Hiawatha Biking Trail

Just as we were loosing hope for a trailer vacation because we have been so consumed with the renovation, Scott decided getting away from it all for a little weekend trip was a must.  We loaded up the bikes and headed to Northern Idaho...

... to Hiawatha Rail-Trail.  Hiawatha Rail-Trail is a scenic section of abandoned rail-bed from the Milwaukee Raod that was turned into a world class non-motorized trail.  It is either a 30 mile round trip with 2000 feet of elevation change, or 17 miles of level and downhill dirt track with a shuttle bus ride to regain your 1000 foot elevation loss.  We chose the latter.

Here we are excited to get on our way.  

There was a 1.7 mile tunnel at the beginning and several shorter tunnels that followed throughout the trail.   The kids enjoyed turning on their LED head lights.   

The view from the many bridges were just fantastic.      

This was Kai's first big bike ride.  He was a champion on his old and rickety Spider man bike that wouldn't cruise.  He pedaled and pedaled, until his legs were exhausted.  He still made it three quarters of the way.   

We had Dixie cups back at the camp ground afterwards.  They tasted extra yummy after the long bike ride.    

We can't wait to come back again.  "But with better bikes, Mom!" the kids say.    

Sheet rock

It has been a dusty week, but the result is exciting.  It is finally starting to look like a living space.

eat-in dining area

mud room

This used to be a laundry closet .  You can see where it used to end.    

Jerome's room

Asha's room

second floor alcove

This used to be Asha's room.  We tore the walls down and opened it up to be an upstairs living room.  

The sheet rock guys were covered in sweat and white powder when they were finished.  They left two sets of white foot prints down our driveway all the way to their truck.  What hard work they do!

There are a few new additions to the kitchen.

pot filler 

600 CFM range hood

Hopefully this powerful fan will be able to expel the smoke fast enough that the smoke alarm won't go off as much as it has "when Papa burns food".  I might even be able to fry spring rolls inside. 

Scott is in the process of painting some built-ins for the family office area.  I should be able to show it to you in a few days.  The counter top is scheduled to go in this Thursday, which means we will have plumbing back in the kitchen.  The kids have never been so excited to load the dish washer.

The face frames are in!

The face frames are in!  

We took the old wall cabinets and microwave off the wall.  We love how open and spacious it feels.

Last saturday we ripped out the tile with the help of Scott's brother Colin and nephew Seth.  It turned out to be a lot bigger job than we anticipated.  Scott and I stayed up until two to finish getting the 2500 square head screws out of the hardie board.  The screws wouldn't come out unless the grout was scraped out of the screw heads which made the process painful and long.  

Now we are working on getting the staples out of the sub floor.  Unlike the square head screws, these staples are fun to pull out.  Don't get me wrong.  It still is a process.  You stick a flat head screw driver by the staple, hammer it under the staple until the staple comes up a little, and then pull it out using fencing pliers.  But it is satisfying when the long staple comes out.  If only my back didn't hurt after a while.  I would be doing it all day.  Instead, we pay the kids 10 cents per staple.

This is not related to the reno, but here is a picture of what happens when you have two boys volunteer to make milk shakes for the first time.  Yes, they really were trying to put the whole box of ice cream in my blender.  

bar stool side storage

Today we got the bar side cabinet doors in...  

... and the sink cabinet got doors, too.  

Scott got started on the face frames, which he says is a tedious job.      

The cabinets are in!

This past week was mostly spent on electrical work, plumbing, and making of the drawer fronts.  We decided that Scott's time is better spent doing things he does well, and hired a pro to do the plumbing.  We are glad we did because plumbing for an addition turned out to be a bit complicated.  

Today Scott changed out all the old drawer fronts and made some special pieces to finish up everything that uses drawer slides.  I put pulls on all day long.  Here is a the wall side.  

The first piece Scott made is a pull out bottle holder for oils, vinegars, and anything else you want when you are cooking at the stove.  There are two of them, one on either side of the stove.

This is the island.  The two empty spaces you see are for the dishwasher, on the left, and the sink, on the right.

