My mom's house - Trash

Thought I would include a few more photos, to show the amount of TRASH that had to be thrown away due to smoke damage. It's so sad to see stuff have to go, but then again you have to tell yourself, it's just STUFF!


Insulation ripped out of the Master Bedroom Closet as they tried to put the fire out.


West side of the house where the fire was. The propane tank sits just a few feet away from this area. So scary!


The roof top, melted away from the fierce fire.


The Master Bedroom Closet was ripped out and thrown out in front of the house.


The trash dumpster on day 1 of sorting!

My mom's house - after

So all of us kids helped mom & Butch out as much as we could. From running errands, to making phone calls, to packing stuff up, to throwing LOTS of stuff away. Luckily my mom has a "resort" across the lake they own with a mobile home and a cabin on it, so they are living in the mobile home and she has moved her dog grooming business to the cabin. We had to wait for insurance adjusters to arrive. After a week or so of talking, discussing, typing, planning, drawing, averaging, estimating, finally things were set. Basically the entire house had to be gutted, the roof had to come off, the rafters needed replaced, one Morton building beam needed replaced, all ceilings, all floors, basically everything.

Definitely something I don't wish on my worst enemy. We had to sort, collect, count, inventory, and throw away a lot of stuff. Anything plastic, all food, all drinks, all mattresses and boxsprings, all dried floral arrangements, anything for sale retail from my mom's dog grooming business, magazines, paper products, animal food, pillows, clothes, medicines, and ALL TOYS/GAMES ALL HAD TO BE THROWN AWAY!! Which meant we had to inventory and do paperwork on all that stuff. Everything left had to be boxed up and taken by the restoration company for cleaning and storage until the house is completed. Mom also had to keep out the stuff they need to live with right now and until the house is finished. So it's really an unsettling process.

Thinking about it all just exhausts me. Phone lines, cable lines, utilities, mail, etc all had to be transferred or shut off, etc etc etc. It's a long and draining process. Slowly they are coming around.

Also, in preparation for rebuilding the house they have to move all the landscaping around the house that is in the way of construction, which includes decks, awnings, and decor!

My brother Aaron and his wife, Lori, stayed to help with the inside demo. Last week they started on the removal of the roof and replacing rafters and trellises. A little bit at a time.


The old family room.


The rafters above where the Master bedroom was.


Looking back into a spare room, exercise room, family room, etc.


What was once the living room, kitchen, office, and master bedroom.


Where the kitchen and guest bathroom was at.

My mom's house - during

On September 21st at 8am lightning struck the well at my mom's house and followed the lines in and a house fire started in the pantry/mechanical room. My stepdad, Butch, was home and was in the back of the house when he saw smoke. He went to the pantry to check on things and saw the fire. He started throwing water on the fire to help put it out. About this time my mom arrived home from her school bus route and went into their bedroom and saw the fire. She got out fire extinguishers and started spraying. Butch went outside and saw the fire in the walls of the house and told my mom to call 911 and get anything she wanted out of the house. She immediately got the parrot and the 6 dogs out of the house. My brother in law, Pat, was at work and a friend of his heard the 911 fire call on a scanner and called Pat to tell him, so Pat quickly went to mom's house. He ran around the house and got out all the pictures off the walls and around, he grabbed Butch's medicine, and mom's jewelry. The "pumper" fire trucks (because they live in the country by a lake with no fire hydrants around) arrived and 11 firemen started putting out the fire. They used A LOT of water and thought they might need to start pumping out of the lake. My sister had called me, she was already at work, she left work and arrived at mom's by 9:30am. I left here and arrived at mom's about 10am. Our stepbrothers drove in from Garden City and were there by afternoon. We are all very thankful nobody was injured and all the animals were out safely.



Master Bedroom


Guest Bath


Outside on West Side of the house


Out in front of the house, this is from the Master Bedroom closet


Master Bathroom

My mom's house - before

The next few posts will be somewhat backwards, but you'll get the idea.

My mom and stepdad, Butch, live in Herington in a Morton building they purchased 9 years ago and have remodeled and turned into their home. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, and lots of space for our family of 22 to all hang out together in.

On September 21st their house was struck by lightning and caught on fire.

Here are the before pictures.



