And it continues...

Since my last blog post, I found out that the my sister and brother in law's motor in one of their slides broke/died (whatever slides do. If you are not familiar, a slide is in an RV and expands your floor plan when you are camping.) They also had a battery die and had to take my nephew to the urgent care on Thursday because he broke out with a body rash. Merry Christmas! Lol!

What should have been a 7 hour trip took us 11 hours. We only stopped twice but traffic was a nightmare and we had to fix the heat and the leaking diesel. I have to admit it was pretty cool that I could make everyone lunch as we were driving down the road.
Last night was pretty uneventful until we got ready for bed. We have a cute little cabin for Chris and I while everyone else stays in their RV's. Chris and I could not get comfortable on the cabin bed or get warm. I think it took us about 2 hours to get comfortable and warm. Meanwhile, Rivers was sick all night and is just getting some sleep now and it's 10am. It's raining and we are sitting in the RV waiting for the rain to stop and Rivers to feel better. In other news, I'm pretty excited that we are close to some Amish, Minnonites, and a Scandanavian village! We are going to get out and adventure later today.

On the road again...

Like any good country song, a Bryant vacation comes with great stories. We are 3 hours into the trip and here is what has happened...
1. Chris and I took the jeep home on Christmas Day so that we could just meet Daddy and Barbara on the road today. We packed that thing so full this morning we barely fit in it ourselves! Note to self: a jeep wrangler is not a good traveling car.
2. We meet up with Daddy and Barbara at 9am to have lunch and hook up the Jerp. We learn when they arrive that we have no heat. My response, Wait... What?!? Yes we are headed north in late December with no heat. You can see me wrapped in my blanket below.
3. After breakfast we learn that the RV is leaking diesel. I'm concerned but no one else seems to be concerned. My response, am I being punked?
4. We have been trying to fix the satellite in the RV for weeks in preparation for this trip. We could never get it fixed so Daddy bought a DVD player so we could watch movies. That's great except the DVD player is sitting at his house in Edisto right now and we are almost to Florence.

My Daddy gave me one of his cameras to document the trip. I'll take lots of pics and post soon. Until then here are some pics from my phone.

The Bryant Delay

As a Bryant, I'm use to being delayed or to plans not completely going my way.  Change and delays have been a part of my life for years.  It could be the many times we have been stranded on a sand bar in the boat. It could be the many times we've been lost in a car or on a boat.  To be a little more serious, when you have a father who is a preacher you are often going to have plans interrupted due to emergencies in others families lives who depend on and need your father to get through those emergencies.  This was why a lot of our family vacations when we were younger were to Kiawah or Seabrook.  It was far enough away to feel like a vacation but close enough that Daddy could go into town if needed. 

This vacation is going to be delayed a little for part of the family.  One of my Daddy's friends and long time church members passed away on Sunday.  It was expected by the family due to his illness but of course they wanted to get through Christmas before they plan the funeral.  Half of the Bryant gang is on the road today and half of us will meet up on Friday.

Chris and I are headed to my Daddy and Barbara's house in a few minutes for a fun day. I'm so thankful that we've had the chance to spend time with all of our family this holiday and looking forward to spending time with the entire Bryant/Stuckey clan on Friday.   Safe travels to the Stuckey and Bryant's on the road today.  Special thoughts go out to anyone who lost a loved one this year.  It is never easy but thinking about memories of that person always put a smile on my face. 

Christmas Time

This week our kitchen has finally started to come together. Chris sent me a text with a picture of the cabinets as they were being installed yesterday! I was in love but I can now tell you that I'm more in love since I've seen them in person.

We typically visit the house on Sundays but since we will be out of town we decided to go on our way out of town. This week they installed the locks on the doors so we now have to go during the times the sales office is open. I got to wear a pink hard hat today. I love it much more than the blue ones.

When we arrived they were working on installing all of the lights, switch covers and plug covers. I'm sure they'll get that done by the end of the day.

