Impromtu Camping Trip

This weekend we wanted to get away from the busyness of life, so we took a spur-of-the-moment camping trip with K&L. It was perfect. Well, except for Saturday night when the group across from us stayed up until 2am being loud and drunken. :) But other than that, it was perfect! :) We just went to a National Park only 30 miles away, so we were close to home, but just far enough away to escape!
Hubby roasting a cheesy muffin ~ That pot of water boiled almost constantly because we drank so much coffee! :)
Breakfast of champions. :) Not much beats campfire hash, eggs and bacon. MMM.
Full mugs of coffee = happy campers. Literally! :)
Keeping warm. :) Fall has set in around these parts. Our mornings and evenings are chilly!
Second only to smelling like campfire, roasting marshmallows is one of my favorite things about camping! Actually, I should say, eating roasted marshmallows is - as P. usually roasts them for me. :)
K, L & I - their tent in the background.
Paradise.
I mentioned to my co-workers that I was going camping and they ALL responded "WHY would you do that?" :) This is why:
Lizzy came too!

She's such a sweet pup~
Saturday we went for a 4(ish) mile hike. T'was a beautiful day.



Group shot!



:) Hah. I love him!
Little Miss. Photogenic - she takes the prettiest pictures!

It was so nice to have such a relaxing weekend. Thanks to K&L for going too!
Hope you've had a good one!

Misc. recent events

This post is a hodge-podge of random, somewhat recent photos...
In Orlando Florida, out for an evening walk to Universal Studios~

Palms at night ~
After we arrived home from Florida Peter's sis came to visit for a few days! We spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon downtown DC touring around. We walked from Iwo Jima to Arlington Cemetery to the Washington Monument to the White House and back to Iwo Jima. Needless to say we were happy to get home & put our feet up!

I am so surprised this tree wasn't cut down before this happened~
Dinner at our favorite restaurant :) Brother n' sis ~
Sunday afternoon we ventured to Mt. Vernon. They had a fall festival going on which was quite interesting. This particular booth was showing/explaining the benefits and uses of the cocoa bean during those days. I can't say that I necessarily needed to be convinced of the goodness of chocolate, but it was interesting none-the-less!
T. & I
On a completely unrelated note - Dozer likes to lick the Mango seed. :)
After P.'s sis left, Liesl's cousin ("C") came to town! She wanted to venture over to Mt. Vernon also, however this trip was in the evening for their fall wine festival. We met K, L & C there Friday night & had a relaxing evening on the lawn at Mt. Vernon. C is a bundle of energy & much fun to be with - we had a great time!
George and Martha Washington were even there!
:) Cousins
Our little picnic blanket :)
It was a great evening with fun company!

House pics - finally!

Here's a quick time-line in photos of the latest progress on the house!
Siding comes off ~
Old sheathing is ripped off - the new sheathing goes up... windows come out and new house-wrap is stapled up.

Cut-out for new windows~ X marks the spot!
Super-scary, grey-hair-growing ladder set up!
Hubby, calm as ever, on aforementioned super-scary ladder contraption!
Lap siding goes up...
Hardi-board is installed ~
Seams are caulked
Another view~
And finally the batten on the last side of the house - the back - is nailed up!
Last Monday my sweet hubby started the painting!!! :):) We LOVE it!! The lower two levels will be a lighter shade of sage green. Side trim will be cream.
That brings you up to date on the house!! I'm sure more progress will be made tomorrow so I'll be behind again soon!

LOOOOOONG time coming

No pictures today - but I MUST update!

The windows on the house are all in.

The siding on the house is DONE.

Totally DONE.

In other words, (just in case that wasn't clear enough) there is NO more siding or windows to do!

DONE!!!!

Guess what is next??!!

PAINT!!!!

In fact P. already started painting the gables. We bought an airless sprayer awhile back for this project and it sounds like it works wonderfully! Color makes such a HUGE diffierence!

More of Day 2 & Day 3 too - Curacao

After Hato Caves we went to Fort Nassau & enjoyed some beautiful views of the island. Like this one:
What you don't see in the photo above is what is below it! Not so pretty... a metal scrap yard. :) We learned not quite EVERYTHING on the island is totally picturesque!
Curacao is a desert island... did you know that? Peter took these neat wide angle photos from the overlook at Ft. Nassau.


Sweet friends!
Something must have been REALLY funny. Or he was tickling me.
That's better. :)
Unique art/sculpting along one of the alleys in downtown Willemstad.
A. & S. - Maybe not the prettiest background, but great subjects! These next photos were taken on Wednesday night after our first day of diving! We were just a *little* tired!
Usn's
Delish, HUGE dinner.
AMAZING browning/cake/ice cream dessert. We all shared. :)
That'll be a wrap for tonight... I'll post some more this weekend!!