Finishing touches on a new chapter in our lives

I've been working at getting the new place set up and decorated bit by bit and I think for the most part I can say we are officially settled!  Many of you, our friends and family, live too far away to be able to show you in person, otherwise we'd love to have you over for a nice cuppa and visit since we just love company.  But instead, I'll bring you through our new apartment right here on the blog.  So without further ado, follow me for the official "cyber tour" of our new apartment. Can I get you anything to eat or drink? :)

Come on inside, out of the heat and step into our living room.

Many pictures on the wall are from Zenith or my travels and help tie in the French/European Countryside theme of the living room.

I chose blue and yellow as my colors throughout the living room and dining room since I thought it would go nicely with the theme and all the wood in the apartment.

 The dining room transitions to a Swiss Country look with pictures from Zenith's time in Switzerland.

 I love the built in hutch.  Here you have a choice of tea or a drink from the "bar." ;)

 ...and the hat of course. :) (for those of you who don't know, he bought this hat in Austria when we first met.)

 Our bathroom is an upgrade from the last one...two people can stand at the sink without one of them falling into the shower.

 William's room

 Our bedroom

 And the little goon who was following me around.

 And here we transition again into a more Italian feel with the red bricks, beams, and cream/red stripe/swirl valances. 

 And what's Italy without an espresso machine? :P  Would anyone like a cuppa?

 I added some pictures from Zenith's Florence and Venice trip to tie in the Italian theme

Of course we had to show off the new place so we had Mom and Dad over for a cookout on Saturday.  They brought the croquet set and we had a lovely dinner out on the back yard where they have some patio furniture set up.

The yard was perfect for a few games of croquet

Even Lil Buddy enjoyed the game...

...or at least stealing the mallets.

Our landlords have a nice little canopy set up with table and chairs that we're welcome to use.  The mosquitoes haven't been an issue at all so we've really been enjoying both the backyard and our back deck.

The new little pool I bought for William.  Of course he's scared to death of it and won't even touch it.  Isn't that the way it often goes with children?  They couldn't care less about the plastic toys made "specially for their development" and will go for the pots and pans, croquet mallets, shoes, or anything else that Mommy and Daddy use.  Thus the reason we have very few toys for William and I'm happy to let him get into my "storage container" cabinet when I'm cooking to keep him occupied while I work.  He has a ball stacking and unstacking, putting them in and pulling them out.

So as not to overwhelm you, I'll save our aquarium trip for another blog post and finish up with this.  I have a few things to do around the house so I should scoot along anyway.  

Stay tuned for our trip into Boston with some friends for a picnic and William's first trip to see the fishes!  I may even throw in some details about Zenith's fun day off yesterday... he got to spend half the day with me at the ER.  Everything is fine, I just had a gallstone/gallbladder attack scare.  I'll do anything to keep the hubby home with me. ;-)

Happy Tuesday!

~Lindsay