This week they installed the A/C and Heating unit, all of the cabinets and the marble counter tops for the bathrooms. They cleaned all that nasty water out of the bathtubs and at some point the sound system guy came and connected all of the surround sound in the living room and bonus room. They have prepared the steps for the railing and hard wood to be installed.

We are not sure how we feel about the marble in the guest and master bathroom. It looks much better in the bonus bathroom because we got plain white cabinets in that bathroom. The distressed look of the cabinets and the white marble don't seem to jive well but we'll see how it looks when it is finished. Worst case scenario is that we'll add installing new bathroom countertops to Chris' project list.

We are not going to see the house again until either Jan 1st or 2nd so I'm expecting a lot of changes in the next 10 days!

I'll be using this blog to write about the Bryant Family Vacation (think National Lampoons) which starts bright and early Christmas morning. We will be taking 3 RVs and 10 people to Williamsburg VA and Washington DC. Check back to enjoy some humor at my expense.

Here are some pics from the house this week.

Kitchen!

I'm in love with my kitchen! The granite and floors will brighten it up when they are installed!

We are so close!!

Disclaimer: This is my first long blog that I'm doing from my phone. We are getting ready for the Bryant Family Christmas Vacation (think National Lampoons) so I'm over at my Dad and Bab's house. Chris is fixing the TV in the RV so we will be able to have some entertainment on the ride up and back. If the pictures aren't organized or in order, this is the reason why.

This week they got our garage door installed. We got our numbers on our front door. Although I'm a little confused over why they put them on the door before they painted the door black. The first coat of paint is on the walls and ceilings. The fireplace logs were installed. All of the molding around the bottom of the walls are done. (Remember we have decided to do the rest of the crown molding, chair rails and bead board ourselves.) We didn't go by the house today because we just got back into town but when we left on Friday afternoon they were finishing up the siding. We anticipate that they finished that up yesterday. The picture of the front of the house has the siding installer's car in the picture. He was hard at work on Friday trying to finish the back of the house.

Next week, we hope to see cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. I'm not sure what will happen after that. I'm assuming our flooring will be installed or maybe our toilets and master shower.

We went to Homegoods today and picked up some more decor for the house and some platters for our summer parties.

We got our closing date this week! Yay! We officially have 42 days. We are now creating a list of what needs to be done prior to closing (furniture/appliance delivery dates set up, moving strategy, buy blinds and schedule them to be installed and most important schedule all of our utilities to be turned on or transferred into our name by that date). January 28th we will be sleeping in our new home... Either on the floor or in a bed!

Until next week...

Closing Date!

We just got our closing date and we are 44 days from closing!  Let the countdown begin! 

Slacker

I've been quite the slacker with the blog.  I missed by post last week.  Let's see where did we leave off last time? Electrical had been completed and the fireplace was delivered. 

We've had a lot of changes over the past two weeks.

*Insulation was completed
*Internal and External Doors were installed
*Drywall is up
*Fireplace Mantle was installed
*Siding is almost complete
*Concrete for additional patio space, driveway, and the front sidewalk is complete

The exterior as of today 12/11/2012.

Bonus room view to closet (left) and bathroom (back)

Bonus room

Guest Room Closet door

Front Door

Master Bedroom Main door (left) with view into Laundry room and bathroom (right)

Office

Dining Room

Kitchen/Breakfast Room

Living Room with view of Fireplace

Kitchen with view of pantry door and pass through to dining room (right)

View from Breakfast Area to Living Room

Bonus room stairs (putting up the handrail)

2nd Guest bedroom closet

Attic door is in

The house has had a lot of visitors lately and we are so excited that so many people have been able to stop by and see it in person. 

We've had a few wins with shopping as well.  We bought our bedroom furniture yesterday.  It's Ashley Furniture that sells for $3500 in the store and we bought it for $1000 from a couple who was looking to get new furniture. 

We also purchased our entertainment center tonight with our gift cards from Rooms to Go that we bought on Black Friday. 

In other news, we should have our closing date soon and we've put in our 60 day notice at the APT complex that we will be moving out.  Hopefully,  we will close well before our lease ends here. 

Next week we should have painting complete and CABINETS!  YAY! 

Until next time...