Chicago Trip 2009
Posted by Chris in Family Vacations, TheNolands on June 28th, 2009
The trip to Chicago turned out to be a lot of fun.
The events started on Thursday when we met up with Rob and Anthony Migliore at the planetarium. I don’t think Andrew has ever walked so much in one day as the Adler Planetarium was about 2 miles from the hotel. Andrew was extremely excited to see Anthony and was asking about him on the drive up and was up at 6 am on Thursday announcing it was time to get up. The Migliore’s joined us for the planetarium and then had to head home at noon for Anthony’s doctor appointment. The show was shorter than I had hoped but it was amazing on what you could see… we did the “old” show that many of us saw in elementary school, it was very cool.
The weather downtown was great and don’t think we could have ordered better, it made the food and beer taste even better. The rest of the day was a typical Noland event… drinking and eating. I am pretty sure that we spent more on beer then food at the taste. The food was great Andrew announced that Chicago is awesome. He has finally experienced a bit of city life.
Saturday was another busy day and we met the Burke’s (Mike, Jack and Will) at the Shedd Aquarium early (well 9am if you call that early) . Mike said he and the boys have been there a few times as Jack has a shark fetish. The kids had to get some shark stuffed animals at the gift shop, which Andrew has zero need for any more stuffed animals. The aquarium has changed a lot since I had been there last. After chasing around three toddlers for a few hours Mike decided a quick stop for one last adult beverage at the taste was in order before he headed home.
The last activity for the weekend was a trip to Schaumburg to see the old neighborhood and then to Rob’s house for a barbeque, we did not have time to walk around like I originally wanted or stop and see anyone… but it was fun to see the old house. The barbeque at Robs house was fun to see some old faces, and Andrew got to go in the bounce house they rented… so another sweaty baby.
We got back to the hotel downtown at about 9:30pm and quickly packed so we could get to bed for Sunday’s drive at 6am for the next part of our journey to Bigfork, Minnesota.
The trip to chicago turned out to be a lot of fun.
The events started on Thursday when we met up with Rob and Anthony Migliore at the planetarium. I don’t think Andrew has ever walked so much in one day as the Adler Planetarium was about 2 miles from the hotel. Andrew was extremely excited to see Anthony and was asking about him on the drive up and was up at 6 am on Thursday announcing it was time to get up. The Migliore’s joined us for the planetarium and then had to head home at noon for Anthony’s doctor appointment. The show was shorter than I had hoped but it was amazing on what you could see… we did the “old” show that many of us saw in elementary school, it was very cool.
The weather downtown was great and don’t think we could have ordered better, it made the food and beer taste even better. The rest of the day was a typical Noland event… drinking and eating. I am pretty sure that we spent more on beer then food at the taste. The food was great Andrew announced that Chicago is awesome. He has finally experienced a bit of city life.
Saturday was another busy day and we met the Burke’s (Mike, Jack and Will) at the Shedd Aquarium early (well 9am if you call that early) . Mike said he and the boys have been there a few times as Jack has a shark fetish. The kids had to get some shark stuffed animals at the gift shop, which Andrew has zero need for any more stuffed animals. The aquarium has changed a lot since I had been there last. After chasing around three toddlers for a few hours Mike decided a quick stop for one last adult beverage at the taste was in order before he headed home.
The last activity for the weekend was a trip to Schaumburg to see the old neighborhood and then to Rob’s house for a barbeque, we did not have time to walk around like I originally wanted or stop and see anyone… but it was fun to see the old house. The barbeque at Robs house was fun to see some old faces, and Andrew got to go in the bounce house they rented… so another sweaty baby.
We got back to the hotel downtown at about 9:30pm and quickly packed so we could get to bed for Sunday’s drive at 6am for the next part of our journey to Bigfork, Minnesota.
Fathers Day and Blueberries
Posted by Chris in TheNolands on June 24th, 2009
For Fathers day this year I decided going blueberry picking would be a fun family event. The place we orginally were going to visit had a late frost so I had to quickly find a new place… Seems East Texas has a few nice places but they are two hours away.
