Even More Progress!

Despite how busy we've been the past few weeks, we have made marvelous progress here at Loon Lake Lodge. However, before sharing our construction progress, let us take a moment to introduce little Jillian Claire! I spent last week down helping out the new mother and getting to know Jillian much better. It was a wonderful visit and I was thrilled to be able to help out.

Of course I also loved being with Elizabeth and Kate too, they are such darling little girls adjusting to having a baby sister. On Thursday Poppy was even able to join up with us on a trip to the Children's Museum. He had driven a school bus trip down for the day and so we ventured out to meet up with him at the girls' favorite place. He loved watching their enjoyment of all the attractions. Here the three of them worked the Rube Goldberg display to make the pool balls travel the distance and return to go again.

I returned to the lake Friday evening in order to prepare for Labor Day weekend and all the festivities. Saturday we were busy finishing up the drywall in the back bedroom upstairs. Then we worked to clean up all the dust and mess for our company arriving the next day. Late on Sunday afternoon Michelle arrived for a short visit. We were deeply disappointed that Richard could not join us too, but he is quite busy with his schooling, teaching and research at Knoxville where he works towards his masters degree. Shell was amazed at our new wing of the house, which she had only seen in photos. While we waited on her arrival, we got most of the garage ceiling insulated and just kept on working. Not much rest for the weary!

Monday morning early Amanda and her crew arrived for a day at the lake. Here the sisters sit and catch up a bit while watching Libbers play in the sand and shallows. It was so good seeing them able to spend a little time together. It does my heart to good to see how close these girls have grown as adults

Of course, this was Jillian's first visit to the lake. She was all dolled up to be introduced to the extended family. We had my brother and his family here for the late afternoon and evening to celebrate Mom's 85th birthday. It was great to see everyone. We had not been all together for over a year. Here are the cousins all smiling after a big meal awaiting birthday cake.

On Tuesday it was just Shell with us, as everyone else took off Monday night. I had to go to town for a while in the morning and when I returned, Poppy and Shell were busy hanging drywall. Here they are working on the walls high up in the master bedroom.

She is a work-horse, so strong and able. As you can see, Father and Son...ah, um daughter, are very proud of their accomplishment.

So, to summarize, we have all the drywall hung upstairs except inside the closets where we will use up smaller pieces when finished with the walls and large areas. Our bedroom is coming along quicker than expected and today we worked to hang yet several more sheets on the walls. It is very exciting to see it coming together.