Lions and tigers and .... Penguins!!

Hello all!

David & Jonathan 2016

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything.  The last month or so has been rather calm around the Red House (something I for one am extremely thankful for!).  We've been doing some swimming and lots of running, walking and bike riding.  We've been using the Fred Meijer Heartland trail quite a bit this summer -- sure wish it was closer to our house so we didn't have to drive to get to it, but at least it's not a long drive.  I've biked over 70 miles since June 17 -- my friend Julie and I did 17 miles one day riding from Edmore to Stanton and back!!

David & Jonathan -- 2006

Today we took a little trip to the Detroit Zoo.  It's been quite a while since we've been there .... as best as I can figure, the last time we were there was 2006.    The boys have changed just a little bit, LOL

The zoo is still much the same, though of course the new Penguin exhibit was open.  It's a pretty neat building ... I kind of wish you could go in whenever you wanted and not just right off the bat.

It's been nice to have more down time, I've been able to sew quite a few blocks for my current quilt project, I have 120 blocks done ... I need 165, so I'm almost there.  Another week or two and I should be able to start putting the blocks together!

I've also been working on my cross stitch ... still quite a ways to go, but I'm definitely making progress.  This is the first "full coverage" piece I've ever done (meaning there are no spaces where there aren't stitches) ... that's a lot of fabric to cover!!

Well, we hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather we've been having -- the weather man says it's going to get really hot over the next few days .... stay cool!  Talk to you soon!

~Kati

Got your License?? Next Lesson, Basic Car Repair!!

David is enjoying having his "own" set of wheels, but is also learning that having a car, means you have to maintain a car.  So far he's had to help (more watching than helping I think) dad replace the windshield wipers, and here, he's looking on as dad replaces the battery.  Yes ... the battery is in the floor in the back seat -- STRANGE!!  

I was super thankful it decided to quit when the car was at home, and guess I can't really complain.  I'd never replaced the battery in that car, so I think I got my money's worth out of the original battery!

There are two more imminent repairs ... he has a headlight (hi-beam) that needs to be replaced ... hopefully they will tackle that this coming weekend, and then a new set of tires.  Hopefully he's taking all this to heart and realizing that having a vehicle is truly a perk -- and not a cheap perk!!

HMMMMM .... seems I started writing this post (like over a month ago), but never posted it.  He still doesn't have that headlight changed nor does he have new tires yet, but hopefully this week or next we'll get to the tire store.

~Kati

School's Out for Summer!!

The boys are officially done with school.  Hard to believe we have a high school junior and an 8th grader!  The last month has been busy with track meets .... but that doesn't mean the schedule is slowing down.

Last Monday was the Track Banquet/Picnic.  David added some hardware to his collection.  He made all-conference for two different events, got another bar for his varsity jacket, and was awarded the MVP award along with his fellow runner Kelton, (I can't remember what the other, smaller round medal is for).

David & Kelton -- 2016 MVPs

2016 Boys Track Team

David also started basketball practice for summer basketball last week ... this is a short season.  He starts with games tonight and will be done next week.  He's also started training for Cross Country .... his Cross Country coach has given him a pretty rigorous training schedule for this summer.  He thinks David has strong chances of making it to states next season if he puts in the miles over the summer.

Thursday evening we hosted the Band Seniors for our annual Band Senior BBQ ....the kids all thought it was too cold to go swimming, which was really unfortunate as the water could have used a little stirring up.  :-)

Friday after school was out we all went and got hair cuts, Chris and Jonathan went first, then headed home and left for camping.  David drove out after ball practice and once he was done, he and I headed home, got the dog, switched cars and then headed north.  We thought we were going to want to make a trip to Houghton Lake to Camping World on Saturday so with ball practice and haircuts thrown in there making the schedule crazy, and that possible trip we decided to take two vehicles.  We didn't end up making the trip to Houghton Lake, (we thought we had a tail light out on the camper, but it seems we don't after all ....)


David drove ALL the way to Hartwick Pines (WOW .... I think that's the longest he's ever driven in one stretch!).  Later that evening, after relaxing and having hotdogs over the fire and watching the lightening from the coming storm come closer later, we went inside.  It started to rain not long after we went in, and not long after it started raining someone started banging on our door.  Chris opened it to find one of the young boys from the site across the road crying and asking for help .... his mom's hand was stuck between the camper wall and the awning bar. Chris and I ran over and after what I'm sure felt like an eternity to her, we were able to get the awning opened back up so she could get her hand out.  Thankfully it didn't seem to be broken.  She stopped over the next morning to thank us again ... said it was a little swollen and sore, but otherwise ok. 

