Sowing the seeds

Thursday May 15th: The forms have passed inspection, all ready for the concrete.



See it? There's concrete in those forms there.
Some of the lower forms have already been stripped away. This was taken on Saturday the 17th,we missed getting a Friday photo. Kim was there for the pour, while I was at work, & I guess he was so excited about helping with the concrete pour that he completely forgot that I'd left the camera with him for a reason.
Seriously, I don't think Kim gets too excited about seeing a cement truck, especially when it runs over and breaks our newly installed water meter. OUCH!
The two little boys next door were pretty excited about the cement truck though. They remind me of our boys when they were younger. Cole had a book called "You can name 100 trucks" and believe me, he COULD. Come to think of it, I could name 100 trucks in my sleep after reading that book 100 times.
When the road was repaved a number of years ago Cole & Shea sat on the front deck with drinks & popcorn, watching the paver. Better than any movie in a theatre.

For a change the lousy weather worked in our favour. There was enough rain off & on all weekend that Kim only had to water the foundations once.
They need lots of water, you know - so the house will grow.

Here kitty, kitty

Wednesday, May 14th. Our one-day-old build site. Forms are almost finished for the foundation.
That first room looks like a big kitty litter box. Trust me, those big lumpy things are the dirt-covered concrete bases of the fence posts that were just ripped out, NOT giant cat turds. The neighbourhood cats prefer sand boxes with lots of kids toys. How do I know this? I still remember 'scooping' the sandbox before the kids could play in it.
There, Cole standing in the doorway for scale. Although, even taking a closer look, that still looks like super-sized cat poop in our future living room.
Lovely.

No pressure

When our plans passed two weeks ago there was still one piece of the puzzle we needed before we could get our plans back & start building. We were anxious to get this final document registered by the end of the week as our framer was chomping at the bit to get started that weekend.
Thursday we got the email. Everything was in order except for official ID from every adult living in the household. They had mine & Kim's already, but they defined adult as anyone over 15 and didn't we have a 16-year-old son? All they needed was the number from his learners license.
That's ALL? No problem: according to their website, the new motor vehicle office is open until 7, he can take his test after school. Never mind that he had been 16 for less than a month, had just started studying, & hadn't even read all the way through the study guide yet. "Just go right home after school, you'll have about an hour to cram before Dad picks you up- you'll do fine."

1st snag - Kim & Cole arrived only to be reminded that they needed Cole's Birth Certificate before he could even start the test. And where is it? In Mom's wallet, of course.
2nd snag - The website lied. The office was only open until 6. And I had rush-hour tunnel traffic to fight my way through to get that birth certificate delivered. Kim was told that if I didn't arrive in 10 minutes there wouldn't be time for the test. He set the timer on his watch.
The tunnel gods were kind that day & I squeaked in just before his timer went off.

The office was deserted, with a distinct closing-time air. I couldn't take the suspense so I left with the excuse that I had to make dinner. Kim gave Cole lots of breathing room & immersed himself in a game of Tetris on his phone. The three clerks had nothing left to do but watch Cole's progress on their monitor.
Poor Cole, knowing that they were waiting for him to finish so they could go home, rushed & made a couple of careless mistakes right off the bat. After a few reminders from the watching women to slow down, Cole worked his way through the 50 questions.
To pass you need 40 correct and you're allowed to skip any question twice.

Last question: Cole had made 10 errors and question #50 was one he'd already skipped twice.

The tension was so thick one of the watching clerks said she couldn't look & left the room.
Taking the advice from the remaining clerks, Cole took his time and thought it through...

"I'm a Learner, baby"

And THIS is how he feels about it.

Congratulations Sweetheart!

Worth Four Thousand Words

Friday.

Saturday.

Monday.

Blast-off!

THIS IS SO EXCITING! The pace has sped up quite a bit this past week. Kim picked up the plans from City hall on Monday, the surveyor put in the pegs marking the perimeter Tuesday morning and by Tuesday afternoon we had an outline of our home.
We have building blocks in our sandbox now.

Kim asked me if I thought it was an inauspicious beginning to start building on the 13th.
Nah, we're safe. 'Tuesday the 13th' doesn't have as sinister a ring as 'Friday'.

Back to Kitsilano

Playing around with our new camera. Now I won't have any excuses for not showing more pics here.
Here are my boys in my and Kim's old neighbourhood. The building on the corner is where I lived for most of my twenties. In fact, the window behind Kim is the apartment where were married and where, as Kim likes to embarrass Cole by pointing out every time we pass, we were living 9 months before Cole was born. (Although Kim doesn't put it quite so delicately)
Can't believe that was more than 16 years ago.

Passed!

Our house plans were approved by the City today!

Ok, Ok, KIM's plans to be exact, since my contribution consisted mainly of stamping my feet and holding my breath until I got my way on a couple of features. Like the see-through fireplace between our master bedroom & bathroom.

Now there's just one more (always one more) little piece of red tape that we have to wait for before we're allowed to pay the City more buckets of money to get our plans back and start building.

And then the real fun begins....