17-20 June 2025 First stakes in the ground

 We met with Kelby and the “Dirt Guy” on the property the 17th and laid out the first stakes for the foundation pads. These were just rough positions so the excavator could decide if he would need to bring in dirt or if he could scrape enough off the property. Fortunately for us, he believes he can us what’s on the property saving us cost. This allowed Kingdom Homes to finalize the pricing. They asked us to get the lot mowed to make the excavation cleaner and we hired Kelby’s friend Cole to come out and mow the 2 acres. The final build price came in a little bit higher than the original estimate due to the flooring/tile selections and added height on the work shop to accommodate the Wanderer the way we wanted it (off to one side instead of down the middle), but within our expectations. We signed the final contract on the 20^th. They expect to start moving dirt next week. Final completion will be before 16 January 2026. A month later than we were hoping due to the HOA review delays. 

13 June 2025 Final Approval

 While in California, David began calling the HOA management company and pestering them about out approval to build. They came back and denied the black pipe no-climb fence we were planning to install in the back yard to keep Kiera in. They said that according to the HOA rules, all fencing had to be made out of brick, mason, or wood or approved by the Architectural Board (Who is just the developer at this point). It did not mater to them that Black Pipe fence is common in higher end ranch properties in Texas (they are in Florida). Rather than drag out the process, we deleted the fence from our plans and will see how things develop over the next several months. We got our final build approval dated 11 June and we got the copy on the Friday the13th.  

2-13 June 2025 Working in California

 David traveled out to California again to support more testing. These two weeks are the same type of tests he spent supporting over the summer in 2021 in Las Vegas. Fortunately, it was not nearly as hot for these tests! The tests went extremely well and he was able to travel home sooner than expected. While he was there, he had dinner with our friends Pam and Bill multiple nights, went to the Leona Valley Cherry Festival to see them be the Grand Marshalls of the parade, explored Red Rock Canyon State Park and visited with our friends Scott and Terry in their home in Ridgecrest. A very busy two weeks! But he was very grateful to get home early!

Dinner with Pam, Bill and Alan

Start of the Leona Valley Cherry Festival Parade

Grand Marshalls, Bill and Pam

Red Rock Canyon State Park

Red Rock Canyon State Park

28 May 2025 Picking Finishes

 We met with Kelby, our build supervisor, to pick out the exterior brick and rock for our future home. After going over the brick colors and rock colors, we finally selected Binsa Smoky King Size Brick and Austin Cream Stone for the lower rock accent. Leslie also made a trip out to the flooring store and picked out the floor tile (no carpet in our house) and wall tiles for the house. That wrapped up the required selections to allow Kingdom to draw up the final contract. 

23-26 May 2025 Memorial Day in the Woodlands

 We were getting the itch to get back on the road. So, we loaded up Kiera and drove down to the Woodlands to spend the Memorial Day Holiday with Cynthia, Felix and the rest of the family. We went to the Deep Roots vineyard to enjoy a local wine tasting, 1980s music and a fun fireworks show. Otherwise, we hung out with the family, saw our niece and adorable grandnieces and enjoyed being out of the Wanderer for a few days.

19 May 2025 Down Select

 Today we signed our preliminary contract with Kingdom Builders to build our new estate. They came in at the best price and were eager to work with us. So much so they even contacted our real-estate agent to get her to reduce her fee so they could get the price down almost to where we were wanting it subject to completing the HOA review, and making some selections to help define the final price. It’s really happening!

10 May 2025 Fun in Meridian

 We drove over to the smalltown of Meridian, which is about halfway to Waco. We met our friends John and Cheryl there for lunch at the Cactus Café.  After lunch we went out to the Red Caboose winery where we did a wine tasting and sat around and talked until 5pm. The wines were good and all estate grown. Interestingly, they were unfiltered. A first for us.  They also have a RV park of the property, but the trees are hanging too low to get our big rig in. It was great to catch up with John and Cheryl and we all agreed this was so easy to arrange that we would need to do it again in the near future.