Happy Father's Day, among other things.

Happy Fathers Day! Claire and I woke up before Mike did this morning and rushed to make him a card. When presented with it, he was completely confused because he thought Father's Day was next weekend. Surprise! That and completely forgetting what day of the week it is happens when you've had the past three months off. Well not really off, but without more formal work, because work we have. In the arena of home improvements, first of all, this glass wall is gone.















I don't know what in the world the past 50 years of owners were thinking keeping this thing around, but it took us less than 24 hours to take it out. This picture was taken while we were looking at the house, the wall was down before our moving truck even showed up. It was a massive eight foot wall of glass separating the front door (you can see the window near the top through the glass) from the dining room. Basically it took up space, and was kind of ugly. We thought it would be easy to remove, but a little like Eric's boating experience, things didn't work out like that. I really wish I took some pictures of the entire process, I really do. I'm kicking myself for it now, because they would be priceless. But I couldn't because I was busy ducking and covering as Mike took The Wall down. What it came down to was our decision to get the floors redone, and the realization that if we didn't take the wall down before, there would be a strip of unfinished wood in the middle of the floor, or worse, a glass wall. So Mike gets out a hammer and some yellow rubber latex cleaning gloves and just goes at it, smashing the wall and taking small pieces out, one at a time. Neighbors could hear the wall coming down, and Mike quickly earned a reputation. I was afraid I'd meet the Emergency Medicine staff a bit early, but Mike actually escaped with only a few minor cuts. And then in the end, we found out the entire hardwood floor was built up around the glass. So we traded the wall for a eight foot hole in the floor. Fortunately for us, the sanders had some extra pieces of matching wood and our neighbors had the tools and know-how to put them in. Now we have a beautiful floor that you can't even tell once had a hole in it, and a dining room that is much bigger. See the remaining piece of wood going down the green wall? Thats what is left, and its built into the baseboard, so it stays, and is a nice reminder of how nice it is to have all the extra room.














Then we did a lot of painting, I mean A LOT of painting. It looks like I'm going really fast in the picture, but in reality, I wasn't. We painted all the trim and all of the doors. They were are dark red stained wood, and now they are white. It took a lot of primer and a lot of time, but the end result is fantastic.














And then Mike and Jim worked very hard on the basement, and made an incredible difference. Here is a before picture, again with the previous owner's stuff:















And some current pictures. Can you believe that this is the same basement, same angle? It has turned out so well. We have some carpet to put in, so I'll have to update everyone when its in an even more finished state.












































And I still don't really have any pictures of the upstairs and its new paint, but I will soon. Today was a busy day. First we had a birthday party which was complete with bouncy house, pool and bubble machine. Claire had a blast. Then we had the incoming interns over for dinner, and had a really great time.














Plus, we have been hitting the beach about every other day. Its been so nice, and there are so many beaches within 10 minutes, its hard not to go for an hour or so.