Backyard

Tuesday I took the kids to playgroup because Bohdin will need a new a friend. It was a bit of a long shot since kids his age often don't do that sort of event. The kids were even younger than I expected. Besides my kids the oldest one there was 18 months old. The kids still had a blast and didn't want to leave. Playgroup was held in the back of a store which used to be a house. They also have a small preschool there which was not in session at the time. The part that Bohdin and Nyla loved were the exercise balls they were able to play with in an empty room. They played with some of the other toys but this was by far the biggest hit. We are now the proud owners of exercise balls too but they're not as fun at home.

Much of this week has been devoted to planning the kitchen remodel. I never knew how much planning this would entail. We've barely scratched the surface. I think we have a final tentative plan. It needed to be modified over the weekend when Buddy discovered the wet wall. All of the plumbing to the second floor goes up through the wall we wanted to eliminate. So change of plans. It's working out okay so far. Buddy has offered to move the plumbing but I don't want him to mess with all of that. I think it will be a better use of time and money to work around it. Buddy also opened up a hole in the ceiling which is directly below the tub in the master bath. There are some cracks in the sealant between the tub and the tile. I never knew how important that caulk was. The dry wall was wet. One time when Bohdin was in the bathtub he turned the water on and was holding a toy near the spout. This allowed water into the crack. I was in the kitchen at the time and was shocked at the downpour of water. It was like a waterfall. I called upstairs to Buddy to turn the water off. Even when I took a shower the next morning the floor below in the kitchen was damp.

We're not in love with the kitchen but we do love the backyard. It has warmed up from the very cold temps of last week so we went outside this afternoon. After playing tag and kicking the ball we wandered into the forest behind our house. There is a trail maintained by the neighborhood which we followed for a short distance. We have a lot more exploring to do.