The place we decided to go to is in Edon, TX about 15 miles past Canton in the middle of no where. Blueberry Hill Farms
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2009 Blueberry picking
Andrew and stacey had a lot of fun… it did get a bit hot as it got near 100 at about noon.
The Bendar’s joined us… and we are convinced the Cindy has a problem
Master Bath Remodel – Part 2
Posted by Chris in TheNolands on January 11th, 2009
It is amazing sometimes on how long it takes to get stuff done. This weekend was successful as we are a ton closer to completion. The counters went in Friday afternoon and we were able to finish most of the cabinets with the drawers and knobs. I have a few pieces of trim still to install.
Finished cabinets
The crown molding was a pain is the a$$ to get done, it is amazing how long it takes to make 10 cuts in the wood. I have decided that I am making another purchase for the next time I need to do crown (because I know there will be one). This new jig will help speed up the process a ton I believe CUT-n-CROWN
So I still have to caulk in the crown, give it a coat of paint and then touch up some spots… I hope to get it done some of the evenings this week. I will see how far I actually get.
Bathroom Tub with shower and Stacey side of cabinet
More to come… off to bed for me
Chris
Masterbath remodel
Posted by Chris in TheNolands on January 9th, 2009
Christmas is not Christmas with out a project at the Noland’s house. This year I finally gave in to the urge to redo the master bath. The sighs from Stacey started right away as she said “I am going to be with out a bathroom for how long?” since it was over the holidays it is a bit easier since there is no getting ready for work… just ready for shopping.
I should have take a few “before” pictures as one of my colleagues Matt does when he remodel’s so show the difference…. But hey I wanted to get in and get started as I only have 2 weeks to get this bad boy completed.
So what is on the plan you ask?
- Remove wall paper and new paint
- Rip out shower
- New multi head shower with larger pan (tile bottom)
- New Tile floor with boarder
- Custom cabinets & new counter tops
Did I mention this is all going to be done by Noland Custom Solutions. Cabinets and all…hope they turn out acceptable or Stacey will be a bit aggravated.
Here are a few pictures of the work in process
My Dad and I trying to get the shower tile to line up… come on did you think I would pick and easy pattern
The Completed shower tile
The bottom custom cabinets installed (no drawer faces yet)
So… project started on December 19th and was supposed to finish on January 4th, I was so close. The counter tops go in on the 9th (later today) and the shower glass gets install on the 16th. I have to say the majority of my work will be done of the 11th, as I tell Stacey I have little future in a job as an estimator… guess as a sales guy I am always optimistic.
More to come later
Chris
Kennedy Space Center With Migliories
Posted by Chris in Family Vacations, TheNolands on November 25th, 2008
Today’s festivities started out with a trip to the Kennedy Space center. The Migliories joined us as Rob is one of the few people I know that went to space camp!
Still need to work on Andrew as Rob’s little girl who is 5 (Josie) wanted to hold Andrew hand so bad all day… and he wanted to play with Rob’s son Anthony. I have to say this is not a little Cat in training. We have time…
The Shuttle was not on the pad this time as it was docked with the International Space station. There is still a ton of stuff to see and really only made it through about ½ of the exhibits. It is kind of depressing that we have not been back to the moon in such a long time, and the next trip to the moon and mars are re-purposing the capsule technology but just on a bigger scale and better computers.
We are trying to get You to support a more robust space program…
Another fun day in Orlando…
Rollins College
Posted by Chris in Family Vacations, TheNolands on November 24th, 2008
Andrew was tired of hearing all of the stories of Stacey’s glory day’s at Rollin College and said “Mommy, I want to go to you college” So we got the experience of seeing “the Harvard of the South” as I hear quite frequently… never heard that about SIU… so maybe it is a better place.
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Rollins College Visit
I quickly figure out is was not a “real” school as we walked about the picture perfect down town and had lunch at Panera Bread and stopped into Williams Sonoma to get some Peppermint Bark. Where are the bars I kept asking myself? Maybe this would be a good place for Andrew to go to school I thought. As we walked around I think…small liberal arts college, there must be lots of hot chicks and Andrew would have a target rich environment. We got to stick around between class changes and I did not see a single one, maybe they were hiding. I am going to have to consult another other recent grads… but he went to school at night for an MBA.
