Bramell, Party of Five: June 2008

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Pictures from the zoo.

Here are some pictures we took at the Kansas City Zoo on Sunday.


"I am a meerkat, what are you?"

"I am lion hear me roar.....or snore....zzzzzzzzz"

So that is how they get a drink.

Baby zebra with brown stripes.

"Here's lookin' at you kid!"

One of these days we will figure out how to put a slide show on this thing....

Monday, June 23, 2008

Oh, Heavenly Bed, where have you gone?

We had a pretty good trip to K.C.MO. We arrived Friday around 6:00 (about 3 hours later than we had planned, but oh well, nothing goes as planned anymore anyway). The day was still long enough to look around the Crown Center, get some dinner, and mosey around the pool a bit. There was an Edward Jones convention going on and it seemed as though everybody at the hotel either worked for them or was a family member. Here are a few pictures from Saturday.


This is the WWI monument and museum. We have been by it many times but never gone up close or inside. This is the view from our room on the 13th floor of the Westin.




BooBoo didn't quite know what to think of the "big bath tub". It wasn't as warm as the bath, but it was perfect temp. for an outdoor pool. Becca cried and whined most of the time we were in there. She would start splashing around a little and then remember she was supposed to be upset. Her fits prompted some other little kids to wonder what was wrong with her. They just couldn't believe she wasn't having fun in the water!! They were genuinely worried about her.

This was our waitress at Gates BBQ on Linwood and Main. I surprised her when I wanted her to be in the picture. The staff there was very friendly and the food was pretty darn good too. We were on our way to the game...

Sluggerrrrr!!!!!!!! The Royals won 5-3 and Becca did much better at this game than she did at a baseball game we took her to a few days earlier in Springdale. We sat in the second row and she hammed it up for several people around us.

Friday, June 20, 2008

D-E-M-O-L-I-T-I-O-N


One dumpster full...one more to go. Most of the demo guys I called with the fancy trackhoes and backhoes told me it would take more than two dumpsters to get rid of this house. What do they know. I think I will have room left over in the second one. Plus, I will have saved at least $750 (the low estimate I received).
This is what our project looks like now after a couple of weeks. It actually didn't take too long to get to this point. All I used was an 8 pound maul and a big shovel. The worst part has just been the stink inside the house. You can still smell it when you drive up. At least it is getting a good air out now!!
I was hoping to find old man Johnson's money stash in the walls somewhere. Unless it is in one of the corners I haven't knocked out yet, I think someone else must have gotten to it before me...maybe it is under the floor!! I did find and old bank lock box key. For which bank I don't know, but it has the lock box number on it. I will get old man Johnson's money somehow!!
Anyway, I guess the next step is bringing the roof down. Hopefully I won't bring it down on the neighbors house:) Stay tuned for more pics in the coming weeks.
There is one cute picture of Becca "reading" her books at the bottom. She likes her books a lot. Of course, since she is a baby genius she will be reading them to us before too much longer.






Friday, June 13, 2008

Happy Friday the 13th!

Here is one of Becca's awesome birthday gifts---a ladybug quilt. If you click on the picture you can see the details; cute little bugs and her initials up in the top corner. Megan's mom, Brenda, made this for Becca. Megan is my cousin Eric's girlfriend.


Here is our little swimsuit model. We tried out the pool and the new sprinkler last weekend. We didn't get quite the reaction we expected, but the water really was cold and there was a breeze blowing. It was even too cold for Daddy in the pool, but he gave it a try. Maybe we'll try again this weekend.






Saturday, June 7, 2008

New things Becca is doing (and they aren't all good!)

Edit: the pictures are supposed to be at the bottom, but I am too lazy to do it over again. Also, Fergie is not dead, I promise. She was just exhausted after a long game of fetch. I couldn't resist taking the picture of her and faux Fergie.





I know that we haven't posted much lately, but we've been so busy chasing our toddler around that we just can't muster the energy to blog in the evenings!

Here is a short list of new things she is doing:


  • Saying "bye-bye"--seriously, non-stop. All day long. Really.

  • Singing (sort of)--sounds like "na, na, na." You get the idea.

  • Biting--yes, who knew having only 4 teeth could hurt so much!

  • Walking backwards

  • Running!

  • Flirting, apparently. The note home from daycare said this, "She played peek-a-boo with Will today." Will is a twin in her class; very cute boys, so this is ok.

  • Drinking whole milk!! Yeah, finally!

Here are some more birthday pics for your enjoyment.





Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Is this the Hamptons?

I know it doesn't look like much, but we are upgrading our housing. Some new paint and carpet and a little elbow grease and we will have this thing sparkling!!



Thinking about some new appliances too.


Is that a dude sleeping in the corner over there?


We might need some new windows too.


Uuhhhh, maybe we will just tear it down and start over.

Actually, we bought this a couple of weeks ago after a banker called me to get some comparables for some foreclosure property. We did not buy it at foreclosure, but instead we made the bank an offer a couple of days later. It is located close to Walker Park in Fayetteville.
The neighbor who lives next door told me that she has seen homeless people coming out of there. I think I would have rather slept in the rain!! It didn't take the city long to find us. They have already sent us a letter of violation for an "unsafe building". Duuhhhh, ya think.
Do you know anybody with an extra sledgehammer?
Stay tuned for more pics on the new house :)
 
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