A walk in the park, some visitors, and PROGRESS!

First there were holes. Then there were trenches. Now there are "footers" (I think)!

On Saturday Jeff and I had another appointment with Judy to finalize our selections. We took out a couple of nonessential upgrades but still went over our what we thought we'd spend. The builder gave us $35K and we ended up spending $37K. But, I think we made good choices. Dr. Olowude (my supervisor last year) said that if he had it to do all over again (meaning building a house), he would have had chosen more upgrades. He never led me wrong before!

So, we signed our final stuff. Judy told us our "lumber" has already been ordered and that she will be ordering our cabinets and other items Tuesday. She is working on a "board" for us. It will have samples of our flooring/wood/tiles/paint/etc. She estimated it would be ready in about 2 weeks.

Jamie and Rob came to check out our model and lot on Sunday. Jamie noted that the house seems to be much more "like a home" than the previous homes we thought we were getting. Rob was kind of quiet, but he did mention being "tired from all the walking" ( I think that was supposed to be in reference to the square footage).

Sunday afternoon we decided to take a ride/walk along the trail to the park. Leo rode his scooter, Ben rode his bike, while Jeff and I walked. Actually, Jeff rode the bike and scooter on several occasions too! We had fun playing on the playground equipment and tossing the gooey ball around. It was a very nice afternoon.

Progress!

Our Sunday outing, a walk along our trail to the park!

Leo pouting because no one wants to play on the slides with him at the moment!

Jamie and Rob come to check out our lot and model. They are in Ben's room!

House number one.
House number 3. This is the Verona model (the biggest floorplan).
House number 2 (I think).

Ben and Leo playing in our trenches! Awww... they actually look like they like each other!

The boys playing on the trenched lot accross the street.



Trench, up close and personal.

Yes, that is Dave and, hmmmm... who's car is that?? I guess this is the step right before they pour the cement!! Yipeee!

Cookies, Holes, and Family!

Well, the only action on our lot this week was the holes previously posted about. But, McCaffrey (the builder) caused some inadvertant action... The manager, Shelly, decided to send us a Cookie basket as an "Escrow is officially open" gift. Well, for some reason she decided to send it to my work. For any of you who have ever thought about sending me something at work, DON'T!!! To make a long and kind of embarrassing story short, the bomb squad was called in to investigate! There was some concern that it was sent by an inmate. The basket came in a large brown box.

After finally reaching me, we enjoyed the cookies. Then, 2 days later we got yet another cookie basket (almost identical) sent to our house. We have yet to dig in to that one.

Dave came up for Easter. We showed him around our lot and model. I asked him several times what he thought and he just kept saying; "It is big"! He did some donuts (in my mom's Prius) on our street. Leo challenged him to a race (Dave won). It was a nice (but short) visit.

Oh, and we used some purple hair color (temporary) to color Bo! He is so cute. He is our "Easter Bo-ny". Hopefully next week we will have some pictures of some construction action! Keep your fingers crossed!

The holes and Dave comes for a visit

Talking to Grandma in my Library!

It is hard to see, but Bo is lavendar. He is standig next to Cookie basket #2!
Jeff in front of our model.

The "Easter Bo-ny" again, in front of cookie basket #2.

Mom and Dave on our lot.

Mom, Dave, and Ben on our lot.

Leo and Dave race from our lot to the lot accross the street.

Dave, Leo, Ben, and Mom at our model's breakfast bar.

Leo enjoying one of the cookies from basket #1 (along with some hot chocolate).

One of our holes!! This week we should see CHALK!!

Cookie basket #1.

We've got movement!!!

I went by the lot yesterday to check for "chalk" but there was no sign of change. But, Jeff, Leo, and I went out this evening and... drum roll please... there were 2 holes dug! I have never been so excited about a hole (or excited at all for that matter)! The holes that were dug uncovered the property line markers! So, we are guessing that means something is starting. The only other lot that anything has been done with (other than the 4 under construction) is the lot next door to ours. That means it will be a race to see who will be number 5!

Visit with "Future Homes" and Loma Vista Plan

Today was our appointment with "Future Homes" to pick out all of the electronic options for our house. Here is a run down of what we chose: complete security system with camera at front door, surround sound system for Great Room, intercom system through out the house and by the front door, and all of the necessary wiring (and junk) to connect to the new fiber optic system in our community. Not exactly sure what this is all about... it sounds cool though. It is supposed to be the fastest internet and the best TV picture available anywhere, an alternative to cable or satelite. It is through AT&T and even the most expensive package is less expensive that what we pay now for Satelite and internet! So, why not?