After we got home yesterday we went to an open house and tried to get various things done around the house.  Chris still has to work this morning, but will probably spend most of the day at school cleaning, etc.  David's first ball games are this afternoon/evening at Morey Courts here in Mt. Pleasant, so I will go over there after work.  Busy, Busy!  I have a list a mile long of things I'd like to get done and really think if I could get through them then I could more or less relax the rest of the summer, but of course I never seem to get through that list.  *Sigh*

Well .... I guess I'd better sign off for now.  I'm sure there are a million other things I should share since I haven't posted since Mother's Day weekend, but right now I'm drawing a blank.  Enjoy the summer weather.  Hope to see you all soon!

~Love, Kati

Happy Mother's Day??

It was a busy and somewhat strange weekend at the Red House ....

Friday was the MS play ... the kids did a very nice job and since there was only one cast this year we had things partially torn down and were home by about 9:00 on Friday night.  Saturday was full of errands and jobs -- grocery shopping, taking the junk to town for "dump day", tearing down the play set, hauling it home and putting it away, running to the pool store for chemicals -- fun stuff!

Saturday night we started noticing something strange going on with the electricity in the house.  The stove (clock) kept going off and on, and our bedroom would intermittently not have power, but the rest of the house would be fine.  We're so thankful we have an electrician dad .... Bruce drove up Sunday morning to try to fix it, but in the end it turned out it was a Consumer's Power issue ...

 Thanks so much to this guy who wasn't able to spend the afternoon with his mom, but came out and chopped up our tree (sad to see part of another tree go, but he said probably the entire tree should come down at some point or we may find it on our garage ...)  Seems there was a wire that had been rubbing against that tree for quite some time and it broke, so every time the wind blew on Saturday it was bumping the broken wire causing parts of the house to lose power.

Glad that's been fixed, but it did throw a wrench in how I got things like laundry done.  :-/

The second load of pool water still hadn't shown up by the end of Sunday, so Monday morning I called to be sure they hadn't forgotten .... nope, they hadn't, but I guess the milk hauling business has issues right now, so they didn't have any spare trucks and they didn't even think they would be able to get out with the second load until May 20th .... YIKES.  They were able to give me the name and phone number of someone else that might be able to get me some water, and not only were they able to, they even managed to bring it out on Monday night!  Only about 6-7 more inches of water needed and the pool will be ready to swim in.  We'll put those last few inches in with the hose bit-by-bit.  So happy "The Water Boys" from Hemlock were able to help us out (even if the water did cost more, LOL)  The boys are ready to go swimming so I really hope the sun starts shining and the temps go up so they can get in and splash around!

Hope you all have a great week.  It's a busy one here ... MS Band Concert on Tuesday, track meet on Wednesday, a funeral (my Uncle Steve) and the HS Band Concert on Thursday, and I have to work BOTH Saturday and Sunday (I am not looking forward to this, but am trying to look on the bright side .... one weekend is completely shot, not two!!).  We are planning to go camping the following weekend, so we are just plugging away knowing a bit of fun and relaxation is around the corner!

Love,
~Kati

Almost there ....

David was really impressed this guy backed all the way in the driveway ... the other water people just backed in the trail and ran hoses from out there ...

Come on mother nature ... bring on the heat!!

Exciting things happening here at the red house ... another item on our spring maintenance list was taken care of today.  We woke up to rain this morning and cold, so I was a little surprised the pool people showed up, but they did.

Sometimes you have to make things look worse before they look better (although if I'd have included a picture of the pool before they took the old liner out, you'd say this was an improvement ... it was gross!!)

New liner and 1st load of water went in today.  The water guy will be back with another load sometime this week.  I think I'm going to LOVE the new patterned liner, it's very pretty and makes the water look REALLY blue!!

And, so far, the project has come in under budget, so we may look at replacing the deck boards on that top section of decking.  We'd like to put composite decking up there ... that area of the deck gets a lot of exposure to water, so it really takes a beating.  I used that new "Deck Over" stain on it last year, and I'm not impressed ... I also don't like how it looks.  It was worth a try, but I think the boards are still in need of replacement with something that can withstand the water better.

Now, we just need some sunshine and warmer temperatures so we can start swimming.  We've never opened our pool this early in the season, so come on sunshine .... I want to use the pool vs. look at it.

Hope all is well with everyone.  

Talk to you soon!

~Kati

Spring Cleaning and Projects have Begun!!

This spring at the Red House is all about finishing up projects and doing maintenance.  The first of those projects has been finished, and although it meant a lot of furniture moving, I think it was worth it.  (The pictures with the wrinkles are of course the before ...)!!  Much improvement.  It was actually kind of nice to move all that furniture and clean the layer of dust that normally can't be reached, and get rid of the extra cables that had accumulated behind the entertainment center over the past 8-10 years.  We have everything back in place and this weekend we'll be on to some of the next projects on the list.  Enjoy this nice weather folks .... it seemed like winter really wanted to hang on, but I think spring is truly finally here.


 ~Kati

It's Officially Official ...

His "real" license came in the mail.  I made him pose for the obligatory picture.  :-)  He was happy though, he didn't like carrying around the paper version.

~Kati