And the second piece Scott made is a pull out trash and recycle bin.  He followed a tutorial from this blog.  

Our life has been interesting now that we haven't had plumbing in the kitchen for a week.  Here is how we do dishes.      

Don't let this fun picture fool you.  The boys "helped" just once before the novelty wore off and they lost interest.  It's fine because I actually don't mind doing the dishes as long as I have Jerome and Asha's help.  Jerome fills up the two storage containers with water.  It takes him several trips to the bathroom sink with a big pot.  He does this happily whenever I call, "Jerome, get water from the well!" Jerome and I thought it was fun to pretend that we were pioneers, until we realized that we were silly for thinking that getting warm city water from a faucet fifteen feet away didn't really qualify as a pioneer experience.  But it is still fun.  We first tried to take the storage containers into the bathroom sink to fill, but then learned that we couldn't get the faucet out of it before loosing most of the water.  That made a big mess in the bathroom when a lot of that water ended up on the floor.  Jerome also dumps the dirty water into the toilet after I am finished, a big help.  Asha "unloads the dishwasher" by putting away all the dishes that I pile up in the basket.   I pulled the lower basket out of our dishwasher and put it on a bath towel so it wouldn't roll off of the countertop.

Scott is taking the rest of the week off of work, so we should have more things to show you soon.  Stay tuned!

Ready to instal the rest of the cabinets

The sidings are up.

The workers spent this week taking out the inner wall. 

Scott started the electrical with the help of Marc Smith.   

Most of the cabinet parts are made and ready for installation.  Here are the cabinet boxes.     

And the drawer fronts.  You also see the IKEA drawer parts in their boxes.  

The five piece drawer fronts look amazing, don't they?  Scott has perfected the art.    

I am really impressed with Scott's ability and patience for learning new skills.  I know it has been a steep learning curve.  Pictured below is the first set of drawer fronts he had made.  The wood planks he got at the local store was slightly warped, so the drawers didn't line up straight.  The sanding job was not the best.  The inexpensive paint sprayer produced an unwanted orange peel effect.  

Despite the imperfections, Scott was so excited that he finished his first set of drawers.   He took a picture on his iPhone and showed it to Mark at work.   Mark used to be a cabinet maker and he had been giving Scott some advice.  He wasn't impressed.  He took one look at the tiny picture and asked Scott why they weren't straight.  

Now that Scott has better tools, more tricks under his sleeves, and a lot more patience for details and quality control, he thinks it is funny that he was so proud of those first drawers.    

Here is another one.  Scott spent the whole evening making these drawer fronts, just to find out that they were half an inch too short on both sides.  It wasn't funny.  Not at 11p.m.          

I am going to miss seeing these drawer fronts that have given me a smile every day.     

The workers started to put on the siding.  Here is Asha pointing out that the colors of the new and old don't match.      

Today they started tearing down what is now the inner wall.  They got to the studs on the outer side, but left the rest intact until the door comes tomorrow.  I felt a little exposed having workers so close to my kitchen where I spend most of the day.  I'd better get used to it because they are going to be in my kitchen tomorrow.     

We decided on the counter top and back splash last weekend.  It is not any of the ones that we were considering.  It is Pentalquartz and the color we chose is Lattice.  It is the whitest of all the marble-like quartz we have seen, and we like the grey, gold and green veins that give it depth.            

The back splash is a ceramic tile called Absolute.      

 

We celebrated our fifteenth anniversary.  Cecily, Scott's sister, kindly and bravely watched our children while we took a weekend getaway to Seattle.  It was like a dream and I didn't want it to end.  Good thing we have cute children and a big project to come back to.             

Happy Father's Day to Scott.  Jerome and Asha bought him a t-shirt that says, "You say tomato, I say tomato, Doesn't make much sense when you read it."  They also made him breakfast in bed, and gave him some cute home-made cards.  It was well deserved because Scott is the one that taught them by example how to celebrate special occasions.  Our kids are so lucky to have a father that loves them and believes in them.  Scott is very involved in their lives and always makes time to have a conversation with them.          

We visited Scott's father to thank him for the wonderful man that he is, and snapped a three generation picture.