Basement Suite Renovation

Our tenant got married last weekend. We figured now that his new wife would be moving into the suite, this was the best time to renovate the kitchen. We had been wanting to do it for quite some time. The suite was always nice and clean, just needed to be updated. So while they were on their honeymoon, we went mad to get it done.

What started out as a kitchen renovation (installing new cabinets) became a "well, since we have the cabinets out, we might as well put new flooring down; and since we have the flooring out, we might as well paint the suite". The job got bigger and bigger.

I found some great Mills Pride cabinets on craigslist from Vancouver. Chris and his dad took a budget truck down from Kelowna and picked them up along with a few appliance deals I had brokered as well (the plan always was to put our appliances in the basement and get newer stuff for us upstairs).

We got the same cabinets off of Craigslist that we already have upstairs. We will (in a few weeks) rearrange our kitchen, take out a wall that divides the living room and kitchen and put in an island. With the left over cabinets, we planned to update the basement suite kitchen. I plotted out the upstairs kitchen to see which cabinets would be used, then I knew which ones were left over for the basement.

Chris' Dad and my Dad came out on Saturday. They started taking the old cabinets and the old lino out of the suite while we were at the wedding.

laying down new lino

Once we got back from the wedding, Chris went to help out as well. Twelve to fifteen hour days with so many wonderful helpers! Chris figures that about 200 hours went into this reno.

A few weeks earlier, our renter's fridge started going on the fritz so we quickly got our new fridge installed and gave him our old one. Now with the renovation being complete, we gave them our stove and dishwasher too. (We already had the newer dishwasher for us just sitting in the garage waiting to be installed, but the stove...we put ours down there and took their older one upstairs).

I bought the kitchen sink off of the same people I got the cabinets from for $50. They also gave us the countertops too and since the countertop was already cut for that sink we just used that newer, nicer sink in the basement suite. Let me stress -- NEWER, NICER. When our pastor saw it he said he used to work in that industry and that was one of the top of the line sinks available and was worth about $600!

The new sink only had one hole for a faucet. The old sink had two. This meant we could not use the old faucet on this new sink. Chris started taking apart our faucet to put in the basement when he asked if he could just put in our new faucet (that wasn't installed yet and which I had picked up off of Castanet [like craigslist but for Kelowna only] for a great deal).


So now the suite has a top of the line sink and a very pretty faucet, plus our stove, fridge, and dishwasher.

We needed one more cabinet to complete the lower cabinets. The only one that we thought would fit well and leave plenty of room in the suite for a kitchen table was one from our kitchen. So our kitchen is now missing a cabinet!

Our kitchen
Pink! The walls were pink before.

With all these renos, including new paint, the old green baseboards did not match the decor anymore. Chris was concerned that getting new baseboards and painting them, then installing them would take too much time. So instead, he took the baseboards off of our upstairs living room, dining room, kitchen, and guest bedroom to use in the basement!

More pink paint exposed beneath where the
baseboards used to be in our upstairs

So now the suite has a top of the line sink and a very pretty faucet, plus our stove, fridge, dishwasher, cabinet, and baseboards.

We will install the uppers in the suite after we have finished our kitchen renovation and can see for sure what is still available.

Special thanks to Chris' dad, my dad, my mom, and our pastor for all their help. Funny story: I had called Pastor Darren on Tuesday to see if one of his teenaged girls could help me out with the kids while I get some errands done. But I couldn't get a hold of him so I just left to do my errands. Well, he called back and when Chris answered the phone, Darren said "what can I help you with?". Chris goes on to ask him about how to install the sink. (Darren has some plumbing experience). Chris then realizes that Darren was likely returning a phone call and not necessarily seeking out how he could help Chris with the plumbing. But, nonetheless, Darren was available that afternoon. He had planned to do some visiting with people from the church and it seemed like God had picked us to be on his roster for the day! What a blessing.

Before and After Photos

Angle #1:

Angle #2:

Angle #3:
The Bathroom:

New Baby!

Who is that kid? You'd think we got a new kid!

The first picture was taken on April 9th. The second April 26th. Yet, his haircut makes him look like a completely different baby. Who knew he was blond underneath all that shaggy dark hair. His hair is now shorter than when he was born!




