Hawaii

Pretty sunset from the house

These pics load funny. This is the last day, and I am saying goodbye to the water and sun. I stayed at the Marriot for 5 hours and hitched a free ride to the airport - ever the resourceful one :)

Getting ready to go ziplining! See video below...way below...

Do we look like we are having fun? It was cold and windy at Wailai Canyon. I prolly did not spell that right but I am too lazy to look it up right now :)

Here's the group, from left: Charlie holding Eamon, Kristen, Kate, Alex holding Ella, Me, Holly, and Dan

Sitting on my balcony that overlooked the pool

walking on the beach will Ella. She's all grown up, almost ready for her car.

I'm the white dot about to jump off the waterfall. No worries, I've jumped off higher cliffs in Glendo (Wyo). 

Flying through the air off the rope swing. You have to jump off the cliff to get to the rope swing, or chance walking along slippery rocks. I'm not very coordinated, so I just jumped.

This video is of the zipline. These pictures load funny, otherwise it would have been up at the top by the pic of Kate and I.

Fun in the sun...well fun even without it. I'm not complaining, just telling you that it wasnt sunny everyday like we would have hoped. I did get freckly and pink by the end.  We spent most mornings chasing the sun (south end of the island was the best), and returned home for nap time. I didnt need naps because I managed to sleep about 11 hours each night - even with babies waking up. Thank goodness for whitenoise.

There really are too many pictures and stories to tell from this trip. You can probably see more if you check out the Yancey blog (link at top). I can say the most memorable moments were: Ella's b-day, watching Ella advance her walking skills, watching Ella learn "uh-oh!", waterfall jumps, zipline, beating Kate and Alex at hearts (swear I didnt play much before!), and meeting some fun Alaskans!

House work!

We are SICK of painting. Am I done yet? No way! Still have entire kitchen (including cabinets), both bathrooms, and the 2nd bedroom. When I list it like that, I feel so unaccomplished. But see pics below for all projects...

Butterscotch and milk chocolate - that is how I describe my main colors! Quite the contrast in colors!

Living room shot showing both colors again. See, Vineaux is good doggie (she is sitting on her new dog bed, placed strategically in front of the heater - Princess).

Living room is a mess. Good thing I'm not living here and doing all this. Pretty armoir in the middle that I found online for $200 (a steal!)

Vineaux is so excited to help me finish painting the entryway. It looks like I painted her eyeballs so they glow, but it is meerly an illusion. She has been helpful, and not in my way. It is true. Her worst crime is whining because she is so sick of painting. I am TOO!

You know what is REALLY fun? Digging a ditch and installing chicken wire in the rain. That was 3 weeks ago, and it hasnt stopped raining enough so that I can put the dirt back into the ditch (which is now a moat).

Why chicken wire? Well, Vineaux is an escape artist and I wanted to make sure that if she decided to dig, it would not get her anywhere. Right now it is too cold and wet for her to remain outside for long. Such a princess.

Room o' doors - these have already had 3 coats of primer and now the coat of the trim color. Orignially the dark wood color we know from the 80's.

I'm trying to show you what a mess my upstairs bathroom is. It is my hub. So that means it will be the last room to be painted, since all my supplies hang out there.

Ok, it is a lot of work. I expected work, but not this much or for this long. Painting has been very slow, because only one person can do so much. It seemed like I was only starting projects, not finishing them. So I had an idea to have some friends over for painting and play. You can see a couple of my helpers above (taking a much needed break).

The living room o' cabinets. Thanks to Jen and Keisha, these were taken down, sanded, and had the fronts all primered for me! I have recently finished the rest of the doors, so now I need to go pick out a color to paint the cabinets. That decision has been very difficult - first I wanted to refinish (as in stain them again), but found out they have a laminate surface. Then I was going to re-laminate them, but the man at the woodworking store said "that is like putting lipstick on a painting." So he talked me into saving money so I can later buy new doors for them. Real, wood, doors. Goes back to the motto, if you are going to do something, do it right the first time.

Stay tuned for more updates - and pics from Hawaii!

Daddy made me do this

Greetings! While I madly paint my new house, I took a short break to get some pictures taken. It was a special request from my daddy, and those are hard to turn down! I will be posting pictures of progress in the new place shortly.