Blake's First Hair Cut

I had just been trimming Blake's hair myself since I was so paranoid about someone chopping off his curls. Since there were ringlets, it was easy to just cut off ones that were getting in his eyes when his hair was wet in the bathtub. One evening, I went a bit overboard and cut too much. Naturally, I panicked that I had ruined his awesome curls. I researched and found a lady (in Victoria even!) that had went to school for curls in New York. I was very nervous about my baby's curls, but it's finally time for Blake's first professional hair cut!

Before

After...Addy did a great job fixing my hack job. I think she shaped his hair great & gave me some great tips for dealing with curly hair. How did I with stick straight, black hair end up with a curly haired blonde? I love Blake's hair and it totally fits his personality.

     

Long Weekend at Cabin to Finish Floor & Gabe's Birthday

The goal for this 4 day weekend is to finish installing the flooring and complete the staining. Then we will be able to use the kitchen and living room again!

Of course we have to stop at Gordy's to get ice cream & play on the playground.

Last section of flooring need to finish

Last board of the Great Room

Good thing we have so many helpers...

Taking a break with Papa John

Woohoo! With Papa John's help, we finished the hallway! It took some thinking ahead, but we used up the very last of the boards in the hallway.

What great planning by Gabe, no full boards left, just a few partial boards left to finish the pantry.

 Some final pictures before staining...

Staining time!

 

With the whole Great Room wet with stain, we went to spend the night with Grammy & Papa John.

Campbell's loves to do art while staying with Grammy.

  

Back the next day to wipe up the extra stain that hadn't soaked in and to apply more coats. 

  

I love the richness of the color

 It's dry! Gabe wasted no time in starting to put up trim. It looks so finished!!!

Alex helping us burn flooring scraps.

Stopped at the Granite store in Virginia before heading to lunch with Gabe's family to celebrate his birthday. Ron Cimperman met us at the Granite store & cabinets are coming along and he should be done and ready to install in a few weeks. We decided on a black granite mined in Babbitt. This is the same place they mined the granite for the 9.11 Memorial in NYC since it's such a large vein of consistent black color. Black isn't my first choice, but fun to have local granite. The granite installer lives on Vermilion near our cabin, so he will be able to load the granite on a pontoon and install during the week while we aren't there, which is so convenient for us!

  

SO SO SO close to being done. Very exciting! Now that granite is picked out, headed to lunch to celebrate Gabe. 

  

We love you Gabe! Not only are you an amazing husband & father and awesome provider, but you are building a cabin for our family to enjoy for generations to come. 

Stop for dinner

Got to Victoria, just in time for the kids' tball game. Good thing I had packed our tball stuff and had it ready in the car!

    

  

Alex Comes to Visit for the Summer

The kids were super excited to go to the airport to pick Alex up. Campbell even made a cute sign. I on the other hand, was a bit stressed getting them through the LONG security line and keeping them occupied while we waited. They did great though.

   

 

 So excited to have their older cousin here to visit!

More Flooring

Time to work on the main room's flooring. Jim came up for a long weekend, AGAIN, to help out. Campbell stayed with Grammy for the weekend and Blake was a big helper.

First rows done, many more to go!

 

Got smart and sanded each and every board BEFORE it was installed. This was way easier than sanding on my hands and knees.

 

Blake learning to drive. 

 Blake keeping himself busy while we work...
  

So close to being done!

Breakfast in the make shift kitchen in our bedroom.

 Blake helping Daddy haul boards...

 

Working on some projects of his own...

 

Done with the main room! Woohoo! Just have the back hallway to finish. When we were trying to figure out the logistics of installing the flooring, it seemed like an insurmountable task. Didn't think it could ever get done. Now we are so close! Just staining left and then we can put the kitchen and living room back together!