Sweden, Finland & Estonia

I owed Jeff a cold weather vacation so after a lot of talking (or not talking, hence the need for some quality 1:1 time) we decided it was time for a child free adventure. It was tough to leave Abe but he was in good hands (thanks everyone!) and we spent some quality time obsessing over him and entrenched in toddler self-help books.

We started by spending a few days in Sweden (or as Jeff refers to it “the motherland”) Stockholm is a beautiful city (definitely on our top 5 “We could live here” cities). We then hopped an overnight cruise to Estonia via Finland; we indulged in the smorgasbord, partied with some Brazilians and got very little sleep. We loved our first two days in Estonia so much we stayed another night – you love birds take note: Estonia is very romantic. We then headed to Helsinki where I discovered my love for the Finish – sweets, treats and candy are ingrained in their culture and I ate it up (seriously, there were a lot of fikka breaks!) We then hopped over to Amsterdam where we had the most amazing last “date” and now we are now headed home to see the little man.

It was a great trip and we had a fabulous time - below are a few pictures (a bit random, but for some reason those are the ones that make me smile).

Stockholm

The Vasa is hard to describe and capture on camera but it was amazing!

The view from on our boat to Estonia - yes, those are icebergs.

The smorgasbord....was a bit crazy - but so good.

Does this one really need a caption?

The typical Estonian mullet.

Jeff's birthday dinner was at the nicest restaurant, but I

could not get over the sign - nope, no eggs on the menu!

The night sky in Tallinn is truly that blue, at midnight.

Tallinn.

Totally random but a great memory - oh late night

desserts and coffee...please come back to my life soon.

A little subliminal messaging in Helsinki.

View from our late night stroll in Amsterdam.

Shiner

We were at Abe's favorite store Re-Store last week and in all of his excitement, over Gus running through the isles and a cool bathtub (he is SO our child) Abe took a tumble. He has a gnarly shiner but we hear he is getting a lot of attention from the ladies at school - everyone wants to kiss it better!

Opening Day

Tonight we celebrated the Sounders first game of the regular season...Abe in style (thanks Andrea!)

Landscape Update - Avid Reader Request

To my dismay and surprise, I received a request from an "avid reader" for a LONG overdue update on our landscaping. Umm...thrilled to have a "avid reader" so here you go!

Back in October I started a witty (or so I thought) post on how Jeff and I spent a lot of time "compromising" on the landscape, but after having Jeff read it through, it became apparent that I was the only one who really found it funny- imagine that. It was also way too much information for the WORLD wide web, so I scratched it. Basically, our friend Jake was a huge help with the design, and the front walk will be finished this summer along with the side and back yards.

Also, no project here at 729 gets complete without the help of my MIL and FIL - they are the best and their generosity and sense of humor amazes me; they spent a very full day helping us pull it all together and we could not have done it without them.

So below are a ton of pictures - minus the "funny" commentary.
 

In prep for the new basement window and the egress requirements,

 we built out a new window well...(does my husband plan ahead or what?)

Please don't judge us...he loved it!

Look at those roots my FIL is showing off!

My FIL & BIL in action.

 

 

The in progress "Before"

& After

Basement Update

We had a busy weekend, here are some before and after pictures the basement.

Abe hard at work in the bathroom...

The Heat Is On

With only 42 days of winter left we are happy to announce we have heat! Isn't she a beauty? 95% efficient, gas run, hunk of heat and worth every penny.

Basement

The lack of posts over the past 1-2months is indicative of the spare time we have since diving into our basement remodel....It is not so much of a remodel, as a finishing of something that was unfinished when we moved in.  If you recall from our blog while it was still in its infancy (November 2009), the basement looked like this:

After stripping everything out, and starting with a blank canvas, we were able to get the entire house re-rewired, and will soon be re-plumbing everything as well.  We added an egress window for Gus's future bedroom, and lots of storage space.  Other significant additions include phone jacks (which we had none of when we moved in) and insulation.

As always, Abe needs to gear up with dad anytime they venture down to the basement.

Window opening that we cut into the foundation.

Window opening prior to drywall going on.

Finally, as a final note, we regret to inform our readers that we have broken down and hired a contractor to install a new furnace and duct work.  We are not proud of our actions, but figured this is the only way we are going to get heat in the house before the winter is over.