Spring Break in Washington, DC 4/21 to 4/23/11

Whew! it was a busy 3 days. As a spring getaway we went to Washington, DC for 3 days. Rob assures me he will never return to the crowded, busy city so I better see everything I wanted on this trip. I sure did try!!!

There is a slide show of all of our adventures and here is what I was able to cram in.....Arlington National Cemetery, a bus tour around the mall and museum area, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Wall (my Dad's cousin Theodore Misheikis, Jr is memorialized there), Lincoln Memorial, dinner out with the Spragg's (Rob's aunt, uncle & cousins), Boy Scout Statue, White House (although our request for a tour was denied), Albert Einstein Monument (Yes, Nick had to pick his nose and yes this statue is the only one in DC where kids are encouraged to climb all over it), Air & Space Museum, National Gallery of Art, National Archives (although I was the only one to actually see the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence...Rob & the kids couldn't face another crowd), Natural History Museum, American History Museum, National Zoo (I had to make sure the kids saw the Pandas) and then the Air & Space Museum in VA (complete with a Space Shuttle...wow is that huge!)

Obviously, we didn't see all of any of the above and it probably only encouraged me to want to return for another adventure but we all survived and we were able to see alot of cool places. Since we never made it to the International Spy Museum maybe I can convince the kids to return with me someday.

Rennovation Updates

Almost all of the shower and tub project is complete. The tub is all tiled and grouted and the shower is tiled and will be grouted tomorrow. Then the next step is getting it measured for the new shower door and then waiting for installation. Another few weeks and we will have our bathroom back better than ever!

More pics of the bathroom

The shower wall is getting taller! More tile is up and we can really see how nice the tile is all going to look together. Our contractor is doing a beautiful job!

Here's the progress today

All the tools are in the tub but you can get an idea of how far the tiling got today.

I love how it looks so far!

Spring is here!

Even though the temperature can't decide to stay above 50 degrees the flowers and trees sure know spring is here. These are some photos of my views out of the front and back of my house.....can you tell I am bored while I sit here and the bathroom is being transformed? At least I can catch up on the blog updates!

What a Mess!

So what do you do when 2 plumbers, 3 contractors and a chemist can't find the source of the water dripping through the family room ceiling? You gut the shower in the bathroom on the 2nd floor directly above. And what do you do when said shower tile matches the tub's tile? Gut that too of course! So that is just what we are doing.
Today is day 3 into the gut project and I can't wait for it to be complete. Having no functioning shower in the master bath wasn't nearly as stressful as all of this dust filling the house. And the kicker of it is that the plumbers ruled out the pipes and we know the water is only dripping when the shower has been running for a while but we have no certain answer of as to how the water was getting out of the shower. The best answer is it must have been a weakness where the shower pan met with the wall and the vertical and horizontal door tracks. With all new tile, shower pan, shower doors and knowing it was done correctly this better have solved the mystery. Here are some pictures of the chaos. I am going to try to track the daily progress for the next 2 weeks or until it is done.

Before the major ripout:

Here are the holes from where all the sheet rock was wet & dripping water into the family room ceiling that was just painted 5 months ago.


Here's a picture of where the tile had been removed because the dry wall behind it was wet. The additional hole in the wall was trying to figure out where the water was coming from.

And here's what the bathroom looked like before the contractor gutted it on Monday morning.


Here is what it looked like by lunch time on Monday

This is the water damage that was under the shower pan (the darkness in the lower right hand corner)

and the water damage on the vertical 2x4 behind the shower door track


and here is what it looked like by the end of Tuesday




Today we spent a lot of time figuring out tile placement and putting the puzzle together but Scott (the contractor) has just started putting up the tile. Welcome to our nightmare!