Friday, September 26, 2008

New Home Update


The framing is moving along very quickly, both the first and second floors are almost complete. Here is a picture of the front as well as a picture from the inside looking from the family room to the stairway. Grace was acting up so I sent her to her room and the third picture is her crying in her new room.
We have been very busy making selections for the house. For a color scheme we have chosen a dark greenish siding with a cream colored trim.

For the front door, we selected this craftsman style wood door.


Inside we are going with white trim and this three paneled door.
To keep with the early 20th century craftsman style of the house, we are hoping to incorporate as many vintage features as possible. Here is a sample of the interior door handle we are considering.


Next up we will be working on the kitchen cabinets and hardwood flooring.
Here is a nice video that depicts the type of cabinets and features we are looking for.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Ryder Cup

This past weekend, we were fortunate enough to be at the final round of the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla in Louisville, KY and to see the USA win the cup for the first time in nine years. Micki's Dad secured four tickets and took us along with Matthew. It was truly an awesome experience (thanks again Clay!) and unlike any other event in golf. As Matt put it... where else can you cheer with excitement when a European golfer misses an important put!? The crowd was very loud and rowdy!

The tickets were great and included access to the member's pavilion where we could cool off and grab a drink while continuing to watch on one of the many TVs. Unfortunately there are no cameras or cell phones allowed into the event so we have no pictures to share, but here are a few of the memorable moments and some pictures and videos I found...

  • Boo Weekly riding his driver like a horse - video
  • Kim not giving Garcia any gimmies
  • Sergio Garcia's walk of shame after sinking 2 balls in the water on number 7 - video
  • Local boy Kenny Perry's dad showed up to watch in overalls - Picture
  • Meeting Fuzzy Zoeller - What a great guy!
  • Fans of Boo dressed in all camo
  • Kim's diamond studded USA belt buckle - Picture
  • Kim's challenge of Garcia's unplayable lie..."Do what you've gotta do" - Picture
  • Micheal Jordan
  • The roar when Mahan sunk his 40 foot birdie put on number 17 (We were standing on the edge of the green) - Picture

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Home Construction Update


The framing of the house is now well under way. They have now completed framing the entire first floor and will begin on the second floor soon. It is great to see it taking shape and to actually be able to walk into the rooms we have until now only seen on paper. I was very concerned about the 11 inches of rain we received over the weekend (The most ever in South Bend), but the drainage tiles they installed around the basement swept all of the water away great and by Monday it wasn't even damp in the basement dispite not having a roof over the house.
We still have to finalize the exterior colors and then we move onto the interterior cabinet design.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Labor Day Weekend


Grace's Grandma and Pop came to visit over Labor Day Weekend and we all had a great time. Micki, Scott, Clay and Tuff went Kayaking down the Christiana Creek on Saturday while Barbara and Grace spent the day shopping. Then on Sunday, we spend the day in beautiful St. Joe Michigan enjoying the beach-side playground area. Grace got to meet a parrot for the first time... she didn't like it! Monday we took in the Marshall County Blueberry Festival where Micki met this hunky cowboy.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Pletcher Family Vacation

The 2008 Pletcher family vacation proved to be another fabulous trip to Kiawah Island. As always, it was great to spend time with family and to see Grace play with all of her cousins. The week was filled with fun times. We played at the beach, we played at the pool, we played sing star at night and even spent one day at a great water park in Charleston. Click on the images below for more pictures of this great week.

2008 Pletcher Family Vacation






Fun at the Beach


Fun at the Pool

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Home Construction Update

The plans for our home were finalized in late July and we officially broke ground in August. They started by clearing the trees and staking out the house. They then dug the basement (shown left) and have since poured the basement walls. Framing is scheduled to begin next week and we are in the process of picking out exterior finishes such as paint, windows, door, shingles, and brick/rock. It has been very time consuming, but we are really enjoying the process so far. Here are the final floor plans and more pictures of the progress.




Tuesday, September 2, 2008

San Francisco - Shana and Scott's Wedding

With our good friends Shana and Scott getting married in San Francisco, we decided to take a couple of extra days off work and make a mini-vacation out of the trip. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend...

We spent the day Friday tasting wine in Sonoma. One of the Notre Dame Trustee's Stephanie Gallo surprised us with a fantastic private tour of the Gallo Fei Ranch Vineyard. The tour was amazing, we learned a lot about the wine making process and were evene allowed to theive wine right from barrel and taste it. After the tour, we enjoyed a fantastic gourmet lunch on the patio of winery's tasting room.


When we left Gallo, we found ourselves at Sbragia where the wine maker and the manager (who were huge ND fans) invited us down their cellar to taste right from the vat. As you will see in the pictures, the wine maker even hand blended us a glass of Zinfandel and Syrah. Click here for more pictures.


Saturday we spent the day touring San Fansisco before the wedding. We started with a morning with a boat trip to Alcatraz which was very interesting. Afterwards, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. To see the bridge in person is amazing. It was hard to see the entire bridge most days because of the fog, but this day was clear so we drove to the top of a mountain and got some amazing picutres. Click here for more pictures.



Saturday night was the main event... the wedding. The setting was amazing: in the middle of a park, on top of a mountain, the sun setting and the fog rolling in. Shana look amazing and Scott cleaned up pretty well as well.
It was a blast! The reception was held right in the park and filled with fun and dancing. Click here for more pictures.



We booked a late flight on Sunday so that we could squeeze in as much additional site seeing time as possible. Sunday morning, we headed out to the Muir Woods to hike and take in the views of the gigantic redwood trees with Heather, Bob, and Keegan. After quite a hike, we headed back to the city to take in a few more sites such as Lombard Street and Postcard Row (pictured here). Click here for more pictures.


It was a great trip! We packed a lot into three days, but we enjoyed every minute of it.