The New Office

Our house was built in 1992, so old, fixer upper it is not. However, when we moved in it needed a lot of love. It still does. At this point we have finished the basement (and refinshed the parts they started doing but then trashed), done the outside landscaping in the front and the back, added our gardens and fruit bushes/trees, redone the first floor bathroom, and had the upstairs hallway and bedrooms painted. The next project up was our sort of spare bedroom upstairs.

I say sort of spare because our 4th bedroom upstairs is odd. It is small and shaped weird and has a door both from the hallway and from our bedroom to enter it. Great nursery space but we don't need that. Not a fabulous bedroom for guests (plus we have a huge guest bedroom with a bathroom in the basement now). So we decided to make the space a home office. For the past two years I have been working a bit from home, about 3.5 hours a week each week plus additional times for interviews after the kids go to bed and around teaching or appointments at other times. Our hope is that Bryan can work from home a little more now that his work has settled down a bit. We wanted a comfortable space to do that which wouldn't be the kitchen table or a couch in the living room. Plus we wanted a space where the kids could work on homework and projects as they get older but that we can monitor. So this weird, spare bedroom was perfect.

Pre-renovation the room had worn out carpets that could hardly be vacuumed, off-white walls, 3 over-stuffed, non-matching bookshelves, and lots of junk. We cleaned out most of the junk, reorganized the closest full of craft supplies, wrapping supplies, and batteries. We painted the walls a bright teal. And we paid a cabinet guy to make us custom desks/bookshelves that are almost build-ins but not quite. We wanted them to be removable if we really do make the move to Florida someday and someone else wants to make the space in to a nursery or something else. And finally (or actually before the desk and shelves) had new flooring put down. Local friends, we absolutely love Dan Gray from fine floors on Frederick if you need a guy for floors! He also did our basement carpet and is lovely.

So here is our space. We are still outfitting it with office supplies. Bryan got a computer/monitor to mirror his work space set up, we also got a new wireless printer, and two awesome desk chairs. We still need some nice blinds and a new ceiling fan (and this one can replace Kellen's that has only two blades on it!) but we are almost there and it is perfect. We will try to post another picture after it is totally ready! So glad we decided to do this project.

Someday we will get to the first floor projects. And the master bath. Kitchen, we are coming for you! Well probably after a new roof first, but in the next 2-3 years, you are ours!

Before. Yes, we have lived here 5 years...

 

And After. Medals on display!

My desk.

And B's area.

Disney Beach Club Bonanza

If you didn't know, we love Disney so much we bought not one, but two, small resale contracts with Disney Vacation Club over the last 9 months. This is Disney's version of a time share. It is a little more flexible (you don't buy a specific week at a specific resort but instead an allotment of points that can be used how you want in different Disney hotels). We bought two sets because we were most interested in two resorts, one our favorite past location, Wilderness Lodge, and the other, Beach Club, which we took a gamble on since we had tried to stay there many times and had never been able to get in but knew the location, awesome pool, and decor were up our alley. The great thing about DVC is that there is a rental market that is strong so when we don't want to go to Disney (maybe that could happen??) we can rent out our points or we can trade in our points for other locations through an exchange program. You can also use up to 3 year's worth of points in any one year through banking and borrowing so it will allow us to travel with friends/family or get bigger accommodations in the future. So we are pretty pumped.

In the beginning of April, Bryan and I hit Beach Club for our first trip to our new home and had four glorious kid-free days to relax, eat, and drink around the world. We actually flew out Saturday night since flights were so much cheaper and stayed near the airport using points I had earned through work (thanks JHU) before taking the Magical Express first thing Sunday morning to Disney. While our room wasn't ready for hours, we spent the day wandering through Epcot, riding rides, meeting characters, tasting tequila/margaritas (highly recommend a frozen avocado margarita!), and eating a few snacks before we checked in to our room and got ready for our fancy dinner of the trip. We ate at the Yachtsman Steakhouse and it was excellent, and beforehand rocked on chairs outside in the gorgeous breeze while chatting with an older couple who shared our love for Disney and my love for science education. It was an amazing first night capped off with fireworks that we could see from our room balcony.

This was a trip of being in the right place at the right time as I met Smee in a secret character spot in Epcot!

World Showcase Lagoon

Avocado Margarita

Welcome home to Beach Club Villas! So pleased this is now one of our home resorts!

