to the garage. Once the flooring is done in the basement, they will come back and haul it back into the basement, put it all back together and then replace the felt on the table and rails. So glad that we didn't have to do that ourselves, and that insurance is covering the cost of all the moving of it, reassembly and felt replacement!

It seems like we are getting no closer to the end of this project! But in the end, we are practically going to have a new house!

The temperature continues to rise!

We thought it was bad earlier...

When I got home this afternoon after work, the temp in the kitchen had risen to 98.6! It was body temperature in my house! NOT COOL! Darrin and Jacob helped me get a few things moved out of the house and clean up the garage somewhat and then we headed out to dinner with Jacob and Kelly - the least we could do for them taking in Darrin AND the cats!

We stayed at the hotel tonight, so of course the boys were excited about being able to go swimming! John had called Jerry to talk to him about the extreme temps in the house and he did give us the ok to turn off the Dehu in the kitchen and then open some of the windows upstairs. So hopefully that will help somewhat until they can get back to take more of the equipment out. WooHoo!

John went home after dinner to open the house up somewhat before we took the boys swimming. When we stopped at the house after dopping them off, it had already dropped a few degress but it was still warm!

Day 4 and still counting

Met with the guy that was coming to check out the furnace this morning. He was also going to check out the Dishwasher and move that so that it was out of the way when they do the flooring. We could open a used appliance store in our garage with all the stuff out here now!!

The dishwasher and furnace look fine. He is going to recommend that they replace the vent in the laundry room and well as the pipe going up to it. You can see where the water got into it and he would rather have it replaced as a precaution. No complaints by me!

When he left he told me that we just have to let him know when the floor is done and he will come back and put the dishwasher back and take care of the vent.

I was finally able to talk to our Ins Adjuster and go through the list of stuff so far that has been damaged or may have been damaged and what we need to do to have this added to the claim. This could be a long process! oh well She did say that when we call to get an estimate on replacing the felt on the pool table that we can have them add in the cost of having them come and disassemble the pool table and move it out of the way so they can replace the carpeting, then come back and put it back together and replace the felt. Works for me! I don't want to have to try and figure out how to move that!!

Day 3 and it continues to get warmer!

Tonight after work, I met Jerry from the restoration company at the house so that he could check on things and assess how everything was drying.

The carpeting in the living room and basement steps is dry! However the basement still has some damp spots especially at the bottom of the walls where it soaked into the drywall. In the bathroom off the kitchen, the floor is still damp under the vinyl and he pulled some of this back (so I guess we will get new vinyl in here too). We also discovered that it did get into the the floor in the hot tub room. The floor is wet and he asked if we still have any of the vinyl left from when that flooring was done... guess we will have to check on that. There is also damage to the wood on the door frame and baseboards. Didn't realize that one before. Bummer.

He has someone coming tomorrow morning to check out the furnace and dishwasher to make sure that nothing shorted out with them and check a few other things associated with each of those.

When Darrin stopped at the house when he got home this morning, he called me and it was 94.2 degrees according to the thermostat in the kitchen. By the time I got home at 3:15, it was 96.4. It was quite warm waiting at the house while Jerry worked! We decided that it was time to find something to do with the cats as it was getting too warm for them in the house too.

I figured that while I was sitting there, I would call the Ins adjuster to ask a few questions. The claims adjuster assigned to our claim was not in the office anymore so I was going to be transferred to someone on her team. After being on hold for 20 minutes and 3 different attempts at being transferred I FINALLY got to talk to a human! WooHoo! This was the first time through this whole adventure that we came across someone with the ins company that was difficult to deal with.

