6/17-6/21

On 6/17, the Gates arrived!  It was a WONDERFUL visit - and we were sorry they couldn't stay longer, but they had Disney World to get to the following week. We weren't too elaborate with outings during their stay, but we did have good times.

 Wed 6/17

After picking them up at the airport, we headed for lunch/dinner at Red Robin - yummmm...

We spent the rest of the day visiting - and Mr. Raider decided very quickly that Matthew could be trusted and the baby was to be protected!

Thur 6/18

The next day was a visit to the National Boy Scout Museum...

Fri 6/19

Friday was Longhorn Cattle visit - a Gates tradition - this time they also had mules and a burro!

The rest of the day was spent visiting, watching movies, and looking at genealogy info...

And Raider once again sat with Matthew...

Sat 6/20

Breakfast at IHop...

The rest of the day was spent in various activities, with a few movies thrown in.

Ceithlinn and I made shopping bags out of t-shirts -

with help from Raider, of course

Jeni helped Dave with toilet-innards...

okay - this is a totally fake picture, because Dave, of course, wouldn't actually let her help!...

Matthew made a cup telephone with Grandpa...

And then Grandpa read a story to the kids...
followed by more movies and more visiting...

Sun 6/21

Before they had to leave for the airport, we celebrated Aimee's birthday early...

How cute is she?!!!!!

And then it was a scramble and off to the airport!

Too short, but a great visit!

And we were very proud of Raider - he was much better behaved than was expected!

May Rains

Rain for four-and-a-half weeks was not only weird, but it caused a freak flood on 5/28 on the uphill side of the house, causing water to come in between the foundation and the brick, flooding the closet and the bedroom. 

On Friday, 5/29, I was able to pull up the carpet and most of the padding in the closet and Dave spent a lot of time using the shop vac to get a lot of water up. But the bedroom itself was too much for us because the furniture was so heavy.  

Unfortunately, it was 6/2 before I could get anyone out to deal with it since the tri-county area was also flooded out and there were hundreds of other customers for the remediation crews!  

When Texas Disaster Restoration did arrive, my favorite phrase of the year became "No ma'am, there is no mold."!  They pulled up the rest of the carpet and padding and set up the large dehumidifier and 3 fans.

While the remediators were there, the carpet man from Empire Central came and measured and showed me the samples to choose from.

It took a few days for the room to dry, but on 6/8 the new carpet arrived! We had the installers pull up the carpet on the hallway and short stairs and replace them as well as the bedroom and closet carpet.

It's beautiful and it's soft!

I have to admit that I'm sorry we had to spend the money, but I'm not sorry in my heart that the old carpet is gone!

And, on a happy note, it looks like Mr. Raider is beginning to accept other people...hope this behavior continues!