Lake Superior Rockin' and Rollin'

From the ice encrusted shore, we enjoyed watching the waves pound.  We couldn't free any rocks from the frozen beach to throw into the water, so we just knocked down a few icicles and played "house" in a "cave".  I had to go back for the camera and get some wave pictures, they were spectacular, though I don't think it shows up quite so spectacular in the pictures.  Noah and I had to play outside a bit for certain parts of the construction process, so we took a walkie-talkie down and played on the shore.  All parties had a good time!

Snow-covered rock

Warm winter fun with a preschooler

Noah got new skis for Christmas.  We had to consider a few other things to keep him warm.  We got the universal binding skis for kids - that means he wears the winter boots that we already have for him.  I'm happy to not have to buy ski boots every winter.  His little white cotton socks inside the generic kids winter boots weren't quite doing it for us, though.  "Santa" got him a pair of costs-more-than-the-boots-did smartwool kids wintersport kneehigh socks.  That was enough to make his feet last as long as mine out in the cold anyway.

 From toe to head, here's how we layered him for playing out on the chilly days.  Kneehigh wool socks and winter boots.  His warmest pair of fleece sweatpants, topped by a pair of jeans, topped by snowpants. Long sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, winter coat.  On his hands, he wears a lightweight fleece mitten with his Menards mittens over top (for those who aren't familiar, Menards sells kids mittens with the high, snow blocking wrist, great for the daycare playground for $5... Awesome!).  Up top varies based upon the sweatshirt.  If he has a hood, then he wears his sweatshirt hood, jacket hood, and a scarf wrapped around his face.  If no hooded sweatshirt, then he puts his hat under his hood.  Extra head warmth is essential!  And, his jacket hood is a quite thick one, not like those little tuck-in-the-collar-in-case-it's-raining-or-windy hoods that so many adult jackets come with.

 So there you have it on clothing.  Another year of physical coordination improvement and appropriate length skis and he's getting to be quite the skier!
Not sure what happened with these pictures, so just turn your head, they were normal in my photo file and I've tried just about everything to get them righted.

 Noah has snowshoes too.  Actually, they're monster feet, according to Noah.  If we get tired of skiing, we can go for a stomp.  It's fun, and so good to get outside in winter!

After our afternoon out playing in the snow, one particular 5 year old fell asleep in the car for a good half hour.  Mission accomplished, we wore him out!

Paint changes everything

It takes hours to "wrap it all up" so that the paint only goes where you want it when you use a sprayer.  You don't have any lights except your one halogen worklight.  It's a multi-day process to wrap, prime, paint trim, paint ceiling, and walls.  And, oh man, is it fun to see the transformation!

Protect that pretty shower from the spray!

Special door balancing tricks to get them sprayed in the middle of the room.

I added in a picture frame that was a little rough for bonus while he was spraying :)

Ready for trim paint - the primer looks funny on that wall, and the door is a piece...

Here's the equipment and the wood has been painted gray.

The challenging little bathroom.

White walls and ceiling

The only white in the entry is the ceiling, lots of plastic here!

There's that shower again, almost done with the wrapping.

Smooth white walls, needs a vanity and light fixture!

Ready, set, unwrap!

Done.

Uncover that tile!

I could gaze at that shower tile for hours.

One big pile of used wrapping paper and a couple pretty walls.

And the pretty tree view out the window of this freshly painted room.

Settling in at the white house.

Here' same peek at our new Master bedroom and bathroom. It's one of the few places in the house with Sheetrock walls rather than plaster, so I was able to hang a few pictures.

A few of you asked how we're working with the big built-in desk situation in our bedroom...

I just managed to get rid of that TV, it's the kind of thing that you almost can't give away, so I was pleased that Freecycle came through for me. I have parked a few more craft items on "my side". I think I will get to use the other side too because Brian just doesn't see a use for another desk...

Random shot of the laundry. We had a hamper that I couldn't figure how to fit it, and I'm just stacking the 3 white baskets on the dryer for now. It's working for me. We think that this space will become a main floor half-bathroom and laundry will get moved back to the basement. It's a little weird for guests to use the facilities, if you know what I mean.

A couple more shots of the bedroom. I'm dreaming of better window treatments than somewhat broken shutters, but we have to get to "doing" this room before I'll tackle that.

I'm really surprised that Brian hasn't taken his paint brush into here yet?!

What do you think will come first? What would you do with this space?

Fat Biking in the OC

No, not Orange County...  We live in a different OC, and sometimes struggle to find fun things to do.  Here's a fun afternoon we had a couple weeks ago (Christmas got in the way of me putting this one up... Excuses, excuses).  For those of you who only come here for the cool DIY projects, you can take a good look at the way the sled connects to the hot guy on the orange bike - we built that, engineer style last year.  We've actually re-built that pulk a few times since.  Continually improving our design ;)  

 There's a public area that skiers often use when the snow conditions are low, but it isn't groomed, so they can't keep the fat bikes off!  We saw a skier while we were out there and his comment was 'oh, good, you're grooming it for us!'

 This is the most fun we've had in the OC for quite some time!

 I ride the cheap blue fat bike, which is why you only see pictures of my boys and the fancy orange bike.  The snow was clearly glittering that afternoon, but I don't think you can see it very well in this picture.

Noah didn't last as long as the rest of us were having fun, which perpetuated a few additional Christmas gifts for him - more warm equipment.  I'll share about keeping your preschooler warm when playing outside on cold days next time!