They will not cover anything associated with pet so if we bring the cats to be boarded we have to cover that ourselves. We did however get the approval for a hotel stay for us for 2 nights. When I first asked about the hotel, she questioned why it was now, 3 days after the incident, that we are finally asking about housing allowance. It was like she was questioning if we really needed it since we didn't ask before. We just didn't call to ask about that since Dan offered his place for us and we thought it was only going to be for a few day - and that would have been more comfortable than a hotel! In reality we saved the insurance company the $$ they would have spend reimbursing us for hotels. But I guess she didn't see it that way. She then asked if I knew what hotel we were going to stay at. I explained that I would have to call around and see what I could find since EAA started in Oshkosh. When EAA rolls into the area, there are usually a shortage of hotel rooms! She proceeded to "tell" me that it "had to be a reasonable hotel with a reasonable rate and if we were that close to Oshkosh, what would I find that was at a decent price?" Well, I know that it needs to be a reasonably hotel and rate, but I can't tell you where it will be until I get off the phone and make some phone calls!

She finally did approve the hotel stay for 2 nights for us. Wow, that was a painful conversation! lol Since we already were planning on going back to Dan's we will save those for the next few nights since it sounds like the Duhu's and fans will be here for at least another few days.

With all the difficulty she gave me, I will wait until tomorrow to call back and talk to our Claims adjuster!

When Darrin got home, I told him that he could stay at Jacob's tonight that way he could get to summer school tomorrow. Yeah, he was really disappointed about that! LOL NOT! I jokingly asked Jacob if he wanted a few extra cats for a night. His eye's lit up and got excited, so he called him mom. As he asked his mom, I yelled in the background that she could say no! But she said that was fine as long as we brought an extra litter box. Yippee! The cats no longer have to be miserable in the house! Poor Fozzy was laying on the cement floor in the basement trying to keep cool!

Cats and Darrin at a friends, we are back at Dan's. It's been another fun filled day in this adventure. Wonder what tomorrow will bring!

The saga continues

48 hours later and the adventure continues.

Yesterday morning when we stopped at the house to check on everything, it was 70 in the basement and 82 in the kitchen. Not very pleasant to start working on any more cleanup and going through stuff to see what was damaged. We stayed about an hour and that was it!

Today, it was 75 in the basement and 90 in the kitchen! We did get a few more photo's of various things around the house that we will have to post later. Again, we stayed long enough to get what we needed for work tomorrow and left. It seems like the carpeting in the living room is dry but the carpeting on the basement steps is still wet.

Dan has been gracious enough to let us hang out at his place while our house is miserably hot as they try to dry everything. We will find out tomorrow just how long the equipment will have to be in the house when Jerry comes back to check on things.

Animals, Apples and more

We are are finally home for a weekend! It seems like it has been forever since we have actually been home for the weekend! Not that I am complaining, but sometimes it is nice to be home! Darrin headed to Scout Camp with my dad yesterday so we had a day to do what we wanted!

First stop was the NEW Zoo. We had not been out there most of the summer and we anxious to see all the changes and additions! The day after we were out there the last time, the baby swans hatched, then a month ago the lion cubs were born, not to mention the fact that the giraffe's keep growing! They also have been working on the new Japanese Macaque exhibit that just opened last month as well as a few other improvements... so we were due for a visit!

It was a chilly morning so we were hoping to see a few more of the animals moving around more, or coming out from hiding. We were not disappointed!

The Badger was actually out wandernig around! Most of the time when we visit him, he runs and hides, and will not come back out. Today, he really did not seem to care that we were watching him! He just kept strolling around, checking out all the rocks and logs!

The Prairie dogs are always one of our favorites! They never miss a move!

But today the highlight was the pair of giraffes - Hudari and Zuri. This pair is 4 years old. Hudari weights in at about 1800 pounds! And they love their crackers! We spent quite a while feeding, photographing and petting them today, since there was no one else up at the feeding platform except the volunteers.

To view the entire set of photo's from today's adventure, click here

After the zoo, it was off the apple orchard. We found this little gem a few years ago and keep coming back! Once they open in the fall, we usually are here about every other week - especially since they are only a few miles from out house. Each time we go, we usually end up picking a different variety of apples. Today was our first trip of the season to the orchard and the HoneyGold's that we really like won't be ready for another few weeks. Today it was Jonagold's and Paula's. Cortlands should be ready next weekend.

