The Times They Are A-Changin'...

... and it's time for a RENOVATION!

WARNING

when posts occur as infrequently as they do 

on this blog you know that there's going to be a really LONG one to catch you up!

Many of you doubted that this day would ever come - and to you I say "HA!" ;-)  (And it was going to come anyways even if the insurance company hadn't told us that we needed to replace the roof or they wouldn't insure the house...)

The definition of renovation can refer to "making something new, or bringing something back to life" and this definitely fits our situation.  The house is looking it's age and needs a major overhaul.  We have done minimal over the years as we focus on our kids and other hobbies.  Not to mention the instability of our work situations :-)

Over the years we've found many business cards in the mailbox or tucked into the screen door for quotes on roofing, painting or renovations.  Even to the people driving by the house is looking tired and old...

Now it's time!

Pictures of our tired looking house taken by Nathan on April 18th, 2014.

Front

Front

Rear
Note the blue pool was put to the curb one day and it didn't take long for someone else to  lay claim to it ;-)

Start of the Journey

We kicked off our house journey on October 31st, 2013.

We had our first meeting with a contractor recommended to us on October 31st.  At this point all we could really articulate is that we needed to renovate the house - more space for our family and work done to deal with the drainage issues in the yard, specifically the driveway!  He did some measuring, talked about how he liked to re-use as much of the existing footprint as possible and asked us lots of questions.  It was a great meeting and we looked forward to seeing ideas he might have.  Alas, this didn't pan out.

You can see in these pictures from March how the water pools in the driveway.  There is lots of space in the driveway but when it's full of water it's a challenge finding the best spot to park so someone isn't stepping in water when they get out of the vehicle!

Pictures of our driveway drainage situation taken by Rob on March 8th, 2014.

Driveway drainage issues

Driveway drainage issues

Driveway drainage issues

And another few months pass by...

Contacting Design-Build Firms

After Christmas we started the process again.  This time we contacted some of the larger design-builders. We compared websites, BBB ratings, online reviews, build and renovation awards, etc.  On January 9th, 2014 we met with two design-builders (at different times of the day!).  We enjoyed the discussion with one of the representatives - not so much with the other.  We decided to only consider the first company, but not knowing much about major home renovation and the whole process we had a lot of questions.  We still wanted another company to compare with.

On February 25th, 2014 we met with a third design-builder.

Back and forth we went between the two companies - asking questions about their processes, how they came up with what work could be done in the budget we've estimated ourselves, what did it mean to have allowances in the budget and how were they allocated...  The questions and discussions during these meetings, emails and calls gave us more to think about, Google about and helped us to start the process of writing down what we wanted to see in our renovation.

Making the first, but nowhere near the last, BIG decision

Well, since Mike Holmes was unavailable we bit the bullet and finally made the difficult decision of which design-build firm to hire.  All I can say is we better NOT need Mike Holmes after the renovation!

On April 11th, 2014 we COMMITTED by signing the contract!  (And it's *only* been 5 and a half months since we spoke to our first builder ;-) )

It's three and a half years later!

Wow - time flies when you are having fun :-)

Resurrecting the old blog to capture the latest fun stuff at the Inverness Inn! You would think I could at least post once a month...

Relaxing and listening to the kids arguing about a mii who has a green mustache named Dan. Guess who does *not* want to play now :-)

Puppets and bikes

It was a fabulous weekend in the nations captial -- or at least for the inhabitants of Inverness Inn!

Saturday saw us heading out to the town of Almonte for the Puppets Up! festival. This was the first time we'd gone, almost changed my mind because of the high entrance fee, but weather was to be good so I figured we'd give it a go. We arrived and went to the first tent we saw, it was almost time for that show to start so we waited.


It was a great show -- about a sailor with a magic story book, but the story book gets stolen by StinkyBeard and the rest of the shows storyline revolves around finding the book. The kids laughed for most of the show. Their favourite part was the parrot 'Crackers' who, when asked to sing twinkle twinkle little star breaks out in another song at the top of this lungs. The other song escapes me right now, but it's one we all know, I'd have to wake Nathan up to sing it for me as he's been doing it non-stop yesterday and today :-)



We watched the parade and then attended a second show, this one about Robin Hood. Again, the kids had some good laughs. I would have liked to have done one more show but consensus said to call it a day :-)

Of course there was a craft tent. Claire and Kyle decided to make headbands. Kyle didn't take very long for his :-) Left Claire there, looked at the water,

Claire still wasn't done, went to get lunch, ate lunch, Claire still wasn't done, took a trip to the port-a-potty, Claire still wasn't done, another little while and then she finished -- or they kicked her out! Haha!



Today was family bike ride day. Kyle had drawn a bike on the calendar so we would know that.

We all biked as far as the Bank St. bridge and had a snack. As we got back to Hogs Back the kids fed the ducks -- Kyle laughed at the duck that almost took his finger with the piece of bread :-)

Then Rob headed home and the rest of us spent some time at Mooney's Bay where the kids played in the sand and water. Of course, the big pile of sand at the end of the beach was the biggest hit!


They are all going to have a great sleep tonight!

Herbfest 2008

The call came shortly after 10a.m. that the Herbfest express was leaving Rosehill Manor. Those at Inverness Inn were unsure of their plans, but given that little push it was decided to also head out to partake in this year's festivities.

We had gorgeous weather and a good time!

Goodbye Diane!

It was a sad day today as Kyle finished up his last day at Diane's. Claire, Nathan and Kyle have all been fortunate to have had the love and care of Diane. We are very pleased to have found her all those years ago. We will miss seeing her every day, chatting and getting advice. We wish her all the best as the dynamics of her daycare change with her new kids!



Now Kyle will go to daycare with Claire and Nathan! New adventures await!

20 Minute Challenge

Mom and Dad arrived on the red-eye flight Tuesday night -- just in time for this year's '20 Minute Challenge' at the Running Room Wednesday night. It was dubious as to whether we would get everyone out and for awhile it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate. Earlier that afternoon there was quite the thunderstorm -- lost power for a few seconds at work and home! By the time the challenge was to start the weather had really become nice!

The hat colour this year was green :-)




Rob is all set for next year's Running Room celebration -- he's the only one of us with all the coloured hats!




Of course we needed to celebrate after completing our challenge!

Trail-A-Bike

First trial run tonight with the Trail-A-Bike!

After searching around for a used one of these (they are snatched up right away) I finally called around and we bought one new (it will have good resale value! Haha!). Turns out the one we bought was the last one of this particular model at Fresh Air Experience and had been sitting there reserved for someone since June! They decided to sell it now to us :-)

I LOVE IT :-) Course, I haven't had it attached to my bike yet, but Rob says you barely notice it.




Kyle had a smile on his face the whole time and Rob says he talked non-stop (what else is new!). Kyle needs to grow just a *smidge* more to really be able to pedal well, but I saw him doing it a bit. I'm sure with more practice he'll get the hang of tilting his body a bit more to pedal properly.

Hopefully the rain will hold off and we'll see how far we get on our Sunday bike ride :-)