Zoo

This is the Place Heritage State Park

It was nice to take a break from house projects and take the kids somewhere.  As part of a family reunion, we went to This is the Place park...which is really cool and has tons of stuff for kids to do.  One of these summers I'd like to get a pass there.

The kiddie train-- which my kids insisted they ride on all by themselves, without Mommy

REAL reindeer

Pony rides

Petting farm

Teepees

48 Hours in Chicago

I'd been in Utah for 2 weeks and it was going to be 2 more weeks till Brandon flew back...we decided 4 weeks was way too long to be apart.  Brandon had a conference in Chicago and, seeing as we had family conveniently close, I flew out to meet him  for just under 48 hours...it was totally worth it though!

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Between meetings Brandon took me on a great walking tour of Chicago, a city he's grown to love with his frequent conferences there.

It was great being together...and it's really great living in the same house again!

Ryme's first trip to the ER

Ryme's first time in the ER coincided with my first time leaving her...a great combo!  While I went to see Brandon in Chicago, Tanzen hit Ryme with the end of a dryer hose and gashed her head.  Thankfully, Chaz's wife, Hayley, works in the ER at Primary Children's Hospital, and she saved the day!

We hadn't left my Mom any insurance info, and she couldn't get  ahold of us.  Hayley, our heroine, called ahead, and when they got to the hospital they were ushered into a room, where a doctor kindly put a couple staples in Ryme's head,  and Ryme was on her way home.  Fast and easy-- unlike my prior ER experiences!

To top it off, Hayley came over and took the staples out in the comfort of our box-strewn living room!

THANK YOU HAYLEY!!!

House projects...weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of them!

This post is a glimpse into some of the projects we've been doing...it feels never ending!  I hope to do before/after pictures sometime soon.  We're now living in a very different house than we bought!  It was originally a contemporary house, then, in the course of 5 owners, became more and more traditional.  We loved the contemporary potential, and are excited by the transformation!  

There was wallpaper in 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and the living room/kitchen area.  Blah!  Removing it was a task!  Thankfully we had some helpers...

Brandon's neices and nephews helped with the wallpaper in the bathroom.  It was torn and glued on in little pieces, which made it a nightmare to take off.  It took me the better part of 2 days- after the kids had already done a bunch!

Brandon's mom and sister-in-law Becky helping remove wall paper and chair rail from the kitchen/family room, while the cousins picnicked on the floor.

My Dad fixing sheetrock--in lots of places!

We took off all the cupboard doors- they were oak-- and my  mother in law painted them...quiet a feat, we owe her big time!

My brave Dad painted all the vaulted walls, it made me really nervous seeing him balancing up so high on ladders.  We owe him big time too!  We did all the painting before Brandon came out; Brandon's Mom and my Dad did tons.

It's great having uncles (Uncle "Bug" here) and cousins to play with the kids

Brandon boldly decided to rip out the marble floor in the entryway (it didn't fit our color scheme) and the tile in the kitchen.  He'd barely been home from taking his boards for 15 minutes when he had a hammer and was pulling up tiles. It was a HUGE mess!  After he spent hours chipping it all off, we had to get a cement grinder to grind the mortar down to lay new tile.  It got dust EVERYWHERE even though we tented it off.  I had just finished unpacking and had to clean everything- even in the cupboards.  Glad we won't be doing that again!

Tile helpers to the rescue!  It was taking a lot longer than anticipated. Brandon's brother Chris and his wife Becky, along with my brother Tosh, saved the day!

Trying to make ice cream for our helpers, without being able to walk in the kitchen

The next project was painting the exterior of the house-- something I thought we'd wait on, but the peach color of the house drove us crazy, so we started a year before I had originally planned.

It was dark by the time we finished the front.  Brandon spent a couple Saturdays painting a side...and we don't want to think about how many Saturdays it will take to paint the back and other side!  This is a huge project that is taking months!  We love the gray exterior though, it's worth it!

The fireplace was another huge project- that's almost complete :)  My dad and Brandon did 2x4's and sheetrock, and laid modular tiles over the top.  Current pictures to come soon.