Now is time to find some new apple recipes to try this year, as well as digging out the good ones that we discovered last year! Each week is always a new adventure, trying different apples in different recipes! Tomorrow, we make applesauce and who knows what else!!

Starting School and Making Decisions

The official first day of school has arrived! We are never really sure who is more excited for this day to come - the kids or the parents! But it is also bittersweet as it means that summer is ending...

This year Darrin was really excited to start school, as this is his final year at King Elementary! He is "one of the big kids" now. This was also the first year that I was not able to bring him to school for his first day. With the new job, it was not going to work! So I had to be a pain and ask the neighbor to get a few pictures of the kids at school, and the annual picture of Darrin in front of the school sign. I will have to dig out all these photos from years pasts and start a collage or something! The one thing that I want to do this year, that I have forgotten in the last few years, is to have Darrin wear the same shirt that he work on the first day of school, on the last day! That way we can get a real comparison of just how things can change over the school year!

This year he also had a big decision to make... What instrument did he want to play in band! This is something that he has been waiting for over the years. He had his choice down to drums or the trumpet. When the paperwork came home from school, he found out that he could not pick the drums, for various reasons. So it was the trumpet. He decided on the trumpet because that is what Unkie played in band. Works for me, as my brother's trumpet is still at my parents! All we need to do is have it cleaned and all that fun stuff.

Now only if all decisions were that easy! Then again, you take away the options, and things become clearer!

Mini-Golf Challenge Results

Our weekend in the Dells brought about a small mini-golf challenge between the 3 of us. Each course that we had the option of difficulty, we chose the most difficult course just to add some extra excitement and challenge!

Results:

Timber Falls: Montezuma's Revenge
Par for Course = 47

Amy: 48 (2 hole in one's)
John: 55 (1 hole in one)
Darrin:54 (1 hole in one)

Timber Falls: Loggers Lookout (Red Course)
Par for Course = 43

Amy: 56 (1 hole in one)
John: 57 (1 hole in one)
Darrin: 68

Pirate Cove: Pirates Challenge
Par for Course = 46

Amy: 49 (1 hole in one)
John: 56 (1 hole in one)
Darrin: 56

Shipwreck Lagoon: Green Course
Par Course = 41

Amy: 43
John: 47
Darrin: 58

It was a great weekend for mini-golf! Darrin was determined to beat John and he did accomplish that in the very first course we golfed! It was great to finally golf the many mini golf courses that in the Dells! Next time Darrin is determined to come out on top!!

Vacation Day 4 - Time to head home!

WOW - where did the last 3 days go! I guess the last day of vacation has to come sooner or later! As our family tradition, we ate breakfast at the hotel today. They usually have a pretty good breakfast buffet and it makes it easier to just eat there in between packing to go home and loading the car.

Today was the only day that we actually brought the camera to the waterpark to get some pictures. We were even having fun with the video option on the camera with a few of the water slides etc...

that is, until the camera battery went dead. Guess that was bound to happen since we forgot to bring the charger for the small camera with us! We still had John's regular camera to use, but we were not about to bring that down to the water park!

Before we left town we had one last mini-golf course to hit... Shipwreck Lagoon. At first glance, it looks like a small course, compared to the other large courses in town. This is not the case! Since the course is built up on a hill, you can't see most of it from the road! Of the 3 courses, once again ,we opted for hte hardest one! I think we really challenged ourselves this weekend! Darrin ended up slightly futher behind John but that was mainly because of 1 hole!

Another Dells vacation had to come to a close... anyone want to go to work for me tomorrow?!?!?

Vacation Day 3

After breakfast at Cracker Barrel (or Crackle Barrel as Darrin called it) we headed to the Lost Canyon. This was one of the small local tours that was recommended to us by the lady at the hotel.

I highly recommend this tour for anyone who as time. It is a small tour, off the beaten path, inexpensive but so worth it. Our tour guide Tony was very informative and entertaining. The tour takes you right through the bottom of the deep narrow canyons just outside of town. The trails through the caverns are so narrow that when sitting on the wagon, you can reach out and touch the walls!

