Audrey Rides a Bike

I have dad guilt that Audrey got to be 6 years old without learning how to ride a bike. Last year when she was five I was very busy getting ready to move and then moving. This spring I've been very busy with the kitchen remodel.

Audrey's personality has had something to do with it, too. She sometimes can have a very hard time taking instruction. She wants to figure it out all on her own. But some things are too complicated to figure out that way.

We bought new bikes earlier this spring for both girls. Audrey tried hers a few times with the training wheels on but didn't like it. The training wheels were a distraction - she didn't like the jerk when the bike came to rest on a training wheel.

This past weekend we went camping on Cape Code for 4 days (I'll post photos and video as soon as I can, but that's probably going to be after I return from Seattle). I figured a campground would be a perfect place to learn to ride - paved roadways with very little, slow-moving traffic. I was kind of determined that she was going to learn to ride. A little too determined, it turned out, because we ended up getting into a little battle of wills. Audrey decided she wanted Mom to teach her to ride her bike. Only Mom could hold on just so.

So she did that with Mom a few times for maybe a total of about 20 minutes. Next session I took her out and promised to hold on just like Mom. I did so for about 30 seconds, but it was clear she had the knack. So I changed to just having my thumb on the back of the seat and she still did fine. So I removed my hand and just ran beside her. She didn't notice. After about 30 more seconds I told her, "Look, Audrey, I'm not holding on." She gave me a quizzical look and then it sunk in that she was riding on her own. There was no looking back after that. And all she wanted to do the rest of the trip was ride her bike. Ah, success!

Next we worked on getting started. She still has a little trouble getting things ready to go, but once she does she can get started every time. She was also afraid to go downhill at first, but I talked her through modulating the brakes to control her speed and by the time we left she was going downhill with confidence.

As a parent learning to read and learning to ride a bike are big milestones for me. Now that Audrey has achieved both of them I have to figure out what the next milestones will be. Maybe music. Carol taught Audrey Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano and Audrey loves to play it. She also makes up pretty decent music of her own.

Kitchen Remodel. Part 3, 4, 5

Kitchen Remodel, Part 3, 4, 5

It's been five weeks since my last update on the kitchen. I've been spending almost all my free time working on it. It was getting kind of old, but now there's light at the end of the tunnel and I'm re-energized. Plus we're going on vacation tomorrow (camping at Cape Cod for four days with our neighbors), then two days back at work before flying to Seattle. So I finally feel like I can take some time to post photos and an update.

The next phase after the last update was the wall work. I had to install drywall where the paneling wainscoting used to be and then blend that in with the existing plaster. That took a lot longer than I expected. Then we skim-coated the walls with slightly watered-down joint compound to give a uniform texture. Once that was done, Carol stayed up very late one night priming and painting because we were so excited to finally have paint on the walls.

Our original plan was to wait until the whole project was done to refinish the floor. But after talking to people about what it would be like (I'd never done it) I decided to go ahead while everything was out of the kitchen anyway. The range and refrigerator won't fit through the interior doors, and I didn't really want to put then outside for several days. So I just put them up on cantilevered platforms so I could refinish the floor well under their fronts. That worked pretty well.

Once the walls were painted and the floor done, it was finally time for cabinets. The refrigerator bay and its component pantry cabinet, overhead cabinet and plywood wall are the anchor for the whole kitchen. For example, the height of the overhead cabinet once it cleared the refrigerator determined the level for all of the other upper cabinets. It took a couple of tries to get it right, but now it's perfect.

Then on to the easy part - installing the rest of the cabinets. The Ikea cabinet system is wonderful. All of the cabinets are made out of the same parts just in different dimensions. Once you've assembled one cabinet you can assemble all the others in about 5-10 minutes each. Then the upper cabinets are installed on a steel rail. You just determine the height of the rail that will give you the cabinet height you want and bolt sections of rail to the studs wherever you can find studs. I used nice big lag bolts. Once the rail is installed, the cabinets just hang from it by sliding bolts - you install two nuts per cabinet and you're done. I didn't have to do one single bit of leveling on the uppers.

The base cabinets are also easy. They rest on legs that are big screws, so you can very easily level a cabinet by just turning its legs. Bolt them to the wall with a couple of molly bolts and Bob's your uncle.

