Garage Progress

The garage has progressed significantly since last post. It's actually further along than the pictures below as it now has all of its siding on as well. D's brother, Darin came to help with the electrical work. We are thankful for his handiwork! We now await the garage doors and the cut in to the house. I think the project will be done before the snow flies! (knock on wood)

Darin and Justin discussing the project.

Darin consulting the internet on his phone to double check his work on the 3-way switch.

Summer Living is Easy...

I think that's from an old song I love-it keeps coming to mind these days.

Our internet has been down at home for quite some time now so the blogging has been few and far between.

I'm keeping busy with volunteer coaching for a running group called "Hilltoppers". We work with junior high and high school students who are mostly cross country runners. We meet 3 nights a week and there are approximately 80 students taking part. We work on interval training, long run endurance, and tempo runs.

Our attached garage project is progressing. We've continued to take pictures and hope to be able to post some soon. Justin's parents were in town over the weekend and helped in building a deck in our backyard which we are already enjoying. The acreage is taking shape!

Our garden has also been successfully yielding (I have to use that word because Justin calls it "farming" when we go out to pick!). I have frozen a batch of green beans and snap peas. We've enjoyed a couple of strawberries and our tomato plants are humungo! If you live near us, you will likely get to enjoy a few tomatoes!

Softball season is marching on. I think we are still slightly above 500. For having subs almost every week, I think I need to be content with that!

Cedar continues to grow and enjoy our balmy summer nights. We've gotten to know a few of our neighbors as we are out on walks and have swapped garden produce as well which has been fantastic.

We enjoyed the 4th with Justin's family at their lake cabin in MN. Lots of eating, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful weather God blessed us with.

Hope you are all enjoying a great summer!

Florida Day 7

Our final day in Florida saw much rainfall so we kept ourselves occupied darting in and out of shops and driving to see surrounding neighborhoods. One very fun stop for Deedra was at a Christmas store. LOVED IT! Abby-not quite as fun as the stop in CO, though! We also enjoyed our time at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. At this acquarium they rescue and rehabilitate marine life, particularly dolphins, sea otters, sea turtles, and sharks. We caught a dolphin show which we both enjoyed. The acquarium is home to "Winter", a dolphin they rescued that lost its tail. They have made a prosthetic tail for Winter and she has learned to swim with it again.
For dinner tonight, we returned to our favorite restaurant in the area, "The Island Way Grill." We discussed that it would be great to get this restaurant back home! Speaking of home, we look forward to our return!

Florida Day 6

Hello from St. Pete Beach! We arrived here around 1PM today and spent more time at the beach, of course! Because the beach looks much like all the others we've visited, we'll just leave you with a few pictures we caught tonight of the sunset. What a beautiful evening here!

Florida Day 5

We started day 5 with breakfast at the Lighthouse Cafe. The cafe boasts that it serves the world's greatest breakfast. It was pretty tasty!After breakfast, we enjoyed more beach time. Today we ventured into the waves a bit further and Deedra had fun "shelling" in the water. After the beach, we had lunch at a cafe called "The Blue Giraffe" followed by a drive through the J.N. "Ding" Darling Nature Reserve. We learned that "Ding" was an Iowa native who worked for the Des Moines Register as a cartoonist. He was also a conservationist that lobbied for a nature reserve on Sanibel Island as the Island had become his winter home.
Tonight we enjoyed an Italian dinner at Matzaluna followed with dessert at the DQ. Justin felt right at home.

Florida Day 4

We left Clearwater this morning and traveled toward Ft. Myers. First stop, the Edison and Ford winter estates. We were able to tour the homes, gardens, laboratory and museum. If you know Justin and I, we greatly enjoy things such as this and soaked up the info and the surroundings. One thing we learned is that the two men became good friends and each year, Ford wanted to give Edison a new car. Edison, however, did not like to drive (his son most often drove him). So instead, Ford would update Edison's vehicle each year. This "updated version" is now in the museum. A few pictures follow from the tour. After the museum tour, we drove to Sanibel Island. Our hotel is pictured below as well as some of its colorful surroundings. The beach access from our hotel. After getting settled in at the hotel, we rented some bikes to take a mini tour of the island. It truly has an island feel-not congested, beautiful flowering trees, great bike paths (about 22 miles, we've read). It is truly something. We even biked to dinner at "The Island Cow!" Gerben and Julie-we were thinking of you! We finished our evening with a walk along the beach, joining many others in collecting sea shells. Sanibel Island is known as the sea shell capital of North America. Hammocks...a great end to the evening! Signing off from Sanibel.

Florida Day 3

Day 3 in Florida brought more fun in the sun. After sleeping in and a quick breakfast, we were off to Clearwater Beach. The beach had white, soft sand, beautiful water, and lots of families out early to enjoy the weather. We strolled through a few stores near the beachfront before making our way back to the hotel for naps. Tonight we drove to Tampa (about a 30 minute drive) to enjoy time at the International Plaza Mall and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It's been another great, relaxing day! We continue to be amazed at the beauty God has created. Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach Justin looking alive... Justin not looking so alive... Yes, confession...Deedra is a little sunburnt! And no, she's not wearing two suits!