April Birthdays

Crazy Girl celebrates the advancement to double digits!

Best Friends enjoyed cake, treats and a little Hanna Montana in the form of music and movie.
After passing the final mile marker of adulthood (age 25, all legal privileges are granted including renting a car) birthdays seem to loose a little luster. When I woke up the morning of my birthday I wasn't sure what I really hoped for but I was wishing I had a sister to call up and see the Tulip Festival with. When I expressed my feelings to Glen he offered to go. Honestly I didn't think it would be the same (he being a guy and all), but he surprised me once again by being an entertaining and appreciative companion! I had a wonderful day with calls from family and friends, a well needed pedicure and a gathering of book buddies in the evening.
The tulips were plentiful and absolutely beautiful, but Glen was most taken by the largest man-made waterfall, he is a guy after all!
Sharing a birthday has its challenges, but luckily I share it with a very generous guy! This one celebrated 12 amazing years! Wow, I've been doing this parenting thing for a while now...
Glen took these boys on what will go down in our family as the most successful birthday party to date! The little-big man chose ice skating as his activity and who better than a Canadian wonder to be their guide! Each of these boys had been either once or not at all, but as boys will do, they eagerly took on the slick surface.

Our birthday season is packed, but fun...Stay tuned for the May/June edition!

Quick Home Update!

Life has been busy since we returned from our fun trip! We have had many birthdays and end of the school year activities, plus the usual chaos of soccer games and practices... But through it all our house does continue to evolve!

Here are a few pictures of the latest changes.

First: The awesome arch above our new tub in the Master bath.

Second: The enclosure of the new masterbath shower. We traded the positions of the toilet/bidet room and the old shower. We get a bigger shower this way and the solo toilet didn't need quite so much room.

Third: This is the shower tiled! This picture does not begin to do it justice! I adore travertine and our tile guy did a great job putting it together. In the picture it has yet to be grouted and the fixtures are not yet installed, but you get the basic idea.


Fourth: The master bath tub! We changed out the window so we get an unobscured view of the mountains and added more of that lovely travertine. We just need to figure out the window coverings before treating the neighbors to a shocking reverse view.
Well there is much to still be completed, but for the moment (or at least a week) the work is in our hands while we paint, and paint, and paint some more!

Fleeing the Country...

Rome in Springtime...

As if our plates weren't full enough with the remodeling of our home and keeping pace with four beautiful children,we decided to leave the country for two weeks...So pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy our little slide show (you determine the length of your torture!)

Here you see Tonya kicking back in one of the classically modern seats in the Paris underground (referred to as the Metro in most places). This would be the economical way to get around and not too hard to figure out if you're adventuresome!

On our second day in France we headed out to the"Louis's" homestead...just a little place called Versailles. I can't believe it took the French so long to storm the place! We spent an entire day there and still didn't see everything.

Here is the backyard...even bigger than mine! The crowds weren't too bad this early in the season, however if you needed a restroom the line came out and around the corner! I would like to come back someday and see the gardens in bloom.
One interior shot...the famous Hall of Mirrors. Glen enjoying is audio guide. Unfortunately the actually history of France wing was closed, so most of the details went over our heads.
We had to include a shot of the Eiffel Tower, though we did not ride to the top on this visit.
This was our favorite patissier! On our last visit to Paris we would stop in here for lunch and get a small quiche or toasted bread with ham and cheese. However on this "what can go wrong, will go wrong" trip they were out by the time we got there...another time maybe.
After two cold, rainy days in Paris we hit the skies and flew to Venice to begin our tour through Northern Italy.

We didn't actually go on and expensive gondola ride since the views were the same on foot and much cheaper! Getting lost was half the fun, but I must say after only two days I think we were getting the hang of things and could find our way around, besides it's an island, you can't go too far!

We took a "taxi" ride over the little island of Murano where Venetian glass is made. We watched this man make a horse and another blow glass. I had hoped to buy something special to bring back, but in all honesty, Venetian glass is pretty gaudy. It was fun to watch though!

After Venice we traveled by train to Rome. After finding our beautiful hotel at the TOP of one of Romes hills(by foot), we went to see some sights. The rain continued to follow us on our travels, working in our favor at the Colosseum where few people were as crazy as us standing in the rain.

The next day we did get some clear skies. As hard as I might, I couldn't comprehend how long these ruins had been there...too much Hollywood desensitization and Las Vegas reconstruction!

We did stop in to visit with the Pope, but he was busy doing other things, masses and honoring a new saint to name a few. We did pay the outrageous fees to visit his collection of stolen goods, missing amazing treasures in the sheer vastness of it all. The greatest let-down for me was missing the "Hand of God" in the Sistine Chapel due to the almost violent nature of the Vatican museum guards. It's a crazy story, but lets just say I've never seen anything like it on Temple Square! And if your head isn't spinning enough, how about a trip down these exit stairs?

When in Rome, or anywhere else in Italy for that matter, wander into churches and look up...you're sure to be amazed!

After almost three days in Rome we hit the trains again, destination Florence. When in Florence you must visit the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore). At first this building looks fake, then upon closer inspection you realize it is just covered in crazy colored marble. These guys put all their money on the outside, leaving the inside pretty plain.

The one exception being the dome that is extravagantly painted with some of the most horrific images I have ever seen! The priests of this church kept their congregation in line with the visual threats of Hell depicted above...not good! I bet their collection plates were full!

We paid for the privilege to get a closer look at those images and climb 463 steps!

Some of those steps get mighty small and rise at dangerous angles. Obviously Italy doesn't have the problems with lawsuits the US faces!

Once at the top there is a beautiful view of Florence if you aren't scared out of your mind to enjoy it!