The house has been a lot of work, and we are so grateful for our families' help in getting it done, er, closer to done!  We're getting the house back to it's contemporary roots!

Actually moving...

 There was lots of packing, and Brandon was really busy studying for boards.  The kids weren't the best packing helpers, but they tried!

Our wonderful friend and neighbor Liz, who helped entertain the kids while I either packed or cleaned for a showing, I can't remember which!

 We got down to the wire on getting the truck loaded.  If it wasn't for our saintly friends from church, we'd probably still be trying to get that darn truck loaded!

 Loading the last of it-- we were packing and cleaning right up till my flight

We used 26 feet of an ABF trailer

 Getting ready to close the door on Philly...this picture makes me sad!

 The last thing to go was our Scion...Brandon sent the boys a video of them loading the Scion on the trailer, which they thought was pretty awesome!

Bye Philly?!

The Philadelphia Club

Brandon has been very lucky to work with Dr. Brady, who is renown as the Father of Radiation Oncology.  He wrote the book everyone uses to study for boards.  He has been a great mentor for Brandon, both in his residency and with Radiating Hope.  Dr. Brady did a graduation dinner for Brandon and Larry at The Philadelphia Club, which is the oldest gentleman's club in the US.   It is a true gentleman's club...it felt like going back in time, dining with silver candlesticks in a historic building.  There are only 400 members and it's quite exclusive...more on that below.  Dr. Brady is an important figure in Philly and has done a great deal to help the city.  He's an art collector and has donated several statues to the city.

The residents with Dr. Brady

I couldn't take a good picture, but there were very cool, old phone booths....like in the movie Charades

Brandon was lucky to work with great residents!

The residents' wives

More info on the Philadelphia Club--women weren't allowed at dinners till 1953.

Some facts on the club from Wikipedia:

Among the club's guests have been eleven U.S. Presidents: Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, William McKinley, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gerald R. Ford, George H. W. Bush; soldiers and sailors: George B. McClellan, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Dewey, George Goethals; writers, artists, actors and musicians: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Makepeace Thackeray, Bram Stoker, Henry Irving,Charles Kemble, Edwin Booth, Booth Tarkington, John Barrymore, Joseph Pennell, Leopold Stokowski, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Eugene Ormandy, Louis Kahn; and other public men: Talleyrand, Stephen A. Douglas, Lord Randolph Churchill, Grand Duke Alexander, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Winston Churchill, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Lord Louis Mountbatten.^[8]

In its first 119 years, women were admitted to the club on three occasions: balls in January 1851 and January 1869, and the centennial reception in October 1934. In May 1953 the membership voted to allow women guests at dinners. Many restrictions have since been eased, but women remain excluded from membership.^[9]

An April 2008 assessment from Philadelphia Magazine:

The Philadelphia Club, 1301 Walnut Street; 215-735-5924. The oldest and most guarded of the city’s old-guard clubs sits, with increasing incongruity, at the edge of the Gayborhood — but the Philadelphia Club makes no adjustments to passing fads. Unmarked outside but for a discreet awning logo, it is said to be one of the oldest men’s clubs in the U.S., feeding the city’s elite since 1834. Inside the three-story building, the Philadelphia Club is — except on occasional nights when members gather around the piano to sing — kept deathly quiet by members eating Old Philadelphia lunches of chicken salad and fried oysters. The blue bloods hang out to play an archaic domino game called sniff. This is the hardest club in town to join, limited largely to old Philadelphia families. Walter Annenberg applied for membership once and was blackballed — though he was eventually accepted. Was he turned down because he was Jewish? Because he made enemies? Who knows. Founded: 1834. Number of members: 400. Notable facilities: Rooms for napping. Wait list: Unknown. Demographics: Pretty damn white, although it reportedly got into the token-Jew business in the 19th century. Notable members: Socialite Robert Montgomery Scott. Food: Members mention the ham and veal pie. Crustiness: As crusty as that ham-and-veal pie.^[1]