Saturday, 9/1/2018 – Monday, 9/3/2018 – We spent the weekend camping at Dutch Springs for Josh’s Rescue Diver certification course.  (Here’s a link to Josh’s post about his experience with the Rescue Diver course.)  After the course was over, I conned Josh into finally agreeing to rent a majestic swan pedal boat to explore the side of the quarry that is closed to divers.  Between my pedaling and Josh’s enthusiasm (haha!), we ended up being able to check the entire quarry out on our 45 minute cruise.

After exploring the quarry on the topside, we decided to log another dive and check out the Challenger 600.  The Challenger 600 airplane was sunk at Dutch Springs in 2016 and is suspended midwater in the quarry, via overhead environment, at a depth of 25 – 40 feet.  We had previously explored the Challenger during our Navigation dive during our Advanced Open Water certifications, but, didn’t have much time to actually check it out.  This time, we were back, with a camera.  Check out the patriotic gnome in the pilot’s seat!

Tuesday, 9/4/2018 – After nearly four months of having a giant tarp on the roof of our house, we FINALLY signed a contract and gave some earnest money to a contractor that is ready, willing and able to fix our house!  Work is set to begin on Tuesday, 9/12/2018, which is SUPER exciting.  I kind of forget what the back of our house looks like without a giant blue tarp covering most of it…Since the entire house will be getting new vinyl siding, we had to make a decision about whether we would stick with the current cream siding (in the woods, surrounded by trees) or make a switch to something else that would be a little easier to keep looking decent.  We decided to go with a sage green color that should look amazing next to all the stone on the house.  Man, I can’t WAIT until this is done!

Saturday, 9/8/2018 – Sunday, 9/9/2018 – Since this weekend was our last weekend at home until October, we made the most of it, getting a bunch of projects taken care of around the house.  We made more progress on our extra bedroom renovations, got a bunch of paperworky stuff taken care of and dusted off the sewing machine, at Josh’s request.

Tuesday, 9/11/2018 – I’m a constant seeker of small happinesses and we got two of them today after a long day at work.  When I drove up the driveway, I discovered that a dumpster and roofing materials had been delivered.  *INSERT DRAMATIC PAUSE*  That means work on fixing our roof is actually going to happen, and SOON!  GAH!  Sidenote…this is the second time in my life I have been overjoyed by seeing a dumpster on our property.  Strange, but, true!  Check it out!!!

Secondly, and just as exciting and important, is that Josh’s Rescue Diver certification card came in the mail today!  A good day, indeed!

Friday, 9/14/2018 – Sunday, 9/16/2018 – The plan was to head to Ocean City, Maryland for Bike Week.  Until Hurricane Florence.  Since the weather was expected to be pretty gnarly for the weekend, we decided to change things up a bit this year, save the $1200+ we would have spent at Bike Week and head to camp instead.  No matter the weather, it’s dry and cheap to drink at camp!  We had a really relaxing, low-key weekend and a few drives that netted some pretty awesome results!

Monday, 9/17/2018 – Ya know…I know there has to be a mess made in order for there to be progress, but, damn, I’m ready for the messes that were made in May to be cleaned up once and for all!

Wednesday, 9/19/2018 – Folks, the gigantic hole in the roof of our house is GONE!  4 months and 5 days after three trees crashed through our roof, the hole has FINALLY been repaired!  The roofers must have thought I was certifiably insane when I screamed up to them, “YOU FIXED MY HOUSE!  YOU’RE MY FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD TODAY!”  Level of excitement for today was absolutely off the charts!

Friday, 9/21/2018 – The worker men were back on the roof and the dog wasn’t thrilled.

Sunday, 9/23/2018 – Since we started diving, we’ve had our sights set on going on West Shore Scuba’s annual dive trip to Bonaire.  We planned on going on the 2019 trip, until three trees smashed through our roof in May.  Then, our plans were put on the back burner until we were sure that our house would be fixed and we wouldn’t end up with a huge bill.  Since the repairs have begun (and are significantly completed) on the house, we decided today was the day to pull the trigger and book our Bonaire trip and flights for January 2019!  How incredibly exciting?!  (And kind of terrifying for the girl who’s never been outside the United States!)  I guess it’s finally time to get a passport!

Tuesday, 9/25/2018 – Exciting moment of the day…finding out that there’s no longer direct exposure to the outside elements in our master bathroom!  Progress feels GOOD!

Thursday, 9/27/2018 – We have SIDING, folks!  I am almost embarrassed by how excited I was to find out that our contractors had begun residing the house.  Almost.  It’s beautiful and I love it!

Friday, 9/18/2018 – More progress on the house!  Woot woot!

Saturday, 9/29/2018 – We had a blast at Dutch Springs, completing our Yoga Diver specialty certification!  (We wrote about our experience here, if you’re interested.)  To top things off, I think it was the first time we were at Dutch Springs that it wasn’t raining!  It was a perfect way to finish up our diving season in Central PA.