The End

Yesterday we officially moved in to our house. We have a ton to do still, but the upstairs is functional, we have real beds, and the boys' playroom is mostly unpacked! As much fun as we had in the trailer, I am still reallllly enjoying having a house again...even if it's only partially finished. Right now we have a couple of pretty major projects in the works: downstairs flooring, painting, and a big kitchen remodel. Once those projects are finished, it will feel even more like home!

My parents were here for the past week, so we got to get a lot more accomplished than we would have otherwise. Plus, we got to have an early birthday celebration for B!

And back to the "regular" blog: 3boysmake5.blogspot.com

The End.

The Progress

Our remodel is progressing a little slower than anticipated, partly due to the incredible amount of junk the previous owners decided to leave for us, partly due to an injury & trip to urgent care for John (foot injury, X-ray was all clear but his foot is gigantic!), and partly due to other misc things that need attending (months of lawn growth needing to be mowed, at least 20 bee nests that needed to be removed, people from Craigslist taking unneeded materials off our hands, etc.).

But, at least we're here and making progress! 3 rooms upstairs have been painted & the rest of the upstairs should be done this week, carpet upstairs will be installed Saturday, and we're almost done with the demolition downstairs & hopefully will be starting hardwood installation later this week.

Now, let's just hope for no more injuries & much more progress!

1 Day

Yesterday evening we parked our trailer in our 1 acre of (soon-to-be) paradise! The carpet is all ripped out and so is the closet under the stairs that we are opening up. The boys & I spent most of the day removing trim, carpet tack strips, staples, and nails. My muscles are aching tonight...I'm definitely feeling old.

I was just remembering that exactly 5 years ago, we were doing the same thing to our house in Montana. Huge difference though: we had a 1 year old & I was just a couple of weeks away from Bryton's due date! I was gigantically pregnant, but I still nailed down my fair share of hardwoods! I have to say, so far it has been much easier with a 3, almost 5, and 6 year olds. While they aren't the most efficient helpers, they did contribute quite a bit! I was really proud of them.

More

We wandered around a little more after Phantom...it was still over 100 degrees at 10:00 pm so we didn't stay outside for too long. Luckily there is plenty to see inside!

We browsed a rare bookstore, bought cute puppets for the boys at a magic store, and saw an Amish (?) couple on vacation. Now, it could just be my upbringing, but it cracked me up that this Amish, or maybe conservative Mennonite? couple from Pennsylvania was vacationing in Vegas!

Vegas Vacay

John and I are in the midst of a mini vacation at Vegas. John has a conference & I decided to tag along since I had never been to Vegas. Our flight got in about 10 minutes early yesterday, but we ended up sitting on the tarmac for over 45 minutes in 105 degree heat, without ac for the first 40 minutes, in a completely full plane. Ugh. So we didn't make it to Phantom last night, but hopefully we'll make it tonight after John's conference.

So far, I'm pretty unimpressed, but I'm enjoying the downtime. We have a nice suite on the 49th floor, but the view during the day is blah. The night lights are much nicer! Our hotel is gigantic with great shopping & lots of restaurants. Last night we had sushi that rivaled our favorite sushi place in CDA.

I am definitely looking forward to seeing Phantom tonight, but we won't have time to make it to Cirque du Soleil unfortunately. Either way, it's fun to take a mostly free vacation. We leave tomorrow morning, and we'll pick up the kids and go to our new house!!!

We finally recorded & can get our keys! YES! We'll be ripping out carpet immediately, and our painter will be starting either tonight or tomorrow. I need to remember to take before & after pictures!

Phantom Las Vegas

We're getting ready for the show to start...so excited!

Our Last Night?

Tonight is quite possibly our last night at the Bison Ranch! Tomorrow John and I leave for Vegas for a couple of days, and when we get back we should be setting up camp in the driveway of our house. So, tonight the boys played a game of soccer and we went and watched the new babies (there are a couple of new baby bison...and they are definitely MUCH cuter as babies than adults!). I am still expecting another hiccup in the house process, but hopefully I'm just being cynical and we will start renovations this weekend!

Silverwood

Yesterday we got to take our first trip this year to Silverwood. We have had season passes the past few years so we got used to going as often as we pleased, but given our living circumstances this year, we opted to go without passes. The boys were so excited and we ended up spending most of the day there. We might not make it back again this year, but we'll definitely be getting passes for next year!

Playing at the River

On Friday, we decided to head up towards the north fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. We waded around, played in the water, explored, and looked for various water animals. It was beautiful weather (evidenced by the 100's of people floating the river!) and we had a great time until someone came and continually spouted inappropriate words in front of our children...so we left!

The good news is that we left and went in to town, and just as we were considering heading back to the trailer, we got a call from the title company that we could go sign papers! Woohoo! So we ended the afternoon by finally signing the papers, and we should be getting the keys early next week. Obviously we have a lot of work to do, but it feels pretty monumental to finally be at the point where we will be able to camp in our driveway!

Another Week

Despite the fact that we were told last week that we would close "next week", we are still waiting. And waiting. And waiting...

We were hoping to have the keys today, but at this point we are looking at taking possession this time next week (at the earliest). John and I will actually be on a mini vacation next Tues-Thurs so depending on when our flight gets in on Thursday, we MIGHT be able to get the keys then, otherwise it will be Friday.

There is seriously no end to the frustration!

The boys are oblivious of course...I'm pretty sure that they might actually prefer trailer life, although they really enjoyed playing in the backyard at the new place the other day.

The Farm

We were hoping to be in our house this weekend, so since John had a 4 day weekend we decided to take a trip down to Oregon. It was a trip filled with tractor rides, blackberries, and playtime. Plus we fit in an IKEA trip and the boys got to see all their cousins (at least the ones who live in this county!). We made it back just in time today to meet the flooring guy at our new house for measurements we ordered our new flooring (acacia wood for the first level and wool carpet for the second floor). We are planning to close this week and hopefully flooring will be done in about 2 weeks from now! So so so excited!

I was exploring the property a little more today and discovered 2 apple trees and a pear tree! Yay! There is also a berry patch. I have big plans for the rest of the yard of course, but most of it will probably have to wait until next spring unfortunately.

But back to the original point of this post: our OR trip. Cute pictures coming up!

Finally!

We got the official approval for the new price! The house should be ours by the end of next week! Super excited, and hoping everything else goes smoothly.

We had anticipated having the house this weekend so John took a 4 day weekend. Since we don't have the house to work on, we're heading down to Oregon to visit family (and pick blackberries!).

Today

Still no word on the house. Ugh. 10.5 weeks down...who knows how many to go!

So we went to the beach. Definitely not great behavior from my 3 sleep-deprived boys, but at least we were away from the trailer!