Family Room


Kitchen


Living Room


Office


Master Bedroom

Champagne Camp

Chad had a great opportunity to stay in Napa (while the rest of us had to leave) to attend Champagne Camp, and so he did. He drove us all back to the San Fran airport and turned in our mini vans and put us all on the plane home. Then he rented a Chrysler 300 and drove back up to that big house we rented in Napa and ventured out to learn how to make Champagne. He was busy from morning till night for 2 days learning the ins and outs of making champagne. He worked in the vineyards and helped with Harvest. He paired foods with Champagne. He learned how to add the dosage to the Champagne and made his own bottle. He learned how to saber open a bottle and purchased his own saber. He will now be the "performing act" at all events. ;o) He was in the caves at Schramsberg Winery admiring all their Champagne bottles. He had a fantastic time, he learned a lot, and I think he signed up for the Spring Session. He might need to ask his "boss" for more time off. I'm always glad to see him do something he enjoys so much and to add such great experiences to his resume. I think he enjoyed himself, although he was quite lonely in that big house by himself.

A Fantastic Trip

It had been 2 years since "the group of friends" had taken a road trip. This year we decided to go to Napa Valley. There were 9 of us, as Brad was unable to attend. We rented 2 mini vans and flew into San Francisco. We drove up to Napa and rented a house there for our extended stay. The house was perfect, 5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, so much space we didn't have enough time to enjoy all of it. A big kitchen, dining room, and of course pool & hot tub. All of our appointments were perfectly scheduled and filled with lots of great food and wine. Chad did a fantastic job planning the trip. We enjoyed the wines at Madrigal, Ma(i)sonry, Alpha Omega, Reverie, and Rodney Strong. We ate well at Taylor's Automatic Refresher, Bouchon, JoLe, and The Martini House. It was great to relax, hangout, enjoy the pool and hot tub, talk, and take in the sights of Wine Country. We all enjoyed ourselves so much we are already planning next year's trip back.



The "infamous" Napa Valley sign. We actually found another one in the valley. Won't miss another photo opt now.


The front of the house. It was beautiful and just perfect for what we wanted.


The pool & hot tub in the back of the house.


Golden Gate Bridge with amazing Fog rolling across.


A great group of ladies. Out for our first night dinner at Bouchon.
Dana, me, Michelle, Jill, & Julie


Those very crazy guys! First night out to Bouchon.
Chad, Tom, Doug, & Mark



The gang at a "favorite" winery Reverie on Day 2.


Us ladies ready for night #2 out to dinner at JoLe. We all enjoyed the company that night!


Chad and I in the driveway at the house. What a view we had.

Without Friends

We must first send a big shout out to our good friends; Jason, Amy, & Trice. Without them our trip to Napa would not have been possible. They came through for us by "babysitting" Cooper and Campbell for 4 nights/5 days. This was a huge feat in itself, as none of them have any children of their own. So again, we say "Thank You, Thank You, Thank You." The girls had a fantastic time and loved all the attention.


Jason, Cooper, & Campbell on their way to the bus stop.


Trice, Cooper, & Amy out for a walk.


Jason, Campbell, & Trice enjoying a walk.

Success for Campbell

Ok, it's offical, Campbell is potty trained!!! Yippee!!!

I started her in underwear on August 17th and she has been doing great since then. She's had a few accidents, but those are to be expected. Otherwise she does great, gives us clues when she needs to go and even goes by herself sometimes. She wears a pull up at night, but I'm fine with that. It's amazing how little trash we accumulate now with OUT diapers.

(Pictures to come soon.)

Congrats Campbell Macy, you're a big kid now!! ;o)

Labor Day 2009

Labor Day in Herington at my mom & stepdad's house. They surprised the grandkids with a bounce house (that has an attachable pool) and a new high rise playhouse. They were all so excited they couldn't get enough!!

It was a great weekend. Very relaxing and pleasantly surprised by the nice weather. We couldn't do any lake activities, but we were still busy the same. We played games, did an obstacle course, ate great food, watched tv, played, and the adults did night golf with glow in the dark balls and etc. It was great fun! Great memories to last a long time.


Cooper & Bailey bouncing.


Campbell sliding down.


Campbell showing L. how to swing.


Campbell taking CoCo for a walk with Dad.


Grandma taking Ryland down the slide.


Uncle Aaron caught some big fish. All the kids wanted to see.


Cooper with great-grandpa Gene.


Campbell with great-grandpa Gene.


Here is the new high rise playhouse. Still a work in progress.


The new bounce house. Available for rental.