Three Lakes Park

 It was one of our last days of summer together before mom headed back to work. It was actually a cool day and so the park seemed like the best choice. We hiked around the lakes and the kids played on the playground. It was a great day!

Sean's big kid room

Sean's room was decorated when he turned 3 and he moved into the bigger room in our old house. It was still the same at our new house, so we thought it was time to move on from the dinosaurs onto something more age appropriate. He wanted a star wars room. Since he has a queen, which we love having when large group of people stay and can use the guest room and his room (and Carter's double). Star wars themed bedding didn't come in a queen so we just did accessories with a black and grey comforter. We found some cool decorative items which included a great picture of the millennium falcon, BB8 sign, and some other cute stuff. Sean chose the color and Dan hand painted a new name sign for over his bed in the star wars font. We put all his star wars legos on display along with a picture he has of fighting Darth Vader at Disney. It all came together nicely! It is a great big kid room for our soon to be third grader! Plus, star wars isn't going out of style anytime soon with several new movies on the way. It was a bonus that his new quilt his Nama made him was black/grey and red. He is loving his new room!

Kids bath renovation (again!)

I know if you go back about 5 years (to the day!) you'll find a similar post about renovation our kids bathroom. It was at our old house and the timing was similar.  But, now we live in a new house and again had to renovate the kids bathroom. All the bathrooms (4!) in our new house need work. It is like walking into 1990 when you step into the bathrooms. Linoleum floors, gold fixtures, gross vanities, etc. Dan already tackled the powder room on the first floor and the kids bathroom was next on the list. If you are wondering why our master bath isn't a priority there is a good reason.  The kids bathroom floor was peeling off. The prior owners used peal and stick linoleum squares, well add some water and you have a gross peeling floor. We used a rug to cover it for the past year, but the time for a new floor was now. You start with a floor and you end up with a whole new bathroom! Ha ha

The shower walls had just been re tiled when the house was put on the market to help it sell. I don't love the tile but it seemed kind of silly to rip it all down being that it was brand new and a neutral color. Dan is talented but he wasn't sure he was quite ready to tile a shower. So, we had to find a floor and vanity top that was the color we liked but also could match the existing tile. Luckily, we did. I wanted a grey tile and we found one with a mix of grey and beige. Then, I found the perfect quartz top that also mixed grey and beige. Since our washing machine had been acting up lately (it also came with the house and had been fixed by Dan about 5 times already) we upgraded to a new BIG washing machine to be put in after the floor was completed. (the laundry room is in the bathroom).

Dan worked tenaciously for about a week solid on demo-ing the bathroom, prepping the floor for tile, fixing the damaged vanity, painting the vanity, updating the light fixture, putting in new moldings where necessary, painting the walls, and putting in the tile floor (which is a multi-day/step process). After the floor was done we had a bit of a wait since the quartz needed to be installed and that is also a process, as they have to do the measurements, get them approved, order the slab, make the counter top and then finally install it. After the counter top was installed, it was the last few things that needed to be done for Dan, touch ups, towel bar, toilet paper holder, painting laundry doors and main door and hanging the hooks for the kids towels and some wall art.

It came out better than I had hoped. It is so pretty when you look in. Yes, it is nicer than our master bath times 1 million! Our master bath is small and also stuck in 1990, however we had bigger plans for that down the road which involve moving some walls around and re-arranging things, so for now that has to wait.

As for Dan, he is taking a little break now. He worked all of June and some of July and worked on the bathroom for August. I think he deserves a few months off of being a part time handy man. He has 1 week left before he returns to work to soak up some down time. The only credit I can take is for designing the bathroom and buying all the accessories to make it look cute. Anyone want to visit now so they can see it in person? Come on over!!

Great job, Dan!!

Va Beach-Day 3

We had to check out of the hotel so we packed our lunch for the day and Dan loaded up the car. We got to the beach around 10 am to spend our last day in Va Beach. It was hot, but the wind was blowing so it was a bit more reasonable. Carter met some friends from Canada and played in the water/sand with them almost all day. Sean of course made another drippy castle, with my help and he also spent a good amount of the day in the water. The water was a lot more chopping and it was pulling you down the beach a bit. We had to keep a close eye on both of the kids, especially Carter who would end up 100 yards down the beach without even noticing!

We ate our packed lunch around 12:30 and decided to stay as long as the kids could handle it. About 3:30 Carter's friends left and she was looking tired. She sat with me for about 30 minutes in the shade and it seemed like she could fall asleep at any minute. Sean was playing in the water and we told him he could play as long as he wanted and then we would leave when he was done. We had access to the pool hotel and bathrooms so we were able to rinse off and change before heading home. The kids got their second wind and enjoyed some pool time before we changed to leave.

It is always a sad day when you leave the beach, however, we do have one more trip in our future. We head back to Va Beach for labor day with my family. We love the beach and we'll take any chance we can to have our toes in the sand! It was a wonderful 3 day trip. We rarely vacation just the four of us and we are glad we made the decision at the last minute!

Va Beach-Day 2

Our day started off early with a family bike ride/run. Dan and I ran and the kids rode their bike down the boardwalk. It.was.hot. Like, really hot. But, we did enjoy getting a good workout in. The kids have never ridden their bikes that far. Sean/Dan made it 3 miles and Carter and I made it 2.75. After changing at the hotel and eating breakfast we were on the beach by 10 am to start our day.

It was another hot day so we spent the majority of the time in the water! When Sean wasn't in the water he was back to his favorite beach pastime=making "drippy" castles!

We spent each day inside the hotel around lunch so that we could take a break from the sun. Carter took a nap and a big storm looked like it was heading our way, so before we went back to the beach we did some walking around the boardwalk and got some ice cream.

When we got back to the beach, the storm had cleared and the kids wanted to try to gym area that was right by our hotel. They tried a few pieces of equipment out.Sean climbed all the way up the rope with no problem! I was impressed! After that they spent the rest of the day at the beach swimming and boogie boarding.

We went to a local restaurant known for craft beer and good food. It was a cool place though the kids didn't love it Dan and I enjoyed our drinks and our dinner. We attempted ghost crab hunting when we got back to the hotel but there aren't that many in VaB, not like at OBX. We did find one small one before heading to bed. What a day!

Va Beach-Day 1

At the last minute we decided we need some more time in the sand. Our OBX trip was a bit off this year given that Sean missed most of the beach days being sick and Dan and I took turns staying inside with him most of that time. Carter also was off for a few days also though she didn't get as sick as Sean. So, we decided a trip to Va Beach would do the trick. We found an ocean front hotel and got in three full days at the beach.

We left Richmond early on Sunday and had planned to park the car at the hotel and head to the beach til we were able to check in, however, when we arrived at 9:45 they allowed us to check in early. What a nice surprise! So, we dropped out stuff off and went to the beach, came back to relax for lunch and to take a break from the sun, and then went back to the beach til 6 pm when it was time to come in and shower for dinner.

Since it was close to our anniversary (11 years) we booked a reservation at a super nice Italian called Il Gardino. It was close to our hotel and it did not disappoint. The food was amazing! The atmosphere was also very cool and the service was great. We all left stuffed!


What a wonderful first day at the beach. We look forward to two more ahead of us!