Finally...an update!

FINALLY...a post with pictures! (You may be sorry because there are lots!) Ok, let's start with this past weekend. We, along with Jim & Julie, Scott & Sue and Grandma & Grandpa went down to Jellystone in Mexico, NY. It has become a favorite of ours because the kids just love it and there's so much to do there! It was a holiday weekend, so we got an extra day out of it. On Friday, we all met there and set up camp. We got pull-thru sites so it was easy to make a big horseshoe out of 3 of the campers. Next year, we'll park on the end and get Scott and Sue's camper sideways so the kids have a huge yard between them all to play in. Grandma and Grandpa were late registering, so they got themselves on a waiting list. Unfortunately, the park couldn't accommodate them near the rest of us, but it turned out well, I think. At least Grandpa could take a QUIET nap when he wanted to! Anyway, this park hosts theme weekends and this one was no exception...it was Halloween weekend! On Saturday morning, we started out with a huge group breakfast and then took the kiddies up to do a craft...they made construction paper face masks.

If you look closely, you'll see a "big kid" in the middle by the name of Colleen.

Drew was enthralled with the monkey bars.

Hannah's turn.

And of course Luci refused to be left out...

She bravely stepped up and then hung, but wouldn't budge her hands...

But Hannah stepped up and gave her a boost so she could swing from rung to rung.

She was VERY proud of herself!

Later that day, the kids all got to dress up in their Halloween costumes and go trick or treating from camper to camper! Drew wanted to be a pink poodle and Luci wanted to be a ghostie!

From L to R, Darien as Tigger, Hannah as Little Red Riding Hood, Sara as a bat, Jeb as a Transformer, Drew as a pink poodle and Luci as a ghostie.

Last year, the guys stayed at the campers to pass out candy and the girls took the kids around. Afterwards, we said, "Next year, WE stay at the campers and the guys take the kids!" And that's exactly how it happened!! Here's Jim and Art with the "excess" bags!

The kids had a ball and got quite the haul, too! At 7pm, we headed up to enjoy the haunted house that the park does every Halloween weekend! This year, it was fashioned after a haunted ship that went down, kind of like the Titanic! We waited an hour in line and got right up to the entrance door when they announced they were taking a 15 minute break! Ahh! Oh well, we had waited that long, what's another 15?? Hannah decided not to go in, and Scott and Sue took their kids back to their camper because of the long wait. Luci and Sar showed a little trepidation about going in, but managed to be troopers through it all! Actually, I heard more screaming from Julie than the kids! Hee hee! Afterwards, we enjoyed a group dinner (I made homemade mac n cheese in the crock-pot! Yummy!) a nice fire and then off to bed. On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa hosted the group breakfast and then we took the kids to Behling's Orchard, something we did last year, too, but this time we got there early and spent a few hours! This is a place that sets up all kinds of kid-related things, like a haunted maze, a corn maze, goat feeding station, horse rides, wagon rides, inflatables area, etc. Below, Luci pokes her head through the piggie cut-out.

And Jeb...

AND Darien!

Hannah and Jeb in the cow cut-out!

And all of them in the Behling's cut-out!

I think the favorite thing of the day was the horse and pony rides. Drew is beaming! We might have to look into horse riding lessons for this one!

Luci chose the pony.

Darien liked it, too!

Scott tries to coax Darien into feeding the goats. She was having nothing to do with it!!

Drew didn't mind the goat slobber!

Nor Luci!

Extreme close-ups of my beauties!!

In the corn maze, Drew and Hannah took very good care of Darien! They were great helpers!

I think every kid must love these bouncy houses!

They had a huge inflatable slide there, too!

After the slide, the girls wanted on Daddy's shoulders for a photo-op. Sara was also relgated to her father's shoulders, but not for a picture! Someone stole her shoes!!!! So the guys took turns carrying her around for the rest of the afternoon.

Luci lovin' up Grandma!

Sara gets a double tickle from the girls!

Back at the park, the kids get busy playing doctor!

Luci was having a "moment".

Hannah wasn't though!

That night, Drew decided to spent the night in Grandma and Grandpa's new camper, so Luci was on her own. I'm so glad my kids will go to bed and stay there when they're told! It makes camping so much easier when you don't have to sit with them until they fall asleep! We threw a movie in for her and when Dean went in to use the facilities 10 minutes later, she was out like a light!

On Monday morning, Sue drags out her heaping pile of bread dough and we had another group breakfast of fried bread dough, bacon, sausage, and fried potatoes! What a send-off!

It was the perfect camping weekend! The weather cooperated giving us warmth during the day and cool in the evenings which was perfect for sitting around the campfire at night. There were lots of trees in full autumn splendor...it was truly BREATHTAKING!!! We had a blast both with the kids and after they all went to bed! We can't wait to go back next year, there's so much for the kids to do here! They have a mini-put golf course, pool, playgrounds, crafts and activites all day long, wagon rides twice daily, light-stick parade on Friday evenings, a movie room in the store where families can go to watch family movies, an arcade, a water wars booth, a water trough for screening bags of dirt for gems or fossils, and an awesome shallow creek which is perfect for tubing down! There's also plenty of other things to do within an easy driving distance!

