Monday, July 10, 2023

Ribs and Recreation

I baked some ribs in the oven on Friday.  Not quite the same as my dad's smoked ones, but still tasty.
On Saturday, I took the kids to West Medicine Lake Park to play.
Then, we had a mini pool party on Sunday with my parents coming over.
Esme had a great time playing games with them.  We had a "keepy uppy" tournament of sorts with Nana and Grandpa in the final round.  Nana took the title.
Out pool streak is going strong at 51 days straight, 52 days total.

Sunday, July 9, 2023

New Entry Doors - Part 1

New entry doors have been on the back burner for years.  Once the house was painted, they became a big sore spot and I tried to expedite their replacement.  After getting a couple of ridiculous quotes from home improvement companies, I focused my search on an installer that could put in doors we purchased.  I found Jay Freitag, who had great reviews.  He had an opening in his schedule and squeezed us in right before we left for Baltimore.

Here is a final look at our old doors.  He removed then and staged them for us to dispose of.
He did the front door on day 1 and offered great communication through the whole process.  There ended up being quality issues with both doors.  We got both door slabs replaced eventually, but it was a bit of a pain.
Parker was very intrigued by the activity (and still loves talking about the new doors.)
I am low-key in love with it too.
Day 2 was the back door.  Like I said, there was a few issues, but the house was sealed up, which was most important.
Finishing touches began when we got back from vacation and had new slabs.  I installed some new floating house numbers, a new white mailbox, and painted the existing light fixture.  I capped it off with a dreamy paint color, Life of Reilly.
I installed storm doors on both as well.  I realize I didn't take a picture of the back door finished, but Parker took this of Esme being her sassy self.  I still plan to paint this door and the garage door the same color, but this project is done (at least the outside.)
Here is a look at the inside of our old doors, Hollow core isn't exactly the best for our climate, but it made it easy to hack up and throw in the trash.

Friday, July 7, 2023

The Third of July

We did all of our holiday celebrating on Monday instead of Tuesday.  We started with a visit to Grandpa and Grandma Herrmann's in New Prague.  Our summer is so busy that it was going to be hard to get down if we didn't go.  It was a steamy hot day, but we were still able to get Esme outside to visit the garden.  She helped water and tried some fresh raspberries.
It was great to see their new place and enjoy a meal together.
We went through Jordan on the way home to make a stop at the big candy store.
Parker couldn't decide which spinning candy toy he wanted.  Esme was over the heat, haha!
Back at home we cooled off in the pool and played games inside.
I made a little stick fire to roast marshmallows for dessert before doing fireworks.
Parker was not a fan of the sparklers last year, but wanted to do them this time around.  It was fun to see him enjoy it.  We sprung for a bigger pack and really had a good time with it.
I did manage to take one picture on the fourth.  It was a great long weekend.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Nana Keeps the Pool Streak Alive!

The kids had no shortage of fun while we were in Baltimore.  My mom was determined not to break our pool streak and she succeeded.
They also visited a couple parks including Highland Park in Bloomington and #40 on our #journeyto100parks, Becker Park.
We got a new doorbell the day before we left and they were really intrigued by that.  We had one conversation with them over it, but that was the last time.  Esme rang it again to "hang up" our call.
They enjoyed some 4-wheeler time in the country.
They even hit up the splash pad with Jameson and Jaxxon!
The day we came back consisted of two more park visits, including a new one, as requested by Esme.
Finished up with donut treats before welcoming us home.