Baseball and Fireworks

There is just something great about enjoying a baseball game in the summer. This past weekend we went to an I-Cubs game with a few friends. Scott, Zach and Regina, and Justin and Nicole. Through work, Dan got the tickets to the game and also tickets to a tailgate meal before the game. Did I mention I love hotdogs! We didn't really have tickets for great seats, but we found some good seats to sit in right on the 3rd base line. It was a good game even though the Cubbies lost. After the game there was a fire works show. Taking pictures of fireworks is all about timing and this was the only really good one of about 15 that I took.

Make sure you don't miss out on the great American tradition of going to a baseball game this summer no matter what level of play. And remember, "There's no crying in baseball!" (That's one of my favorite movie quotes, can you name the movie and actor?)

The Bump

Here by popular demand are pictures of the bump. Some may think there's not much there to look at, but this is me 27 weeks pregnant. Trust me, it feels a lot bigger than it looks.

I have heard women say that they love being pregnant, but I have not found that to be true. It is a means to an end and I can't wait for it to be over. Sure, I don't feel to bad about eating ice cream twice a day or sleeping in more than necessary. But what about breaking out like a teenager, the sore back, the feeling of always being full, and the real pain of that little person jamming their foot into your ribs or spine? Those are the realities for me and I'm sure there are a few of you who can relate.

Overall, we have been blessed with a healthy and easy pregnancy so far and are very thankful for that. If only it were so easy to start shopping for this baby. Who knew that there were so many different kinds of car seats, strollers, cribs, diapers, bottles, and the list goes on and on. Just walking into Target is overwhelming and don't even get me started are Babies R Us. Another challenge is getting Dan to even go near one of those stores. If you have any words of wisdom please let me know!

Home Makeover Three

I have had requests to blog about something other than home improvement pictures but you will have to bear with me at least one more time. I think our next blog will either have pictures of Sarah and her pregnancy or of myself out mowing alfalfa, which I plan to do the next few days. So please vote with your comments and I may or may not go with what everyone out in the internet world thinks we should blog about. :-)

I am including a few more pictures to show the work we went to installing our second egress window. This picture is a before picture and is in the soon to be bedroom. And this is of the same corner with the egress window in. And just so you know; I am not interested in being hired to install these windows except to the highest bidders or if there is food involved. It is challenging work and we learned as we went.This picture is of my beautiful wife standing next to the bedroom egress window. You can see that ground level is about halfway down the window and in the background is our pine tree wind break. And yes, Sarah is pregnant and beautiful.

This picture here is almost the final view from outside. We will install a window well and trim it out to finish the window off.

Home Makeover Two

Our home makeover is continuing to make slow and steady progress. Here are some progress pictures for one of our egress windows we installed.

This is what a hunk of concrete looks like laying on the ground after it has been cut out and before we figure out how to move it. If you have been to our house before, you know this is under our deck and that made it harder to move.This picture is kind of dark, however it shows Sarah posing with the gaping hole in the wall before we installed the window.

This picture here shows everything nice and pretty as if the window was professionally installed. We like the change the window has made a lot.
This picture here shows myself this morning, May 31, and the progress we have made on the inside thus far. I must give credit to our friend Scott who helps us out in so many ways. He deserves a lot of credit because without him we wouldn't be nearly as far along. We have more pictures of the other egress window and will post those soon.

Orange City Tulip Festival Road Race

Over the weekend Sarah and I were able to be in Orange City for the Tulip Festival. On Saturday morning my father-in-law, Sarah's dad, Ralph Pontier came in 2nd in his age group for the 5K race at a time of 23.48. From what he said, he ran faster than several of his rivals who typically beat him. He also employed a new strategy that shaved some time off. In this picture he is the tall guy with the white head band. Below is a link to see all results. WAY TO GO DAD!http://results.allsportcentral.com/results/results.cfm?EventID=15941

Ch-ch-ch-Chia

There is nothing quite like a Chia Pet to make you smile. My first grade class has been watching our Chia Pet grow for the last 3 weeks. During our plant unit they have also attempted to grow pumpkin plants which haven't grown with quite as much success. This Chia Pet is courtesy of my mother who thought it would be a great "mystery" gift at Christmas. I'm glad I found a great use for it!

14 days and counting until summer break!!

Home Makeover

Our weekend was eventful. Our friend Scott brought over his trencher/backhoe to help with digging a hole to make way for an egress window. That little bitty single pane window will be replaced with a double hung verticle window soon to be put in. As you can see I did this in the morning. The man I hired was to come in the afternoon and cut out four windows in the basement so we could replace all of them with more efficient ones.

He did come around 3:00 p.m. and started cutting. We got three out of four done before his saw broke. As you can see from this picture taken on Mon. it is attached to the side of our house until he returns with the hydraulic motor which broke a seal. The blade measures 24" across and is ran hydraulicly from a 2.3 liter engine. It has diamond tipped blades and mechanically drives up the wall repeatedly to make the 8" cut through the wall. It has a water hose attached when running to keep the dust down.

As expected the water comes flying into the house on the third cut. I am shown doing my best to divert the water down and Chelsie, Scott's girlfriend is cleaning it up.