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Yes, we're late in getting this on the blog, but if you haven't heard yet...we're expecting. Another little Kugler should arrive some time in February.

Just so you know!

Update: We're due February 11. We had an ultrasound today. There is only one, but the upside to that is we don't have to buy a new car yet.

On June 11-15, Crystal and I had our first multi-day no-kid get away since Elizabeth was about six months old. We drove down to Soldotna, Alaska, and stayed at a bed and breakfast called Escape for Two. We stayed in a small cabin sitting about 20 feet from the edge of a small lake. We had the cabin all to ourselves, hence the name.

Our breakfast each morning was two kinds of fruit. Pineapple quarters and blue berries, or watermelon and grapes, for example. In addition, we were given "munchies" each day: granola, small loaves of fruit and/or nut bread, crackers, and the like. In addition, I ordered the "mini-moon" package, which got us a dozen roses, a box of specialty chocolates, sparkling cider (we could have had wine, but Crystal can't drink that right now...more in the next post), and a large plate of fruit, meat, and cheese. And not just "normal" cheese either. There were three large wedges; one each of blue cheese, brie, and a really good mango/soft cheese combination. There was dry salami, cold cuts, and smoked ham. The fruit included grapes, strawberries, kiwi and star fruit.

So, what did we do on our trip? Not much. We drove to Seward with Crystal's dad one of our days down there. We went geocaching, and found all three of the locations we had printed out, but only one cache. On a couple of the days, we just drove around and looked at the scenery. And of course just "vegged" out at the cabin.

It was a very relaxing, very enjoyable time. Pictures follow. Click for bigger versions.

So, it's been a while since my last update on the house. About two months, to be exact.

There aren't any "major" chunks of progress to be reported, but we are making progress, slow and sure. Right now, we're down to the "little jobs" that need to be done before we can start putting it all back together.

Let's see...what has been done in the mean time?

• All the insulation is out (Izzy had that itchy job), and thus has confirmed we have 2x6 walls up stairs. Something that is rather rare for a house built forty years ago.


• The downstairs got a serious cleanup. The cinder block walls were scraped with a steel brush (Robb had that fun job), and dirt and sheet rock dust was swept and vacuumed.


• The rotted section of the master bedroom floor was replaced (Thanks Bill Wood!)


• Removed some old coax and phone cable from the outside of the house. Will be replaced with all new runs to a network/wiring closet in the new office.


• The closet doors in the master bedroom and kids room were widened to accommodate sliding mirror doors instead of the 32 inch interior doors they had.


• The wall between the old family room and old guest room was removed. Its base plate was so rotten that it split in half when torqued during the removal process. And the rest of it was rotted to some degree. A new wall is going back up a few feet over to make re-size a couple rooms.


• The wall between the laundry room and old family room was removed because it hadn't been installed correctly in the first place. It will go back up soon.

Stay posted...some major progress is coming soon, we hope. Furring and insulation is planned for the next few weeks. And then sheet rock after that.