What I did on my Summer Vacation 2014 edition

I took the first week of July off from work. Mostly to get things done around the house. I realize that's not much of a vacation but in reality it's all about your mindset. I didn't think much about my job the entire time, I was around my wife and kids most every day, and aside from one big storm the weather was fantastic. My only regret was I didn't ride my motorcycle enough. I did get some new boots on the old girl and while the tires were off I installed a new set of pads on the rear caliper. I spent what seemed like a lot of time cleaning the bike. Maybe that's because it wasn't particularly clean when I bought it. I did nothing to or with the Sportster.

So what did I do? I had planned on doing some work. Some of it got did, some not so much. Here's some of it...
- New faucet on the kitchen sink

Ewwww.....

- New door handle on the front storm door
- Finally installed the bathroom fan that's been taking up space in the garage for what seems like forever

- Fixed the wobbly leg on the swingset
- Ran an airline to my workbench
- Installed a florescent light in the garage
I think I'm forgetting a few but you get the idea.
No need to get into the gory details of all that but here's a couple points that stood out. 1) Actually using the construction materials in my garage and shed frees up considerable space that I don't have to fill with anything else. 2) Most of these "little" items are far from little. The bath fan involved running new wires from the fan through the attic into the wall cavity, knocking a hole in the wall to get to the wires, and then fixing the hole in the wall. If anyone ever gives you the option of crawling around in the attic of a home with trusses and a 4/12 pitch roof in July...pass.
I still have some big projects to tackle before the summer's over but I'm glad I made a dent. At the other end of the spectrum:
 - We went to the beach

Not the most spectacular photo but I was focused on hanging out with the wife and kids rather than photography.
 - My sister-in-law and her boyfriend came by to hang out on Independence Day.
 - I took my boys fishing.

Drowning worms in the shadow of Grandpas cable crane. 

So, I'm about a week back into the old routine, as it were. I still have a million things to do but... maybe I'll take the boys fishing again this weekend.