Carpenter Weekend

This was work weekend at Kris' house as we replaced the floors in the kitchen and entry/hallway. Charlie works for a commercial flooring company were they got the cork interlocking floor that we installed. The worst part of the job was pulling up the old tiles that gave the place that 70's look. This was made easier with the rental of a power hammer and the arrival of two of Charlie's friends. Between them the floor was up in less that four hours. The only problem with that was that the installation crew was not yet ready as the senior partner ( Barb's Dad ) was not yet on site. This didn't slow us down any and, with his arrival before noon, by Saturday night the kitchen floor was installed. We arrived again early Sunday morning and by early Sunday afternoon the entry and hallway were completed. It looks like this will be the last major project before the wedding as I again put on my Martha Stewart assistant hat.

This is how the Kitchen looks today.

This was the kitchen two years ago. All work was completed by the family construction crew.

Back From The South

We just returned from a short trip to visit with Keith and spend some time seeing the sites in South Carolina. We ended up spending three days in Charleston and could have spent a couple more to be able to visit all the places we wanted to see. If you are looking for a great vacation spot this is one of those places.

For history buffs we visited the place were the Confederate submarine Hunley is being restored after it was found in 1998. We also toured Ft Sumter and went aboard the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Laffy, both of which served in WWII. While we were on our way back from Ft Sumter the boat we were on was visited by some of the local dolphins. We also spotted a couple swimming around next to the Yorktown. What a great extra to a fun day.

An entire day was spent touring the downtown area admiring the architecture of the buildings, most of which date back to before the Civil War. Our first part of the day we just walked around looking at many of the old buildings including many old churches. We also took a horse drawn carriage ride through the old section of town, learning a lot about the history of the town from our tour guide. For lunch we went to the "Bubba Gumb Shrimp Company" for a little seafood. We also spent some time in the local open air market that is in the same buildings it started in over 100 years ago.

On Sunday evening we went down to Folly Beach and took a walk out the fishing pier which extends into the ocean for about 1000 feet. It was a great way to relax after a long day of site seeing.

Looking down one of the many streets in Charleston lined with Pre-Civil War houses.

Barb and Keith looking out at Battery Park.

The Angel Oak Tree is estimated to be over 1500 years old. http://www.angeloaktree.org/history.htm

Looking down Folly Beach from the fishing pier at sunset.

The carrier Yorktown is anchored in the Charleston harbor and open to the public.

Four days went very fast and before we knew it the time came to say goodbye and head back home. It was great to spend time with Keith and we never get tired of saying how proud we are of him and what he is doing.

On the way home we took some time to stop at one of the local vineyards in North Carolina and picked up a couple bottles of wine (why not add some time to a nine hour trip). I guess we should share them with Kris and Charlie.

Insight Into Design

Some of you have been asking about the design for the wedding and about all the projects that we have been working on over the past year. For those of you who have been wondering what the decor at the wedding is going to be here is a little look at what we are doing.

Kris and Charlie have a huge Curry Willow tree growing next to their patio. The tree has grown much larger than this picture shows. Since it needed some trimming anyway some of the cuttings have come home to our basement were we are hanging them to dry. These will then be used as an element in some of the design for the wedding.

That's all you get for now. Just a little tease into what we are doing.

( What? You were really thinking I was going to give away some big secret? )

More PDOJ

While out and about yesterday we found the new Bee Movie PEZ giving us another reason for the PEZ Dance of Joy. That leaves us looking for the Lowe's NASCAR helmet. Well if we don't find it around here we might be able to trade for it. The Penn State football is a regional release and we have already traded a couple of those thru the mail for PEZ we needed. We might have to go to the PEZ list again.

On the wedding front we continue to make great progress. Yesterday after some shopping with Kristin most of the decor for the chapel was decided on . We still have some supplies to purchase but need a couple more of those 40% coupons we love to use. We also spent some time with her friend Dustyn who is giving her a lot of input into her decor etc. He had some more good ideas and is as excited as we are to see everything coming together.

Now we need to spend some time getting ready for a small vacation. We are leaving next Friday for a few days in South Carolina with our Airman. Can't wait to get away for the first time this year.

Time for a PEZ break

As most of you know Keith has been collecting PEZ for many years now and has over 800 of the little toys. Since he has been in the Air Force we have been helping keep the collection up to date. Tonight we went out in search of some of the new PEZ that have been released. After a little looking we did what is called the PDOJ (PEZ Dance Of Joy). We came across the new release of the set of Disney Princesses. This set includes 6 that were released over the last two years and 2 new one that are only released in the set. Not only were we happy to find this but we found it at AC Moore were we had a 40% off coupon. Gotta love the savings.

Now if we can just find the new Lowe's NASCAR helmet and the BEE Movie it will really make our day.

A Day Together

Over the last few weeks we have had very few days when both of us have been off from work. Well today was one of those days and it just happened that Kris had the afternoon off as well. We started out going to Park City Mall in Lancaster to look for a couple items that we needed. At lunch time Kris was able to join us so we decided to stop for some Chinese before continuing our journey. The trip finished up around 7 o'clock when we dropped Kris off at her house and headed home. Now, anyone want to guess what most of the afternoon was spent doing? The first person with the correct answer will win a prize package worth....DRUM ROLL.........$0.00. That right, we spare all expense here so get those answers in ASAP. Just leave your guesses in the comments section.

New website

Kris has used some of her free time (little as it is) to get her wedding website updated. You will find a lot of new and useful information so take a few minutes to look around. For those of you who may have had it bookmarked please note that there is a new address http://www.savko.net/wedding/ The old one is still there for now but has not been updated.

As for the rest of us it is much the same. Off to work, come home, work around the house, sleep, repeat.

New blogger

Alan's brother has begun a blog (something he was never going to do) which is linked above. If nothing else it gives you one more site to put in your favorites folder. Who knows as he goes forward you might learn something exciting.

On the wedding front, Kris has decided on how she wants to do her hair and the on staff stylist, and our dear friend, ( who's blog is also linked here) no longer wants to hurt her for having most of her hair cut off :) Kris has also asked one of her friends from work to do the photography and he has agreed. They have already made one trip to the chapel and he has a lot of great ideas for photo opportunities. If you have never seen the Masonic Chapel and the surrounding grounds it's hard to explain how photogenic the area is.

We have also completed some more little projects for the reception. Last night we made a trip to Lancaster to meet up with Kris and do a little shopping for some small needs. It's starting to feel good to see the list get smaller as we are finally to the point were we check off more than we add.

Still Keeping Busy

News from South Carolina..... Keith received his promotion to Senior Airman and spent some time yesterday sewing on his new strips. It great to see him doing so well and we, of course, continue to be very proud of what he is doing. Today he went out to find hotels around his home so that we could make reservations for our trip at the end of the month.

Lots of things continue to keep us busy as we get closer to the big day. Last week we joined Kris and Charlie to make the final decision on the tuxes for the wedding. This didn't take as long as we had planned so we spent some time after that at the local Wendy's having a snack and discussing more plans. Kris is now working on her Save The Date cards which are the next major thing that needs to be completed.

We spent yesterday and today doing some shopping for ourselves but also picked up some more items that were on the wedding to get list. Seems that we just can't get away from these things.