My Trip to California

This year I signed up for the Southern California Science trip at school. There was a huge waiting list. I was second on it, and was able to get in. We visited many places and I had lots of cool experiences. One of the highlight of my trip, was going to Camp Emerald Bay on Catalina Island. We got to go kayaking, snorkeling, and learned about the animals around there.

Another place we got to go to was Medieval Times, we all sat around in this huge stadium, and cheered for our knight (the yellow one) while we were served food (which we had to eat with our fingers).

We also spent a day at Sea World. I loved seeing the dolphins, they are so cute! I didn't get any pictures of Samu because I was in the front row, and I really didn't want to get my digital camera soaking wet!

At Hollywood

The last night, at a Mexican restaurant (I don't remember the name, we were all really tired).

Progress on the "Garage"

So it's been a couple of months and we've made some progress on the garage. All of the massive holes required for the new water and sewer lines have been filled and the front yard is getting back to normal. Here is some of what else has been happening:

The new garage was framed. My best friend Mario and hos crew came and framed the entire structure in four days. The structure shares half of one wall with the house ("attached") and on the back side has a small office and a bathroom. Smoe of the back angles were a little tricky but Mario and his crew did a great job.



Here is the inside view after framing. The electricians and plumbers were in and did their rough-ins. The mechanical guy also came and put in the a/c and cooler ducting. Everything passed on our framing/rough-in inspection - Yahoo!









Next Mario (hey, this guy can do anything) painted the eves. He did such a good job we had him do it twice. No, actually the roofers used too long of nails and made the undersides look bad where they stuck out so Mario got to paint again. Here he is painting.





After the roofing the crane came in to lift the two coolers and the A/C unit up on the roof. Now that those are in place the roof is sealed and the rain can come.










After that we've (mostly mario) has been busy sheeting the inside of the garage with plywood and drywalling. They have also put up the lathing (foam & chicken wire) on the outside in preparation of the stucco.





Here is an inside view as it stands now. They are just finishing the taping of the drywall on the garage ceiling and have hung plastic in preparation for texturing and painting this week.









Here is a view inside the office. Doesn't look like much but this is the result of six days of taping, filling and sanding. It will also be textured this week.










Here is the view from the alley. The roof is finished and the lathing is close.





This far this has been taxing but fun. There is a lot to coordinate, check and recheck. I've had to uncover a few outlets and have a few things corrected but all in all it has been perfect. This week is texture, then paint and then inside electrical. Hopefully the next post will be the finished views. I'm already planning the garage warming party we'll have when it's done. For now it's closer every day. There's been a lot of names attached to it like "The Man Cave", "The Barn" and others I probably shouldn't include here in a public forum. But right now I just call it unfinished. But hey - The drinking fountain is connected and working. What more could I ask for!