Perfect Day for Apple Pickin'

Dave and I went apple picking in Maple Park on Sunday with some friends. The day started out looking pretty gloomy, but ended up being a bright and sunny day in the end! At the apple orchard, we walked through the gift store and tried out the hot apple cider...mmmm, good! Then we got a short hayride to the start of the orchard and walked the rest of the way. We ended up picking Empire, Fuji and Golden Delicious apples to bring home (I think half of them were Fuji, which are Dave's favorite). After apple picking, we finished up by watching the second half of the Bears game at a sports bar in downtown Geneva.

As for the house, no new pictures, but we did have our pre-drywall meeting yesterday afternoon. We spent 2 hours walking through the house with one of the Pulte construction mgrs and then we video taped and took lots of pictures of the house. Sounds like they have two different inspections the house has to go through (1 prior to insulation and 1 after) and then they will start drywalling on Friday. So, it should get more exciting now to see the inside come together! The only unfortunate thing that came out of the meeting is they are tentatively scheduling closing for Nov. 28th, but we've asked for them to at least move up to the day before Thanksgiving if at all possible, which sounds like it can be done.

Wood trim & Brick delivery

Dave and I were very excited that the wood trim work was done on the outside of the house and our brick pallets were delivered!! We're hoping they'll start the brick today, since it will be raining tomorrow. We couldn't sneak into the house this time, because all doors and windows were locked, but we at least could peak through the front door. Looks like the duct work is progressing, but no electricals were done from what we could see. We haven't gotten the call for the pre-drywall meeting yet, but we're still hoping for next week. Overall, 9 of the 10 houses on our court are now started, so it's starting to look more like a little neighborhood.

A hunting we will go..

Dave and I decided to get out in nature this weekend, to enjoy the last of the nice weather. We went mushroom hunting and Dave was extremely excited that I spotted a bright orange sulphur shelf mushroom. Dave hasn't had one of these in over ten years and this was the prize of the day! Of course, after the good rain we had at the beginning of last week, there were many other mushrooms in the Downers Grove forest preserve, but this was what Dave was truly hunting for! We also brought Sasha along for the trip - she enjoyed the nature walk - especially when we saw squirrels and other fury creatures she wanted to chase! Here are pictures of Dave walking with his mushroom hunting bag and Sasha and I following. The second picture is my prize find - sulphur shelf prior to us cutting it from the log to bring home to fry up and eat.
On the house front, we went by there Friday. We actually had to sneak in because now the front door is on and locked and the garage doors are shut and locked. Luckily, Dave was able to walk up a board and lift himself up in the sliding glass door and then he unlocked the basement window for me (shhh, don't tell!) We were excited that the plumbing is completed - our bathtubs and showers are in place. They also started the duct work for heating and a/c. We're hoping for a pre-drywall meeting next week sometime!

Shingles & Garage Doors

We went by last night and the shingles were on, garage doors were in and a significant amount of plumbing was done.

Windows and stairs

Dave and I drove by last night after working out and all of our windows are now in!! They also cut the hole into the basement from the first floor and mounted the stairs, mounted the stairs from the garage inside and from the foyer upstairs. Now we just need our front door up and shingles on and I believe we're weather-proofed!! They've now have 7 of the 10 houses in our court at some point in the building process, so soon it will look like a more complete subdivision from our view!! Here are 2 of the more exciting pics I took of the house.

Ready for windows & shingles

Dave and I drove by last Friday to see progress. The roof and most of the trim work was done, so the next step is to put the windows in and then the shingles (then we should be water-proofed). We thought it would be a bit further along, but because it rained twice last week, that put them back a bit. We also had our lumber for the deck delivered, so hopefully that will be put up this week as well. Not too much else to report on the house.