Fall family weekend

Packed up the whole fam for our last trip to the island together for this season. This was the annual Halloween weekend for the kids hosted by various island businesses. Bonnie took Sophie and Neil up on late Thursday afternoon. Anna and me came up on Friday, early evening.

Friday afternoon, Tim Arnold delivered a load of gravel for top-dressing of our driveway. Luckily, Captain Ron still had his Skidsteer on island and was able to spread evenly on Saturday morning. The driveway is done for now. Here are some photos of the progress...

Captain Ron working the Skidsteer to level the driveway gravel

I didn't realize I had some black-n-white filter effect on my phone camera. Anyway, here is a nice photo of the driveway finished product.

Driveway looking good

Saturday afternoon, it was time to kick-off the Halloween festivities with the kids. First stop, we headed out to Bag the Moon for pumpkin carving. Then we rolled to the KI Brewery for more kids crafts and costume activities. Check-out Jake the Neverland Pirate!

Lil Neil as "Jake the Pirate"

Next stop was the 4-H club for some food, crafts and a hay ride. We could not get Neil to leave, here he is on the swings with Bon. Shortly after this photo, he took off running toward the lake in the background. He wanted to stay there all day.

Bonnie and Neil

Sunday, we took a long hike along the North Shore Trail. Bonnie packed lunch and we ate it on the rocky north shore on the water. It was windy and chilly but a very nice day and great time with the family.

Since this was an official all-family weekend, I didn't get too much work done, but was able to accomplish a few items on the "to-do" list. 

Cottage progress:

• Driveway done!
• Closet door hung
• Utility closet light fixture
• Dimmer switch in kitchen
• Mini-bar top sanded and sealed
• Shower head swapped out
• Utility sink in master bathroom removed

Next steps:

• Master bedroom
• Re-paint the ceiling
• Re-paint the walls
• Stain the wood feature wall

Off-island weekend update

Big football weekend off-island. We started with a nice home victory from the Olmsted Falls Bull Dogs. I took the girls to the homecoming game on Friday night.

Sophie and the Bull Dog mascot

Island progress:

Since, I didn't make it up to the island at all, no real work got done. However, Chris was working on his new cottage and took a photo of the grass coming in for me.

Green fuzz - all good

The real fun started Sunday morning when my cousin John invited my Browns crew to join him on the boat for the tail gate festivities.

First Energy stadium from the lake looking south

We had big fun rolling down to the stadium on the boat and then hanging out at the new North Coast Harbor Marina before heading into the game.

Pre-game crew

The Browns beat the Steelers 31-10. It was a great day and great game. I hope we can keep this winning streak alive.

Go Browns!

Let there be light #2!

Back at it after a 26-month hiatus from the electrical work, Al and Joe (ANJ Electric LLC) with a very special appearance from Kenny, got rolling again this past weekend. Big huge thanks to Al, Joe, and Kenny for all the help making it happen!

The weekend unfolded as the crew made the 6:30 pm ferry and started working right away. Later Friday evening, we went out to The Pump for perch dinners.

Uncle Al - happy guy with a fresh pitcher of Great Lakes brew

Saturday morning, we reluctantly started working (and a little late) since we had a few too many beers and laughs Friday night.

Here is Al working on the panel. Funny, because the whole reason for all this work was to turn on some lights and this was the darkest room in the cottage for most of the weekend.

Al and the panel

After a rough morning, Joe rallied and kicked it into high-gear to wrap-up electrical work inside and out. Check-out the photo below installing an exterior flood light for the yard. Nice work.

 Big Joe working away

Kenny is the unsung hero of the weekend, helping out all-over-the-place. Here is Kenny leveling off the range installation. I've been staring at the over-sized box for months. I've had to move it in and around the cottage several times. Getting this thing out-of-the-box to finally having a working electric range is so nice and looks great in the kitchen space.

Kenny

I was so friggin' happy to be able to turn on lights with a switch, I wanted to post photos of every working light in the cottage, but that would be silly. Anyway, here are a few of the highlights below. 

 Kitchen pendant lights and electric range

After shopping for ceiling fans for a few weeks, I found these really cool modern/rustic looking ones from Menards. Bonnie and I preferred the 3-blade model with a single light fixture. The blades look like white-washed driftwood. Here is a photo of the fan in Anna's room. We will have the same style fan in the master bedroom as well.

Ceiling fan - Anna's room

Check out the main bath fixture, below. You never know how a lot of this stuff will look until you lug it up to the island and install. Well, this one worked out well. The fixture is brushed-nickel with two lantern style lights. The lights look great and are the perfect size for this smaller bathroom. You really have to see this live to appreciate. 

Vanity fixture - main bath

Bonus item:

On Sunday, the crew finished work, packed up and headed for the ferry. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and actually got the TV and HDTV antenna working with high-def channels again. The Browns game came in free and clear! Another noteworthy item, the Cleveland Browns won the game, on the road against the Tennessee Titans, in the biggest road team comeback in NFL history!

Grass update...

It's been about two weeks since we seeded the grass. There are some nice green sprouts here and there seen around the yard. I took a few photos, not really because it looked so great, but so I/you/we can look back in a few months (or years) and see where it started!

Grass growing progress - slow but steady

Next steps....

• Paint the ceiling (again) in the master bedroom
• Stain the feature wall
• Paint the master bedroom (again)
• Master bathroom everything
• Doors, trim, etc...