Happy Halloween From Our Family Characters!

Happy Halloween from me and all the characters in our family!  And let me tell you, our family is full of little costumed characters excited to go trick-or-treating this evening!  

 

I'm down at Doc Holiday cottage this week to spend time with two little princesses.  Yesterday we had a class party and the children trick-or-treated at a nearby nursing home.

 

Ella dressed as her current crush, Rapunzel aka Tangled.

 

 

 Little sister Charlotte was dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.   She is just beginning to learn about princess power and it was fun to watch her transform into princess mode---she felt so beautiful dressed in her gown and crown!  Her GG decided to go royal too!

If the crown fits, wear it!  Right?

 

Their mom (my daughter) Kristen is the room mother so she organized the party.

 

 

All the kids loved the goodies provided by the parents and the plastic creepy crawlies decorating the party tables!

Now that we are all warmed up, we are ready for the Big Event tonight--candy here we come!  It's good to be a princess :)

 

 

What are you and yours doing tonight?  Are any characters you know dressing up?

Be safe out there and Happy Halloween!

It Takes a Lot To Move a House!

In a recent post I told you about the beach cottage we bought for a dollar.  The catch was that it had to be moved to another lot.

So we enlisted Henry's niece, Theresa Purvis, a realtor with Solomon Properties, to help us find property situated close enough to make it possible to move the house with minimal expense.  She helped us buy this pretty one just down the street next to the city park and close to the beach...

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Nice and shady with lots of trees--next to the park!

We began the process of hiring people to work on the project--an architect, engineer to handle the drainage plan, construction manager, house movers...so much for the house costing a dollar!  In order for the house to fit on the lot we had to move some palm trees.  Most of them stayed on our lot--three were shared with The Coral Cottage.

Once the lot was prepared and the drainage plan approved we obtained a permit to move the house.  I'll show you how that worked next time! 

Landscaping--I've Got It in the Palm of my Hand!

What kind of plants and trees do you think of when you think of the beach?  For me nothing says "Beach" better than a Palm tree.  We were super-excited when we had the chance to get three palm trees for FREE!  They were needing to be moved from our other lot to make room for the house we were relocating (more on that here and here).

It was amazing to watch--let me show you!

Tom is shown digging a huge hole for the tree.  A pipe was placed in the hole for watering the tree.  During the first week the water ran slowly and continually to keep the tree hydrated.

Tom, using equipment with a pincer-like claw, lifted a tree from the flat bed and brought it down the street to the Coral Cottage.  His assistant, Bobby, helped to give directions.

With great expertise, Tom and Bobby worked together to swing the tree into the hole which had been marked previously by our landscape architect, Bill Griffin.

 Bobby gave directions to enable Tom to straighten the tree--then my husband Henry gave the final okay to place the tree.  While water rushed into the hole, Bobby and Tom filled the hole back in with dirt.  Tom packed it tightly with the claw of the equipment.  Tom's supervisor, Duke, kept a watchful eye on things.

And that's how it was done!  Cool, huh?