So Andrew’s school choice still are Harvard, MIT and Notre Dame. He better get good grades and I better start saving more.
Orlando at the Pepper’s
Posted by Chris in Family Vacations, TheNolands on November 23rd, 2008
The Noland’s arrived in Orlando last night (November 22nd) for our annual thanksgiving trip. Today we spend some quality time at the Peppers house and got to see the entire family.
Andrew had fun playing with Olivia and helping the “baby” around and giving her toys to play with. It was a fun first day and enjoying a bit warmer weather as it started to get cold in Dallas right before we left… but I guess cold is relative.
Typical Noland Weekend – Landscaping Part 4
Posted by Chris in TheNolands on November 9th, 2008
So you ask what the heck… “Part four! I only see part one and now part four.” Well with Stacey back home it is always hard to keep up with the back office work I need to go… since we all know she is a bit high maintenance (she strongly denies it)
The landscaping project is finally done… For the season that is. When building out the left side I ran short about 3 yards of dirt, so I ended up ordering another 12 to build out the right side.
Andrew was a big helper as usual as he loves to dig holes and we like to work him hard. No slacking off here even for little babies.
The final product turned out fairly nice with the bushes and other plants that Cameron Holmes helped to spec out. We are going to have to wait until spring to finish with the rest of the perennials that are not available right now.
We finished the project with putting in 5 yards of mulch to cover the beds, I should have ordered 8 as we were not able to fill in around the entire house… better luck next year I guess. Stacey is not a big fan of the smell of mulch, it must be the years helping my dad do that at my house growing up as I just love it, but we know us Noland’s are a bit weird.
The spring should also be very nice as I plan to put in about 400 tulip bulbs and 100 daffodils. Stacey is looking forward to helping with that planting.
Chris
Andrew 4th Birthday
Posted by Chris in Kids, TheNolands on October 26th, 2008
What do you get when you take 40 four year olds and let them run around in a bounce house facility for two hours… utter pandemonium
Andrew celebrated his 4th birthday at Pump it up with his friends from school, Tee Ball and around the neighborhood. Andrew had a great time with all of his friends and running around, screaming, tackling and oh yea…jumping.
I believe Andrew is going to be a typical “no fear” Noland as he decided late in the day that taking the stairs up the slide was no fun and to climb on the outside to get to the top. I guess he is living up to his Little Monkey nick name.
This was the first year we did not host the party at our house, so no adult beverages were served. The addition of adult beverages would have made it a bit more fun for the adults I believe. Stacey had gotten back from South east Asia (Indonesia) Saturday around 9 am and the party started at 2:30 pm. We all know she is crazy but this may have been the proof as she setup the schedule…
It is amazing how the time has flow by, it seems like only yesterday we were trying to figure out what to do with Andrew when we brought him home. Well maybe we are still trying to figure it out, but the time has gone by really fast.
Chris
Typical Noland Weekend – Landscaping Project Part 1
Posted by Chris in TheNolands on October 19th, 2008
The weekend started out with a shovel and 7 yards of dirt delivered. I guess this is what I like to call a typical Noland weekend. I have been talking about doing the flower bed expansions since we moved in the house about 7 years ago and figure it was time to get it on.
Stacey thinks I like to tackle major projects when she is out of town. Last year I finished the grill when she was some where. I guess it is the lack of other “projects” that I am able to focus… or maybe I just get to this time of the year and realize I once again have to burn a bunch of vacation.
I slept really good Saturday night and looks like Sunday is going to be an early night again.
Random Album
Halloween 2008
Random Pictures
DFW Weather
- Temperature: 99°F
- Humidity: 27.2%
- Wind: S at 14 mph
- Dew Point: 59°F
- Visibility: 10 miles
- Clouds: Broken Clouds
- Barometer: 29.95 inHg
