Project pride

This weekend we accomplished one of our long-term summer project ideas, which means that it was a project we'd had on our list of things to do all summer (along with plant arborvitae, spread barkdust, refinish the deck, and paint all of the house's exterior trim white).

We'd already checked off the arborvitae and the barkdust, but hadn't yet tackled the biggest (and most expensive) project, building a cover over the back porch so we'd stay dry while getting our keys out and unlocking the back door (the one we always use) during the rainy season.

So my dad came down from Seattle to help out with his expertise and his hard work, and we did a "damn fine job, if I do say so my damn self" (to borrow a line from "Fletch"). Pictures are attached.

It was fun working with my dad on this project, and we're both very proud of the end result. Dawn is very happy with it, too. It was her idea to put this covered area in, so we both really wanted to do a good job on it, so she'd love it. The hard work, and resisting the urge to say "ahh...that's good enough" a couple of times really paid off.

When all was said and done, it took us about 10 hours to finish up. Best part was: we came in under budget on the job.

This morning, Dawn, dad and I had breakfast with my sister and her two kids, which was fun. I know dad loved seeing Nancy, Trenton and Taylor. Michael (my brother in law) had to work this morning, so he couldn't join us. We were bummed about that.

At first, Molly didn't really know if my dad was someone she was supposed to protect us from, or befriend. But she soon figured out that he was a good guy, and before he left tonight, she snuggled up to him on the couch.

Tonight, after dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in East Vancouver, Dawn and I enjoyed a Sunday drive, where we saw a lot of the "new Clark County" out on 192nd Ave. WOW. We knew Clark County was growing fast, but we had no idea there was so much new development that far out. We both can easily remember when there was nothing but undisturbed farmland everywhere out that far. We also drove down the Old Evergreen Highway past a lot of the beautiful old homes by the Columbia River and shared some memories from the days before we met. The highlight of our little drive was when we passed (and stopped at) McLoughlin Middle School, where I first talked to Dawn when I met her in 1999 while coaching Stephanie's spring and summer basketball team. That was pretty neat, especially because our four year wedding anniversary is coming up this Wednesday.

I guess that's about it for now. It was a really busy, but really fun, weekend, capped by a very fun Sunday night with my wife.