Tommy's 2nd Rec Baseball Game

Tommy had his second rec game tonight. He got to pitch again.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7aEUDgA18Te6ys3n6

Jake's 2nd Baseball Game

Jake had his second baseball game of the year. And yes, someone had a huge amount of free gum. He put 4 huge pieces in there and looked like he had a huge chew. He was playing shortstop and the gum didn't even stay in his mouth for most of the inning. It was pretty gross. Don't worry, I made him throw it out after he came into dugout. He got another hit today.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5ghCQ2CPF6x1zdo68

Little Lumberjack

Tommy was very excited to play lumberjack today. We are doing a little cleanup around the edge of what will be the boys ballfield. They are going to come in and do a final grade of it so we are doing a trim up of a few of the baby firs that are around the edge. We have been picking these off as Christmas trees year after year. But now they are a bit large for that. And they were way too close to the septic mound anyway. So we are cleaning up and it will make a cleaner edge on the grass field we will be planting.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8xv971GKUcmfbAZy9

Pouring Concrete Steps

As we approach the end of the project it is time to get our exterior steps into the house done. We preferred to have concrete as we are a concrete family. We were trying to work out how exactly to do the front and back steps. We preferred to have them a flat step out from the door to maximize the space we have under the cover. And then wide steps down from there. The question was how to pour them without using a ton of concrete. It seemed a bit crazy at first. I couldn't quite follow what they were doing. They built a wood frame. We took a bunch of our leftover concrete that had been broken up from the old pond and sat it inside the frame at the bottom. Some of the chunks were pretty heavy so Eric and I had to tag team it. Then they brought in more gravel. This gravel was tiny. The smallest I have ever seen. They filled the entire wood from. This was the part I didn't quite get. Then they came back and built another wood frame to where they wanted to fill out the concrete. Eric put the metal in of course. Just a bunch of stuff that he had lying around. It turned out great and we are going to have a lot of fun times hanging out on our patios. We also got the garage steps done at the same time.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UXKJHQzGBrHhirK6

Tommy's 1st Rec Baseball Game

Tommy is playing a lot of baseball this year. In addition to the traveling Tsunami team, he is playing in the on island rec baseball league. He plays baseball pretty much every single day anyway, whether it is on a team or not. He got to do some pitching today. It has been quite a while since he has pitched.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rwow1sqJueJVYmMr7

Connecting the Septic to the Mound

They have been finishing up the septic connect to the mound. They also brought the old tanks up to date so that they could be used for a future shop or we can keep the 5th wheel connected to it. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1jtkCtyYVdbEAq2E7

Doors and Trim

The doors and the trim have been added. That means more painting.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ohEtQ9kwSj7PtPVg7

Kitten WrestleMania

When they are not playing with toys they are wrestling each other. Finn is pretty strong and Rey is pretty fast. And when they get bored of that they like to attack feet, especially Rey. So if you are visiting where socks.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tktLahbh8BvWEgrKA

Jake's Second Baseball Game

Jake had a few walks today, but also got a hit. Exciting to see him doing well. He did make a really weird throw in warm ups to first base. I asked him after the game why he was making such a weird throw to first. He said he was throwing his knuckle ball. I had to explain to him that you don't want to throw tricky throws to your own teammates.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yP627GXeBvkUzgPF6

Flooring Installed

Flooring went in today in the main areas and the bathrooms. They covered it up with cardboard right after they installed it so you can only see little bits of it. But the parts that I can see seem to look good. Carpet will be done in the bedrooms at the end.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tPtiegizskiPp2mz5

Finishing Up the Interior Paint

The bedroom painting got finished up. So we are done with the interior painting for now. We also got the cleanup on the bedrooms done as well. We will also need to do trim and doors when they get those installed.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qgi2zycMeB8DVXjdA

Kittens Have Names

The boys finally picked the names out for their kitties. Tommy knew his name right away. He named the boy Finn. Jake was taking some serious time to think about it. He asked everyone in his class for suggestions and still didn't find a name that fit. She is pretty adventurous so I suggested an adventurer name. And he liked my suggestion of Rey. So now we have a storm trooper turned rebel and a Jedi.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6fC2kfnJnuky4kkP7

Jake 1st Baseball Game

Jake had his first baseball game today. He was having solid hits. Glad to see him swinging instead of just trying to walk like last year. People in the stands kept making him laugh while at the plate.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ni3Ee6Sv1na413s8

Installing Cabinets

Cabinets went in today in the kitchen and bathroom. I was a little worried if the paint color we picked would match as we didn't have a sample of any of it. It had been 6 months or so since I picked the different colors out for things and I had never actual seen the cabinet color except for in a magazine. But it looks like they will work out together. Hopefully the floor and countertop will look good together as well.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2KTdsKvtvJZJpTF77

Painting the Interior & Cleaning Up the Mess

Our project got pretty far behind schedule while waiting on plumbing so we could seal up the walls. Now it is a big rush to try and finish. We are closing in on a year since we signed the bank contract. The bank wants it done within a year or they start charging fees monthly for going over the time on the contract. So after they finished the texture they wanted us to paint as soon as it was dry. We were supposed to have 1 days to paint but they were asking if we could get it done in one weekend.