Friends at Church yesterday weren't sure who the child was that was with us. Same kid, different look. We had to cut it; it was getting so long it was getting in his eyes. So Chris just clipped it with the hair cutting kit he has.

Chris had a hard time getting Taylen to keep his head still.

You'd almost think that was a wig. I mean, the kid
is only 6 months old and that is a lot of
hair for a baby his age to be
responsible for.

Because of the way he sleeps, the hair on the back of his head was
being to get meshed into dreadlocks.

And to prove that it is blond underneath all that dark hair, see below. (We are truly surprised, although when he was born it was interesting that the tips of his hair had blond highlights...and he does have blue eyes).

Belize 2010

Belize 2010

We had the blessing of being able to go as a family (yes, with the 2 kids along [Mikaya 22 months; Taylen 3 months]) to the country of Belize early in January (thank God for things like Travel airmiles and TD reward miles).

Welcome to Blue Creek, Belize

If you ask where is Belize, it is just south of Mexico on the Caribbean side.

We went to the area of Belize just below
the dip in the North.
We were literally a few minutes from the border
crossing where Mexico juts down into Belize.

The kids handled the travel with ease (minus one plane ride [out of 6] in which they both cried for most of the way). But for most of the travel time they were exceptional. They also really enjoyed staying in Belize. Mikaya loved being outside, running around in bare feet, and having 2 older sisters, Mikayla and Destinee (the family we stayed with). It was a little confusing at times because Mikayla and Mikaya sound a lot a like. And they both went by Micky too!

Mikaya also had a little brother that week - Kwame. It was nice to stay with a family who understood a toddler getting into everything. Thank you for your grace Abe and Mary!

On the way to Belize, we flew from Kelowna to Seattle, stayed the night in Seattle, then flew to Dallas and on to Belize. But it took 3 days to get there! Our flight was delayed leaving Kelowna (no biggie).

Delay, delay, delay...
Thank God for the restraints of a car seat - otherwise
she's be all over the airport!

Our flight, the next day, out of Seattle was delayed as well. They had us all on the airplane, then spent about 45 minutes fixing some engine trouble. After that, they had us de-plane and get onto a different one because they could not fix it easily. Annoying as that is, I am glad they choose to not send us off on a broken airplane. And since I will never know if it could have been a disastrous problem, I just have to be thankful for the delay.

But because of the delay, we missed our connecting flight out of Dallas to Belize. So we stayed the night in Dallas and enjoyed Denny's restaurant. Mikaya likely thinks that Dallas is a hotel and a restaurant as that is all she saw of the city.


We arrived in Belize on New Year's Eve.

The Dyck reunion (Cory's mom's maiden name was Dyck) was from Jan 3rd - 5th. It was amazing to look around and realize that we are related to all these people. About 250-300 people were there. About 150 who live in Blue Creek, Belize, about 50 who live in Old Colony Shipyard, Belize and the rest from Canada.

The days were packed with activities, good food, and enjoyable people.

Since we recently discovered that Mikaya is allergic to nuts, we kept an extra close eye on her over the reunion days. Peanuts are a treat in Belize. Coke and peanut time fell at 10am (where as we are used to coffee break). Prior to 10am there were no peanuts around. After 10am there were peanuts and peanut shells everywhere. We actually had them make an announcement about Mikaya's peanut allergy just in case she happened to pick something up off the ground or if someone wanted to be nice and offer her a snack. And that did happen - but the adult realized in time that Mikaya should not have any. And either Chris or I (or my parents as they were there at the reunion too) were often right next to her to ensure her safety. We also had an epi-pen along, just in case. Most there do not have this allergy so we also made her a t-shirt to identify her as the "no peanut" girl.

Notice the "no peanuts" t-shirt.

Taylen liked to dress pretty skimpy on those days when
the heat was too much for him.

It wasn't hot most of the week as they were having a cold front (with temperatures down to about 20 or so). But sometimes when we were outdoors at the park for the reunion the warmth was a bit more than Taylen was used to. For those meal times he was sometimes fussy.



Taylen slept in his "moses bed". Very nice for traveling. Just place the baby in the bed, cover with mosquito netting and viola! It is all good until you get a fire ant in your travel bed (their bite stings like crazy!).


