tree house

We went to see Scott for lunch and then went to see the house and the surprise for the girls! The start of the tree house! The part that has floor down is the house part the rest will be decking around the perimeter. Then there is the big post for deck that went in last weekend. These are the ones from my house I grew up in. When we got to the property there was a doe on the edge of what will be the lawn and then as we got very close we saw this buck (in velvet) napping in the shade and cover of this brush pile.

Front of house

Scott and Corey worked together this weekend to get the rest of the timbers in place. They set these entry timbers in and also zephys bedroom one and got all the decking timbers in place so that the crain could go back. You can see the progress they made last week on the garage roof in this other photo. Corey built our stairs and finished last week I think it was. The basement stairs are traditional and will be covered in carpet eventualy in like 10 years! -ha ha. The main stairs is a finished product. We want them to get some wear and tear to distress them natualy and then they may get a light sand and stain in the end but this is it! Of course there will be a railling to go on too.

other house stuff

Scott worked one day after work this week and built this retaining wall for the downstairs bedroom. Over here the bedrooms have to have a certain size window and area around it so that a fireman with all his gear can get in or it is not considered a bedroom. They usually put in a metal window well or sometimes use landscaping pavers but Scott and I prefer the look of the treated wood. It is also much cheaper. we will fill the bottom of the window well with pebbles to cover the dirt and make for a nicer look. The next photo is of the future theater room (when and if we ever get the money to finish it) it is above the garage and you have to step down into it. Scott and I were both surprised at how big it actually is. We didn't think it would be.

excavation and walls

We had some retaining walls put in and had him level off our yard and put in the circle driveway. Here are some photos of the main retaining wall next to the entry. The first photo is taken from the upstairs french door looking at the levels of it. The next photo is standing on the wall looking to what will next year hopefully be a yard. The third photo is standing from the end of the yard looking back at the house and then the other side of the house has a smaller retaining wall. On top of that wall will be a patio off the main bedroom.

Papa buys a suprise!

Had to go to Libby yesterday to check the girls into JR Fair. Ray entered almost 30 things and zeph about 20. It is good for them and they get ribbons and money from it so that is good. Last time we were down there the little battery opporated jeep they have gave out on them and they are getting to big to ride anway. So mom said to bring their helmets as dad got a suprise for them. We were all blown away when papa came out of the garage riding this little 50cc. Just perfect for the girls. Scott was so excited when I showed him these photos when we got home! Now he wants to get us one to share so the girls can chase us around. Fine with me as I have always pushed for dirt bikes and Scott has always wanted a boat.

The 50cc has a rope you can hold onto at the back so as they were learning if they went to fast the rope pulls out and kills the motor. Dad had it geared down so it couldn't go top speed anyway but even at that you have to run at a good sprint to keep up if they put the throttle down.

At the lake

The weather has been hot and very dry 95-105 thats 35-41 celcius. I feel so bad for Scooter working on the roof not only during the week for his paid job but now also for our house in the heat of summer. And we haven't even hit our hottest month yet.

On a bright note it is a great time to spend the days away at the lake. Scott goes over during or after work to jump in and cool off. Here are the girls playing with friends.

We have had some amazing thunder storms the last couple of nights. The night before we got thunder and lighting and sheets of rain. Usually Scott and I open up all the windows and doors, turn out all the lights and sit down to watch the show. But with the sheets of rain it was coming straight into the house seemed almost sideways.

Last night we didn't have so much rain but a big electrical storm. I lay in bed watching out the sliders for about 2 hours and counting and I kid you not there was a lighting strike less than every second for over 2 hours! Don't know that I've seen anything that intense. It was not bolts touching the ground mind you like we had earlier in the evening. This was more the kind that light up the sky and you can't realy see exactly where they come from for all the cloud cover but it seems like God is flicking the sun on and off very fast. That was mixed with the occasional vertical bolts that seem to go from one side of the sky to the other. Than every 15 minutes or so would be a big zapping bolt that touched the earth. Havn't heard how many fires have been started by that yet.

Not having anything even close to our storms in New Zealand Scott is always as excited as a little boy. A couple of weeks ago we had a mico burst (thats what they call a tornado that doesn't touch down all the way) we only got the tail end of it by the time it got to eureka (70 mph winds -Scott and I were canoing on the lake at the time) but it did some big damage 100 miles west. We only had lots of trees down and cars smashed becuase of the trees and things like that. Only one serious injury ( a mom from sheradias school had a tree fall on her and is parralized).

Last night another mico burst hit Libby (60 miles south) and flattened the old drive thru movies (only 2 left in montana now only 1) and pushed a semi truck across a parking lot and other such damage.

New drive

Lots has been happening on the property. We got Jacob back to do lots of excavating and put in a couple of retaining walls and tubes for the deck to sit on so that is all ready to go. We were headed out to the lake when we thought we would pop by and see how he was doing. The photos of the new circle drive is taken from Sheradia's bedroom window. Zephy who loves big rigs and espires to be a crain opporator and cowgirl was thrilled when Jacob offered to teach her how to drive the excavator. You can see here she looks in love! (by the way she already has her first car picked out - a black jeep)

Silverwood

Last week Grandma took myself and the girls to Silverwood Theme park over by Spokane for the day. My sister-in-law and boys have season passes in the summer and spend every tuesday there. They had one side that is all rides and the other is waterpark with lots of fun things like the kiddy water park, a lazy river you can float around on a tube while drinking lemonade and lots of water slides and a new raft ride (we all loved that one) and two wave pools.

Here is Sheradia and Justin on the tilt-a-whirl. They also went on the cork screw you see behind them.

Wedding

getting ready for the wedding

My friends wedding (on 7-7-07 at 7o'clock) was a maskarade ball so we all got big updoes to go with the style. They ratted our hair so much I never thought I would get a brush through it again.

4th of July

for the 4th the youth had another cops and robers party. only this time it was more like capture the flag with paintballs. This photo is before they went out. The second is of Pastor. I think we need to put that one on the bullitin at church with a note to say "You want counciling? Sure I'll give you counciling!" The last is of Scott hidding in the woods.

both lost a tooth

Zephy has lost her first tooth. Sheradia also was loosing another. Zephy asked dad to pull hers out for her and so Sheradia watched and decided to do the same.