Greetings from Days Inn! Our stay got off to a bad start after we were first given two rooms (my parents are here with us for two days) that had not been cleaned and then, after we were moved, found that our room bore an overpowering cigarette odor, despite its being labeled non-smoking. My mom had difficulties making the reservations to begin with, so we're not too happy with this establishment. But that is not why I am posting tonight.

We met our floor guys at our house this morning at eight. Matt wanted us to let them start sanding and then have us look at some stain samples. When I came back just before ten, I was surprised how much sanding had been done. The floors looked so much better already. The stain will be applied tomorrow, followed over the next three days by three coats of polyurethane. We should be safe to move back in on Sunday.

Unsanded vs. sanded flooring

Dining room, sanding finished

My parents and the boys came with me to the house, and afterward we went out to lunch and then headed to Laumeier Sculpture Park. The weather was amazing, yet the park wasn't very crowded. After just a few minutes, Dominick started asking to go to a different park. I guess he was expecting slides and swings, not landscape-sized sculpture installations. Eventually, though, he came to enjoy the place. Here are some pictures from our day:

A restaging of a photo taken in the same location with Dominick when he was 6 months old