Getting Along!

Bandit, Caspian and Bella are getting along better each day. It's been fun seeing their personalities grow.

Bella and Caspian

A few more cute pictures of our kittys!

Pantry Door is In!!!

Wow, I can't believe the pantry door is installed as well as the shelves.  That was a process texturing the walls in the pantry, priming, and finally painting.  The pantry door was stained and now we need to texture, prime and paint the outside area of the pantry.  We still have the toe boards to install at the base of the cabinets and the tile inside the bottom of the cabinet.  But, we are practically finished and it's been just about one year!!!

Remember, the cabinets landed in our garage last Feb.  What a year it's been!  My dining room table is finally cleared off as everything is back in it's place!  We are now able to enjoy our dining room once again!  What a treat!  When our kitchen is "competely" finished, we will host an open house!  That will be the true glory day for me in celebrating a huge completion to our most challenging upgrade.

Brooke turns 7!!

Brooke fell fast asleep to the purring Bella. How sweet they are!!!

We have had our new kitty's for one week exactly and are enjoying them completely!  Bandit, our dog, and our kittys are getting to know each other.  So far, so good.   They are sticking to scratching  the post at this time!

Brooke just had her 7th birthday party! It was a blast!

It's Kitty City!!!

Meet Prince Caspian and Princess Belle!  Caspian is the black one and Belle is the colored one.  They are brother and sister who came from an unexpected litter our friends encountered.  We wanted siblings to keep themselves company, especially when they will be outside.  They'll eventually live in our garage with a cat door only they can access.  We'll have frequent visits in our home but this is the lifestyle we have choosen.

Bandit does not know what to think, expect he's had visitors in our home before and as the demeanor to adjust well.  The kids still can't believe they each have a kitty and Daddy is the hero in all of this.

Brooke's First Cheerleading competition

Brooke is affiliated with an organization called Young Champions.  Their first cheer competition included a cheer routine and a dance routine.  Everyone earned a medal.  Brooke's team earned 3rd place.  Their team name is Concord Daisy's.

Brooke in action!

Go Daisy's!!!!!

Our new driveway . . . and other landscape to come . . .

Our driveway will be sealed next week and we can drive on it then. Also, we'll put a new sprinkler system and sod plus other plants in the spring.

Santa Claus is coming to town . . .

Our annual trip to San Francisco via BART for breakfast with Santa at the Hyatt Hotel. We meet Great Grandma Estelle who treats us all! Austin and Brooke's Grandma Lynne, Auntie Pam and cousin Trent also join us each year.

Granite is in!!!! Almost finished . . . yes . . . with the KITCHEN!!!!!

Here's a sneak peek of our progress!!!

We have back splash to install, a built-in pantry in the right back corner of the kitchen, and baseboards below the cabinets. Then we'll call it a day . . . or a year, rather!!!
We are thrilled to be in the final stretch of our kitchen upgrade!

Happy Halloween!!

Austin was the Magical Wizard and Brooke, Cinderella! Another successful Halloween with treats galore!!!!!

Kitchen Remodel? Oh yeah, we're finally moving forward . . .

These are the cabinets we had built from a local cabinet maker to match the rest of our cabinets. This one we had "feet" attached to make it look like a piece of furniture.

This is one of the original cabinets, an upper cabinet, that will be installed on the wall above the cabinet with the feet.

These corner shelves will be attached to the upper cabinet, on the right side.

This is the microwave, oven and warming drawer appliances tower. To the left is a cabinet where our wine cooler will be "built in".

All the existing cabinets will be torn out in the next week or too and the new ones installed including the ones you see above.

Ragnar Relay 2011 San Francisco to Napa Valley Sept. 16-17

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What's Ragnar? A 24 hour relay race involving a team of 12 who take turns and run 3 different times to ultimately end up at the designated destination. We ran from San Francisco to Calistoga. It was quite the experience and a whole lot of fun! I, Cami, ran my first leg at around 9:30am 5.4 miles. My second leg was at 7:45pm 3.3 miles and my last leg was at 5am the following morning 5.4 miles. I was challenged but not defeated by any means. It was more of a personal test to see how I'd hold up. There are deffinately going to be more races in my future.

Austin's 10th Birthday Party

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Our Florida Vacation

We went back East to visit Grandma Gail for 16 days.  Spent a week at Daytona beach in a condo and also visited Universal Studios Island Adventure to experience The Wizardly World of Harry Potter.  The only way you could see the inside of the castle was to wait in line for the simulation ride.  The hour wait was worth every minute!

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse.  This is at the end of Daytona Beach.  It's a museum but still works as a lighthouse too.

A community effort to build this sandcastle.  It was a days work.

The Alantic Ocean was about 73 degrees.  That was nice since the air was 92 degrees plus 95 degree humidity!

At the top of the lighthouse.

Our condo for the week.

The butterbear was great.  You could order it frozen or cold.  We had the frozen version and the froth on top was like buterscotch cream.  It tasted like a frozen carmel slushy.  Seriously sweet!

The 205 steps we climbed to the top of the lighthouse.  Kind of scary but the views were amazing!

Hagrid's Hut.  You walk by it while waiting to ride the Hippogriff rollercoaster.     Aside the 90 degree weather every day, we stayed pretty cool and enjoyed our time with Grandma!

Summer! It's finally here . . .

First day swimming in our pool.  It's finally reached 84 degrees, warm enough for us folks!  It's hard to believe we are swimming because it's been so cool this year.  We were swimming last year by the end of May!  Finally, let the fun begin!

Ceiling has been lifted. . .

Our pendant lights are wired and hung over the breakfast bar!   The shades are a clear glass with seeded texture.   Our ceiling is drying and will need texture and paint to be complete!

The kitchen already feels larger!  It's getting exciting!

TOOTHLESS BEAUTY!

Brooke's self portrait with both front teeth gone!  She lost the second tooth yesterday, literally, so we plan to write a letter to the tooth fairy in hopes she'll still visit!

Recess Lights Installed . . . waiting for the sheet rock to go up!

 It's hard to really tell or take a picture of all the lights as they are recessed but this gives you a general idea!  And we are using the latest LED lights that actually give a nice warm glow like a regular light bulb (not the bright white light we are used to) and these lights will last around 22 years! 

The new pendant lights are ready to be installed too!  The are hanging over our breakfast bar.  I just put them up this way to make sure they are not hanging too low.  The shades will be a clear glass bell shape with little bubbles in it like blown glass.

THE FAKE CEILING IS GONE!

This is the ceiling completely gone before the new frame was installed!

Ricky and a guy he and Pat work with tore out the fake ceiling and then framed in the new one!  It was nicely done.  You can see the new frame boards through the plastic.
Now we are living with a huge plastic sheet hoping the electrician will come soon to install the recessed lights.
Then the sheet rock can been installed and taped, mudded, textured, primed and then finally painted!  So many steps for a new ceiling!  Who would ever guess as it looks simple, when completed.

Oh, and Ricky purchased our gas cooktop made by GE Profile with the downdraft, and a stainless steel single bowl sink.  The sink will be undermounted after the granite is installed.  When, you wonder?   So do I?