Yellowstone

Last week we took a trip up to yellowstone, about 5 hours away. On the way there is a place called Bear World. They have lots of bears and animals that you can see. You drive around this course 3-5 mph. They told us not to stop because they bears like to climb on cars and pop tires. So as Morgan was driving there was a bear crossing the road. We tried to avoid him but he walked in front of our car! So we stopped and it changed direction and started walking toward us. So Morgan quickly reversed the car and changed direction with no further incident. This is Lizzy's rendition of that event:

There was a petting zoo with a PIG! And several ducks, chickens, goats, and deer. Bear world was great. There were a few carnival rides, too! Kids loved that. They also loved going swimming at the pool at the hotel. 

I thought Yellowstone was fascinating. This is a hot pool. The blue is suppose to be about 200 degrees Fahrenheit!  There was a faint scent of sulfur. It wasn't bad at all. We also saw boiling mud and geysers including Old Faithful. Fascinating! There is all this geothermal activity because Yellowstone is a huge active volcano. There is no lava, though.

Fried Chicken

This is my family coming out to greet me as I drive into the garage. They each have a piece of fried chicken. 

Count Down

We were driving on the freeway for a longer-than-usual drive.

Jordan: I have to use the toilet!

We didn't really believe him. It seemed he just wanted a break from being in the car. So we encouraged him to wait a bit. A few moments later:

Jordan: Five... Four.... Three....

We pulled over so fast!!

Cupboard Makeover

See the extra 6 inches where the keys are hanging? Decided it would be cool to put another cupboard there. See the blank space just above the paper towels facing the sink? Thought it would be cool to a spice cupboard there. 

Took the back off.

Bought a "sawz all" YAY!! and chopped the cupboard down to it's new size.

Crafted a new cupboard, put it in that place. 

By the way I had the doors custom made to match the ones we already have. 

Added a small 3 inch wide spice cupboard to the side that was originally blank. 

Added new crown molding to the top to match the rest of the cupboards.

Glad to be done. *phew* 

Sunken Trampoline

We got a trampoline.

We wanted to put it in the ground. 

Started digging. 

And digging.

The Clarks helped us and got some dirt out of the deal.

Morgan did the hard part of putting all the dirt on the side of the house. Didn't want to pay hundreds to dispose of it. 

After 3 weeks we finished digging. 

We did a "terraced bowl" shape and large trenches for the 4 legs. 

Hallelujah we finished. 

Piano Make Over

This is the best before picture I could fine. Notice the scratch where the piano bench hits the piano. Notice the huge chip in the veneer on the left post. There was also a hole where Jordan liked to hide things in the piano using that hole. You can't see the hole in the picture. It is behind Lizzy just above the pedals. The poor piano bench had been through a lot, too. 

In the following picture you can see the finished piano bench. It was my first time upholstering anything. The gorgeous fabric is so stunning that my mistakes are easily overlooked, I think. =) It was my painting test run. Turned out great. So the whole piano would be next. 

The entire piano had so many decades of varnish applied that there were some strange texture issues on all visible surfaces. This required more than just a re-paint - it needed a start over. So the whole thing got sanded. Thanks again, Mom, for the sander.  

I thought it would lighten the load by taking all the removable parts out of the piano. It didn't help very much. It was still a beast to move. The harp attached to the inside is the super heavy part. But I'm glad I unassembled it because I was able to clean up years of dust under the keys. 

I considered using stain to preserve the unique looking grain. For several reasons I decided to go with Rustoleum's cabinet makeover kit. The bare wood needed a layer of primer before paint. I thought it would be funny to have a sky blue piano for a day. 

After primer came 2 coats of "bond coat" in expresso brown. 

Next I used diluted red paint and a cloth to give the piano red streaks to make it look like a deep cherry wood. The next step was glaze which gave the paint a gorgeous deep look and even brought out the red. Finished with a clear protective top coat. If you look closely at the following picture you can see the red.  

Actually you can disregard the white flaws on the front of the piano. That happened while moving it in. I've since fixed them. I plan on painting and applying a pretty wood scroll over the rectangle. Will happen as soon as I get to home depot. 

Hard Knock Life

I'm making the kids clean their rooms. Lizzy is now singing "It's a hard knock life for us."