Of all the tours that we did while we were here, this was one of the best ones! Granted the other tours were good, but this being a smaller family owned company made it a little more personal!

We were able to get a few more photo's of the "missing" Lake Delton from right across the road from the Lost Canyon Tour office. Darrin still had a hard time really comprehending how deep the lake really was. He kept saying that it didn't look like the lake had been that deep. Untel we explained to him that the docks are still in the same place that they were and that the water probably came up to just below them. I think that finally put it in perspective for him ~ especially when he realized that with where he has been stanging, the water was probably about 1o feet deep.

After the Canyon Tour it was off to do soem more mini golfing. Today it was Pirate Cove - right next door to Timber Falls where we were ysterday.

Pirate Cove has 5 different courses to choose from and Darrin and John decided that we needed to attempt the hardest course. Considering this course was as difficult as it was, Darrin did very well! He kept right with John most of the way and I think he ended up only 1 stroke behind John at the end. Once the weekend is over I am going to post all the Mini-golf scores together - as a summary of our mini-golf tournament this weekend. Darrin decided that tomorrow he is going to beat John!

The afternoon was more swimming and water at the hotel! Darrin could not decide which of hte water play areas he wanted to play at so he kept goign from part to part! It is nice now that he is older that he is off on his own. He does really good to let us know where he is heading so that makes it easier too.

Tonight we deicded that we didn't really feel like heading out to eat so we opted to order in. After looking at menu's from a few different places we decided to just order from Buffalo Phils since it was so close by. Darrin was watching the clock to see when the pizza would be there and announced that our pizza was on it's way - via a golf cart! Apparently, as a means to save gas, they deliver to the hotel with the golf cart instead of the normal delivery car. Makes sense to me!

Overall, it's been a very busy 3 days! I think I need an extra day to recover from everything!

Vacation ~ Day 2

As I type this, I am sitting in a very noisy Wiley's Woods at our hotel... Screaming kids, flying balls and air shooter (to send the balls flying even faster!). The day is winding down and I am ready for sleep! It was a busy day, filled with all kinds of adventures!

Breakfast was at our favorite Denny's Restaurant (50's theme with Elvis, the Blues Brothers and Marilyn Monroe out front). It never fails that after we get here, the place fills up. We have never had to wait to get a seat, but by the time we leave, there is usually a wait for a table! Today was not quite as but there was definitely a lot more people there when we left than when we got there! Darrin tried something different for breakfast - their sizzlin' skillets. Bacon, sausage, hash browns and scrambled eggs, served with Pancakes instead of tortilla's so he could make breakfast fajitas.

After breakfast, we headed into town to check out the new 4D theater. We opted to get the tickets ahead of time at the hotel as they were offered there at a discount. We were the only ones in the theater! We had our choice of seat... Darrin could not decide where to sit! A few minutes after the "show" show started, we realized that there was a problem... there was not picture to go along with the sound and other effects! At first we thought it was just part of the start of the movie... just to get you started on the other effects (smell, touch etc.) Finally we told Darrin to run out and tell her that there was no picture! The gal working the counter came back and tried to see what she could do. She was not sure how to fix it so she called next door for help. A few minutes later we were back in business. When the film finally restarted, it was a totally different experience! We now knew what was spitting at us, what jabbed us in the back and where that SMELL was coming from!

Then it was off to do some mini golfing at Timber Falls Adventure. We have driven past there every time we have been here, but have never been able to stop, since we are usually here in Feb or March. We decided to splurge and get the All Day Pass so we would have the opportunity to ride the roller coaster, bumper boats and Log Flume. We figured this would be plenty to keep Darrin busy all day!

Our first choice to make was which of the 4 mini golf courses we wanted to tackle... So we opted for the one right in the middle of everything! Since it was still early in the day we pretty much had the place to ourselves! Not something that we would have thought we would see in the Dells, but apparently this is the quietest time of the entire summer.