Monday we did something I have wanted to do for years - took the 5 hour Magic Kingdom Keys to the Kingdom tour. We learned tons of history, went behind the scenes (including the tunnels below the park), and got a special look at two rides. For Disney buffs like us, it was the perfect way to spend half a day. Afterwards we used our fast passes for the big rides at the park and then left late afternoon to begin our trip around the monorail/boat resort lounges. At each of the four lounges we got a drink and an appetizer. We hit the new Trader Sam's Grotto at Polynesian, the elegant lounge at the Grand Floridian with the jazz piano playing outside, our favorite Territory Lounge at Wilderness Lodge and then the special Top of The World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower just for DVC members. I am not much for mixed drinks but they had some good ones and we enjoyed the sites, people watching, and chatting with different bartenders for the evening. It was a super relaxing way to spend the day.

I love the MK before official park opening!

Another gorgeous day in the MK!

Obligatory People Mover shot!

The start of our crawl. Polynesian Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. This place is an experience.

Grand Floridian Mizner's - a totally different, more upscale place

Territory Lounge at Wilderness Lodge - still our favorite lounge. Comfy with super yummy BBQ nachos

Top of the Contemporary

Top of the Wold Lounge. Stop 4 of 4.

Tuesday brought us to Animal Kingdom in the morning for three quick rides on the Safari, Everest, and Dinosaur before heading back to Beach Club for some pool and rest time. I did make Bryan walk to Epcot with me just for lunch! Late afternoon we went to Hollywood Studios to do our favorite rides there as well and then had dinner on the Boardwalk across from our hotel and watched the Star Wars fireworks and Illuminations from around the lake.

We took on Everest and won!

We ran in to Ariel as we left Epcot. No line!

Excited the ugly sorcerer hat is gone from Hollywood Studios!

 

My favorite ride, Tower of Terror. 

Do you like our cheesy faces on Rock and Roller Coaster?

Our final day brought us back to Magic Kingdom for park opening. We amazingly rode Peter Pan, Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates all in the first hour the park was open and then used our fast passes for the roller coasters. We ended the visit there with lunch and some slower rides like Peoplemover and one of the classics, Carousel of Progress. We then monorailed over to Epcot and decided to experience another behind the scenes tour, this time at The Land pavilion. This was much shorter but allowed us to walk through the green houses and learn about the growing techniques they use in the pavilion which was really cool. We finished the afternoon wandering around the countries before heading back to Beach Club for an early dinner, the best ice cream sundae ever, and our return trip to the airport.

EPCOT

We love the gardens and flowers in spring as part of Flower and Garden Festival

Behind the scenes at The Land

Pretty sure my veggie garden will look just like this...

Every sundae should be this big with peanut butter sauce and hot fudge. Or not. 

Thankfully, we loved Beach Club. It is tied for favorite resort for me and I think Bryan feels it is a close second to Wilderness Lodge too. The trip was just what we needed and we can't wait to go back. Our next trip there will hopefully be fall 2017 but we look forward to a quick resort stay pre and/or post cruise this fall before we check out the Bahamas with the kids. Special thanks to my mom for holding down the fort while we took our much needed vacation!

Easter 2016

This year's Easter was much quieter than the past few. My mom was visiting less than two weeks later to watch the kids while Bryan and I went to Disney World so we didn't head down to NC for the holiday. Noelle had a bit more than a week off school and daycare was happy to take her a few of the days and I had two days off with the kids before she returned to school. And for the holiday itself, we celebrated at church and with a quiet day at home, including BBQing for dinner since we knew that was a meal everyone loves.


On Easter Saturday, we spent the morning outside before the rain same down and then dyed Easter eggs. This was the first year that the mess wasn't incredible - even Kellen was careful not to splash or break eggs. Well, until about ten minutes in. That is when Noelle starts pouring the colors together to make a nasty brown for the last egg!

 

 

 

Easter's church service was nice and everyone got dressed up despite the fact that the temperature was colder than Christmas by a few degrees! The Easter bunny brought Noelle some legos and Kellen two light sabers for battle, as well as a book each, a chocolate cross, and a few jelly beans. We heard other Easter Bunnies brought way more candy but ours must know that mommy and daddy don't cave on sweets that often!

 

 

 

Ms. Rose took the kids to the DC zoo on Wednesday, I took the kids to the science center on Thursday (and we even saw the Beatles Mania laser show playing for the special light festival), and then we went to the tire park for a bit Friday so the week was filled with outings, work, and daycare. Everyone had fun and we enjoyed our low key, travel-free Easter holiday. Kellen has gotten very excited about the stories about Jesus he learns at home and at Sunday school lately, so it was nice to feel like he really is starting to understand what we are celebrating at church and home. We hope everyone that celebrates had a blessed Easter!