There was a program every evening with games to follow afterwards.

To keep the child quiet during the program, feed
her cheerios.

Mikaya and Taylen learned many new activities while in Belize:

Raising sheep

Learning to drive (they start young in Belize)

When we were living in Belize (2005-2007) we also connected with a Spanish speaking church in the next town over, San Felipe. Now we were able to go back and visit on the last night before we left. It is amazing to hear about what God is doing in that church. So many have come to know faith in Christ over the last few years. Praise God!

This is an old picture. Eldon and Natalie's
child is now 3 yrs old.

Chris spent some time at the tree plantation. Lots of mahogany, cedar and gmelina.

Can you see the flagging tape on
some of the trees?

Because bugs, ants, and other issues come up that can hurt the trees, Chris flagged the trees that we need to focus on fertilizing and pruning.

The nasty Shoot Borer (an unwanted bug
that causes problems)

I chose a tree

Mikaya chose hers
And Chris his
Some are big (trees are supposed
to grow an inch wide per year)
Some are small

Chris really enjoyed his time with the trees. After doing an office job 40 hours a week, it was nice to get out into the outdoors and marvel at God's creation. Maybe it will be just a big garden in the end.


On the way home, Chris came down with a cold. So he and Taylen stayed at the hotel while Mikaya and I went out exploring Dallas. The mall was the only good option that was open, not too far away, and could work with the short attention span of a one year old. Unfortunately, since we were only passing through the States we did not have any American money on us. So there were many activities at the mall that we ALMOST got to do:

We almost got to ride the cool train,
but they only took cash.

We almost got to ride this,
but it only took cash.

We almost got to ride the carousel,
but they only took cash.
Mikaya tried to climb through the bars (actually, she did get through)

And then this nice lady came up to us and offered to pay
for Mikaya and I to ride. Mikaya loved it!
What a blessing. We didn't have to go on,
but a blessing it was.

We almost built a bear, but Mikaya wasn't too
interested. Rather she found a stroller in the store
and was more inclined to drive
the stroller around the store.
Ah, we don't need to many more stuffed animals anyways.

Burger King took debit.

I was really impressed with the kids' ability to travel so well. We arrived home at 12:30 in the morning (and since there was a 2 hour time change) that was more like 2:30am. For the kids, that was one long day. Taylen took it in stride since he was still in the "just give me food and a couple hours sleep and I'm good" mode of baby life. Mikaya, however, since she is up for 12 hours a day now (minus a two hour nap in the afternoon), that was a VERY long day for her and she let all the other passengers know about it. Thank God she slept on the plane rides that day, but once we got to the baggage pick up area at Kelowna's airport, she let everyone know that she was tired. And it was so wonderful that the kids both slept until about 10:30am the next morning after getting home. I was really hoping they wouldn't be waking up too early because things hadn't been normal. As it was, we all got to sleep in (even me who is having sleep struggles).

The flight home

For interest sake, here are some photos we have taken in the past of Belize:

The church in Blue Creek
The church and the three buildings of the
Linda Vista School, and the Linda
Vista Shopping Center (including
grocery store, hardware store, post office, and bank)
Level one (grades K-3) of the school
Chicken barns
Rice fields
The local restaurant

This is the same park where we had the
Dyck Reunion
A house in Blue Creek up on a hill

The Old Colony (Shipyard):

The church
A horse and buggy right next to a truck
(They use both)

Notice the steel tires. They are not supposed
to use rubber tires on their tractors

The rest of Belize:

Now that's what I call carpooling
The roads weren't always so easy (notice the
support beams of a bridge where it
once was)

The sugar cane industry (not
trucks with bad hair cuts)

Mayan Ruins

The beautiful landscape

Rio On Pools
(One of my favorite places to visit in
Cayo District)
Hidden Valley in Cayo District
http://www.hiddenvalleyinn.com/
The road to 1000 Foot Falls
(not far from Hidden Valley)

Funnies

Even the cows get hot (Brahma cows)
A dog house on stilts
(when it is hot, the dog can lay under his house
to cool down)

Chris working for Club Penguin outside, under a
cabana, with a fan blowing
(2005)
Chris, snorkeling
(2007)

Cory on her motorbike

The garbage truck in Caye Caulker

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