House Update 4-24-09

Here is the latest progress on our house as of noon today (Friday). The second floor is complete. The rafters will come next, then it will really look like a house.

Front View

Back View

They should have the roof done by tomorrow. If so, I will try to get some pics and update progress on the blog.

A fine place to put a mail box.....

Robin and I have noticed this mail box on a little island in Station Camp Creek on our daily walks. I had to get a picture and share it with everyone.

The framing has started......

Yay!!! They have started framing our house!!! I think they started either yesterday or today. Here are some pictures we took late this afternoon.

View from the front....
another front view....

closeups....

a view from the back

The remainder of the walls and rafters.

At this pace the house may be completely framed by the end of the week!!! It is getting very exciting!!!

Hannah's First Easter

Robin and I went back to my parents' house in Arkansas on Easter. We had an excellent time and were able to visit the whole family. The highlight of the weekend was being able to see all the nieces and nephew. This year was Hannah's first Easter (my sister Krista's youngest child). We got to spend quite a bit of time with Hannah and enjoyed taking pictures of her first Easter experience. Below are some of the pictures we took:

Here I am feeding Hannah so she will have plenty of energy for the egg hunt...

Robin during her baby sitting duties.....

She really likes those 2 fingers....

Little does she know that the excitement is about to begin!!!!
She is already pointing out a couple of eggs to Dad....I think she knows what is going on!!!

Two eggs is not bad for your 1st Easter egg hunt!

Here is a picture of my sister Krista, her husband Mike, son Nolan, and of course Hannah. I think Hannah adores her mom.

Bunny ears for Easter.... how appropriate!!!

We had a very good time during our visit to Arkansas and look forward to seeing everyone again.

House Update April 18th

Below are some photos of our house building progress. The foundation was completed on Thursday. The main difference between these photos and those posted last time is the driveway and patio have been added and the plumbing work up front has been completed. Hopefully they will start framing this week!

A view from up front. Nice new driveway!



A close up...

View from where the plumbing was finished along with the addition of the driveway.

Look closely to see the patio foundation at the back of the foundation.

House Progress

We returned from our trip today and could not wait to go check the progress on our house. I drove over late this afternoon and discovered that the foundation had been poured. Yay!!! I would expect that they would start framing in the next week or so. It will definitely start looking like a house in the next few weeks. Seeing the progress is very exciting!!! Below are some pictures I took of the progress this afternoon.

Bowling Adventure

Tuesday night was our last night in Cedar Rapids and we wanted to get out and do something out of the ordinary. We have been staying with Tammy (Robin's sister) and Amy (Tammy's roommate) for 10 days while I worked in Iowa so we all decided a nice game of bowling would be an excellent way to end a wonderful visit. Needless to say, we had a blast and laughed a lot. Below are a few snapshots of our bowling adventure.

Robin and I looking like we are ready for the PBA!


Robin and Tammy (The All-American Sister Bowling Team)

Amy after another good bowl.

Look at that form.......

Amy is not to be outdone on form...

Look at Robin's form... right down the middle

My form does not look the greatest, but it was effective.



Everyone loved this video so I had to include it. Key funny things to note:

1) Tammy laughing

2) My Fred Flinstone bowl which I point out

3) Robin trying to figure the camera out

Here is Robin and Tammy cheering me on (or maybe cheering Amy on).

Robin got sad once the final scores were in:

Neal - 114

Amy - 100

Tammy - 75

Robin - 51

However, I was able to cheer her back up. The bowling trip was a wonderful ending to our visit with family and friends in Cedar Rapids. We are very thankful that Tammy and Amy were willing to put up with us for such a long period of time.

Visiting the colony.......

Robin and I are in Cedar Rapids for the weekend since I will be working in the "great" state of Iowa again next week. We were looking for something fun to do outside today since it was mostly sunny and in the upper 40's/lower 50's. We decided to venture over to the Amana Colonies. I had never been there, but Robin had visited the colonies a few years ago. To say the least the Amana Colonies are a very interesting place to visit. They have some very nifty stores. We were really impressed with some of the handcrafted wood items in one of the stores. Needless to say, the bakery, cheese, chocolate, and fudge stores were big hits with us. They also had quite a few winery stores, knick-knack stores, and a furniture store (they make a lot of the furniture at the store). Below are a few snap-shots were able to get.

A monument designating the Amana Colonies as a historic landmark.

Robin eating some great tasting cheese curds by the monument....

I decided to eat a few cheese curds by the monument as well. It was the first time I had ever eaten cheese curds. They were very yummy!!

We found some very trendy hats. We both thought this one looked very good on Robin. It gives her a bit of a detective look. Very distinguished!

Here is the hat Robin picked out for me to try on. She thought it looked very good on me. I think it is somewhat "Pimpy", but if she is ok with it.........

We had a great time today visiting the colonies and recommend it if you happen to be in the area sometime. Make sure to try the cheese curds, fudge, and chocolate if you do go there!!!!