Tile, tile, and more tile

The tile is all up. With the exception of the glass mosaics in the shower (ran out of grout), all of the tile in the bathroom is done. Just need to let the grout dry for 4 days and then I can start sealing all the tile. The bathroom is probably a little more modern than what we had thought but oh well.

Lauren's first SUV/Wagon

For my first birthday I thought we were getting a new SUV with a big bow on top. This isn't quite what I had in mind but at least it has 4 cupholders and seats that fold flat for maximum storage.

Let the tiling begin

After repairing some spots in the kerdi and cutting all of the 18" x 18" limestone tiles in half, the tile is all ready to go.

Tippy toes

I'm 12 months old now!

So you want me to hold onto this string and not the bear? Why? What happens if I....


Uh oh.

Orange wallpaper

The drawers are too close to the wall, so I had to cut the end off so that it will clear the door trim. Here's the wood after a table saw.


Here's my nicely sanded and rounded edges. Just need to stain them and put them back on.


Here's the drain and shower pan kit. The rails are presloped so you know exactly how to slope the concrete. Unfortunately the hole around the drain wasn't large enough so this kit is sitting on top of the concrete base. This means the shower pan is going to be an inch thicker than it should be. I didn't realize this until the tile guy had already poured most of the concrete.


Here's the orange wallpaper. This is actually a waterproofing membrane called Kerdi. It goes on with thinset and then the tile goes on top of it. The whole shower is covered in this including the ceiling. I just hope the kerdi on the ceiling has enough strength to hold the tile.

Phoenix Zoo

Lauren visited her first zoo. Unfortunately she slept through most of it. Luckily for her we became zoo members. The membership pays for itself after 2 visits and is tax deductible.


Giraffe's necking.


Even strollers get their own train ride.


Lauren wasn't the only sleeping one.


Turtles catching some rays

Rosy cheeks

I'm 11 months old now...

...and still no teeth!

Gotta love priceline.com

Whenever we travel somewhere, we usually use priceline for the hotel and car. We haven't used it for flying yet. I start by going to biddingfortravel.com to get an idea of how much the winning bids are and what hotels they are for. Then using that information and knowing how to get free rebids, I can usually get a pretty low price for hotels and cars. Here is our latest winning bid for a rental car in Seattle from National.

Your Offer Price: $11.00 (per day)
Total Rental Days: 3 days(2 days and 20 hours)
Subtotal: $33.00
Taxes and Fees: $33.09
Total Charges: $66.09

Usually when I travel for work, I don't really care what all the fees are but when you are traveling for leisure, you start questioning how much all the airport taxes and fees are. You'll notice the taxes and fees are more than the rental price of the car.

New wheels

Mom and Dad are putty in my hands. I bet I'll have the real thing before I even have a license.

Spotless

There's a dirt spot on the fridge. Don't worry I got it. It's all clean now.

More storage please

Just as in hard drives, you can never have too much storage. Since our pantry is fairly small and our cabinets are filling up with baby food, we decided to add a pantry door storage system. The system we bought was from elfa which is pretty pricey compared to what you can find at BBB or LNTs. But it is pretty sturdy and fits on the door without any drilling. It also uses a single hanging rail down the middle which doesn't get in the way of the door knob. The first system we bought from BBB had two rails on each side which interfered with the knob. It wasn't as sturdy as the elfa either.

My first non-battery powered swing

Swings aren't all that fun if you're not moving. You guys need to push me.

Nice top

Our quartz counters were finally installed. We just need to tile, paint, and then get the shower glass ordered.


Here's the top on the corner unit we have in the toilet room.


Before the tops went on, I finished wiring 3 outlets in each of the boxes and installing the 1/4 turn ball valves for the hot and cold pipes. In this box, I actually ran the dedicated circuit for the air tub into this cabinet so that the hairdryer won't trip anymore. As long as the tub isn't on, the hairdryer will be the only thing on the circuit. Previously the hairdryer would always trip the bathroom breaker especially in the summer.


Here I added in the two breakers on the right that are for the tub and the heater in the exhaust fan. There's normally a cover panel that hides all the wires. :)

I'm 10 months old now!

I predict by 11 months I'll be walking on the runway. These photo shoots are nice and all but the runway is where the action is at.

Some things money can't buy....

My own seat to Hawaii - a few hundred dollars.


Hotel room on the big island - $150.


A new set of wheels - $16


A nice dinner out - $30


Enjoying a good book by the ocean - Priceless!

Whale of a good time

On our first day at the Hapuna beach, we managed to see some whales breeching.



Here's a time lapse of one of the jumps.

Plane delays

Our flight is delayed for 3 hours but at least they gave us some guava juice. Too bad I can't drink any.

Beach baby

Lauren goes down for a nap after some surfing and playing in the sand on the big island.

R&R

Finally some well deserved me time. My hectic schedule of facetime with my peeps and monthly photo shoots has burnt me out!