My personal motto: Take pictures...look later!

Hilton is our hotel of choice because Glen acquires so many points with travel, but in Florence it was too far out of town so we chose something else. We found this place on the Internet and weren't sure what to expect..but how can you go wrong placed between Tiffany's and Burberry?! Really it was a fun place in an old building turned beautiful hotel. After Florence we were headed to The Cinque Terre, but swung by Pisa on the way and see if we could help with their leaning tower problem. Turns out it's not much of a problem since I think it's the only reason people stop here.
When we arrive in the beautiful village of Vernazza (one of the five villages that make up The Cique Terre)we still had no place to stay. Glen left me and our gear at the top of the village street and took off in hopes of finding a room with a view. While he inquired about, found, and inspected such a room I stood dutifully protecting myself and our things from a torrential down pour! It was as if the heavens decided to empty buckets of water in record time! Glen returned twenty minutes later dry and happy with his findings...lucky for him, it was a great room! Our landlady for three nights was Amelia and she was everything you expect an older Italian woman to be!

Our view of the marina and village square. The villages seems to be divided by the young people serving the tourists and the older generations sitting around gossiping about the same transient crowd. The church bells ring every 30 minutes and the ocean provides peaceful background, the pace is slow and the views are astounding!

Corniglia in the background... All the villages are built on the ocean side hills with paths connecting the dots.

In Monterosso we found a welcome reprise from pizza...an Italian Cheeseburger! At the "Fast Bar" we downed two burgers grilled on a panini machine, made with ficacia bread and the regular American fixin's...Yum, Yum!

Wow, that's Good!

After fueling up we decided to tackle the "hardest" section of the "connect the dot" paths. At this point (45 minutes in) I was relatively happy. There was solid ground on both sides and a clearly defined path, not something that could be said during most of that two hour hike!

A half hour left to go!

When we did reach Vernazza (our home base) we were thrilled and smelly! With a week and a half under our belts and a few more days to go, we decided to do laundry...the Italian way! We washes our clothes and then hung them to dry on our very own clothes line.

Our Vernazza piazza!

Gelato two or three times a day, rain or shine!

Our final train to Milan, the backpacks we carried everything in, and one of Glen's signatures smiles!

Our final stop in Italy, Milan. Twenty minutes was all I needed in this city, to see their Duomo, fancy shopping mall, and get on live Italian MTV three times. They were shooting in the square while we were there so I just walked into the shot, pretty cool!

This man was on the street carving the most beautiful things from vegetables.

Closing thoughts...

Italy is a beautiful country full of cultural wonders and antient history. I'm glad I was fortunate enough to see these things and relax in the slow paced village of Vernazza. I will always treasure the memories, but...There is no place like home! I missed my family and way of doing things, right or wrong, they make me who I am. Hopefully I will be able to take the things I appreciate most from those around me in this beautiful world and improve who and what I am.

A special thanks to everyone who made this trip possible...Rick Steves for his detailed and funny guide, Glen for funding this expedition, and especially our children's Grandparents for caring for them in our absence. Thank You!

Demo Continues...

Time flies when you're busy remodeling a house, planning a trip to Europe, and raising four active kids! So here is a belated update on the house...

Once Caleb, our contractor, took over demo it flew by! He would destroy by day and we would clear it out by night, with hot chocolate as reward.

Spencer sweeping away!

A view up the stairs into the construction zone.

The center of the "big room" is actually the kids bathroom. Behind it to the right is our sitting room, then the master bedroom is behind it to the left. There is a walk-in closet in there somewhere too.

This is my favorite! Glen removing the old bathtub single-handily. He likes to draw as much attentions to his muscles as possible!

Canadians may understand the reference he made to some canoe guy while escorting the tub out. Bye, Bye, yucky tub!

Well the demo is complete and progress towards rebuilding has begun, but it doesn't look that different yet. We are actually having a lot of fun with this project and look forward to seeing all of our ideas come to life. When we get back from our trip we should have walls, yippee!

Awesome Video

Pause the Music First...

McBride Demolition!

We bought this property mid-December but from the beginning we knew we wouldn't be moving in immediately. There are quite a few cosmetic changes we have in mind, but we also had some serious issues, such as no heat due to old/inoperable furnaces and a water leak in the lower hall from an upstairs bathroom to correct before inhabiting.

Below are some of the projects we had fun taking on ourselves:

The kitchen banquet was more country than we signed up for! The fabric, a lovely country blue, was definitely original and had seen it's fair share of spilled milk, something to cry over! The idea of having to slide out every time someone wanted a forgotten ingredient in the kitchen brought on unfortunate memories of the Chuck-O-Rama Buffet booths (a table is the only way to go!).

So, one Saturday later, the well constructed booth was removed. Leaving behind original wallpaper (pale thin country blue lines) and gaping holes in the hardwood. How much did they really save not taking that wood the extra foot to the wall?!

Then there was the beautiful glass and brass shrine at the entry of our home. Since we do not have any trophies or small statues to display, we removed it.

Growing up Glen was apart of the family demolition team while his father hired skilled professionals to rebuild. We are using the talents given us and saving pennies along the way.

Now to Glen's pride and joy, his new trailer! Who knew a trailer could be admired so much, but Glen expresses his appreciation of it every time we fill it up and haul our demolition debris of to the local landfill. It has been mighty useful!

The highlight of these Saturday family adventures is the meeting in the kitchen to warm ourselves with hot chocolate when the work is done. The kids have all had a part in transferring debris from upstairs down to the trailer, sweeping up smaller bits, and throwing what they could heave onto the dump's floor. A family adventure to remember and take pride in.

Until next time...