Taking Shape

I know I just posted yesterday, but truthfully those pictures were overdue for posting anyway. Today's photos were just too exciting not to share. Plus I have a "lost" picture of the flooring.

 

 

It's totally covered now, but it's some beautiful wood, let me tell you.

 

 

Whoa! There's some walls in those hills!

 

 

 

 

View of the back.

 

 

Notice: our first set of stairs to the master bedroom. Sweet!

 

 

Front wall.

 

 

Things are going so well right now, and the weather will hopefully cooperate in some of the following days. I will continue to post as there are pictures to share.

 

 



The Ground Floor - Plus Puppies and Potties

The house is coming along. The kids are growing up.

 

Needless to say, we've been busy.

 

 

The deck went up first because the material was available.

 

 

Then the material arrived!

 

 

We now have a deck!

It's ironic because we planned to have a deck on our other house for years and never got it. Now it's the first thing we have before a house.

 

 

The foundation is up!

We have the floor in now but I didn't get a picture of it before they covered it up with plastic to protect it from the rain. It looks very close to the deck planks, but it's nice tongue and groove plywood and we plan on staining it.

 

 

We've had help from family and friends, including Nick's cousin from Mississippi.

 

 

Bird's eye view!

 

 

She's ready to jump in and start hammering!

 

 

We've also inherited a new family member.

 

 

Meet Saige.

She showed up at our land one day, and Nick brought her home.

 

She's very sweet and loyal. Smart and trainable, she's everything our other German Shepherd was not. She loves Nick, like, annoyingly so. She likes Ryder too, but he's been going through a "scared of dogs" phase. This pictures shows great progress for him because he actually went up and petted her on his own. Tonight he was playing with her outside all by himself. I think they're going to end up being great friends.

 

She'll do anything for Nick.

 

 

Another big milestone: Ryder is in the midst of potty training.

 

 

He's been doing fantastic for just getting started. Yesterday he only had one accident the whole day, and that was with only one week under his belt! However life gets pretty consumed by this process so some things have slowed down a little. We tried going camping this last weekend. He did okay using the potty in the camper. But we ended up coming home because the local trains going by kept waking Sabrina up. Just as well, it was less fun camping with a potty trainee and an infant who can't walk. Next year they'll be older.

 

 

Just had to share this adorable picture of my girl.

 

I'm still working on projects here and there, just not finishing them as quickly as I'd like. I might have another tutorial coming up soon. Will keep things updated as they come!

 

 



Ryder Ridin' High!

Ryder loves the movie Planes.

 

 

It was the first movie he ever saw in the theaters and ever since he has had a definite fascination with airplanes. Lucky for him, he has an aunt who is a pilot. He's gotten to try his hand at flying airplanes on a simulator, and he's pretty good at it for a 2.5 year old.

 

Today, he got to fly in a real airplane.

 

 

Accompanied by his dad and his aunt, Ryder got to have an amazing experience that few ever really get to enjoy.

 

 

Sportin' his aviator jacket and headset.

 

 

Daddy was having fun too!

 

 

Peeking out at the world below.

 

 

Such a view.

 

 

That's the face of a kid who had a blast!

 

 

And this is what happens on the way home.

 

 



Camping In Tyler State Park

We had planned to go camping this weekend.

 

Then we decided, oh, maybe not.

 

Then, at the very last possible moment, we decided, well, sure!

 

So we went camping.

 

 

We decided to go somewhere close so we chose Tyler State Park. This was the first time I have ever camped there; my only other visit to this park was a bike ride that I'd just as soon forget (I am not an extreme bicyclist). But upon an extended stay to this particular park, I have found it to be quite nice. They have many trails and a lovely lake where anyone can fish, rent paddle boats, and play on their dandy playground. We had lovely weather this weekend so it just made it super nice.

 

Recently, my aunt and uncle moved to the area. They were(are) big campers and had this awesome little pop up camper that Nick couldn't help but dream about having one just like it. Well, they were super sweet and traded this nifty little camper for Nick doing some work for them. So awesome! We are so happy to have this little thing! Needless to say, Nick has been itching to try it out, so we did.

 

 

Ryder enjoying the great outdoors.

 

 

 

 

Walking some trails. Sabrina couldn't help but watch Ryder and me.

With a little one that requires carrying everywhere you go, it's hard to do much trail walking. Next time maybe.

 

 

The playground at the park was very nice. Ryder absolutely loved it! We took him there three times. He got to meet all kinds of kids and went down the slides a million times.

 

 

Sabrina going down the slide!

(I don't know that she liked it that much.)

 

 

Getting ready for bed in the camper.

 

 

Nick always looks good.

(Let's just say that camping doesn't breed glamour in my case.)

 

We enjoyed this weekend so much; the weather and, frankly, space from technology. We needed this time together as a family.

More updates on the house coming soon!