Colorado Part 2

Oh my goodness this blog post gets more intimidating to write the more photos I take!  So here, let me get this posted before another day produces another few dozen photos. 

 

We LOVE the porch at this cabin!  It's a fantastic place to hang out and watch hummingbirds.



And although cell reception is poor (read: non-existent), we've had time and space for in-person conversations that are just difficult to have during the busy, day-to-day in Texas.



The hummingbirds aren't as eager as last year, but they're still pretty interested in the highly nutritious solution we've been supplying through the feeder.

 

We enjoyed seeing Daniel's parents for a few days while they were also in Estes Park. 



We did some arts/crafts, and Daniel and I enjoyed a thrift-shopping-morning-date while his parents babysat the kids.



And the next day, Lucy played her first game of putt-putt!  Actually, it was sort of a modified putt-putt game. 



Each adult got one turn at putting the ball, and then Lucy took each ball and stuck it in the hole.

 

A couple days ago we ventured out to Sprague Lake and enjoyed cooking out!  Hot dogs and s'mores are hard to beat.  Especially bison hot dogs.  Yum.

 

Lucy is a ham.  This is her "monkey dance" face.  It is hilarious.



Inspired by a friend of my in-laws, I tried my hand at some nature-as-art type photos.  Water is amazing.  It's so cool, to me, how different water can appear.



I don't necessarily have descriptors for all these photos, but I wanted to share them anyways.



Our crew loves bacon.  I mean, who doesn't?



For the last two days we've been enjoying staying with our good friends Sarah and Bryan outside of Denver.  They have two horses and live on 11 acres of land.  It is so cool! 



Lucy was intrigued by the tractor ("fire truck!") and then horrified when she rode it.  Same goes for the horse-riding. 

 

The kids have been CRACKING each other up, lately.  It's such a joy to watch.  They just laugh back and forth, each finding the other more hilarious by the minute.  It's so much fun.



I can't believe Sarah and Bryan are Colorado people now!  We will miss them in Dallas.  A lot! 



But we're already looking forward to our next trip to see them.

Adventures in Shed Finishing: Part 3

We had a "Shed Day" this weekend, and lots of friends/family came to help us make further progress in the shed.  

We greatly appreciated it and got a lot further along!  Pictured below is where we were at the beginning of the weekend.



Ginnie came over the night before Shed Day to help us re-size the door opening.  We are getting a new door (standard width) -- so, of course, it needs a standard-sized door opening.

The new door will have a window in it to let some natural light into the small office space.  That's important, since we opted out of installing an additional window in the shed.



Also the night before, Daniel and I drilled holes in the studs to allow for wiring...

 

... and Daniel installed the electrical outlet cases.



The ditch for burying the electrical cables is almost complete!




We discovered 4 pairs of PVC pipes belonging to our sprinkler system while digging the ditch, and--I'm happy to say--we only damaged a couple of the pipes during the digging/pickaxing.



Those were easily repaired with PVC pipe.  Michael was a worker bee and managed to dig out a tunnel under the sidewalk.



The electrical cables will go from the garage, under the sidewalk, across the yard, to the shed...

 

...and they will provide all the electricity necessary for 2 exterior shed outlets, 6 interior electrical outlets, the overhead indoor light, and 2 exterior lights that will help illuminate the yard.     



I wish I'd gotten a picture--Becky had Lucy duty, and it was SO nice to know Lucy was happily playing inside while we were working outside.  She's a great Nonnie.



A very yucky job was cutting the insulation into strips to fit between the studs.  Jennifer, Carrie, and I donned the appropriate attire (insulation is made of fiber glass) and went to work cutting and installing the insulation.  The mask, goggles, and long sleeves made for a rather claustrophobic situation, but it didn't take that long to get what we needed cut.



We had hoped to get a lot of sheet rock installed this weekend, but other projects ended up being pretty time-consuming.  So we still have a bit of sheet rock to do, but Michael and Daniel did install part of the ceiling sheet rock - and then Carrie came over the next day to help install another panel of ceiling sheet rock.  It is HARD work.



After we get the rest of the sheet rock installed and seal the concrete floor, we'll be able to move the remaining furniture out of the fourth bedroom and into the shed!  That will free up the fourth bedroom so we can install the floor in there and paint the walls.  So much to do!



Thank you, again, to all who came and helped on Saturday (or ran errands with me beforehand to prepare... or contributed food for our lunch!).  It was much appreciated, and we are thankful for you.