Theo Learns to Ride His Bike and Scott Decides to Refinish the Kid's Rooms Floors

Mama breakfast on the porch.

No one else wants to eat on that tiny table, but she sure does love porch breakfasts.

Meanwhile the kids and I had crepes. Nothing better.

Library day today.

That means I've got to find something to keep myself busy.

This weekend is our neighborhood rummage sales. There were two on our street so we took advantage and put a bunch of stuff we no longer wanted out front.

We were about to give away the old shark bike when we decided to have Theo try it.

I kept telling Brooke that it wasn't too small and was probably easier than our geared REI kids bike.

He was doing it, he was really riding a bike.

I'll take credit for this one.

Meadow found something with a cat on it at one of the sales.

The house across the street had the perfect table for our porch.

I might actually use this adult sized table.

We're going to be out here all the time now.

Not gonna lie. Pretty nice.

Meadow taught herself to play the Totoro song on piano.

She also went back and got the other cat item.

She's quite quickly becoming a cat lady.

The kids and I went to the library and Menards.

When we got back Theo wanted to ride his bike again. He can make it all the way down the block.

He was cruising like a pro by the end of the weekend. The protected bike lanes in front of our house are so perfect for teaching a kiddo to bike.

I'm so glad he loves it.

Yay, Theo! Now let's see if he'll listen to us when we go on bike rides.

The kids and I planted our gardens. It's finally warm enough to plant.

I've finally had some good weather to start priming the south side of the house.

When I was putting Theo's room back together I thought, we really should have refinished the floors. It's not even that big of a space we could have done it by hand.

Well, rain was in the forecast the rest of the week.

Meadow's room was ready to be put back together and the thought of refinishing the floors came up again.

They weren't ever going to be this empty again, so I started to research what I needed.

Meadow's new bed isn't exactly easy to take apart so we figured we could do it now or wait until she moves out.

I was all set to rent a drum sander at the local Ace, but they pointed out that the carpet adhesive residue would destroy the sand paper and the machine. So, first I had to clean that up.

I bought special adhesive remover, but ended up just going with hot soapy water.

And I was finally set to sand.

A few passes in with the old school floor sander.

They were already looking much better.

People always complain about the belt sanders, but this edger was freaking nuts. Do not let go!

And just like that the floors were almost ready to be finished.

Comments

Solo Work Trip to Burlington, Vermont

My new favorite client sent me out to Burlington, Vermont for a shoot at Champlain College. With no rental cars anywhere nearby, I spent a few days walking around Burlington when I was shooting 360s. We tried to figure out a way for all of us to go, but for the short amount of time we'd be there it didn't seem worth it for how much it was going to cost. I'm not sure if you were aware, but as the largest city in Vermont, Burlington only has 44,000 residents. That's nuts. A small suburb in the Twin Cities. First meal at El Cortijo. Modern tex-mex in an old dinning car. The whole city is centered on Church Street, which was full of somewhat bougie stores and restaurants. At the end of the church street is the Unitarian Meeting House which the street is named for. I meandered my way down to the Lake Champlain waterfront. In the distance is New York State and the Adirondack Mountains. It's not a Great Lake by any means, but it's big. Twice the size of Mille Lacs in ...

Duluth For The Day

After work I decided to drive up to Duluth to visit my little brother Blake. Scott would have come with me if he didn't have to work. Like most streets in Duluth he lives on a steep hill. I couldn't remember how to park on a hill so I copied the car in front of me. He gave me a tour of his house and when we were in his backyard I heard rushing water. There was a trail and some woods that we followed down a hill to Chester Creek. I had no idea he lived so close to a park. Or a waterfall. We walked a ways to find an old ski jump. Blake said he climbed it when he first moved here and a month later the city took the stairs down. The ski lift is still in use for sledding. Walking back to his house we passed another ski jump. Back when this was first built it was the tallest in the world. During World War II 50 feet was taken off the top to give to the war effort....

Nicollet Open Streets is Better Than Ever

After my parents came to visit the kids discovered a new cartoon channel on tv, MeTV Toons. It's like the early days of Cartoon Network. Classic cartoons 24/7. Sad to think that our porch mornings are coming to an end for the year. But not yet, it's still been pretty hot this month. On this summery fall day we went to Nicollet Open Streets. Well, Theo was being crabby while biking and Brooke was pointing out that we should've walked. It's Open Streets, you gotta bring a bike! There was a Ninja Warrior course outside of Ace Hardware. Theo did this inflatable course over and over. This finally fixed everyones sour mood. Meadow enjoyed the more challenging course. He loved this so much. We checked out Tower Games for the first time. Cool place. Maybe we need to get into a family D&D game this winter. We made it all the way down to 46th and Nicollet and then made our way back. Theo had been crabby all day. We dropped the kids off at home and walked over to Pat'...

Search This Blog