Our trip to the Gulfarium

Mom and dad only live about an hour or so from the beach, so we took the girls there for a little "before school starts" treat! This was Lili's first time to the beach, feeling the sand between her toes, the salty air, and the loud crash of the ocean. What can I say? She absolutely loved it all! Emma squealed with delight each time the waves came rushing towards her.........their was a red flag that day so she wasn't able to swim in the water but she enjoyed playing at the shoreline.

But.....before going to the beach, we made a special stop at the Gulfarium. It was so much fun, we got to see dolphins, sea turtles, sea lions, tropical penquins, an alligator, tropical birds, and all other types of sea life. It really was a special day!

Lili and Pawpaw watching one of the shows at the gulfarium

Watching the dolphins

Emma was in heaven! She loves nature and all types of animals and sea life, she looked up at me before this picture as serious as can be and said, "Mommy, THIS is what I want to do one day." It was so sweet.

Sea Lion

Us girls at the beach

First time to feel sand in her toes!

While Emma is at school....

We are missing her soooo much! Lili is getting ready for school too........she's already reading :)

First Pigtails!

Kindergarten, HERE WE COME!

Today was the big day! And she couldn't wait........she woke us up at 5:45, asking if it was time to go to school! We've been waiting for this day all summer long!

Sitting in her desk

With her teacher, Mrs. Wolk. (She has taught Kindergarten for 27 years!)

A future kindergartner ... Lili took Emma to school in her pj's! It was a little too early for this late sleeper.

Helping her teacher find her name tag.

It's hard to believe I have a kindergartner!

It's Go Time!

We've got our work cut out for us! Since we purchased the house, we have been working on the new floor plan and various estimates. We get started with everything this week!

The side porch behind us will be closed in part way to allow for a more functional living and kitchen area. This will also become our main entrance into the house. The other porch area goes along the side of the house as well, we will close it in part way to allow more space for a master bed/bath suite. We will join both porch areas along the front of the house, add some trellis and landscaping (a little white picket fence too!).

Definitely some work to be done here, all windows will be replaced, the siding will be cleaned and painted. The part that juts out is a bathroom that was added on, the original floor plan did not include bathrooms (built in 1925). We will convert this small bathroom into our pantry.The metal pipes coming up from the roof will also be removed.


This is the kitchen! The wall behind the oven will be knocked out, expanding the width of the kitchen about 5 ft. Flooring will be removed and replaced with wood or tile.

Another view of kitchen(oven is on wall to the right). Notice the lawn mower :)
Kitchen doorway on the left will be sheet rocked in (maybe some display shelving put there), new entrance to the kitchen will be in the added on area. This wall behind the cabinet houses a fireplace/chimney on the other side.

Exactly where a refrigerator SHOULD be.....in front of a window!

The left wall in the kitchen, this is the staircase in the center of the house, but it is divided by a wall that goes through the middle of it separating the house into two units. We are going to open the staircase up, allowing easier access to the upstairs. This wall also housed the washer/dryer units. We will remove this and use one of the smaller bathrooms that were added onto the back of the house as a laundry area. We are going to open up the entrance to the staircase as well, putting a few banisters there to make this more appealing.

Another view of the stair wall, love the old doors. Plan on keeping these :)

This is one of the small bathrooms that were added onto the house that I mentioned earlier, to use this bathroom, you'd have to step into the bathtub, close the door, and then step over to the toilet to be able to use it. Too much trouble! This will be converted to a pantry.

Part of a window above the bathtub unit....just weird :(

Just so you can see how tight the stairwell is......

Imagine this width times 2, much easier access. Love the bead board though! I think it will have a cozy cottage feel when we are done. At the top of the picture, you can see that Mike had to cut open an access to the attic.

One of the bedrooms as you top the stairs. There are four total up here, plus we will add a bathroom. Both girls rooms, a playroom, and guest room will be housed here.

Another look down our steep stairwell.

A close up of the bead board.

Bedroom closet

Part of bedroom ceiling, will make an interesting little girls room or playroom.

Another view of ceiling. All flooring throughout will be replaced, new paint, molding, etc.

Bedroom

Larger bedroom with double window.

This was an access to the other side of the house, but was closed in. We are going to have to do something about this.

Closet under stairwell. We are going to use a tankless water heater, so this closet will become a 1/2 bath.

Other side of closet.

We definitely have our work cut out for us, huh? But we are really excited about getting our projects started. These pics do not include our living area or the other half of the house. so there are more pics to come!