Weekend Fun

We took a much needed break from our house this weekend and just had fun. Friday night we went to Wicked. Dave hadn't seen it before but he knows and loves all the songs. It was great fun - he was sort of like a kid at Christmas.  :)

On Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival. We had to go this weekend because it was buy one get one free entrance and that saved us $21. And really that's the only way to go. You can read my official review for work here. (That's my real reason I had to go. I mean come on, we're giving out prizes for a sweepstakes so those of us running the dealio probably need to try out some of the offerings - you know, to make sure they're fun, right? Right! btw, don't worry about leaving comments there. ;) )

 

 Twig the Fairy

 Great Balls of Fire show

Dave got to hobnob with the nobility (they liked his shirt!)

 

And he liked looking at the swords...

 

and horns 

(so he can call his wife when he needs her.  Hmmm! He thinks we're in the Flintstones or something perhaps?)

The KamiKazi Fireflies had a cool show:

 Waiting for jousting to start...

 

  

Mostly the food was expensive (no surprise there) - the corn was delish but the gyro was eh.  

It was fun day - but quite hot.  We were used to all the rain and nice temperatures we've been having and this was the first hot day so it took us a little by surprise.  We needed more water and sunscreen. But we always need more sunscreen. As Justin says - we are the pastiest family ever.  ;) 

And with that we have a serious ton of work to do on the house before the family ice cream party here on Wednesday!

Estes Park

I just realized that I hadn't ever finished this post and actually posted it!  This is from our last Mountain Day of 2014. We're planning 2015 now and I can't wait to get back up there. 

We took our last mountain trip of the year to Estes Park and this time stayed for the weekend.

We started the trip with a horseback riding adventure.

When the guide was choosing horses for us he asked me if had ridden much.  I said no and he said, "Well, this is gonna scare the [heck] out of you but don't worry - he's a gentle giant."  Giant?  I'll say! I wish I had a picture that shows how tall he was when I was standing next to him.

Dave got to ride Clyde. That's a perfect name for that horse because he just kinda did his own thing at his own pace. Dave, "Clyde, this way. Ok, we can go that way..." Pretty much through the whole ride.

We had fun exploring the town and the riverwalk that runs through it.

The hotel was in a great location but the bed was awful. By the time we were checking out we were both in pain and we couldn't wait to get home to our own bed.

We drove to the top of the world. So pretty up there!

And, of course, saw some elk.  It is Estes Park after all.

And, that my friends, is the last of our mountain trips this year. Boo! Can't wait to start again next year.

Cake Time

Dave has been hoping and wishing for a Minion cake for his birthday for a year and this year his wish finally came true!  Becky did an incredible job with the cake - it's awesome!!!  Thanks, Becky!!

Look how excited Dave was:

Tiernan said Becky went a little overboard on the silver. I think maybe that's because it wasn't intended for his eye... Silly T.  

By the way, did you know Minions are lemon? True story.  teehee!

And Now for the Stove...

Well, let's start with the dishwasher. It's finally been installed - hooray!!! The job was not done without a couple surprises, however. (Surprise! Oh. You aren't surprised by that?)

We took off the tiles - we both relished that job and the installer pulled the old dishwasher out. It was such a happy site to see that nasty thing leaving our house. It was then that we learned that the useless cabinet next to the dishwasher (long and narrow with a shelf in between so you can't even put cookie sheets or anything in there) has no back. Seriously? Yes, seriously. At one point someone stored sippy cups in there - we found a lid under the dishwasher.

But the more exciting surprise was the hole in the floor. See?

It's a little hard to see because it's also filthy under there but the hole is right by the black hose. Not sure how that got there, but then, this is the House of Wonders. But the happy, exciting news that nearly makes me giddy is that we have a nice new dishwasher installed that works well and is even quiet. YAY!!!

Ok, and now for the stove...

I heated the oven up on Sunday evening and got our dinner ready to be cooked. I put the food in the oven and turned the timer on - and everything turned off. Never to turn back on again it would seem. I took the food out while we fiddled with it, you know, just in case something exploded in the oven or something. This is the House of Wonders after all.

I turned the stove burners on high - nothing. I tried to turn the timer on  - nothing. I tried to turn the oven on - nothing. I turned the front, right burner on high then tried to turn the oven on and it worked. Sweet. We put the food in, left the stove burner on high (it wasn't working anyway), put rice in the rice cooker and let it all go to work. Guess what we had for dinner that night? Rice. Yeah, that was the only thing that cooked. Time to call the home warranty peeps. Again.

And change the menu so I can cook everything in the crock pot or electric skillet this week. Thank goodness for those wonderful tools!

Apparently that was not enough entertainment for one evening so it didn't stop there... Dave was doing the dishes and I hear "aaagghhh" and lots of water. I went to the kitchen and asked what happened. Then I looked at the sink and just laughed. There was no faucet on the sink. The dumb thing literally flew off while Dave was washing dishes. Flew off and got water everywhere. I mean, how does that even happen? Well, for starters I think it's the world's cheapest faucet. It looks like it would blow away if a strong wind came through the window (come to think of it, it probably would!). And, let's be honest, I'm sure it was installed wrong. So, cheap + bad install = trouble. But not until the Lunds move in.

Dave has managed to jimmy rig the faucet somehow so that we can use the sink until we get a new faucet on Saturday. The warranty peeps will be here for the stove this morning. I'll be honest, I'm hoping he tells us it's hopeless and they'll just put in a new stove.

And, I'm crossing my fingers that this will be it for awhile from the House of Wonders.