So, I knew that our new neighborhood was going to be part of a "master plan" by the city of Clovis, but I had no idea how extensive (and AWESOME) that plan is! Our new neighborhood is part of a new community called "Loma Vista". Loma Vista includes extensive trail systems with water features, many park facilities, and several "community centers". There will be two major community centers within 5 minutes (walking distance) from our house. Here are some highlights of the largest community center (pasted from the City of Clovis website):


"Community Center South is envisioned as a pedestrian
oriented, walkable area. To stimulate pedestrian activity, this
area contains uses that invite exploration, such as cafes and
outdoor dining. Buildings and business are located on and
oriented toward the street. The sidewalk is wide and contains
pedestrian amenities, such as benches, low planter walls,
themed streetlights, public art, textured paving, and tasteful
signage. Building massing and height vary and prominent
architectural accent buildings identify significant intersections
and public spaces. Community Center South is designed
around a village green, an expansive open space feature that
accommodates features such as an amphitheater and
recreational fields. Public facilities, such as a library, post
office are located adjacent to the village green, which is also a
public park. The streets in this area are calmed. Vehicular speeds are
reduced by the use of traffic circles, curb bulb-outs, narrow
lanes, and textured paving at pedestrian crossings."

There are a ton of pictures and drawings illustrating the city's plan but I could not figure out how to put them on the blog. If anyone is interested you can go to the city of Clovis website and type "Loma Vista" into the search. It sounds like an ideal community! I am so excited to be part of it!

Oh, there has not been any movement on our lot. I went in to McCaffrey today and they told me that our lot was "released to construction" on March 11th along with 3 other lots. Our not-so-helpful agent could not give us any more specific information. He said that right now they are working on permits and things like that. The first thing we will see on our lot is "chalk lines". His advice was to "just keep checking". So we will. I did find out that none of the 4 homes that have begun construction are our floorplan. I am not sure if any of the others released with ours were.

At our "Future Homes" appointment I learned that our next door neighbor has some "young" kids. That is cool! That's about it for now.

Pics of The School

Ben is not very happy about having to change schools next year. Luckily he will be transferring within the same (great) district. The new school, "Red Bank" is newer, nicer, and has no apartments feeding into it! Leo will be starting Kindergarten there, next year, as well.

I want Ben to feel less anxious about the change, so I plan to have us visit several times. We went to the campus on Sunday after we went for our walk. We actually got to talk to a couple of teachers (including a 3rd grade teacher).

Ben's teacher this year urged us to get Ben into some advanced math classes ASAP. It was actually kind of funny, we just went to Ben's "Open House" last week. Ben's teacher only really wanted to talk to us. There were tons of other parents there but he wanted to make sure and let us know what we need to do for Ben's future schooling. It is quite clear that Ben is a teacher's pet. Apparently Ben is motivated to work on English work (which he does not care for) by getting to do math pages from the 3rd grade math book! What a nerd! He is already doing pre-Algebra!

Ben and Leo's New School

Here are the Kindergarten classes!

This is the KG playground and the back of the building.

One of these classrooms will be Ben's next year (11, 12, 13, 15, 16, or 17).

Here are the pics!

This is the sign at the Eastern entrance to the community!

Here is Ben at the entrance to our street. I will try to take some of the same shots as the neighborhood grows so we can measure the progress!

Our street sign! We are 3354 Mitchell Ave., Clovis, CA. 93619!

Ben on our lot! The house in the background is the model of our house!

Ben taking a picture of me on our lot

This shot was taken (by Ben) from our trail entrance looking back on to our lot. My car is parked in front of our lot.

Ben on the walking trail enjoying some of the early blooms.

Another view of the trail.

This is the first house in our community (aside from the models of course). There are 4 that have begun construction. I am hoping ours will be number 5! Ben is holding up one finger to indicate this is the first house.

This is the fourth one. There are none on our street yet. Ours should be the first.

After walking (and taking pictures) for about 35 minutes along the trail we stopped at a neighborhood park to eat lunch and play. Yes, that is a Sprite you see in front of Ben... He talked me into it. As many of you know, I DO NOT let my boys drink soda. But... He begged and I caved. He explained to me how it is okay to drink soda every once in a while. He said; "It is okay if you just drink like, one a month. This will be my one for the month."

Ben playing on the playground.

Me playing on the playground!

Happy Ben!

Ben playing with his "Gooey Ball". We played catch for about an hour before heading back down the trail.