They cranked the heat up in the house to essentially the max. It was about 90 degrees in there. It takes a couple days for it to dry and then we could start to paint. We got word we could start on Thursday. So we picked out paint colors and organized to have a painter there on Friday. First we had to have a primer put on. And they wanted to double coat it since it was a new wall and it really soaks up the paint. So that was the first couple days. And there wasn't much we could do to help as they were spraying and you can't be in there while they spray unless you are fully suited up. Once the primer dried we could start doing some of our own work. We got a slightly different paint finish for the bathroom and laundry room. We were going to do those ourselves so they could just spray the flat paint of one color and not have to worry about the rest. So in the dark of night while they were not in there we started painting. We also had the boys pick out some test colors for their rooms. Tommy wanted green and Jake wanted blue. We had them do the spraying on the ceiling. The project manager wanted us to finish all the areas where cabinet needed to go by Monday. We needed to get a second coat on there so I told him we couldn't do it. So he said if we had it ready by Tuesday that would be fine. They were able to get the double coat on all the areas in the main room and the bathrooms. The bedrooms still needed to be finished but that was fine as they didn't need to put cabinets in there and they also were not doing flooring in there yet as it was carpet and they do that last. So we had more time to work on the bedrooms.

After we finished the paint we also needed to clean everything up off the floor so they could put the cabinets down and then put down the flooring. Let me tell you cleaning up the drywall the dust was difficult to get rid of. I spent a really long night Monday night doing cleanup. I can't say I slept much. I ran the shop vac over it. Then got rid of big chunks. But it would routinely clog up the shop vac to where I had to bang the dust out of the filter or it would not run. And it really did get the dust up. So I used our house vac to get more of the dust up. Of course it kept on clogging that up too. It was not super pleasant work. But I made it in time for them to get the cabinets in the next day.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/a65j5pJR5J7n4Zvb7

Kitten Play Time

When the kittens aren't cuddling they want to play.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/W3f7KQHQcQLbewCQ8

Cuddling with Kittens

I think the boys are enjoying their kitten cuddle time. Oddly the girl kitten likes watching screens.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/htBgZqdAfYrhhME58

Hello Kitties

Say hello to two new members of the Bingham clan. Two little tabby kittens. They boys were so happy and have been precious with them. Tommy claimed the gray boy. And Jake claimed the grey and orange girl. Still working on names. Really I was looking for a cat for Eric because he missed his old tabby Jimmy. But I guess he will have to share with the boys. Grandma Jessi cat only hissed once when we brought them in their carrier a little too close to her favorite chair. Then she went back to sleep. It has been so long since I have had kittens. Thanks Aileen Williams. They are adorable.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sxmir2f2ckvbkFE8A

Razer Clamming

My parents have been doing a lot of razer clamming in their requirement. They had wanted to take the boys with them. They were on spring break and I did not have a ton going at work so we decided it would be a good time to go. We left on the first boat and got there right at the good tide. The beach had so many people out there early in the morning. I have never done razer clamming. But after watching a few other people try it things were fairly easy. It was very easy to spot the holes and there were tons of them. We all were able to get our limit. Jake's looked a bit haggard because he had a hard time going straight in his hole and cracked some shells. But, not bad for our first attempt. Then we went back to my parents place and cleaned them. And then the fun part. We took them home and make both chowder and fried some up in a pan.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sumZTwVxCCaLz9tN6

Looking for Kitties

I asked Eric if he was interested in getting a new tabby cat after our Jimmy cat passed away. He said he was so I started keeping an eye out for one. I had previously looked at one cat but did not get a call back about it. Then I saw this post from our friend Aileen who had to tabby kittens she was looking to give someone. I asked her about the boy. When I showed Eric the pictures and he said that he wanted both the boy and the girl. We decided to wait to tell the boys until they arrived. But I asked the boys to begin cleaning up their toy room. I told them it was because we were preparing to move. I had them box up all of their Legos and had them put all of their toys into their drawers. I wanted to get their toy room prepped to be a kitten hangout.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/F9BPmBybEHKnMy8n7

Texture

They have not gotten the texture sprayed on the walls. And boy did they turn up the heat to dry it out as fast as possible. It was at least 85 in there. Once the texture dries then we begin the race to paint as fast as possible so they can do the finish work.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/83Ck5vjDX8S2637D6

Car Museum with Lucas

Lucas and his family took Jake with them on their trip to the car museum. Looks like they had a great time.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mJd5nqW9nYhP3BdB9

Get Me Out of Here

I have been trying to get some of my plans put into the berm that will work in partial shade and are at least somewhat deer resistant. Found these Solomon's Seal that came from my Grandma Helen's house. They have been in pots for 8 years. I think they are ready to get out of here.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pr5dr19fTiMhwpWz7

Jessi's Last Quiet Days

Jessi doesn't know that she has chaos coming her way. Hopefully her and the kittens get along.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sobH2dyetSfd3Sv77

Taping

Today they did the taping of the drywall. It is really crazy to see them work. They work on stilts so that they can move around quickly while being high up.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NMepcoFpVoEHpHwK6