It's been an interesting couple of weeks.
Last week we both took the entire week off work. The girls went to Mom and Dad Albrecht's on Tuesday morning... we painted for the rest of the week. If you've seen our house, you know that we have a second floor loft... which means the first floor has approx. 18 foot ceilings. Yikes. You also know that it was mustard yellow. Yikes again.
So after several days of prepping walls (MANY MANY holes to fill and sand and prime) over the few days beforehand, we started the huge paint job. I brought in scaffolding, extension ladders, poles, and lots of paint. And we painted, and painted, and painted. It ended up taking 3 days straight, 18 hours each day. That was actually faster than we anticipated. It looks great. I must say... Arja's good at picking colour, and she's good at painting. Yes - our marriage DID survive the experience (and we even had our 9th anniversary WHILE painting!).
So we finished painting and cleanup by midnight Thursday.
Friday we slept in, then had a really nice day together. Coffee at "the Bucks", then relaxed time shopping. Arja found a really cute new swimsuit, and I got some very needed shorts and shirts. It was nice to just hang out together.
Mom and Dad treated all three of us couples (Arja's brothers/wives) to a night without any kids Friday night. That meant dinner, and a hotel, and Saturday to hang out. Dinner was at The Keg - my new favourite restaurant!!
It was a very good way to wrap up such an intense couple days of painting. Thanks to my wonderful wife for such a great time together.
Sunday - back at church... then over to our great friends the MacDonalds (Dave and Julie - not Ronald the clown!) for a swim in the new pool and a BBQ. The coolest thing is to see the girls really developing a love for the water and getting more bold - especially little Miss Kanah! Jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side without help from me and without her life jacket. Pretty good for a 5 year old! Taly is getting much bolder, too. I only wish I'd had the camera.
Another highlight was time spent in the kayak last night. Up to this point all summer, my time in the boat has been just paddling for fun - rather than intentionally developing skills. But I thought it about time that I actually learn how to re-enter the boat in the water if I ever am forced to wet exit.
I read about a technique that doesn't require a partner or a paddle float to help you... it's all based on using your centre of gravity and that of the boat. So I headed to Christie Lake to work on this, and my high-brace technique.
The water was incredibly warm (warmer than the air temp), which made it a pleasure to be in at 8:00 at night. Within a few minutes, I had the wet re-entry down, and had some good high braces (and some failures that required a wet exit). After an hour, I simply paddled the lake and watch the sunset. As the air cooled, I could feel the warmth radiating up from the lake. It was awesome.
Tomorrow evening I join up with the paddling group from the area for a late night paddle in the river... it's full moon this week - so it should be fun. I picked up a WAY COOL head lamp on the weekend to help with that.
I will certainly miss the summer when it's gone. And it's going QUICKLY. *sigh*
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6 comments:
Congrats on finishing the paint job - that was a BIG undertaking! How many coats to cover the yellow. (Yellow is one of the very worst colours to cover). I'll be anxious to see it s-o-m-e-d-a-y, hopefully.
Nighttime yaking - that sounds interesting! I take it there's not too many rocks or sharp turns in this river.
It took 2 coats to cover well. we did 3 coats on the two big walls that get alot of sunshine.
This section of the Grand River is very calm... dare I say it... almost boring. But being on the water at dark will be nice.
Hey Dad... you said "coloUrs" :)
I'm sure you did that as a nod to us Canucks. Just wanted you to know that I noticed! :)
Perhaps now that I have a vehicle that produces mpg rather than gpm we can come see the new paint and the "canucks"! Sad I missed the mustard yellow.
Oh don't be sorry you missed the mustard yellow! It was nasty. Although the inside of the closets didn't get painted yet, so they are still mustard! :)
A trip up here would be very welcomed! It would be good for us to meet the latest addition to the family too! Don't wait till the winter - come in the fall and bring your kayak!
You know I completely forgot that you haven't met Nyah! How weird that sounds.
Not sure if I would ever bring it up there. Honestly it would likely be cheaper to rent one that to bring mine. You know all to well the cost of a yak rack for a honda. If I bring the jeep I could just as well buy one up there and be cheaper than the gas!
P.S. On that note, the honda gets my endorsement. After nearly 10k it's still by far the most sensible vehicle purchase I have ever made. It is truly an amazingly well built car. Not to mention the space they squeeze out of such a little thing. It's one thing to brag about cubic feet of space, but this truly has usable space.
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