Pool season coming to an end

I've loved having our pool. Without air conditioning in our house, the pool has been our saving grace during the high heat/humid days. Sometimes Brennan and I would get in the pool 4 times in one day!

I love that the weather is getting a bit cooler now, but the cooler weather means our pool is also cooling down. When it's cloudy and in the upper 70's outside, our pool doesn't get much above 74. The water has only been 70 degrees this past week! Logan jumps in after he goes running, but that's about all the action this pool has seen in the last 2 weeks. Brennan insisted on swimming with him after his run last night. After about 5 minutes, he was shivering and his lips turned blue. These are pictures of the last time we really "used" the pool. Alex, Parker, and Megan had a great time - they got a good whirlpool going by walking in circles around the edge.

Logan still seems to think he wants to get rid of the pool. I disagree. It doesn't really take that much to run and the cost of the pump/water isn't too high. For 3-4 weeks we used the pool multiple times a day, it's been totally worth it!! I hope to have it around next summer. So far though, Logan has done pretty much all of the pool maintenance and chemical balancing, and now he wants me to learn how to winterize it if I really want to keep it. So, we'll see how that goes!

Brennan and Trevor

Brennan and Trevor have been really good kids lately. They love to play with each other! Trevor laughs at Brennan's jumps and silly tricks. Brennan loves to give Trevor toys and lay by him. It's fun to see these boy grow closer together.

All the pictures of them together are on my phone, so I thought I'd post some of them individually.

Brennan's new hat. This bucket goes from room to room with him carrying his toys. It's a stool, chair, catch all, etc.

Trevor is learning how to roll all over the floor. He looks for things he wants and moves his body over to them. It's crazy to have an "almost" mobile kid. I put him on my bed the other day, turned around to get something off my dresser and he was right at the other edge of the bed! Wow. He sure learned to roll quickly!

Half Marathon in October

Logan and I have decided to run the ING Hartford Half Marathon on October 15th!

I really was shooting for the full marathon. I started running 2 and a half weeks after Trevor was born to get back into running shape to complete a marathon this fall/late summer. Our move across the country was the biggest setback. I wasn't prepared for nasty humid hot weather! We have no air conditioning or a shower to conveniently shower off in (i.e. bathroom renovation project), I stopped running. I didn't run for 7 weeks!! June 18th was the last day I ran until last week, August 10th. I'm finally back into the groove of things - which is so much easier since the weather has cooled off a bit in the evenings and mornings to run in.

Logan went running tonight for the first time since June 18th! It was nice to have him running again since we both plan on running.

We took Brennan and Trevor to the park to play while we took turns running on the track. The elementary school play ground is right by the high school/football field/track. It was a family affair tonight. Brennan loves to run on the track and cheer on his dad! He ran the opposite way as Logan around the track for one lap. Logan would pass Brennan every quarter lap rather since they were going opposite directions.

Bathroom Remodel: plaster + hot humid days = slow progress

I've slowed down and started studying more. This last week I have been working on PLASTER. I've never taped a drywall seam so I had to watch a video on that. Paper tape is tricky stuff. Who would've thought that up? Some of the conventions of home construction seem so random, like, there's gotta be a better way. But then we just end up doing it how we've always done it because that's what we know, and those are the most readily available, cheapest materials.

I did a bunch of plaster work on Saturday and it wasn't fully dry until Tuesday! Doesn't help that we're showering in there and it's been 90% humidity. Then more plaster Tuesday and now waiting for that to dry. I had a friend help with the electrical hook-ups and re-positioned the outlets and light fixtures, which required cutting into the old lath and plaster, carefully chipping it down to the bare lath, then patching over the lath with 1/4" drywall. Not sure this is how you're supposed to do it but it worked well.

Heather and I went to Home Depot again and picked out towel rods, TP dispenser, hand towel ring, paint colors, and looked at some very expensive mirrors and medicine cabinets. I hope to have the vanity and sink installed this weekend! It will be tricky getting the plumbing and duct work, not to mention the sloping floor and wavy walls, to fit together and look good with a perfectly square and perfectly finished vanity. We sort of splurged on the vanity/sink/countertop setup. Pictures to come soon!

I am also mostly done with the baseboards, wainscoting, and chair rail. How convenient that the majority of the lath/plaster defects were within the lower 3 feet of wall, now covered with elegant-looking wainscoting and trim work. I opted with the cheap particle-board trim boards and so far they've been going in nicely, with the help of my wife's staple gun to set the corners together tightly.