The rest of the morning was spent riding the coaster, golfing one of the other courses and watching Darrin ride the Log Flume about 15 times!

One of the highlights of the day was making a stop at Lake Delton... or should I say where Lake Delton should have been. After the Great Flood of 2008 as the local call it, all that is left of Lake Delton is a grassy covered lake bed. They have started working on rebuilding the area where Cty A passes, and the plan is to have Lake Delton back in business by next summer. Yesterday when we went on our Duck Tour, we went on a revised tour route since they could not go out onto the lake.

It is amazing to see NOTHING there, when last time we were here, this was an awesome lake! Overall though it was unbelievable that more houses were not lost as a result of the flooding and erosion. (yes that is Darrin in the photo, standing way out in the dry lake bed - he probably would have been in 10 feet of water if the lake were full!)

By mid afternoon we were ready to find the water! We spent the afternoon relaxing the the several pools at the hotel, both indoor and out. We discovered that the Great Wolf does not have an outdoor hot tub... bummer! Oh well, we will survive!

After a relaxing afternoon we decided to head out to find food. Tonight it was over to Knuckleheads and Buffalo Phils. Knuckleheads is a huge indoor amusement park, bowling alley and arcade. But not much options as far as food unless you like typical bar type foods. So we headed to Buffalo Phils, where we have eaten before.

Wiley's Woods was not the same anymore. Apparently the "game" part of the Play area has been removed! No more collecting points while you play in the 4 floors of interactive fun! The company that developed the software for then is not in business anymore and there was no software support available. Since they could not keep the level of enjoyment and quality of the game where it needed to be, they took it out. Huge disappointment as that was one of our favorite things about staying here!

Ok, time to find sleep!!

Summer Vacation

Now that summer is almost over and the kids go back to school in about a week, we finally headed off on a family vacation! Although we only decided to head to Wisconsin Dells, it was a 4 day vacation that we all had been waiting for!

Of course, the first day of vacation means the alarm going off at the same time that it does everyday for work so we can hit the road. Granted I did hit snoozed a few time, but we were still on the road shortly after 6am...

This was the first trip that we have made to the Dells during the summer months when everything was open! WooHoo - I get to go mini-golfing!! But that was going to have to wait until tomorrow since we ran out of time today (Plus is started raining). We were in the Dells by 9am and started our adventures right away...

Stop one~ The Ducks. Darrin was really excited that we were doing this, but bummed that when we got our package of tickets, it was for the Upper Dells Boat tour and NOT the Jet Boat Tour. So now it was time for the ducks! We had a great tour guide that filled us with fun facts about the area, the river, the animals and plenty of duck jokes. We saw wild stop signs, mini bears and many different shapes in the rock formations along the river (many you had to really use your imagination to see).

They did have to make a change in the route that the ducks take during the tour since Lake Delton is "missing' right now. We were able to see the location on Hwy A that is being rebuilt that washed away during the Great Flood of 2008. There was one point that we were able to see part of the dry lake bed, but not much. We are planning on going down to the lake tomorrow to check it out and get some pictures.

After the 1 hour duck tour, we hopped on the Duck shuttle to Downtown, headed for the Upper Dells Boat Tour. It was nice to be able to leave the car parked in the one spot and take the shuttle so we did not have to worry about parking! WooHoo! From where the shuttle dropped us off it was only a short walk to the docks. Darrin was disappointed that we did not take the Jet Boat Tour, especially when he saw some of these jet boats playing out in the water.

It was a perfect morning for a 2 hour cruise up and down the river! Along our river adventures we learned even more about the history of the area. We also made 2 stops along the way. The first was Witches Gulch. From the river, you would never even know this area was there, as it was at the end of a small inlet off the river. We docked there and were about to walk up through the gulch. Many of these areas along the trail were very narrow caverns that you could touch both walls at one time. Along the trail you find the Witches Bathtub, Witches Window, Whirlpool Chambers and more! The natural beauty of these caverns and chambers was awesome! It was only a short walk off the boat but well worth it! If it were not for taking this boat tour, we would have never even known this area was here.

