Back to FL

I (Steph) met my Mom in FL for this trip.  We flew from different cities & landed about 10 minutes apart from each other :)

1st night - dinner with the family :)

Saw my cousin's new countertops - Soapstone - very cool!!

 Went to Siesta key beach

 Saw dolphins (3 days in a row!)

 Me & Mom

 And we went to some open houses

 This was one of our favorites - in my cousin's neighborhood

 But then we saw this one:

 Kitchen

 Guest bedroom

 Guest Bath

 Master bed

 Master bath

 Master bed (flooring)

 Lanai (right side)

 Lanai (left side)

 Dining room & Living room

 Dining Room & Kitchen

 Mom, me, Cathy

 And Mom bought the place - as an investment property/2nd home.
Look at that pool.... in the middle of a lake...

 Sarasota, FL, here she comes!

 Time to relax :)

Garage Night! Saratoga Springs, New York

Heading to Saratoga in February is one of our favorite trips of the year.  We missed it last year b/c of the big winter storm (we lost power for 4 days)

Friday night - fun get together at a local hotel

 So good to see friends we haven't seen since the summer

 Chris & I were up early on Saturday morning - a nice long run around Saratoga Park & around town.  This town has it all - great park; lovely walkable downtown; Amazing gym (new YMCA); close to the mountains; lots of lakes & rivers; tons of great roads to bicycle....  If it was in the South, we would move here & be done.  BUT it's north & cold & snowy.

 Saturday afternoon - we headed over to the Hot Rod Shop - before it got too crazy busy!

 Their projects...

 Ken (Mr Bones himself) pointing out some cool options on his project.

 The garage is full of cool stuff!

 Chris chatting with our friend Jon (from England).  Oh yes, they come from all over the world for this event!

 And later that evening - much more crowded

 Ken & Keith

Great night!  We were up early on Sunday, met our friend Peter from Bristol Yacht Club - and went to the YMCA.  We swam a little; biked a Lot, and ran a little.  Good times!!

Projects! Race Car

Doesn't this look great?!?!?  Look how smooth and clean the front end is!  It's gonna go FAST!

 Chris has been busy working on the race car.  Cutting off parts; moving them; adding them back....

 Frame rail bent in

 See the changed frame rail in this pic:

 Gas tank - moved!

Busy busy busy!

Projects! Kitchen!

We are changing our counter tops.  Before:

 Losing this tile back splash & replacing it with a Granite back splash

 Chris couldn't wait to get that tile off!!

 And then he painted (it was on my to do list for the last 2 years - oops!)  Our walls used to be darker (see above).  We painted them a dark cream.  It's kind of blah, but really makes the kitchen much brighter.  Chris painted the opposite wall (from where he is standing) a darker brown again.  (no picture)

 The counter top guy came & measured today.  Next week, they install!  New sink, faucet, and counter tops - Yay!

Projects! Back Yard

So, last March, we decided to clear out some weeds & pump up our back yard.  We have an Easement in our backyard, which limits what we can do.  But we are building a rock wall around the 'easement/pond', and adding dirt to build up the yard.  It's always been hard to mow or enjoy the back yard because it slopes so much.  Not any more!!

The equipment!

 Starting to build the wall

 Looking good!

 And it's filled!

 But only the front part - still the rest (around the tree) to go

 Now, it's really getting there!

 Didn't they do a great job on the wall?!?  We still need some more fill; then we'll add loom this spring. Right now everything is covered with white stuff (Yuck, yuck, yuck).  So nothing has really happened in a couple weeks.  But we are SO happy with what has already been done!  Yay!