Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Ella's beach weekend

This summer there have been a lot of shark attacks in the NC coastline. Some of them quite near the beaches where our friends live and we end up at sometimes. Some of the reasons for attacks happening this far north include warmer waters that are murkier near the shoreline and possibly some of these "feed the shark" tours farther south getting the animals used to eating from humans.

This year it scared off a lot of Ella's indian princess tribe from participating in our annual beach trip. Kelley and Evil Genius were also concerned, but I know how much Ella and I both enjoy it every year. Only 3 of the 10 dad/daughter pairs made the trip to Surf City this time. It was their loss, because we had an amazing trip!

Excited to be arriving Friday night!
We got down to the house in time to make it to the beach for some kayaking and playing in the sand and surf for a while before dinner. So much fun!

Saturday morning started early. I suckered the other two dads into participating on my morning run. I needed to get 20 miles, decided to get it done on the beach. So one guy joined me for the first 10, we went south for 5 miles then doubled back. Then back to the house to refill the water bottle and the other dad ran with me for the last 10 miles going north on the beach this time! It ended up being a really fun way to see the island.

that long red line means I ran straight, I guess
Then Saturday afternoon Ella and I got to head down to the beach again. We had a blast playing around in the sand and surf, and when it was all said and done we went back to the house.


The rest of the time we spent hanging out in the house. The girls all had a blast together. So fun for me to see them get a long like that, and be so creative playing together.



Once again we had quite the cool trip. The kids had a blast, I had a fun run on the beach and got to hang with my boys for a while. Couldn't ask for anything more.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The 90-10 Rule

The 90/10 rule comes from project management. The theory is that the first 90% of a project will take just as much time as the last 10% of the project, and you better plan for it. We're into the 10% of the shed now and wanted to dump some pictures here on how we got there.

This shed is really coming along nicely and I like how it's coming together. When last we left this shed, the walls were framed up and sheeted, and the roof trusses were installed. Next we put up the roof sheeting and started finishing the shed from the top down!

All trussed up and nowhere to go

fascia boards up

I'm skeptical about my roofing abilities


Sheeting is going up!

And we got the first bit of siding and molding up too!












really coming together!
Now it's time to get up there and shingle. Finish off that roof! Getting this shed "in the dry" is huge. This project is taking forever. But getting this far really puts us at the 90% mark.


Got the tar paper down

First couple of rows of shingles are down!

I approve of this roof


Ella got in on the action in her playhouse too



All done!

One happy roofer
Up next in the 10% part of the project, siding, molding, doors, and ramps to get inside. It's really starting to come together. Kelley really has been doing most of the work outside of the roof so my pictures got sparse. I'm ready to finish this sucker!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Dance

The third year of the Indian Princess program starts off with the Daddy/Daughter dance and this was Evil Genius's time to shine. She absolutely loves the fancy stuff, and there was no shortage of that. The dance was this past Sunday night, and it was amazing.

First on Saturday I got to have some fun. I had planned a long run of 19 miles and lined up some swimming fun too. My route was planned to go down to the Capital building, then cut over to Umstead, and that's about what I ended up doing. I twisted in a few extra miles at the beginning, so I didn't end up making it all the way to Umstead before I needed to turn around. But I got all 19 miles done in 2:54 and felt great at the end. After that I was giving a swim lesson to the couple that I swam Ironman Raleigh with this year, she's doing her first triathlon in a couple of months. It went really well, and I got in another 2000 yards after the lesson. What a fun day!

Sunday night's dance started with your typical banquet rubber chicken dinner. It was pretty tasty, and the formal atmosphere really suited the evening. After that we moved down the red carpet into the ballroom, where the DJ set the tone and everyone danced the night away.

The highlight for me was us getting picked as a finalist in the twist contest! It ended up being decided by shouting, so whomever had the largest tribe there won. But for the dancing, I was all in. EG followed right along with me too. The coolest part was actually after the dancing was over when they judged by crowd noise. I decided at the last minute to strike a particular pose when it was our turn. EG - without coordinating it first - struck the mirror image of the exact same pose. That's my girl.

Actually most of the time she wouldn't stop laughing at me while I was dancing. There was plenty of sweet slow songs and she did dance a lot. but I don't think she expected Daddy to have moves like that.

Perfect!

Makeup and hair are on point

Ella had to get in on the photo action too


cute bow on the back of the dress

the Teen Titans seem to like her moves

Practicing the moves. Love this one!


helping Daddy get dressed


Suit up!

in the parking garage

Some tribes shelled out for a limo

This is how she felt about her dinner

The only tribe members we could find for this group shot

Group shot of the girls. The dresses were outstanding!

taking a break from the dancing