NY 7/28 & 7/29/09

Cory and Sarah had to work today and tomorrow so we took a trip to Alexandria Bay. We left around 9am, stopped at Duncan Donuts for coffee and donut holes. We arrived in Alexandria Bay around 11am. There was a huge line for the Uncle Sam Tour Boats. After waiting for 1/2 hour in one line we found out we need to go to a different window for the lunch tour. When we got to that line 2 people before us were told it was sold out. Got back in the other line (not too happy). Jon suggested we purchase the tickets for the next day and just wander the town. Good idea. Jon got the tickets and we wandered the town-got some fudge and visited other shops.

We headed to Canada to stay at the Holiday Inn (thank you Margaret!). When we checked in I was told to ask if they had a king size bed available. He said they didn't have anything, so he gave us our keys - we headed up to the room-the door was propped open. There was a hot tub and king size bed! Unfortunately the room was partially cleaned and the bed wasn't made - I think someone made a mistake. I went back down and sure enough they wrote a 2 instead of a 1. Went back up to our room, which was 2 queen size beds. Still a great room and very comfortable - comfortable enough to take a 4 1/2 hour nap! We got up and headed to dinner around 9pm. When we checked in Jon rolled a small straight which earned Margaret 1500 points. They said if we went to the Lobster Trap next door and spent $40 (Canadian) she would get another 1000 points. Not a problem, however the Lobster Trap wasn't great.

Wednesday morning we headed back to Alexandria Bay. Yesterday they were packed with groups, today there was nobody. Lunch on the boat was sandwiches, mac-n-cheese, beans, and fried chicken. It was hard to hear the tour guide when we were eating. As soon as I was done I went upstairs to get a better view and to hear the guide. We toured the Canadian and US millionaire row. These houses were gorgeous! I found a few that I'm sure mom would love. There are over 1800 islands - to be considered an island you only need 1 shrub/greenery and a certain amount of land around your property. Not much. Almost looks like a floating house.The castle was beautiful too. I expected more of a tour with headphones or a pamphlet that would tell you more about each stop. The pamphlet told you where you were, but not what you were looking at.

We headed back to Massena around 4pm. Sarah was just getting off work around 5 and Cory wasn't off until 7. We had dinner shortly after Cory got home and then headed to Dollar Tree and Walmart to get items for Skye's birthday party.

NY 7/26 & 7/27/09

Cory, Sarah and Skye went to church on Sunday. Jon slept in and I walked 3 miles downstairs on their treadmill. When they got back we had chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese. I made it my special way with added cheese. Skye went down for a nap but not for long. She ended up going to bed at 7:30. Sarah had a babysitter come over while Skye was sleeping and we went out to Mongolians and a movie. Being that Jon and I are eventually going to have kids and seeing what it is like for them, I could totally understand the getting out for dinner and a movie as a big deal. We saw The Awful Truth. We thought it was hilarious! A lot of adult humor. It is rated R for a reason. We were all pretty tired when we got back so it was straight to bed.

Monday morning was very laid back. Everyday we have been here Skye has slept in until 8:30. Cory said Sarah is getting a mini vacation because she has been sleeping in. It has been raining just about every day here, so when it isn't there is work to be done outside. Sarah is also having trouble with her computer upstairs so Jon worked on that while we were outside painting and staining. Cory worked on the deck rails while Sarah and I painted the wood trim on the screen porch. Then we stained the steps to the screen porch. Clutzy me bumped the container of paint I was holding and dumped it all down the steps. Our staining job would have looked perfect.

Sarah and Cory were invited to go out with some friends so they are getting a babysitter for a few hours tonight and we are going to Coach's for dinner. It will most likely be an early evening since they both have to work tomorrow. Jon and I will be going to Alexandria Bay for 2 days and staying one night in Canada.

NY 7/24 &7/25/2009

Jon and I left for NY on Friday around 6pm. We dropped Polly off with my parents and then she will go the Moritz house during the week. I made a loaf of bologne sandwiches, and we each had 2 cans of Monster. We were set. I started the driving so Jon could sleep since he had to work all day. He didn't sleep much and ended up taking over around 1am. He drove till 6:30am. I slept for the most part but was awaken by the terrible weather. It rained so hard and with the dark, I was very glad Jon was driving. He woke me up around 6:30 when he needed conversation to make it to Sudbury. I was supposed to drive from Sudbury to Ottawa. I ended up driving all the way to Massena. We were a little early 3:30pm - an hour and a half early. Sarah and Cory weren't quite ready for us. So while Cory finished mowing the lawn and Sarah took a shower, Jon took a nap and I played with Skye outside. We ordered pizza, Sarah and I gave Skye a bath. We had a few drinks and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Sarah has a lot of plans for this week so I will try and abbreviate each day to a short paragraph.

Back splash

When you decide you are going to grout - make sure you want to do it all the way through. There is no stopping half way through because you are tired or your hands hurt. I read the directions on the grout bag. Tried using the float to spread the stuff on. With the stone being so uneven this was impossible. I had to put it on by hand. Half way through I had 4 holes and a lot of scrapes on my right hand. I switched to the left. Went a little bit farther and had 3 holes and a bunch of scratches in my hand. With two walls done, I was starting to get whiney. Jon to the rescue! He jumped in and finished off the last wall. He had a little different method - still had to use his hands, but he put a lot on and scraped it off with the float.

His side looks better, good thing its the first wall you see.









All that is left is to remove the dust layer on the stone and then reseal it.



(Finished Product)

Furnace and AC

We had some issues with our old AC leaking into the furnace. Both work fine, but eventually the furnace was going to go. Not good having water stream through it. So the guys were here at 7am sharp. Polly was locked in her cage (sorry) because the guys were going in and out and working in the back yard and inside. No safe place for her to be than in her cage.

It was a good time to get them replaced - very cool the last couple days so we haven't had the AC running. We got a good deal on it too. Xcel and Centerpoint both had rebates for energy efficient replacements. The feds are also giving up to 1500 in rebates for energy efficient home stuff. They told us if we were planning any other improvements like window replacement that we coudn't get any higher than that. One big purchase at a time thank you.

While they were working downstairs and outside, I decided to work on the kitchen back splash. I tried to install the outlets. I say try because it took me 1/2 hour to do one, and then 10 minutes to do the others. Only to discover that I had done them wrong because they didn't have any power when I tested them. Luckily there was an electrician here for the AC. He took a look at it and (if I would have not second guessed myself) was an easy fix of putting both wires into the bottom locations. I had it this way at first, but then got to the last outlet and wondered why there was a piece of tape over two of the screws. Read the directions and it said if you had 4 wires that 2 were line and 2 were load. I didn't know that! Electrician said they could both go in the line end. So I fixed the wires, turned the power back on, he tested each outlet and we were good. Tomorrow I hope to start the grout.