We’ve toyed with the idea of redoing the kitchen floor for a long time now. The project has always been a bit lower on the priority list, but finally, it made the cut. We debated for a long, long time on what type of floor to put in. We actually really liked the old floor because it could take a beating, and it was old, so we didn’t care if it took a beating. It was also a great for the girls, being a good dance floor for spinning and sliding, and it was good for spills and dropped things. In the end, we decided to go with a LVT product and we found a pattern we liked. We, mostly Kathryn, got everything purchased and ready to go, and we did a test fit to make sure we liked it for sure.

Time to get to work. As we were pulling out the appliances, the girls wanted to have one last dance party on the old floor.

No turning back now.  We’re pretty well committed at this point.

Not shown, hour upon hours of scraping, steaming, and fighting to get the old floor off. Then cutting all the new underlayment boards around all sorts of funny corners and angles to get it all in just right.

K is so happy to get to this point and cover up all the ugliness with something fresh.

Now comes the better part.  Putting down the new floor.  The girls were good helpers pulling off the backing, helping me stick it down, then jumping on the floor to set the tiles.

While we were at it, we (K) decided that we should go ahead and put up some beadboard on the walls to further freshen up the kitchen a bit.

The landing and step gave us quite a bit of grief, but in the end, we tamed them.

Look at this trooper.  No, that is not 2:11 in the afternoon.  Let’s just say we had a lot of late nights on this project.

So much so, that one morning when Ashley woke up (at a normal hour) and tried to come get in bed with us, I (grumpily) told her to get out and go back to bed, that we were still sleeping.  A little while later she came back with this picture and said this is how I made her feel.  It’s a terribly sad picture, but wow, I’m impressed with this girl’s ability to express her emotions.  The next morning, rather than try to get in our bed, she adapted and brought her blanket and pillow down and we found her at the foot of our bed.

Here we are, doing the final finishing painting touches.

And it’s done, sound the trumpets!  What a project!

The Electric Lizards is my first soccer team.  It was so fun that we got to play with other people.  My friends are so fun.  My best friends are on my soccer team with me. I love them so much.  I wish every day I could play with them at soccer.  I like my coach.  I love my sister.   Love Ashley

This in the 2nd year now that we’ve visited Lagoon on the 4th of July.  You really wouldn’t think, but it’s a great day to go to Lagoon.  Shhh, don’t tell anyone.  This year, it worked out that we were able to meeting up with Nancy and some of her fam.  Then we talked Mom and Dad into coming down as well.  Then Bethany was able to come as well (Kevin was busy working away on his thesis…).  So, it turned into quite the party.  We all had a great time, and the girls had a blast.  It took them two days to recover from all of the fun.  The 2nd day after, Ashley told me that she tried to wake up in time to see me off to work, but here body told her it was still too tired from Lagoon and she needed to sleep some more.  What a goof ball.  It’s okay if you sleep in once a month!  Tell you what though, Eliza has no problem whatsoever with the concept of sleeping in.  She seems to have more of the Kirk/Hawker sleeping genes that Ashley.  Maybe we’ll you again next year Lagoon.