Alas, the weekend had to come to an end, but for us, it wasn't nearly as sad as we had plenty back home to keep us busy! Again, it seems nearly impossible to find help, but I think we may have that problem licked as Dean's buddy Kenny has recently finished a job and is two weeks from his next one, so he's here helping us! He is a general contractor, so he really knows his stuff! Before he showed up today, my brother and I and Dean managed to get a few sheets on the side of the house. We were going along at a steady pace...or so I thought! When Kenny showed up, I left the guys to it. An hour later, I decided to go out and see how they were doing. The whole bottom half of the house is sheeted! Man, he's quick! So, I'm hopeful that we finally have the help we've been so desperate for! Here are some pics from yesterday. I'll post the ones from today later.

My brother has a sense of humor!

Take a good look at this sad facade...because you'll never see it agin!

Construction news...if you want to call it that...

I'm having some computer issues, so I unfortunately will not be posting pics tonight. Hopefully tomorrow, but please don't count on it. Let's see, I've looked at the last post's pics and honestly, I really don't have all that much new to post anyway since no one seems willing or able to help out Dean with our addition. I do what I can, but am no substitute for a strong male helper who has an inkling of what he's doing! Where have we left off? Well, before the weekend, we had our 2nd floor joists in place. This morning, Dean was called in to work to fix something even though he is on vacation for 2 weeks. I have the feeling that this kind of company loyalty along with everything else Dean does for his job will bode well for him at evaluation time, so I certainly don't hassle him about working too much. He loves his job and is great at it, so hopefully they'll recognize his efforts at his next eval. ANYWAY...back to the construction...When he returned from work, he got busy with house stuff. Again, no helpers today, so I stepped up to do what I could. We managed to place a few more rimboards up and nail them in. The rimboards are now all complete. Dean threw the extension ladder against the first floor and started heaving...literally, HEAVING 4x8 sheets of 3/4" tongue and groove plywood flooring up the ladder to the second floor, but only managed to do two before the wind knocked another right off the ladder. It was brutal breezy today and I convinced him to do that job tomorrow when it would be safer. Instead, we nailed several sheets of OSB in pace before heading over to Dean's parent's house for his dad's birthday dinner. And that is where it sits. At this rate, it'll take a year to get it done. We've got 2 guys lined up to help tomorrow, we'll see who shows up and who doesn't.

On another note, we took our LAST (boo hoo!) camping trip of the year this past weekend to Jellystone in Mexico, NY. It was AWESOME!! The weather, the kids, the good friends, it was truly a perfect camping trip! But that's all I'll tell you until I can actually post pics! I'll try very hard not to keep you all in suspense too long! Until then!

Update!

We now have ALL the walls on the first floor erected. The top plates are in place and as I type Dean has two, count 'em, TWO helpers out there and they're putting the second floor joists in place! Below is how the day started yesterday. After I got up and got the girls off to school, Dean had managed to get another wall panel in place himself. Then I spent the entire day helping him.

Papa REALLY wants his room finished and he'll use violence if neccessary to get it! From the smiles on both their faces, you can tell he's joking!

In the afternoon Jim stopped by to lend a hand. Yay Jim! He and Dean got more work done in a few hours than when I was helping ALL day! I try, but there is just so much I can actually do! It's almost a shame we're going camping this weekend, they might have actually gotten the upstairs done, too! Oh well! We'll enjoy our LAST (boo hoo!) camping trip of the year and come back and work some more. Dean has taken a couple of weeks off work to try and button up the external stuff.

Here the guys finish the framing of 2 of the 3 big windows which surround what will be our breakfast area.

This window will be located over the kitchen sink. Nice view! Not that I plan on spending much time gazing out while doing the dishes...Anyone who knows me knows how much I detest doing dishes! Hee hee! Anyway, there's your update!

I couldn't resist this one!

Walls

I promise to post pics later! Dean, BY HIMSELF, has built and erected 3 wall panels! Now, had he had more help, he may have actually had the second floor joists in place! Regardless, he did a great job today and in the morning I'll snap and post some pics for you!

All the world's a stage...

I say that because that is essentially what we've got right now, a stage. This'll be a short post as I'm running out of time. So here you go... Below is the stack of lumber the store delivered and Dean had set on the trailer. All that wood was a bit heavy for the trailer as you can probably tell from the bending. It also sunk the trailer into the mud pretty good, so Dean took it off and set it all on runners on the ground.



The guys get to work setting the first pieces of wood onto the cellar walls.

Once that was done, they started building a small knee wall to build up the basement walls to the existing height of the old part of the house.

Our newset helper, though not too reliable. This happens to be another Mike. He was supposed to come today to build walls, but it is now nearly 5:30pm and I don't think he's going to make it.

Here Dean shows us how the rednecks do it. He's cutting the ends of all the joists with a chainsaw.

Hey, check it out...it's starting to look like a floor!

I got lots of pics of the kids, but I just don't have time to post them right now, so here's just a couple of Drew and Luci getting pushed on the swing by Uncle. They're getting some pretty good air!

My cute puppies. Yes, it is exactly how it looks...Monty thinks he's a stud!

So there you have all the latest. The windows and doors have been ordered. Dean and I need to sit down and finalize our kitchen cabinets and countertop plan and get that stuff ordered SOON, hopefully tomorrow. The roof trusses need to get ordered as well. Other than that, the rest can be gotten as needed during the construction. Things are moving, but then again, I think winter is moving in soon, so it can't happen fast enough for me!