House Update - December 1st 2007

The chain link fence around our home has been removed so we can start installing the hardscape, sprinklers, landscaped, etc.


Inside the family room looking at the entrance. You can see the hardwood flooring is installed in this part of the house, but covered with paper to prevent damage by workers.



In the kitchen, the backsplash behind the counter has been installed. It is stone and the counter top is granite. The hanging lights will be covered with shades later on.

A close up of the back splash where the stove top will be installed.

Upstairs, a picture of our balcony taken through an adjacent bed room window.

A picture of the view outside the upstairs bedroom window.

The hardwood flooring in the office of our home. It is bamboo.

A picture of the kitchen area showing the island and the counter area behind the island.

A picture of the living room area where the piano will be located.

A picture of the dining room area and the living room area with the fire place.

Thanks Giving 2007

The pictures below are from our Thanks Giving get together this year. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the Roast Turkeys and other traditional Thanksgiving foods. But at least I have a few pictures of our family members to remember this day.


My youngest brother Joe, sitting in the atrium. He retired from Marina High School as the equipment manager last year and now spends his time at the Beach and other activities.


Sitting in the atrium with my brother Dennis, my dad Paul, my niece Jamie's husband Mike and myself.



Danny eating at the dining room table with the back of Dennis's head, my dad, Jim's wife Jennifer, my mother in law Anna, and Danny's wife Jean.


Holding hands in a circle for blessing of the food. You can see Gavin, Jim's wife Jenifer, my Sister Sharon, my brother Joe, my nephew Danny, Danny's son Jimmy.



The kids table before dinner.

John's wife Jennifer and their son Cooper.

My niece Jamie and Danny's wife Jean. In the front is another niece, Jodi.

Sitting in the family room is Judi, Joey, Danny, my sister Sharon, Dennis's wife Jan and Sharon's husband Jim.

Some of my niece's and nephew's kids.



My cousin Chris. He spent most of Thanksgiving day working on my computer to try to clean it up but he also likes our piano.

Judi's brother David getting ready to leave with his wife Chris.

Our House Update - 3 November 2007

This is the Front of our house. All painted, but still without the new garage doors. The roof is complete also.


Our family room is painted a light green.

The dining room and living room are painted beige.

We also have built ins for our walking closet.

This is Judi in the kitchen. Hopefully we will see the granite top on the island in the next week or two.

A final picture of the entry way from the family room.

My Garden

The picture above shows the right had side of my garden. On the far right side is a row of peas by the fence and a row of beans on the inside. Toward the back on the right side are beets and behind the beets are four broccoli plants.


On the left hand side are two rows of lettuce plants toward the front and toward the back are cauliflower plants and in the very back are some cabbage plants.



Another shot of the peas and bean plants.

Another shot of the lettuce plants.

In the middle of my garden are two planter boxes. The front box contains radishes, lettuce and bean plants. The second box toward the rear contains cauliflower plants. I don't know why I planted so many cauliflower plants. I wish I had planted more broccoli instead.

Suzie, Fiona, Almut, and Benedickt at the Airport

In November, Suzie and her children Fiona, Almut and Benedict left Hawaii to return to Germany while Brian trained at Twentynine Palms in California. Judi and I were able to see them at the Los Angeles airport where they changed planes from United Airlines to Lufthansa airlines. Unfortunately, the time to see our grand children was too short. They seemed to be happy and in good spirits.


Judi got to hold Benedict, but only for a short time. He seemed to be calm and quiet the whole time we were together.




While were at Lax, we were able to sit down in a restaurant for lunch.

House Remodel on October 14th

The house exterior is now painted and stuccoed.



The final roofing is going on.

September 23rd House

The builder is starting to install the bathroom tile. This is the tile in the Master Bathroom shower.



The above shows the side of our house with the siding on. The siding will be painted brown and the stucco will be a lighter brown.



This picture shows the front of the house. You can see the siding in on the front and stucco is on the walls where there will not be siding.



The above picture was taken from the upstairs balcony of our house that is under construction. The photo is hard to visualize but you can actually see the ocean above the roof of our neighbor's house and faintly see Catalina Island 26 miles off the coast. The view is not something you can see except when the sky is clear following a rain storm.

House update on 9 September 2007

Front of house with siding on upstairs



Side of house with siding



Another view of side of house



Another side view, the black areas will be covered by stucco.



Looking into dining room and living room from the family room
and kitchen area




Looking at the front entrance from the family room.
The inside of the house has been wall boarded and
plastered.

Our House on August 18th

The photos show our house as it appears on 18 August. The outside has been covered in a protective tar paper prior to installation of stucco and siding. The stucco and siding need to go on before the roof top is finished to prevent damage to the roof tiles as the siding and stucco go on. Also the istallation is on the inside of the house. The first photo shows the insullation on the inside of our house. The second photo shows the side view of the house wrapped in tar paper and the third photo shows the front door and office windows into our house. The sheet rock should be installed in the coming week as well as finishing the stucco on the outside of the building and the roof.