House Building Project

Snow in March...
Very cold outside & inside- no front door and missing some windows...
Radiant heating in the floor..
The gazebo is born...
Vil and Summit show off the new ladder.

For over a year we've been working on our new place. It still seems like it will take forever before we are officially "living' instead of working... but it will all be worth it in the end!

Our favorite activity is backpacking or dayhiking. This was on a burr up above Sheep Lake- over looking Crystal Lake in Mount Rainier. This is "Summit" our hiking dog.

Jeff and Katie Rossi (Vil's old high school buddy) came out from Pennsylvania for a visit. We headed out to Rainier in October, 2006. This was about 20 days before the devastating floods ripped the park apart and did over 36 million dollars in damage. Luckily- we had a blue bird day!

Jeff took the short bus in (below)...

Bobcat on our property!

There are so many wild critters out near our new house. This guy sauntered across our driveway one night and I happened to have my camera. Here kitty kitty....

A couple nights ago a we saw a black bear eating salmon berries a couple properties over. The berries are big and ripe and the bear seemed quite happy up there. It was dark, so no pictures. Stay tuned for more of 'wild kingdom' with Tami's camera.

Scuba diving in Hawaii is where it's AT!

Vil and I go to Maui as often as possible. We have so many wonderful memories of Maui and it truly is "our island". In 2004 we got married there in Wailea. Last November/December we headed back there to enjoy a little R & R and break from the house building. We do a lot of scuba diving when we are there as we are both really interested in the ocean and it's amazing creatures. Here are some pictures of the good times there.

Sand Castles are so much fun to build as kids- even more fun as adults. Above is the architect with his bucket in hand.

This is a puffer fish. He was so friendly he reminded me of a little puppy. He hung out with us as we were finishing the dive. I had to have a "portrait" with him. Isn't he great?

Below: Hanging out with green sea turtles is amazing. They hardly show any effort and they motor through the water. We kick hard to keep up. They are very friendly and you often see as many as 4 or 5 in a group.

Here are some Spotted Eagle Rays (Sting Rays). They are very shy and incredibly smart. This was the only time we've ever seen them while diving. They hang out at the edge of the reef. We've seen reef shark multiple times, but no pictures.

Here are some pictures from our wedding day. Feb. 16th, 2004. Wailea, Maui.

Why not blog? Everybody's doing it.

My sister Traci recently started a blog and it seemed like a good way to communicate and share pictures.

Vil and I have been busy for the last year building our dream home- it's log, it's quirky and rustic- just like us! It's hard to believe that we are coming down home stretch with this project. For the last year, life's been pretty scattered with multiple storage units and boxes aplenty. We can 't wait to be all settled in. Won't be long now!