Our summer vacation...

was today... we couldn't get anything else scheduled easily this summer for a longer vacation... but we took a few days off here and there, usually not together. But today we both took the day off and took Sara to the zoo again. It was a surprise for her and she was very excited to say the least... she even did a little happy dance when we told her!



The pic above is from probably her favorite exhibit at the zoo, the gorillas. It was even a favorite over a year ago the first time we took her. It was a pretty good day, temps in the low 70's, just a few clouds, and it was free (always is on Mondays I guess, for locals). The only part we didn't really explore is the same part we usually miss... the Australian Adventure... next time.

Other than that we have been busy with odds and ends around here. I spent a lot of the time about one to two weeks ago working at home while we were (finally) getting our house painted. Yes, the house that we have now officially owned and lived in for five years (the longest we have lived anywhere since leaving home for college!) has finally gotten the paint job we knew it needed when we bought it. The pic below shows it off.... of course, we chose the same colors because we thought it suited the house well. The colors are a little lighter than before, though, because Sherwin-Williams changed their base, white exterior paint since the last time it was painted. At least all the peeling is gone and it should be in good shape for a few years now.

Other than that just the usual stuff....

kitchen redux

So here are some pics of what we have been working on and the progression of the kitchen. This was a lot of walls and corners and edging, but it is done. The room is brighter like we hoped, though we are definitely appreciating the upsides of the previous reddish color now. There are some serious second thoughts on the shade of yellow here (Vanilla Custard for you Behr fans). This pics are actually a little better than we think it looks in person. It isn't bad, and as we add some accents around the windows and art on the walls it is looking better. The major issue we have is probably that it didn't solve the major issue of our kitchen, which is that it needs a serious lighting redo... we took the more inexpensive try at getting some more ambient light.... anyway, two days x four people (D's parents are here) x 6 coats of paint (2 primer + 2 topcoat on the walls, and 2 on the ceiling) = glad to be done (for now).



Kitchen at time of house inspection (and since)



Kitchen at time of house inspection (and since) #2



Primered #1



Primered #2



Final coat #1



Final coat #2