Finally it was time to remove the old sink and cabinet. I had been waiting as long as possible because living without a kitchen sink would be the hardest part of the project. I had to cut the supply pipes to get the cabinet out. Then drill a bunch of holes in the new sink cabinet and figure out how to maneuver it around the orthogonal supply and drain pipes. With Carol's help I got past that hurdle.

Then it was time to plumb for the new sink and provide take-offs for the dishwasher and ice maker. After literally about 90 minutes at Home Depot trying to solve the plumbing fitting puzzle and do it with compression fittings instead of soldering, I surrendered and decided to solder. But I was smart about it this time. I cut all the pipe and fitted the whole system together dry, then took each assembly separately to the garage and did all the soldering comfortably at a bench with a vise to hold the work. Easy peasy. Then just bring the assemblies back in and install them in the compression-fitting shutoff valves. It might not look like a real plumber did it, but I'm happy with it.

The next major piece is the countertops. We thought granite would be too expensive but it has come down in price quite a lot. In fact, composite quartz and recycled glass countertops are much more expensive than granite now. Plus we don't have all that much countertop. So we decided to go for it. Carol placed the order today, tomorrow we stop by the slab yard on the way to Cape Code and select our slab, Monday they are supposed to come to make the template and when I get back from Seattle in mid-July it should be ready to install with undermount sink pre-attached.

If all goes according to plan, I'll install the microwave and the tile backsplash when I get home and when Carol and the girls get home at the end of July we'll have an almost-finished kitchen.

Whew. Yes, I'm tired. But also very excited to see it coming together.

Family

We're having a little summer preview at the moment: it has been over 90 degrees the past two days and somewhat humid. Tonight we decided to go out to dinner at air-conditioned Turner's Seafood Grill - our favorite Melrose eatery.

The girls had freshly washed hair and they each chose a dress to wear. Charlotte picked a Christmas dress from Grandma (with matching doll dress that fits Baby Puppy). Audrey wore a summery white frock.

We had a lovely dinner with two extremely well-behaved and polite girls. It was one of those moments when I especially revel in this family.

John's 50th Birthday

Friday I reached the half-century mark. It's hard to believe I've been alive that long. Like most people I talk to, I feel much younger than my actual age.

Carol has started a babysitting swap with our new next door neighbor Sue. So on my birthday we had a date night. We revisited an Italian restaurant near Fenway Park that we discovered a year ago when we were here house hunting, and then walked across the Fens (a big park) to the Museum of Fine Arts (in background of photo above) where we enjoyed a couple of hours of blissful, child-free browsing. There is currently an interesting Talouse-Lautrec exhibit, and exhibit of Harry Callahan photography, a fascinating Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) printmaking exhibit, and a visiting Van Gogh ("The Sower") that is displayed among the other Impressionist masters.

Saturday was a busy day with T-ball photos in the morning and a game in the afternoon, plus preparing for a little birthday BBQ in the late afternoon. We invited some friends from work and some neighbors and had a wonderful time. It was a perfect day for it - sunny and 70s.

Sunday I got a little further on the kitchen project by getting the floor sanded. All of the scratches and stains are gone and it's ready to be refinished. Before that I need to finish the walls (which I should be doing right now instead of writing this). Once the walls are painted and the floor is finished, it'll be time to hang cabinets and we'll be in the home stretch.

Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

Kitchen Remodel, Part 2

It's been nothing but fun around here on the weekends and evenings!

Two weekends ago I spent most of the time removing wallpaper and glue. Last weekend I made some minor electrical adjustments and got the drywall all hung (replacing the paneling wainscoting that we removed). This weekend I spent most of my time replacing the old warped sink window.

Just a little bit more fine tuning to do on the drywall mudding. It's a little harder to match drywall to plaster than it is to do all new drywall. We have one portion we can't close up because we're waiting for the electrician. He's supposed to come first thing tomorrow. Then I can complete the rest of the taping. Finally we'll skim coat all of the wall surface that will be visible.

Next up is probably floor sanding. We were going to wait until after the kitchen was complete but it makes sense to do it before the cabinets are in.