Sunday, August 20, 2006
We have real framed window and doors we have the front door and check out the view from the front door. Of course there will be stuff that will eventually block that view but my GOD is there anything more beautiful (okay maybe Amanda ~ even she has strong compitition with this site)

That first photo is again the front of the house, you can't see the door head on in that photo but isn't it incredible. We have had a few days with people coming out to help but all in all it has been a two man operation. Basement done (in and functional, floor joists in and holding, first floor in, 3/4 of the walls in, the radiant floor heating in the basement. this is, at least to me, unbeliveable. Anyone agree?

Here is a break from construction photos and just take a gander at these photos! this is the view off the back of the house where our deck will be. Who wouldn't love this!

Saturday, August 5th ~ These photos speak for themselves. look how much progress is being seen. The first photo is of the front of the house. I know you can't see the door in the pix but it is just behind the jutted out section. How cool is this.

The next photo is of the dove tail conners at the edge of each corner. I am so happy we choose to go with this design.

Lastly this photo is of dining room corner. So amazingI just can't stand it.

Sunday July 23rd, 2006

First log in! Finally the lid is complete, backfilling is done and we (that would be the royal we) can start putting on the logs. Wouldn't you know the Log Company mis-cut the first log! It all worked out they came out that day helped make adjustments. But here it is the ceremonial first log of our log home being put in place. Now the second photo is of the First course of log in the back corner of the Sunroom. Pretty cool hugh!

Sunday, June 18, 2006
Another week and more work to be done. here are some photos one is of the back side of the house. this is the walk out basement. The deck will be above this area. you can see the windows for the two bedrooms down in the basement. The scafoling is to allow the guys to work on the upper floor (actually the first floor of the house but with a walk out basement it seems like the second floor) someday I will figure out a way of explaining that. The other photos is of the framed out basement stairs. Yup we now have the hole where they belong but no stairs. I guess no one can get in trouble for running up the stairs.

Lots of work, so little time and so few hands. Oh well, somehow we will make it. I say we like I am doing anything hard at the site. I feed and water the workers. Oh yeah I am taking care of the house, the kids, the job, etc. but I am not complaining you see. I know it will be worth it in the end.

Sunday, June 11th ~ Sr. and Kenny are putting in the the floor joists. Sr. Did not like the heights but he sucked it up and got the job done. The first photo shows Kenny and Sr. At work over the craft room. Yup I am going to have my very own craft room. I am not certain of the dimensions but trust me it is better then the 1/4 of the closet that I currently have in Amanda's room. Now don't start thinking I will be quick, good or philanthropic with these crafts. I am going to have a house to do up the right way and by the time we are done I will have to make everything for it.

The second photo shows the floor joists above the bedroom in the basement. The bathroom will be so cool for the downstairs. It is being broken into two rooms one for the potty/sink area and the other for the shower stall. As a bathroom that will eventually be shared by a Teenage boy and a small Princess this could be a very KEY design plan.

It's beginning to look a lot like a house!

Tuesday, June 6th ~ The concrete floor gets poured. It was a sight to behold, all these guys with fishing type boots sloshing around in wet cement. They had to be careful where they stood and what they did as there was radiant floor heating tubes under their feet. The tubes carry heated water through the floor to warm the house. All three levels will have this unique heating system. Kenny and Sr. ran all the tubing and connected it to some contraption on the basement wall where, so I am, told a heating unit will reside.

I took the day off from work to be there to see the wonderment of it all. here are the photos. The first is the floor prior to the pour. See all those little tubes? they are under the wire mess and supported but little plastic "chairs". See there will be plenty of seating in the basement of the new house. Second photo ~ all those tiny chairs are now covered in Concrete.

The adventure started back in 1997 when Kenny bought a 5.5 acre lot in Bethlehem Township, NJ. He had an architect draw up a house design and went about clearing the brush and prepping the land for the build. In 1999 he met me and the plan took a Left turn pretty rapidly. First the property was a 45 minute drive from our apartment and hated the modern design that he and the architect drew up. So first we decided to move closer to the building site and that led to us purchasing our current two family home and derailed Kenny’s building for some time. Kenny focused on revamping our current home and “practicing” some skills before taking on the bigger project. Secondly, we couldn’t agree on a design. Finally in the spring of 2005, pregnant and all we found the dream house that we would call home, a modified log home. Now Kenny took on the lessons of building a Unique home like this. The problems are many and then we had the problems with getting the permits due to a change in the environmental laws. What fun! So finally on April 3rd we took our first real tangible step, we had the foundation delivered. See the attached photos it is pretty incredible. Within one day we went from flat dirt with hills of gravel to a foundation with walls, windows and even doors. It is truly incredible. I want to thank all of you that are on this journey with us. I hope you enjoy this Blog!