Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Doing Better Than Mr. Blandings....Much Better!

April 10 - Well, we are doing much better than Mr. Blandings from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (or his later incarnation by Tom Hanks in 1986's The Money Pit).  We visited the site today with so much excitement that it is surprising that Bryan did not get a speeding ticket.  We were filled with anticipation as we turned into our neighborhood.  There, we saw the first glimpse of what had occurred since Monday.  Well, my friends, feast your eyes on greatness:

Deshi Deshi Basara Basara!!!!!  [There you go, Batfans!]  
From a distance you can see the front window, front door, garage, and staircase window!
We told you that this machine would play a big role in the building process!
Check out the guy on the second level!
That large pallet of wood only has this remaining...well, at this spot.
A piece of the second level sits in our neighbor's yard and that worker  is now at our level.
Again, from a distance.  Overkill on this angle, sure, but it was fun!
From the left side of the house.  It waits the second floor!
This will soon be a view of our stairwell and down our hallway!
From the back you can see the living room windows, kitchen window, and sliding glass door.
All the way from the backyard.  See the Pisa Torre in the distance?  It is coming along!
From the backyard on the right side of the house.
A view into the kitchen.  You can see the struts that are the start of the second floor.  That will be the master bedroom soon enough!
Closer view into the kitchen.  Remember that storage room window?  Now it is covered with house!
Okay, this caught our attention.  However, some workers noticed as Bryan snapped some pictures and quickly got this one in line.  It was probably not an oversight, but they were taking a break.  It was over 90 degrees out there!
This little ledge will support our fireplace soon enough!
Even more of our house on the neighbor across the street's land.
We were starting to get some strange looks, so we hopped back into the car and sped off to what will become our daughter's middle school. There we learned some negative news.  First, there is no real accelerated options at the school.  We are leaving a community that has the option for middle schoolers to take advanced courses in specialized areas such as Math, Science, English, and World Languages.  Well, this is not the case in her new school.  We were told that there was a gifted program before we even put down money on a lot in the area.  

While that was a major blow, we did see one bright light.  It is the smallest middle school in the area.  So, there will be more teacher/student interaction at this school.  That could be a really good thing.  Also, they do have a form of a gifted program, but it does not appear to be as advanced as what she is currently in during her 5th grade year.  In all, we realize that we are going to need to continue to supplement her education.  It was just the initial shock of being told one thing by the school district and finding out another.  Bummer!

You said it, kid.
We got back on the road with just enough time for our son to wake up in the backseat.  He said that he really wanted to see the "house bones".  So, we turned around and went back to the site.  We were able to get some in-action pictures this time around.

Putting down the supports for our son and daughter's rooms.
Careful, worker guy.  It's not a soft landing on those rocks below!
More wood being delivered for the flooring.
From a distance you can see everything!
The next stop will be another visit on Friday.  Until then, RISE!!!!!!!!!

10 comments:

  1. Great progress!! I'm sure your next batch of photos (which I love!) will be of a whole house. Hope you guys have started packing. :)

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    1. Angela has the house almost entirely packed. We do not have much more! We can't wait!!!

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  2. How exciting! And I love the Mr. Blandings reference--that was such a great movie, and I wanted that house so much. :) And as far as the middle school goes, great teachers make all the difference, even if there isn't an accelerated program per se. If your daughter is a bright little bird, and she has great, involved teachers, I'm sure she will thrive.

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    1. Mr. Blandings is a really, really fun movie and I am glad that someone else out there knows about it too!!! I know you are right about the middle school issue. I am just glad that the student/teacher ratio will be small. That should help tremendously. Also, the school gets really good reviews too!

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  3. Must be exciting for you and the kids to see structure going up!

    I agree with newbietobuilding, great teachers will make or exceed any difference an accelerated program could offer.

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    1. It is really, really exciting! We cannot wait to go back on Friday to see what has happened!

      I am sure there are great teachers there. It may be just what she needs! We will see. Also, we are going to look into other extra curricular programs that may help. Always searching. There is a private school, which looks really great, but it is very, very expensive.

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  4. Mr. Blandings is probably one of my top three movies! The house bones are looking great. It'll be even more exciting after the second floor is done and you can walk through it!

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    1. That is so great, Leah! You love the film too! It is definitely on our greatest hits list! We cannot wait for our walk through. Our original pre-drywall date was April 20. I am not sure if it has moved. I hope not!

      Also, I just checked out your site. It is SOOOOO wonderful to see a completed Venice that is so close to what our home will look like when it is finished. It appears that we picked the same counters, wood flooring, and kitchen laminate. So great!!! Your home looks wonderful!

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  5. Wow, house is coming along great. How fun is it to see that progress?

    Small class size is really important and as some others pointed out, teachers can make a world of difference.

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    1. It is sooooo much fun, Christina! We have been just falling over with excitement. It builds more and more each day.

      I know it will make a difference, it was just a bit of shock. I am sure she will do just great. She is one smart cookie!!!!

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