Darrin and I also decided that we would not have wanted to be on the crew that went in and built all the walkways through the Witches Gulch - some of these areas were so narrow that there would have been no room to get any equipment in and all the work obviously had to be done by hand!

Our next stop on the tour was at Stand Rock. This rock was made famous by Photographer HH Bennett when he photographed his son Ashley jumping across the 5 foot gap out between the tall rocks. He was the inventor of the fast shutter for camera's that captured the image instantly. They now have a German Shepard that recreates Ashley's jump many times every day to visitors. This is actually the most photographed rock in all of the Dells.

It was during this stop that we found out that our Tour Guide Dana was actually just north of the Green Bay area! She grew up in Lena and was working in the Dells during her summers while attending college.

Over all our trip along the Upper Dells was great! It was a 2 hour tour that was filled with great information as well as interesting things to see!

It didn't take us long to decide where to head for lunch... back to the Riverwalk Pub that we visited when we were here 2 years ago! Located downtown, right along the river, the Riverwalk Pub offers some great food and even better views of the river that we were just traveling on!

We though about visiting a few of the attractions downtown after lunch but instead just walked up and down the streets downtown, stopping in a few shops, and of course stopping to buy some fudge! Then it was time to head to the hotel and get checked in (finally) and decide what to do with the rest of our day.

After enjoying the water parks at the hotel for a bit we decided to head out for dinner. The one place that we have been wanted to try, but have not been able to since it is only open during the summer was Crabby's - an all you can eat seafood and prime rib restaurant. So that was where we headed.

There was quite a variety on the buffet too! One of Darrin and I's favorites was the sweet and sour shrimp - shrimp with mandarin oranges and coconut! Over all though I would have to say that we were disappointed. For the price that you paid, the food was just ok. When I pay $80 for dinner for 3, I expect more than just ok food! That combined with the fact that you could not hear the "entertainment" Crabby's didn't really meet our expectations. We went, we ate, we probably won't go back again.

To finish out the night, we hit the arcade at the hotel for a bit. Gotta love some video games and skeeball to end out the first day of vacation!

A day in the life of a 9 year old

So, DS has been at Grammie and Papa's house all week. (Quiet time for us yah!!).

My mom calls me this morning. Apparently last night DS mowed my Uncle's lawn as payment for my uncle taking him out on the boat tubing the other day. DS had a blast (mowing the lawn and tubing) and even THANKED my uncle for letting him mow the lawn! Go figure. We as adults really dont' care for mowing the lawn, but tell a 9 year old to do it and he is all over that! I guess we know a new job for DS to do around the house when he gets home!

Well, then she proceeds to tell me that they had just picked up one of DS's friends and they (My mom, DS and his friends Angie) are going mini-golfing. I guess Angie has never been mini-golfing before. (The poor child! We go mini golfing at least once a month when the weather permits!) So they were heading to one of the mini golf courses about 40 minutes from her place.

Before they head out of town, they have to stop to see Angie's mom at work so she can get some money. Then a quick stop at Wal-mart to pick up eggs and a few other things that they need at home. FINALLY it is time to leave....

One the way out of town, they had to stop so he couldput gas in the car - yes, he - my 9 year old! They pull up at the gas station and he jumps out of the car, as does Angie so she can help. So now we have 2 9 year old putting gas in my mom's car. He then proceeds to tell her that he needs a credit card. The pump said "to pay by credit card, please swipe card now". Once he is convinced that since he is paying by cash, they start pumping the gas. My mom then informs the two of them that if they go over what she told them, then it was coming out of thier lunch budget... so they are going very slowly, trying NOT to go over. Needless to day, they went over by .22 oh well, at least it wasn't too much over! Meanwhile, as they are pumping gas, my mom said she HAD to get a picture of them, in all thier glory, putting gas in the car.

So now they are on finally on the road....



Now I am just awaiting that phone call to see what other adventures they found today!